It’s back to nature week with Theme Park Rangers Radar with stops at Orlando Science Center to look at the little picture and at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and DinoLand to observe prehistoric happenings courtesy of the perhaps-endangered Dinosaur ride.
Radar is a weekly roundup of theme park news and nuggets. It appears on OrlandoSentinel.com on Wednesdays.
Nearby nature calls
The “Backyard Adventures” exhibit brings the great outdoors to the indoors of Orlando Science Center. The displays, which debuted Oct. 1, concentrate on close-to-home nature. We’re looking at plants, insects, vegetables and an enclosure that concentrates on nocturnal animals.
“I think that the best exhibits use technology as a tool that feed the experience, and I think this exhibit does a really nice job of that,” said Jeff Stanford, vice president of marketing at the science center..
Kids make a beeline for the bee exhibit, which gives a bee’s POV flying through a garden. It’s next to a treadmill that allows folks to virtually walk through the four seasons.
The “Digging in the Dirt” display uses projections to colorful illuminate some (faux) soil, which gives it that Zen garden vibe. Spread out your hand to make it rain, the instructions say. A digital “food web pond” shows off a food chain that goes from algae through koi to kookaburra.
There’s a garden-inspired miniature-golf area that encourages togetherness.
“This company does a really great job of exhibit design to develop opportunities that can engage the entire family, and then they kind of integrate that science learning,” Stanford said.
The exhibit is a product of Scitech, a company based in Australia, which could explain the reference to kookaburra and, elsewhere, to the common cocklebur.
“Backyard Adventures” will be at the Loch Haven Park museum through Jan. 9. It’s helping fill a void after its NatureWorks exhibit was closed to make way for an expanded offering called Life.
“There was a conscious decision to find something outdoors-specific while our nature exhibit is under construction to kind of that need,” Stanford said. There are also regular animal encounter on the museum’s fourth floor.
Life is scheduled to open in spring of 2024.
Dark days at Dinosaur
When Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, announced there will be changes to DinoLand, a section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, he didn’t shout “Death to Dinosaur!”
But a lot of people were thinking it.
DinoLand, D’Amaro said at a Destination D23 gathering, will be reimaged into an area themed to the “tropical Americas.” And that could include “Encanto” attractions and “Indiana Jones” themes, and since Dinosaur famously has the same track layout as the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland in California, it was easy to speculate.
It got me thinking how long it had been since I’d been on Dinosaur. It was certainly pre-pandemic times, so I was overdue to return and confirm some longstanding impressions.
• Before: I correctly remembered a pre-show with Phylicia Rashad in charge and Wallace Langham going behind her back to mess with time travel. I still liked the skeletons on display and felt like it might actually be Epcot-level educational in there, but the line was short and there little time to fact check.
• During: The seat in the ride vehicle was firm and surprisingly comfortable. But that didn’t matter after we started moving through the bumpy 3-minute course, much of it in pitch black darkness and being chased by dinosaurs. (Later fact check: Sure enough, an Iguanodon was a real thing.)
• After: I watched a kid lift a dino-toy from the gift-shop exit, but the aghast mom intercepted. I’ve always liked the long patio exit there, good for sitting and waiting if holding the purses. And also I’m not a giant DinoLand carnival fan – just too Gatlinburg for me – I do like Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, a shop with loads of decor and side aisles.
Next week: Return to “It’s Tough to be a Bug,” also endangered at Animal Kingdom.
Three two-sentence updates
• The long-standing, ever-spinning globe outside Universal Studios hasn’t been broken. It has been undergoing regular maintenance, the resort says.
• SeaWorld’s Howl-O-Scream was voted the top theme park Halloween event by USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. A panel of experts sets the nominations, then readers can vote once a day in each current category.
• Walt Disney World has reinstated watercraft service between the Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness campground. The blue route travels on Bay Lake during the afternoons and evenings.
Weekend outlook
• On the intense fright-fest front, Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights continues nightly Wednesday through Sunday, and SeaWorld Orlando’s Howl-O-Scream runs Friday through Sunday.
• On the family-friendly side in the parks, SeaWorld’s Spooktacular is Friday through Sunday; Legoland Florida’s Brick-or-Treat is Saturday and Sunday; and Fun Spot’s Orlando and Kissimmee locations have Halloween festivities on Saturday and Sunday. (Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom is sold out for the rest of the season.)
• At Pirates Dinner Adventure, the “Vampirates” version of the show is running Thursday, Saturday and select nights through Oct. 31.
• The Outta Control Spooktacular Magic Dinner Show returns to WonderWorks Orlando on Friday, running through Oct. 31.
• Mermaids are making return appearances at Sea Life Orlando Aquarium – in the tank and on dry land – on Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday in October.
• At Orange County Regional History Center, Friday’s Lunch & Learn topic is “For Filmmaker by Filmmakers: The Orlando Film Festival Story.” The museum’s Sam Rivers 100 event is Saturday and includes a panel discussion at 2 p.m. and a concert by the Sam Rivers Rejuvenation Orchestra at the Social in downtown Orlando at 7 p.m.
• The Eat to the Beat concert series, part of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, features Mark Wills on Friday and Saturday, then Sugar Ray on Sunday and Monday.
• Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is holding Taste of Space: Fall Bites through Nov. 5. Its Marstini Shake-Off is Friday.
What’s on your radar? Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com.
