Walt Disney World has revealed the final date for its Dinosaur ride.
The motion-base dark ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom is closing to be rethemed to Indiana Jones. It's all part of Disney's transformation of the DinoLand USA area into the new Tropical Americas land, which will open in 2027.
Dinosaur opened with Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1998 as Countdown to Extinction. The attraction has the same ride system and layout as the Indiana Jones rides at Disneyland in California and Tokyo DisneySea in Japan, making the switch in theme a relatively easy construction project.
But even relatively easy projects at Disney can take time. So Dinosaur's last day of operation will be February 1, 2026. Imagineers and construction crews will get to work on the ride's transformation immediately after that.
February 1 also will be the final official day of operation for DinoLand USA. Walt Disney World has closed the Boneyard, which was the only other remaining attraction in the land. When Tropical Americas opens, it will feature a new Encanto-themed ride as well as the rethemed Indiana Jones ride.
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I'm pretty sure there were dinosaurs running around in Latin America! They can leave it for the new land, right?!
I'm going to miss this ride. One of the highlights of my very first trip to Disney World in 2002 and a continued favorite of mine. The carnataurus animatronic that "walked" was pretty cool and the last 20 seconds or so of the ride were exceptional.
I miss the walking Carno. I miss the AA iguanadon in the old river attraction. I’ll miss the ride, whose preshow movie I can annoying quote word-for-word.
Every photo of me on that ride, looks like I’m crapping myself. I knew exactly when the ‘money shot’ moment was coming up, but it never made it any less effective. I’ll miss it.
Such a bummer. I'm definitely in the minority mourning the loss of dinoland USA. I loved the theming there Chester and Hester got done dirty ?? I am low-key excited for the new cars land though I love the themeing by grizzly falls and if we get something like that with cars I'm excited.
I think one of the most notable things about this closure is that come February 1, DAK will be reduced to just 6 rides (and that assumes you count the new Zootopia show or former Tough to be a Bug a "ride"). It's understandable that Disney wants to coordinate the renovation of Dinosaur with the Encanto ride and Tropical Americas Land, but the overall entertainment available at DAK is being significantly impacted by these closures. The park was already short on attractions, which is why Dinoland USA was built (cheap rides thrown in to add overall capacity) and why Disney can justify running DAK with the shortest operating hours of any destination park on the planet - even though one land (PtWoA) was explicitly designed to be experienced during the day AND night.
Also, if Disney expects to reopen Dinosaur with its new Indy theme alongside Encanto and the rest of Tropical Americas in 2027, that indicates to me that the change will be very minimal - i.e. no changes to the ride pathway and effects that are already integrated into the ride system. Given how long it has taken Disney to reimagine/reskin attractions in the past, this timeline suggests that they will be working at breakneck speed or won't actually be doing much to change the experience.
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My niece's least favorite ride at WDW and admit pretty rough.