Taken For A Ride

Yesterday, Dan and I went to Disney's Animal Kingdom to check out a new ride. They expanded the "Dinoland, U.S.A." part of the park with a tacky, road-side attraction area called "Chester & Hester's DinoRama." They had already opened part of the area, featuring carnival games and "Triceratops Spin," the latest variation of the Dumbo-ride genre. Yesterday's venture put us on "Primeval Whirl," a variation on the mad-mouse coaster. The 4-person cars are circular, and have the capability of spinning for roughly half the ride. And I do mean roughly. The hairpin corners gave my shoulders quite a beating.

We took advantage of FastPass by getting the pass, riding in the standby line, and then going back on our FastPass time. The ride is supposedly the mom-and-pop version of the time-travelling Dinosaur next door, and the cars appear to be made of leftover Chevy parts. As you climb the main hill, arched signs covered in various types of clocks alert you to how far back in time you are travelling (back to "older than dirt"), finishing with my favorite design flourish, a kitchen-timer "ding" when you're at the top of the hill. Very tacky-tourist fodder.

There are two separate tracks, but they appear to be identical. I'd say it's worth waiting 20-30 minutes for depending on weather. There's always FastPass, but we found little to do in the 15 minutes we waited for our FastPasses to become usable.