Welcome New Interns

The story of Dinoland, U.S.A. is told through the relationships between several distinct groups of characters, each with a passion for dinosaurs that is sometimes at odds with one another. The first groups we meet are paleontologists, legitimate scientists whose work is being funded by the Dino Institute, and the graduate student interns who are working with them.

This bulletin board, placed just across from the Boneyard active dig site, is filled with details that help flesh out the story of these groups. Front and center is this letter from Dr. Bernard Dunn, welcoming the new batch of interns. The text of the memo tells us a lot about Dunn's personality and point of view, especially with phrases like, "the seriousness of the scholarly endeavor on which you are about to embark" and "I am certain... that you will serve with diligence, dignity and decorum."

A glance around the rest of the board, though, indicates Dunn may not quite get his wish of a perfectly professional batch of interns. Even his posted plea to "Keep the board clean!" has been ignored, as the students have covered the space with clippings, doodles and personal ads.

It looks like Dunn is planning a trip to the Dinosaur National Monument (on the Colorado and Utah border). He's looking for someone to house-sit while he's gone, but he may be hard pressed to find a grad student who fits his bill: "tidy, responsible, trustworthy, fastidious, nonsmoker, no pets, no visitors, no fun."

We'll see more of the conflict between the stodgy professors and the rambunctious grad students elsewhere in Dinoland. Back to the bulletin board, though, we have more to discover. This newspaper clipping (below) does a number of things. First, it introduces us to the rest of the main characters in this part of the story. There are the professors: Dr. Bernard Dunn, Dr. Shirley Woo, Dr. Eugene McGee and Dr. Tina Lee. And there are this year's crop of interns: Mark Rios, Jenny Weinstein and Sam Gonzales.

It also foreshadows key elements of the Dinoland story that will come later in our adventure. The lead article discusses Dr. Helen Marsh's appointment as the new Director of the Dino Institute and is followed by a story on Marsh's recent partnership with a firm called Chrono-Tech. Chrono-Tech is a small "relativity lab" out of Arizona, whose work has been described as "temporal peregrination and artifact recovery." Hmmmm...

Finally, up in a corner of the bulletin board, intern Jenny Weinstein has posted a hand-drawn map of the area. It looks like she's expecting visitors today (us, perhaps?), but just can't pull herself away from her work. She must be really, REALLY busy, though, because this map pretty much describes Dinoland, U.S.A. as it appeared in April 1998 when the park opened. There are attractions that no longer exist (Fossil Prep Lab and Dinosaur Jubilee were on the site that is now Dino-Rama) and animal exhibits that have changed (Chinese Alligators have been replaced by an American Crocodile). The "exhibit" at the Dino Institute is even listed under its original title, Countdown to Extinction (the name changed to Dinosaur in 2000).

It just goes to show that details like this can be easily overlooked, but for those who take the time to stop and study them, they offer deep insight into the stories told in the Disney Parks.