I saw recently that a new permit was filed in the transformation of Dinoland into Pueblo Esperanza / Tropical Americas land, and I immediately had to check on my beloved Boneyard (well, Zoe’s beloved, really). Unfortunately, it’s now time to confirm what we expected. The Boneyard will be destroyed and replaced by something entirely different.
My Last Hopes
The writing was on the wall, of course. Dinoland USA will be demolished and replaced by the new land. I never doubted that. My hopes had long been that Disney would transform The Boneyard into a new play area. As I wrote in a recent musing, The Boneyard is one of the last spaces of its kind at Disney World. While Disneyland’s Toontown playground is one of our family’s favorite parts of that park, there’s so little like it in Disney World. With Tom Sawyer Island also disappearing soon, we’re going to lose even more in this regard.
Some of the amazing playground in Disneyland’s Toontown
But it isn’t in the cards…
The New Permit
The new permit, filed with the Water Management District and well-reported by BlogMickey, includes detailed diagrams of the before and after of the transformation. I’m not going to show both of those, but below are two photos. The first is a satellite view of Dinoland USA, with the Boneyard noted, the second is a cropped verison of the “after” diagram, showing how the new land will be laid out:
Copyright Google
On the bottom image, the Boneyard, at the top of the image, is now largely covered by a “blue” area, indicating a structure.
Specifically, it’s a circular structure with rectangles on other side—i.e., a carousel with queue / exit awnings. It’s the new carousel, which is what we predicted from the layout presented in the concept art months ago:
Keep in mind we don’t know when the Boneyard will close, but it will be sometime after January 13, as that closure only includes TriceraTop Spin (the aerial carousel ride), Fossil Fun Games (the carnival games), and Chester & Hester's Dinosaur Treasures (the store).
Closing Thoughts
Our family will miss the Boneyard. But we also consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to have gotten to spend so much time in it with Zoe at such a perfect age for it.
As much as I look forward to Animal Kingdom getting some of the work that it’s needed for a while now, I’m disappointed at the shrinking space for kids to run around being kids. Especially in our screen-centric age, it’s important that a family be able to break from the comforts of home and do something that isn’t just waiting in line (or staring at a screen in hopes of skipping the line).
I will reserve judgment on the changes until they’re actually completed. It’s possible, bordering on probable, that Disney will find a way to use the space they have to create new interactive elements.
That said, it’s worth pointing out that this problem seems so specific to Disney World. Disney World will cut two play areas this year, while Universal Orlando recently opened the play-filled DreamWorks Land and Disneyland, as noted above, has amazing play elements in Toontown. (Epcot’s Journey of Water is an exception that proves the rule. It’s an over-crowded, one-direction walkthrough space where most of the interactivity involves things like waving a hand or standing in the right spot.)
So, we’ll see. At least for some time, Disney World will be short of play areas. But with so much on the horizon—Frontierland Cars area, Villains land, Tropical Americas land, and Monsters Inc. land—Disney World has plenty of opportunity to keep up with an emerging trend toward useful, interactive spaces.
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