20. Dinosaur
Once a small highway town, Dinoland USA blew up after an amateur fossil hunter accidentally stumbled upon some dinosaur bones in 1947. Since then, scientists have bought most of the area and learned to live with the locals while searching the land for more evidence of prehistoric life.
Two residents, Chester and Hester, also saw the appeal of the new visitors flocking across the country and, determined to make a quick buck, converted their gas station into a chintzy souvenir stand and eventually opened a miniature midway adjacent to the gift shop.
At the center of the town, however, is the main attraction: The Dino Institute, a once secret research facility now open to the public. Here, scientists have perfected time travel technology and are now allowing guests to take trips back in time on scenic tours of prehistory. Following a brief explanation via video chat from Dr. Marsh (Clair Huxtable), she is interrupted by Dr. Seeker (Andy French) who asks guests to participate in a very secret mission: go back in time and find a tagged Iguanodon and bring it back to the present before the dinosaur-killing meteor hits the planet.
What begins as a peaceful search(even under killer time restraints) turns into a race to avoid a hungry Carnotaurus as your Time Rover speeds away, trying to catch the Iguanodon while trying to not get caught itself. The Rover skids left and right, taking steep drops and sharp turns, as the countdown to extinction draws closer.
The strange thing about Dinosaur is that it's virtually similar in track layout to a Disneyland ride that premiered 3 years earlier, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. For some reason, Disney World still doesn't have a legit Indiana Jones ride (we still have that dumb stunt show though). Instead we get dinosaurs.
It's still an incredibly fast paced and exciting ride! But I'm not sure which is better: Indy or dinos.
