Y’all…we’re so sad. The day we’ve been dreading for YEARS is finally here, and we don’t know how to feel.

Today, DinoLand, U.S.A will OFFICIALLY close for good to make way for the new Tropical Americas retheme coming to Animal Kingdom. While we said goodbye to part of the land in early 2025, we got to keep Dinosaur for just over another year, but now it’s time to say goodbye, and we’re here to capture EVERY moment for you.
We know, we’re just as sad as you are, but we’ve got to push past it to bring you an unbiased view of everything happening inside Animal Kingdom today for this land’s last day!

Of course, when we stepped inside the park, we headed straight for DinoLand, and it appeared we were far from the only ones. However, for as many of us that were heading straight to Dinosaur, there were just as many people, if not more, heading for Pandora to rope drop.

When we arrived to the ride right around 8 AM, it was sitting at around a 30 minute wait. We started walking through the outdoor queue, which moved relatively consistently. Before we knew it, we were inside to have our first ride of the day.

When we got off of our first ride, it was around 9 AM, and the wait time had jumped up to 65 minutes! However, we do expect the wait time to continue to climb throughout the day, so if you’re heading over, be sure to pack your patience.

If you’re looking to grab some merchandise from the ride, you’ll want to stop by the gift shop at the end of the ride, The Dino Institute Shop, but beware, the lines here were long this morning too.

The most popular items being grabbed, that we saw, were the remote controlled ride vehicles, as well as the dinosaur puppets. It’s possible these could sell out throughout the day, so if you want one, act fast!

As it’s FREEZING outside this morning (and we mean that for real — it feels like it’s below freezing!), we headed into Restaurantosaurus to warm up for a bit and switch out our FuelRod. This is also the final day for this spot, but when we visited, it wasn’t open just yet, but there were plenty of people inside with the same idea we had — to get warm!

We’ve also already gotten to see some AMAZING guest costumes, such as this outfit from @dinolanddan on Blue Sky! Not only is his outfit itself amazing, but he’s got a specific detail that has us losing our minds.

He’s even got his own card that says who he is, and that he’s a Staff Archivist in DinoLand! We’re obsessed, Danny, this is brilliant.

We caught word that right around 11 AM, there would be a special Dr. Seeker Disney fan meetup in front of the attraction. We wondered just how many would show up, and WOW! That’s a lot of Dr. Seekers!

Right around 12:30 PM, our jaws DROPPED at seeing the wait time had jumped up to 180 minutes! We won’t be surprised to see this continue to rise throughout the day.

It got higher though, because right around 3:15 PM, the wait time was up to 245 minutes! It’s been MONTHS since we’ve seen anything even close to this in Disney World as a whole, so this is pretty groundbreaking.

By the time 8 PM hit, the wait had dropped to 100 minutes, but that’s still over an hour and a half of waiting in a LONG outdoor queue in the FREEZING cold. And yet? People were doing it with a smile, because they wanted to be one of the last to ride this beloved attraction — ourselves included!

We loved seeing the ride lit up one last time, and we took a mental snapshot to hold with us for forever. It took us about 70 minutes to make it inside the building, and then it was about 9:30 PM when we got off our final ride and said goodbye for good.

Want to see more recent Animal Kingdom news? Check out our posts below!
More Animal Kingdom News!
- Who Is Disney World’s Afternoon Ticket Deal Actually For?
- This Disney World Hotel Hack Can Change Your Whole Trip
- SNEAK PEEK at NEW Bluey Snacks Coming to Disney World
- Why Rope Drop Will ALWAYS Be Important in Magic Kingdom
- The NEW Disney World Afternoon Ticket Changes Everything — Here’s Your Game Plan
We’ll be sure to keep you updated as construction begins in this area for Tropical Americas, so be sure to stay tuned to AllEars for all the updates!
Read more about Tropical Americas and DinoLand’s Transformation right here!
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How do you feel about DinoLand closing? Tell us in the comments!

When I was there on Friday, I noticed several people in white lab coats taking photos at the Dinosaur posters. I thought they were perhaps Disney cast members, but seeing your post here, I now realize they were dressed as Dr. Seeker!