By Jim Carchidi - with excerpts from social media posts by Joe Rohde
February 6, 2026
Fans of DinoLand U.S.A. at Disney’s Animal Kingdom bid a fond farewell on Feb. 2 as the area officially closed after 28 years. The land will be replaced with the 11-acre Tropical Americas section, opening in 2027 and featuring new scenery and experiences based on Encanto and Indiana Jones.
Joe Rohde - Image courtesy of The Walt Disney Co.
Among the creative minds responsible for DinoLand is Joe Rohde, who led the design and development of Animal Kingdom and other Walt Disney Co. projects. His love of nature, conservation and culture was an inspiration throughout his 40-year career. Since retiring in 2021, Rohde has documented his travels, conservation efforts and Disney memories on social media. And the closing of DinoLand inspired him to post stories and fun facts that deepen the appreciation of the park and the creative process behind it.
First version
Rohde describes how DinoLand U.S.A. was originally conceived as Animal Kingdom’s second safari, with guests riding prehistoric animals.
Joe Rohde describes the first vision of DinoLand as a dinosaur safari, complete with animated ride vehicles. He posted paintings of safari concepts to his Instagram account. All images are from Rohde's posts.
“This was going to be a semi-outdoor attraction experience where guests would be riding in howdahs on the backs of ankylosaurs. The areas with the animated dinosaurs would have been in forests that were sort of like giant tree-themed shade structures to protect them from rain and UV. It was a slower, calmer, more safari-like experience, except for the part where the Utahraptors attacked.”
Rohde says the difficulties in creating an outdoor animated vehicle, and dealing with native birds and bugs led to the Dinosaur dark ride.
Form follows function
Rohde explains how the animatronic figures in the Dinosaur ride could not be scientifically accurate because of their purpose.
“Dinosaur is a fast dark ride, and had we created very subtle and nuanced dinosaurs, much of that detail would be lost in the darkness and the speed. So the exaggeration hopefully evens out a bit in the experience. Some of the dinosaurs are a bit bigger than they would have really been, this is also a function of darkness and speed.”
He also details the functional design of the Carnotaurus animatronic.
“It is an extremely thick muscular chunky version of whatever that dinosaur must have been. This is not because there was such a creature, in fact, we had to invent our Carnotaurus Robustus. It is because we had to fit a bunch of animation equipment inside of it, and it wouldn’t fit in the slender gracile creature that a Carnotaurus truly was.”
DIY
The giant painting in DinoLand's Restaurantosaurus venue was actually painted by Rohde himself as a means of working within the project budget. “Basically, we were running out of money to buy props,” he writes, “so I got a space in the sculpture shop at Imagineering and I just painted it.”
He explains the painting is an homage to the work of early 20th century Paleo-artist, Charles Knight. “That is why the anatomy and styling is not quite accurate… cuz it’s supposed to be an old painting, like from the 1940s.”
Rohde also points out the original painting contains a Triceratops but he replaced it with his favorite dinosaur, a Styracosaurus.
Creative solutions
The story behind the fossils that were on exhibit when the DinoLand first opened is also recounted.
“You can’t underestimate how tight the budget was for this park. This is one of the reasons we had to be so clever with our storytelling/design concepts,” Rohde explains. “That’s why one of the attractions that opened the park was a tent full of reconstructed Dino fossils bought from suppliers who serve the museum world. Cheap. But also interesting and very real…which is on brand for Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Together with the real lab facility, where we helped prepare the skeleton of Sue the Tyrannosaurus together with the Field Museum, this was, at the time, actually one of the more extensive and impressive paleontological public exhibits in the Southeast USA.”
All in the details
The fossil exhibit was replaced with Chester and Hester’s Dino-Rama, designed as a roadside carnival fair to attract tourists visiting to the nearby dino dig site. The gift shop is an old gas station refurbished by Chester and Hester, and the rides are meant to resemble hand-made structures.
“The little clips on the Triceratop Spin make it look as if they are giant toys,” Rohde writes. “We have to believe that a guy who used to repair cars could hammer out these rather droll triceratops from scrap metal…so far so good. We also then have to believe that Chester, (or Hester) would want to play a little conceptual scale game by making a giant toy top that was accurate down to the little clips that hold the metal parts together. I think that’s a little harder to believe… but it’s still funny.”
Passing the torch
The last DinoLand post includes a shoutout to Disney staff who were able to create the Tropical America land, which Rohde said he had attempted for years.
"Up until the day of my retirement, my team and I tried for fifteen years to get a Tropical America land into this park and many such design attempts involved gutting DinoLand to do it," he writes. “They are excellent. The level of research involved is excellent. The sophistication of the detail is excellent. Their commitment to the vision of the park is unwavering,” he wrote.
“Parks exist to create memories. DinoLand created memories. Those memories still exist and they are the true product, not the property itself. The new land will create more memories and they too will be treasured.”
Rohde's posts are available in their entirety on Instagram.
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About the Author
Jim Carchidi is an Orlando journalist and photographer with previous work at the Orlando Sentinel and Orlando Business Journal. He covers development, arts, culture, and local stories for The Orlando Real.
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