Midway to Main Street | Paradise Pier vs Dinoland USA: Why do I like one and hate the other? @MidwaytoMainStreet | Uploaded November 2017 | Updated October 2024, 6 hours ago.
I am not shy about my distaste for Dinoland USA in the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. I think it’s a low effort area of the park that falls below the standards I’ve come to expect from Disney and doesn’t inherently feel like a Disney experience. On paper, I feel the same could be said of Paradise Pier over in Disney’s California Adventure. So why am I OK with Paradise Pier while I hate Dinoland USA?
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I guess the first thing I need to do is clarify why this question is even a question. For those who might not have been to one park or the other, Paradise Pier and Dinoland USA share quite a lot in common while being two pretty unique experiences at the same time.
For one, they’re both lands within a theme park that are based around older forms of amusement that pre-date Disney. Over in California, Paradise Pier is a recreation of the Victorian coastal boardwalks from as far back as a hundred years ago. In Florida we have Dinoland USA, which is, in essence, a throwback to the type of state fair and traveling carnival that has been around long before Disneyland.
In terms of offerings, they’re also pretty similar in that they have their E-ticket draw with California Screamin’ and Dinosaur, as well as a number of lower quality rides you wouldn’t really associate with Disney. Paradise Pier has the swings, the zeppelins, and the ferris wheel, while Dinoland USA has Primeval Whirl, a Dumbo clone, and some carnival games.
Lastly, they’re both relatively new in terms of Disney history, with Paradise Pier opening in 2001 and Dinoland USA getting that carnival addition around 2002. I mean, 15/16 years old doesn’t seem new, but they’re far from classics and so I don’t think nostalgia of the lands factor into any of this.
So with all of that said, I couldn’t help but wonder why I really enjoyed my time spent at Paradise Pier, yet I’ll usually avoid Dinoland USA. I have a theory that I’d like to share and admittedly it may be painted by personal bias.
I believe it largely has to do with not only my age, or our collective ages if you agree with me, and the age of the amusements depicted. The Victorian boardwalks that Paradise Pier idealizes come from a time that, I think it’s safe to say, nobody watching this was alive to experience. While we still have plenty of boardwalk amusements today, that aesthetic of the white wood and exposed bulbs at night originates from as far back as the early 1900s.
On the flip side of that, Dinoland USA emulates the very style of traveling fair that we can actually still find today. It’s a setting that many of us can say we’ve experienced ourselves. I wonder if that difference in experience is the core of what makes these two lands feel so different. After all, it’s much more difficult to apply rose-tinted nostalgia to something we can still experience today. Inversely, maybe easier to apply that rose-tinted nostalgia if we’ve never truly experienced it to begin with, but simply go off of what we’ve seen in films, television or through stories we’re told.
When we look at something like Main Street USA, we’re looking at Walt’s nostalgic ode to his childhood life in Missouri. He felt the drive to recreate that optimistic look back at Main Street because at the time it was an experience that was quickly disappearing around the country. Perhaps the same could be said of the boardwalks of Paradise Pier. However we don’t have to go very far to find the inspiration of Dinoland USA.
So why does this even matter? I suppose it’s partially because I’m interesting in hearing what you all have to say about the lands, and a part of me hopes that maybe asking myself this question would shed some light on what could be done with future lands at the parks to improve.
With that theory in mind, does it mean that in 50 years or so kids will look at Dinoland USA with awe and nostalgia for something they’ve never experienced? Is the solution that perhaps lands shouldn’t be designed around experiences we can still find today? If you look at the Magic Kingdom, those lands are either fiction of some form, or romanticized versions of an era that is long gone. I guess it might not matter. After all, Paradise Pier will be undergoing a transformation into Pixar Pier, and there are early rumors going around that Dinoland USA might also see a complete transformation.
Either way, I’d love to hear from you. Maybe you’re on the complete opposite side of this and love Dinoland while hating the Pier. Maybe you love them both or hate them both. Let me know in the comments what your two cents are. I want to turn this into a larger discussion.
