VIDEO - Dinosaur reopens from refurbishment with updated effects

Nov 22, 2016 in "Dinosaur"

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Posted: Tuesday November 22, 2016 9:15am EST by WDWMAGIC Staff

Dinosaur at Disney's Animal Kingdom has reopened from its four month refurbishment with updated effects.

The upgrades include projections of compsognathus overhead, refreshed lighting throughout, and an enhanced time travel vortex effect at the beginning of the ride.

The queue area and pre-show have remained unchanged.

Check out our ride-through video for a look at the changes. (Note, the Alioramus appears static in the video, but has since been restored to full motion)

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Disney AnalystFeb 25, 2017

Wow so many more then in Florida.

garagelyFeb 24, 2017

Unexpected things in familiar places like rides tend to give me a bit of a start. The first time I saw the hidden dementors I got a chill (although I suppose that could have been the Dementor's Kiss) because of how close they are. It's just a weird feeling to know that something was that close and you were not aware of it. So yeah, head on a stick has been there that whole time... watching.

garagelyFeb 24, 2017

Thanks for the info! I didn't remember any forelegs before, good to know I didn't imagine that. And he's closer too? I like it. The finale seemed a lot more effective to me than before.

Tom MorrowFeb 24, 2017

That's also why the original effect was far more spooky and convincing. Not only did it look more real since you were seeing a physical animatronic through the mirror, the idea of it just casually sitting there plays with your mind much more than a silly interactive animation which immediately tells you "the purpose of this is to wow you with our tech" I also doubt any children are even remotely fooled by it, especially now being constantly immersed in phones and tablets that can do the same effect. Meanwhile they absolutely still would have been fooled with the old effect. It's the only aspect of the WDW mansion I don't like.

Matt_BlackFeb 24, 2017

Ah, because it's a long-standing trope that you can see ghosts in mirrors but not something else. You've seen this in horror movies; someone is in the bathroom, washing their face, and then they look up and see some grim specter in the mirror standing behind them. They turn and... there's nothing there. SPOOKY!

jaxonpFeb 24, 2017

I guess... I feel like disney could easily map project a dino that could work both ways. Just a thought.. or change the story line to, we've got our dino now lets teleport him back to the cage in our office... boom when you teleport back, turn that corner instead of a mirror you now see the dino in a cage.

Mike SFeb 24, 2017

Because the belief that it could only be seen in the mirror is entirely possible for something as mystical as a ghost.

jaxonpFeb 24, 2017

Can't answer Hollywood. Orlando does still have the effect but I'd say it works 1 out of 5 times. I've ridden the ride countless times and it has to be the most inconsistent part of the attraction.

Coaster LoverFeb 24, 2017

Sorry to keep off topic, but two quick questions... 1) does the Hollywood version have the "kiss of death"/"soul sucking effect, or was that excluded (I didn't see it in the video) and 2) does the Orlando version still utilize that effect, or is it just finicky? We rode the Orlando version a few weeks after it first opened and that effect was one of my favorite parts of the ride, but it was noticeably missing on my most recent trip (2015). If the effect has been turned off for some time, fixing this effect would go a LONG way in "plussing" this scene...

jaxonpFeb 24, 2017

How is that any different than looking next to you in a doom buggy and not seeing a hitchhiker?

Mike SFeb 24, 2017

That effect never would've worked because the illusion would break once someone turned around.

jaxonpFeb 24, 2017

I always wondered why we were looking at a mirror at the end... why weren't they able to make this work... seems similar to Haunted Mansion's trick...