In Dinoland, U.S.A., the Dino Institute is still the main show in town, funding all the excavation work and sponsoring the museum and its Time Rover Tours. With the influx of tourists, though, other enterprises have grown up and cashed in over the years. Chester and Hester may have started small with their service station turned Dino Emporium, but they've since expanded in a big way.
Drivers can't miss the signs as they pass along Highway 498 into Diggs County. Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama! is straight ahead. Situated beneath a giant, smiling "Cement-osaurus," it's a loving homage to those kitschy roadside attractions of the past.
Chester and Hester have taken over the old parking lot across the street from the Dinosaur Treasures store and turned it into a bright and colorful dino-extravaganza, sure to capture the attention of anyone driving by who might be heading to those far-less-exciting attractions offered by the Dino Institute.
Contrary to popular myth, the original construction of Dino-Rama! at Disney's Animal Kingdom did not simply involve pushing back the berm and setting things up on an old Cast Member parking lot. On the contrary, the parking lot look of this area was hand-crafted for Dino-Rama! by the Imagineers who designed it. Believe it or not, it was actually more challenging for the team to create the look of realistically worn asphalt (out of more durable concrete) than it was to do the naturalistic hardscape seen in the rest of the park.
Throughout Dino-Rama! you can find evidence of Chester and Hester's creative recycling of old items they had around the place. Discarded tires have been cut down and painted to create curbs. The base of an old lamp post has been welded together with a couple of birdbath basins for a drinking fountain. Even the license plate collection the couple had amassed over the years has come in handy, as both a border for flower beds and various hand-painted signs at the attractions.
The camper they once used to travel has been re-purposed as a Dino Diner (When Animal Kingdom opened, this was up at the current location of the TriloBites stand. It moved here when Dino-Rama! opened in 2001.)
There's lots of cheesy fun to be had at Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama!
But wait... Don't go just yet! There's more to do here than just look around. Come back tomorrow, and we'll have more dino details for you...
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