It's The Last Day Of Dinosaur In Animal Kingdom

 I cannot believe Dinosaur is closing in Animal Kingdom.

It's this ride in the dark that jerks you around as you sit in a jeep. You're supposed to be finding a certain dinosaur and it's just...well, okay, it's a bit cheesy, but we love it. It opened in 1998. 

And now, today, February 1st, is the last day. An Indiana Jones ride will be replacing it. And yes, we did enjoy the ride in Disneyland, but it's just not...Dinosaur.

We visited Animal Kingdom over the summer and made sure to experience the ride one last time. In fact, my daughter even dressed up as the paleontologist that speaks to everyone before the ride, Dr. Grant Seeker. He wants everyone to search for a specific dinosaur that went missing called the iguanodon. 

The outside of the ride has dinosaurs, and it's sad that it's going to be GONE. We liked checking out all the fossils. 

We are going to miss all the photo ops. 

We've been seriously taking pics since the kids were tiny:

Plus, there are actual artifacts inside. Natalie would actually take the time to see what they all were. 

We ended up going on the ride twice so we can remember it the best we could. It's going to be sad not hearing "THEY'RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT, THEY'RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!" at the end and then hearing the relieved, "They MADE it." 

I guess we won't be making it anymore. 

Natalie had to purchase a dino hand puppet in the store. She named him Barnaby. He's stamped with Dinosaur so we'll always know where he came from.

I picked up this magnet. I wanted a pin, but they sold out. I guess the ride is truly in the past now. *Sniffles*

I am sure we'll enjoy the new Indiana Jones ride. But ugh. Poor Dinosaur.

We took one last look at our beloved ride as we walked away. Farewell, Dr. Seeker. Farewell, jeep that made my back twist. Farewell, that certain smell that could only come from the ride.

Farewell, Dinosaur. You will never be forgotten.