Retheme Rumors for Disney World’s Dinosaur Ride as Merchandise Pulled from Shelves

While Disney’s Dinosaur, from back in 2000, might not be as much of a crowd-pleaser as Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, its ride at Walt Disney World Resort has long been a favorite of dinosaur fans visiting the park.

The ride, which sends riders on a mission to bring a 3.5-ton Iguanadon back to the present, was originally opened back in 1998. However, back then, it was called “Countdown to Extinction” and is found in the parks DinoLand USA, located at Animal Kingdom. 

While many park-goers feel the right is a little dated at this point, and frankly, it is one of the few rides in the park that has a comparatively short wait time, the ride remains a must-ride attraction for dinosaur fans.

News broke last week that merchandise from the movie inside the ride’s gift shop has been taken off the shelves – a move that has led many fans to questions whether or not the Dinosaur ride might be getting a retheme.

The story – as reported by WDW News Today – includes a series of pictures from the ride’s gift shop, which have since had all their Dinosaur’s merchandise replaced with Disney products from different franchises.

Disney is already in the process of retheming several rides at the park, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary later this year, including Splash Mountain. Given that these projects are still underway, so it’s pretty unlikely that the park would take on another massive retheming exercise before at least completing this.

There’s so far been no official communication from the park about the rumored retheme of Dinosaur. There are, of course, no shortage of newer franchises that would be well-suited to the Animal Kingdom part of the park, such as 2021’s Raya and the Last Dragon.

Only time will tell whether or not the ride gets an overhaul, being rethemed to another Disney franchise, or if – as some fans on social media have suggested – that merchandise is getting an update as part of the 50th-anniversary festivities later in the year.