Uploaded April 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Dinosaur is a dark ride EMV attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The ride feature a turbulent journey through the Cretaceous period, featuring prehistoric scenes populated with dinosaur audio-animatronics. Originally named Countdown to Extinction, the ride's name was later changed to Dinosaur to promote the Disney animated film of the same name, even though the attraction has never contained any explicit references to the film. However, the two dinosaurs most prominently featured in the ride have always been an Iguanodon and Carnotaurus, which were both featured prominently in the film. Scenes from the movie also appear in the pre-show, to help the guests identify the Iguanodon as the film's protagonist, Aladar.
Dinosaur is a dark ride EMV attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The ride feature a turbulent journey through the Cretaceous period, featuring prehistoric scenes populated with dinosaur audio-animatronics. Originally named Countdown to Extinction, the ride's name was later changed to Dinosaur to promote the Disney animated film of the same name, even though the attraction has never contained any explicit references to the film. However, the two dinosaurs most prominently featured in the ride have always been an Iguanodon and Carnotaurus, which were both featured prominently in the film. Scenes from the movie also appear in the pre-show, to help the guests identify the Iguanodon as the film's protagonist, Aladar.










![Big Thunder Mountain Railroad POV at Disneyland Park
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a mine train roller coaster located in Frontierland at several Disneyland-style Disney Parks worldwide. The ride exists at Disneyland Park (California) and the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and at Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Park (Paris) as Big Thunder Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is also the name of the fictional rail line the roller coaster depicts.
Although the details of the backstory vary from park to park, all follow the same general story arcs. Some time in the late 1800s, gold was discovered on Big Thunder Mountain in the American Southwest. Overnight, a small mining town became a thriving one (the name of the town varies from ride to ride. In the California ride, the town is known as Rainbow Ridge. In the Florida version, the town is known as Tumbleweed, and in Paris, the town is known as Thunder Mesa). Mining was prosperous, and an extensive line of mine trains was set up to transport the ore. Unknown to the settlers, the Mountain was a sacred spot to local Native Americans and was cursed.
Before long, the settlers desecration of the mountain caused a great tragedy, which, depending on the park, is usually depicted to be an earthquake (in the Paris and California versions of the ride), a tsunami (in the Tokyo version of the ride), a flash flood (in the Florida version of the ride), which befell the mines and town, and the town was abandoned. A man was wandering around and boarded an already moving car, interested. He was known to be quite bold and hung on tight as the train went very fast, and he had a wild ride. When he finished, he had many handfuls of gold, and proudly left with his riches. Some time later, the locomotives were found to be racing around the mountain on their own, without engineers or a crew. The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was founded in the old mining camp to allow wanderers to take rides on the possessed trains.
The detailed backstory, while present in park literature and training materials, is not communicated to park guests directly. The station buildings on all four versions of the ride are themed to appearance of a mining company office from the mid to late 19th century. In the Disneyland, CA park, there is music and laughing in one of the saloons, and a typewriter is heard from a newspaper office. The mountains themselves are themed to the red rock formations of the American Southwest. The rock work designs in the California version are based on the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. In the Florida, Tokyo and Paris versions of the ride, the rockwork designs are based on the rising buttes that are located in Utah and Arizonas Monument Valley. Special care was taken by the Imagineers to make it appear that the rocks were there originally, and the track was built around the rocks, unlike a number of earlier mine rides, which were built the other way around (by sculpting the rocks around the tracks). There is also a dinosaur skeleton that the train passes by, built into the side of the mountain. A cracked eggshell is nearby, and there is a pleasant lake with water that is shot up while the train passes on the warmer days] Sound effects of a typical locomotive operation are piped into the surrounding scenery to add realism to guests viewing the ride from observation platforms, including the steam whistle sounding, even though there is no whistle displayed on the locomotives. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad POV at Disneyland Park](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KIH7p3EttIM/mqdefault.jpg)