July 1, 1966 – The Primeval World Attraction Opens on the Disneyland Railroad
“…travel back in time back to the fantastic Primeval World – land of the dinosaurs.”
On July 1, 1966, the diorama on the Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad Primeval World opened in Disneyland. The original attraction was featured at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, as part of Ford’s Magic Skyway. The attraction appears to have been inspired in part by the “Rite of Spring” segment from the 1940 animated feature Fantasia. Using Audio-Animatronics, several dinosaurs are brought to life in a misty swamp area, including an Apatosaurus, a Pteranodon, a Tyrannosaurus, and a Stegosaurus. As more is learned about dinosaurs (such as the renaming of the Brontosaurus to the Apatosaurus), it has created several inaccuracies in the attraction, including the fact that the Stegosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus did not exist in the same time period. A version of the attraction has been created for the Western River Railroad in Tokyo Disneyland, appearing just before the arrival at Adventureland Station.
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