I am not shy about my distaste for Dinoland USA in the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. I think it’s a low effort area of the park that falls below the standards I’ve come to expect from Disney and doesn’t inherently feel like a Disney experience. On paper, I feel the same could be said of Paradise Pier over in Disney’s California Adventure. So why am I OK with Paradise Pier while I hate Dinoland USA?
New here? Be sure to subscribe!
🔷goo.gl/x17zTL
My Patreon!
❤patreon.com/RobPlays
My Disney Podcast!
🎧ttapodcast.com
Follow me on Twitter!
📱Twitter.com/RobPlays
I guess the first thing I need to do is clarify why this question is even a question. For those who might not have been to one park or the other, Paradise Pier and Dinoland USA share quite a lot in common while being two pretty unique experiences at the same time.
For one, they’re both lands within a theme park that are based around older forms of amusement that pre-date Disney. Over in California, Paradise Pier is a recreation of the Victorian coastal boardwalks from as far back as a hundred years ago. In Florida we have Dinoland USA, which is, in essence, a throwback to the type of state fair and traveling carnival that has been around long before Disneyland.
In terms of offerings, they’re also pretty similar in that they have their E-ticket draw with California Screamin’ and Dinosaur, as well as a number of lower quality rides you wouldn’t really associate with Disney. Paradise Pier has the swings, the zeppelins, and the ferris wheel, while Dinoland USA has Primeval Whirl, a Dumbo clone, and some carnival games.
Lastly, they’re both relatively new in terms of Disney history, with Paradise Pier opening in 2001 and Dinoland USA getting that carnival addition around 2002. I mean, 15/16 years old doesn’t seem new, but they’re far from classics and so I don’t think nostalgia of the lands factor into any of this.
So with all of that said, I couldn’t help but wonder why I really enjoyed my time spent at Paradise Pier, yet I’ll usually avoid Dinoland USA. I have a theory that I’d like to share and admittedly it may be painted by personal bias.
I believe it largely has to do with not only my age, or our collective ages if you agree with me, and the age of the amusements depicted. The Victorian boardwalks that Paradise Pier idealizes come from a time that, I think it’s safe to say, nobody watching this was alive to experience. While we still have plenty of boardwalk amusements today, that aesthetic of the white wood and exposed bulbs at night originates from as far back as the early 1900s.
On the flip side of that, Dinoland USA emulates the very style of traveling fair that we can actually still find today. It’s a setting that many of us can say we’ve experienced ourselves. I wonder if that difference in experience is the core of what makes these two lands feel so different. After all, it’s much more difficult to apply rose-tinted nostalgia to something we can still experience today. Inversely, maybe easier to apply that rose-tinted nostalgia if we’ve never truly experienced it to begin with, but simply go off of what we’ve seen in films, television or through stories we’re told.
When we look at something like Main Street USA, we’re looking at Walt’s nostalgic ode to his childhood life in Missouri. He felt the drive to recreate that optimistic look back at Main Street because at the time it was an experience that was quickly disappearing around the country. Perhaps the same could be said of the boardwalks of Paradise Pier. However we don’t have to go very far to find the inspiration of Dinoland USA.
So why does this even matter? I suppose it’s partially because I’m interesting in hearing what you all have to say about the lands, and a part of me hopes that maybe asking myself this question would shed some light on what could be done with future lands at the parks to improve.
With that theory in mind, does it mean that in 50 years or so kids will look at Dinoland USA with awe and nostalgia for something they’ve never experienced? Is the solution that perhaps lands shouldn’t be designed around experiences we can still find today? If you look at the Magic Kingdom, those lands are either fiction of some form, or romanticized versions of an era that is long gone. I guess it might not matter. After all, Paradise Pier will be undergoing a transformation into Pixar Pier, and there are early rumors going around that Dinoland USA might also see a complete transformation.
Either way, I’d love to hear from you. Maybe you’re on the complete opposite side of this and love Dinoland while hating the Pier. Maybe you love them both or hate them both. Let me know in the comments what your two cents are. I want to turn this into a larger discussion.
