Following D23 we have a very a lot to look forward to at Disney Parks. A great deal of new attractions at Disney World are planned for the next several years. The recent announcement that work is set to begin soon on the Tropical Americas area of Disney’s Animal Kingdom has a lot of Walt Disney World fans quite excited.
Dinoland U.S.A. has been underused for years, and the news the new land will be receiving attractions dedicated to Encanto and Indiana Jones is a lot to look forward to. However, there is one beloved attraction that will have to go to make room for what’s new, and when Dinosaur finally closes it will also end a nearly three-decade run for Bill Nye The Science Guy at Walt Disney World.
It's sad when moments like this happen, and Bill Nye is a pretty iconic figure for many who grew up with him. It will certainly be sad to see him go.
Bill Nye The Science Guy Had An Impressive Run At Walt Disney World
Bill Nye’s relationship with Disney goes back to the early 1990s when his self-titled TV series was produced by the company. Perhaps that was why, in the late ‘90s the famed educator could be found in three different places at Walt Disney World. However, two of those three attractions are already gone, and as one fan pointed out on Twitter, the third is now on the chopping block.
In 1996 Epcot’s Universe of Energy attraction got a massive update and was transformed into Ellen’s Energy Adventure. While Ellen DeGeneres got her name in the show, Bill Nye was just as big a part of the video/animatronic adventure. The story saw Nye taking DeGeneres through a history of the discovery and use of different forms of energy. The show ran for more than 20 years, lasting longer than the original version of the attraction, before being replaced by Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
In 1998 two more attractions would be added that would include Nye. At DisneyQuest at Disney Springs, he would be seen as part of the CyberSpace Mountain game. Then, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, he would be included in the Dinosaur attraction, giving guests facts about the creatures.
DisneyQuest would close in 2017, to make way for the ill-fated NBA Experience. That left Dinosaur as the one place that Bill Nye could be found in the parks. But we know that at some point, sooner rather than later, Bill Nye will be gone entirely.
Dinosaur’s Days Are Numbered At Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
When the new Tropical Americas area at Disney’s Animal Kingdom was officially announced to be replacing Dinoland U.S.A., it was all but confirmed that Dinosaur was dead. Sure enough, at D23 this year Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro confirmed that construction on the area would begin soon, meaning Dinosaur was on the way out.
The exact date that Dinosaur, and by extension Bill Nye, will disappear from Disney World is unclear. D’Amaro said the Tropical Americas construction would be done in phases, so even if work begins soon, that doesn’t mean Dinosaur will close on the day that work starts. D’Amaro specifically mentioned fans having a bit more time to say goodbye to Dinosaur, indicating it will be open for at least a while during construction.
The show building for Dinosaur is expected to be the home of the new Indiana Jones attraction. The current attraction uses the same ride infrastructure as the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland, and the new ride is expected to use the same design, though it will be a completely new story and, one assumes, use the newest version of the technology.
Maybe Disney Parks will find a way to put Bill Nye back in an attraction somehow. We are expecting a new version of Test Track at Epcot next year, which is reportedly going to contain elements of the original World of Motion attraction. Maybe, if there's a scientific look at the history of our "world of motion" Bill Nye can be the one to explain it to us.
