Dinosaur installation in high gear at Cedar Point

I like dinosaurs. I'm one of the few people that think this will be a good addition to Cedar Point. It appeals to people of all ages and is an upgrade from the Paddlewheel Excursion. The last time I rode that boat, the operator was annoying. If I want to take a boat trip there, it will be across Lake Erie to Put in Bay where they have some really good seafood.

Wow.. those photos really show how close this will get to Millennium Force. I have to say, this isn't nearly as nice a location as King Island's.

Well now you'll have something to look at during the island part of Millennium.

Phillup posting on CoasterBuzz that someone is annoying is funny.

I'll agree, Fun. Craming it all on the tiny island is really pushing the creative use of space.

Dinosaurs Alive is just a wannabe Jurassic Park.

Don't drink too much kool-aid, Travis :)

I enjoy PEP3's posts. They add a different POV that other's sometimes don't post (probably out of fear of how they will sound 'OMG'!)

The Dinosaur stuff makes money at the Cedar Fair parks, obviously.... how about that new Iron Shark coaster!? How about the new track on the GA Cyclone!? How bout that new X-Flight!?

CoasterDemon said:

They add a different POV that other's sometimes don't post (probably out of fear of how they will sound 'OMG'!)

Or out of fear that they will get blasted! lol!

Lowkae said:
Well now you'll have something to look at during the island part of Millennium.

I always looked at Terror Island. :(

On my first trip to Universal's IOA I remember standing in line forEVER for a Dinosaur exhibit. Turns out it was this dinosaur lying on its side with a live actor/scientist that was doing some type of an exam on the thing. It breathed, moved its eyes, stuck out its tongue, etc. After all that wait I stood there for a few minutes and thought, "what the heck was THAT all about"?

Thank goodness I didn't pay extra to see that. To be fair, I didn't see anyone, even young kids, who seemed to grasp what it was supposed to be about.

Now, in this case I guess I need to give the CF folks the benefit of the doubt. It was at King's Island all year and apparently made enough money to consider it worthy for some of the other parks.

If this turns out to be the first step in what eventually will be better development of the island then I suppose that is a good thing.

That wasn't just any dinosaur. That was the triceratops from Jurassic Park. Show some respect! (Trivia: That dino is now at the Give Kids The World Village.) I never got to see it, but people tell me it seemed as lifelike as it did in the movie, for a sick dinosaur.

I knew it had some tie in with the movie but I didn't remember what. I just remember there was this great buildup with a huge line and then a major letdown. Sort of like the first time I rode Iron Dragon...though at least I got a nice breeze on Iron Dragon.

The Facebook comments are priceless.

I thought it was pretty cool, mostly because it was the actual dinosaur from the movie. But there was no line when I saw it, and I'd have to admit it that to me, it probably wouldn't have been worth waiting a long time to see.

I remember seeing that trike at Universal Orlando during the 90's. I assume they still have it breathing wherever it is now.

As for the dinos, KI's layout was really big. It took a long time to walk the whole path, a fact that many patrons were complaining about before the end.

Well, IOA didn't open until 1999. I forget when they took it out... it couldn't have been later than 2002 or 2003.

wahoo skipper said:
On my first trip to Universal's IOA I remember standing in line forEVER for a Dinosaur exhibit. Turns out it was this dinosaur lying on its side with a live actor/scientist that was doing some type of an exam on the thing. It breathed, moved its eyes, stuck out its tongue, etc. After all that wait I stood there for a few minutes and thought, "what the heck was THAT all about"?

Thank goodness I didn't pay extra to see that. To be fair, I didn't see anyone, even young kids, who seemed to grasp what it was supposed to be about.

Too high brow for the amusement park crowd.

And no, I'm not being facetious.

The dino was pretty realistic and there was a role playing element to the whole thing that people just didn't seem to get. Eveyone seemed to expect something to happen when the point was to suspend bisbelief and enjoy a real life Jurassic Park moment. We had a friggin' dinosaur here and we had scientist here examining it and willing to answer any questions we had.

All you had to do was play along and you had the bestest of best Busch Gardens, Sea World or regional zoo opportunities right in front of you...except with a living, breathing dinosaur.

The one time I saw it, the group was silent except for one kid who asked repeatedly if the dino was real.

*facepalm*

The scientist replied with, "Yes, of course she is. You're at Jurassic Park."

It was too subtle of an experience for an amusement park, but had so much potential. Gotta play to your audience and from what I saw, it certainly didn't play well to the Orlando tourist crowd.

Too cerebral for the mouth breathers. :)

With all of that said, there was no line when I saw it and I'm not sure it would have been worth a wait. But I always thought it was way better of an idea than people gave it credit for.

What audience do you think it would suit? Rather, what environment would it fit better than an amusement park? I don't remember a whole lot about it, but I think I played along. Admittedly it was a little strange, knowing it was not a real dinosaur. Probably didn't help that I was unmarried with no kids at the time, hanging with a friend.

It was impressive to watch, though.

Perhaps the solution was to set things up so that the *kids* (not the adults) were prepped to ask questions of the "scientist". This is how Turtle Talk works over in Epcot's Seas pavilion, and it is usually great.

Brian Noble said:
Perhaps the solution was to set things up so that the *kids* (not the adults) were prepped to ask questions of the "scientist". This is how Turtle Talk works over in Epcot's Seas pavilion, and it is usually great.

Sure, if you enjoy pointless dopey turtle shows. I mean, Crush gets a Buzz. Pretty dopey if you ask me.

I think Universal took that all more seriously back then. My first visit was in 2001 for the IAAPA social, after the park closed. Apparently when they bussed in large groups like that, they brought them in via the service entrances instead of all at once through the main gate. They brought us in via JP, across from where the Triceratops Encounter was (next to the pizza place). When we arrived, they had a dude in JP uniform with a clipboard and a Jeep there. Once inside, I cut left toward Dueling Dragons, while everyone else went right (if you know that service entrance, you'll understand that would be the natural tendency). No joke, a dude who looked like Dr. Hammond and some other dude in a JP uniform walked by, and they were talking about feeding schedules. Totally in character.

That was the moment IOA became my favorite theme park.