You’ve heard the old cliche about the the doctors who can only imagine their children will follow in their footsteps and be doctors or lawyers, only to have them become artists. Well, my family is the opposite. Hubby and I are both artists, making our living with writing, dancing, acting, and voice artistry, so we imagined our little princess growing up loving all things art. Of course she wants to be a scientist and doctor.
While this isn’t exactly our path in life, we want her to be her little self, so we encourage her to learn whatever she wants to — which is great since she’s homeschooled. One topic she is particularly interested in is dinosaurs. She has loved them since she was just bitty, and continues to think they are just amazing. Since we’ve been going to Disney, I’ve been looking forward to bringing her on Dinosaur, and when we go in September, the time will finally be here!
To make sure we knew she could handle it, Hubs and I took a ride on it ourselves. Now I invite you to come along with me and get a little taste of the dream adventure of my little girl (who also lists among her life aspirations being a ballerina and a Disney Princess).
Dinosaur is located in Animal Kingdom, in a dinosaur “institute”. We first make our way through an outdoor queue before entering the building and being ushered through a room filled with fossils, images of what these creatures could have looked like, and timelines showing how prehistoric creatures evolved into the animals we know today. In the second room, we encounter more amazing displays, including a globe of what the world would have looked like during the time of Pangea. If you spend long enough time in this room, you’ll experience the lights dim and hear none other than Bill Nye talk about the time of the dinosaurs. Once the lecture is finished, move on into a standing theater where you’ll meet Doctor Marsh, the director of the Dino Institute. She explains to you that the institute has created a time rover that can bring people back to the time of the dinosaurs to improve teaching of history. She wants to safely bring you back so you can see the creatures during a time well before any dangerous times — like that whole asteroid business.
Of course, that’s not what’s actually going on. When Doctor Marsh sends the video over to Doctor Seeker for safety instructions, you find out he has chosen your group to perform an unauthorized mission to bring back a dinosaur he marked. If you decide to be courageous enough to seek out the dinosaur, head into the next room of the research facility and climb aboard your rover. Lock your seatbelt tight. This is going to be a heck of an adventure.
Once your safety procedures are approved, it’s time to enter a time portal that sends you back in time. Now that you’re here, look around. Doctor Seeker will let you know about the creatures you’re seeing, and reassure you you’re getting close to the dinosaur you’re searching for. Everything seems calm and to plan, but soon this changes. The ride gets bumpier as you keep searching for the Iguanodon for Seeker, and suddenly a warning voice announces the asteroid strike that caused mass extinction will strike in 90 seconds. The vehicle speeds up and becomes rougher as you keep trying to find the dinosaur so you can get back. As meteors strike the ground around you and the rover tosses and lunges, you’re nearly attacked by a large dinosaur (Smile! This is where your picture is taken). Seeker finally decides to abandon the mission and bring you home.
“They’re not gonna make it! They’re not gonna make it!”
The time portal opens again and your rover lurches forward. You’re cutting it close, but you find yourself safely back at the Institute. Seeker is glad to see you — and to see that you did bring his dinosaur back with you! Of course, there’s a little problem, but he can fix it.
Now that you’ve survived your visit to the past, head out of the Institute and back into the present. You’ll swing through a gift shop so your little paleontologist can grab a dinosaur toy, science kit, or book, or you can get a shirt to show off your amazing science achievement!
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Taryn was born and raised, and still lives in Richmond, Virginia. Neither she nor her husband ever had the opportunity to visit Walt Disney World when they were children, but when their daughter Avalon came along, they decided she was not going to follow in their footsteps. They brought Avalon for the first time when she was 3 and have been hooked ever since. Now along with Taryn’s mother and equally Disney-loving older brother, they go “home” at least once a year, and by the time she is staring longingly at Cinderella Castle from the ferry on their last night, Taryn is well on her way to planning the next trip. As a group consisting of two adults with Asperger’s, including one who is also vegan, a very accommodating husband, an only child, a senior, and a service dog, they are a pretty special family, but Taryn is excited to show that the World really is The Most Magical Place on Earth and that there is a place there for everyone. When she isn’t thinking about her next Disney adventure and trying to come up with a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party costume that will beat her Oozma Kappa nerd look, she is a professional blogger and novelist, but Taryn also likes to indulge her Disney passion on her Etsy shop It’s Better in Vinyl.
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