The Great Experiment

The next stop was the Kali River Rapids ride. Yes, it soaked me thoroughly, but there really wasn't much to it other than bumping along the riverbanks in an oversized inner tube. I much prefer Splash Mountain to this.

And then, on to Dinoland to ride Countdown to Extinction! Er, no, wait... it's already extinct; they renamed it to 'Dinosaur' to tie in with the film, and tamed it down a lot for kids, or so I heard.

A tentosaurus

Dinoland is now sponsored by McDonalds, and it shows -- McDonalds logos are everywhere. In fact, the only thing that doesn't appear to have anything to do with McDonalds is the McDonalds restaurant itself, right there in Dinoland, but tastefully decorated to match that area of the park.

They do have a sense of humor, fortunately.

I made it to the ride, and finally there was a line I had to stand in for about half an hour or so.

"What's this about a giant meteor wiping out the dinosaurs?"

Right before you board the ride, look up -- there are red and yellow pipes on which are printed the chemical formulas for ketchup and mustard, or at least that's what I've heard they're supposed to be. (Can anyone verify this, or identify the formula on the white pipe? Maybe that one is mayonnaise or tartar sauce?)

These were part of the ride long before McDonalds was

The ride has been tamed down a lot. It was built with the same ride mechanics as the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, but this Dinosaur ride is in darkness much more than Indy is, probably because they don't have a lot of scenery set up in it to see. There are times when the truck appeared to be moving half as quickly and shaking only half as much as it used to when I rode it last year while it was still 'Countdown to Extinction,' and at one point in the ride (I think it's where boulder rolls down towards you in the Indy version), the scientist/tourguide shouted 'We've lost traction!' then the truck came to a halt in the almost-dark, still shaking feebly but otherwise not moving for probably a good twenty seconds or so... long enough for those of us on board to start looking at each other wondering if the ride had glitched, before it suddenly turned and went on its way. I have no idea whether or not that was intentional, but either way, this ride has nothing on Indy.

I saw the weirdest sight on the way out of the Dinosaur ride: what appeared to be a 'drool bowl' for a dinosaur head mounted on a wall. This wasn't a drinking fountain; its sole purpose appeared to be to catch the water dribbling from the dino's mouth.

Dino slobber

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