Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama! is a throwback to the kitschy roadside attractions of America's past. Just as Main Street U.S.A. brought back fond memories of a simpler time for Guests in the 1950s, Dino-Rama! is rooted in similar nostalgia. It transports today's Guests to those family road trips in the back of the station wagon to see the world's largest ball of twine, South of the Border or a collection of giant, candy-colored cement dinosaurs.
Similar to Main Street, Dino-Rama! also presents itself through rose-tinted glasses. No roadside carnival was ever this well done, this clean, or this friendly. The Disney version is the idealized version. Here, even the games of chance have a winner every time.
The look of roadside Americana has been lovingly duplicated throughout Dino-Rama! From chasing rim lights to airbrushed character art, all the expected details are there. In true Disney style, though, everything is amped up a few notches. Take the TriceraTop Spin for example:
First, there's the clever word play on Triceratops. The entire attraction is designed to look like an oversize tin toy from the past, a child's spinning top. Notice the baby trike sitting high up on the handle and the threads of the screw where that handle twists into the top of the toy.
Once the giant toy is set into motion, that's when it really comes to life. The dinos around the perimeter rise into the air, as if being lifted magically by a flurry of golden stars. As they go higher, the top opens to reveal other trikes who bob up and down. Watch for the asteroids, though, as they fly around the edge of the top. They threaten to bring an end to our dino fun, but even after we come safely back down to earth, we know we can just get right back in line and do it all again.
Excellent! It makes me sad that the wonderfully detailed theming and storyline of Chester and Hester's is missed by so many who just see it as "Oh, Disney needed something quick here so they just threw up some carnival rides and games."
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, the back-story here is interesting, but it's still just so contradictory to almost everything else that's ever been created inside a Disney park. I completely get the story here, and I think it's fun, but it just doens't seem to fit inside a Disney theme park. I was there in October, and the rides are looking kinda shabby with paint and some of the decorations on the buildings and rides "ageing" pretty well, it didn't look "Disney-like".
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