Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 20 minutes ago
Dinoland USA at Disneys Animal Kingdom may be my personal favorite land of all time, with one of the biggest highlights being Chester and Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures. At the peak interest of dinosaurs in the 90s due to Jurassic Park and Universal building a land based on the films at the same time, it was only fitting for Disney to build their own Dinosaur land to compete. But how could this be done without being a direct ripoff of the highest grossing film at the time? Their answer was Dinoland USA, and instead of being sent to a tropical world where dinosaurs roamed the Earth, you would be sent to where dinosaurs exist now - the desert. Diggs County in fact, a Southwest inspired land where fossils are just about the only thing around. After the first fossils were found, the county became a hot spot for paleontologists to discover new history, eventually leading to a Dino Institute that would take over the local businesses. Capitalizing off this craze were an old couple, Chester and Hester, who owned the local gas station. This was transformed into a gift shop named Dinosaur Treasures, perhaps the most detailed tribute to these extinct animals ever. Filled to the brim with detail is an understatement with this store, as this 5 minute video contains just a fraction of the gags, references, and fun to be found in every pocket. I can only imagine the fun the Imagineers must have had designing this store, finding every dinosaur knick knack they could find, and fitting it into this store in creative and genius ways. This level of prop inclusion will never be seen again on this scale, and it’s a shame the store has gone extinct like the creatures of its namesake.
Dinoland USA at Disneys Animal Kingdom may be my personal favorite land of all time, with one of the biggest highlights being Chester and Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures. At the peak interest of dinosaurs in the 90s due to Jurassic Park and Universal building a land based on the films at the same time, it was only fitting for Disney to build their own Dinosaur land to compete. But how could this be done without being a direct ripoff of the highest grossing film at the time? Their answer was Dinoland USA, and instead of being sent to a tropical world where dinosaurs roamed the Earth, you would be sent to where dinosaurs exist now - the desert. Diggs County in fact, a Southwest inspired land where fossils are just about the only thing around. After the first fossils were found, the county became a hot spot for paleontologists to discover new history, eventually leading to a Dino Institute that would take over the local businesses. Capitalizing off this craze were an old couple, Chester and Hester, who owned the local gas station. This was transformed into a gift shop named Dinosaur Treasures, perhaps the most detailed tribute to these extinct animals ever. Filled to the brim with detail is an understatement with this store, as this 5 minute video contains just a fraction of the gags, references, and fun to be found in every pocket. I can only imagine the fun the Imagineers must have had designing this store, finding every dinosaur knick knack they could find, and fitting it into this store in creative and genius ways. This level of prop inclusion will never be seen again on this scale, and it’s a shame the store has gone extinct like the creatures of its namesake.
