| Kingdom of the
Dinosaurs
In 1987, Knott’s
foreshadowed the dinosaur craze by replacing Knott’s Bear-y Tales
with Kingdom of the Dinosaurs, a trek into prehistory complete with
21 animated creatures and environmental special effects. The
attraction opened just in time to capture the craze for everything
dinosaurs, thus making 1987 one of the best years on record. |
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The Entrance
to Kingdom of the Dinosaurs. |
Courtesy of
http://www.ussangeles.org/
Signs on the entrance ramp help to set the story. |
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As of Summer 2007, the signs were still
there. |
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Courtesy of
http://www.ussangeles.org/
Inside the attraction, the professor warns, "Go Back. My
time machine is on!!" |
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Courtesy of
http://www.ussangeles.org/ |
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Courtesy of
http://www.ussangeles.org/ |
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Courtesy of
http://www.ussangeles.org/ |
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Courtesy of Tony Turner
As a whole, Kingdom of the Dinosaurs was
a great attraction that was very popular with guests. Many of
the sets were very well done and fit well with the family-friendly
charm of Knott's. |
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Courtesy of Tony Turner
Unfortunately, KOD died an embarrassing
death. For the last year or so of its operation, the cars were
joined together in three long trains which stopped at the station
for loading. This served to pacify the safety gods,
but also caused the entire ride to come to a stop, halting movement
inside the show building for 5-10 minutes at a time. |
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Courtesy of Tony Turner
Employees would come out of the shadows
with flashlights, to make sure everyone was still seating and had
not unlatched the seatbelts that had recently been installed.
The trains never moved faster than a few feat per second, but
seatbelts were mandated anyway. |
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Kingdom of the Dinosaurs unceremoniously
closed in 2004. The show building remains unused, except for the
arcade and Laser Tag area downstairs. |
|
The Boardwalk - 1990s
|
Windjammer Surf
Racers |
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