Stuff you might not have known Disney's Animal Kingdom's original thrill attraction!

1 The attraction opened with Animal Kingdom on April 22, 1998 under the name "Countdown to Extinction." At the time, it was the park's main thrill attraction. It was renamed "Dinosaur" to coincide with the release of the Disney film of the same name, though the attraction has no relationship to the film.

2 Carnotaurus is the "big bad dino" of the attraction, but originally the plans called for the T. Rex to feature prominently. Carnotaurus was discovered while the attraction was in the planning stages, so Disney included it instead.

4 The meteor effects are created using a fiber optic effect, similar to the lit sidewalk squares in Epcot, and the Tower of Terror gate column sign at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The explosion as the meteor impacts is created with a small puff of smoke and strobe flash.

5 Dinosaur uses the same enhanced motion vehicle (EMV) technology as the popular Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye in California's Disneyland. In fact, the track layouts are nearly identical.

6 The "Dino Sue" standing outside the attraction is a full-scale replica of the largest and most complete T. Rex ever discovered. It stands 40 feet long and 13 feet tall. The original is at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

7 The Aladar statue in front of the Dinosaur building replaced the original statue of a Styracosaurus.