Dino Institute

**The Dino Institute** is a group from the attraction *Dinosaur (Countdown to Extinction)* and the *DinoLand, U.S.A.* area of *Disney's Animal Kingdom*.

## Description

The Dino Institute is an advanced science-institute of palaeontology. They focus on the sciences of exploration, excavation and exultation along with more experimental means of studying prehistoric life. They are based out of the tourist-trap town of DinoLand, U.S.A. in Diggs County, Florida.

## History

The skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex was found in Diggs County in 1947, resulting in an influx of paleontological activity. The Dino Institute was the result of this and was established two years later in 1949. They made their base out of an old fishing-lodge in the town and primarily did their work via excavations in the area known as, "The Boneyard". On the April 22 of 1978, the Institute moved to a new museum location in Diggs County leaving their old base to become the themed restaurant, "Restaurantosaurus".

In the 1990s, they were run by one Dr. Helen Marsh who advanced the Dino Institute. She would buy out the experimental science company known as Chrono-Tech which was attempting to develop time-travel. With Dino Institute funding, Chrono-Tech managed to invent the time-machines known as the *CTX Time Rovers* which the Dino Institute used for paleontological field-studies. Marsh would go on to open the Dino Institute to the public and offer prehistoric safaris in the Time Rovers so that the institute could gain additional funding.

At some point in time, Dr. Grant Seeker hacked into a standard Time-Rover tour and took them moments before the K-T Extinction Event to extract an Iguanodon which he had put a tracker on in a previous expedition. This impromptu field mission turned nightmarish quickly with guests being hunted down by a Floridian Carnotaurus and only narrowly escaping the impact of the Chicxulub meteor. The rovers were brought back along with the probed iguanodon which would go on to wreck havoc throughout the institute; the ramifications of this event for those involved are unknown.

## Appearances and allusions

### Disney Springs Christmas Tree Trail

A poster for the Dino Institute in the town of Disney Springs with a message from Dr. Seeker that is asking for assistance in finding Aladar's whereabouts. The message also conveys that he is keeping the iguanodon's escape a secret from Dr. Marsh.

## Connections

### Adventurers Club

In the Boneyard, employee Sam Gonzales quotes late-president Theodore Roosevelt. In the parks mythos, Teddy Roosevelt was one of the original members of Merriweather Adam Pleasure's Adventurers Club.

### Dinosaur (film)

The iguanodon which Seeker saved from extinction was Aladar, the protagonist of the 2000 Disney animated film *Dinosaur*.

### Up

Several of the missions in the Wilderness Explorers game pertain to the *Dino Institute* which is the organization responsible for the attraction. Of note there is the Dinosaur Badge has guests assisting in excavation within Diggs County's, "Boneyard". It is likely that the Institute was affiliated in some way with the Wilderness Explorers organization.

## Trivia

* The dinosaur on the Dino Institute's logo is a Styracosaurus, this being the favourite dinosaur of imagineer Joe Rohde.
* Despite supposedly being a pristine institute in the field of palaeontology, the Institute makes several contrived and erroneous statements in the classifications found within their museum and computers in their CTX-Time Rovers.
	+ They classify the fictional, "*Carnotaurus Robustus floridaensis*" as a subspecies of Carnotaurus despite it clearly being a theropod dinosaur which Carnotaurs were not related to.
	+ They refer to velociraptors as, "Raptor" which is not an actual classification of dinosaur but rather just the latin word for, "Thief" which is found in the names of several theropod dinosaurs.
	+ They refer to Cearadactylus as, "Pterodactyl" despite Pterodactyl being a genus and not a species.
	+ They refer to Parasaurolophus as, "Hadrosaur" which was a family and not a species.
	+ They refer to Saltosaurus as, "Sauropod" which was a clade and not a species.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.laughingplace.com/w/leg/?legacyasppage=NEWS-PID507430-507431.ASP
2. ↑ http://dinolandusa.com/the-locals/
3. ↑ http://disneyshawn.blogspot.com/2009/11/welcome-new-interns.html
4. ↑ http://www.mainstgazette.com/2009/05/can-you-dig-it-baby.html
5. ↑ https://allears.net/animal-kingdom/lucky-the-dinosaur/
6. ↑ https://allears.net/animal-kingdom/dinosaur-dinoland-usa-animal-kingdom/
7. ↑ https://allears.net/2018/11/12/everything-you-need-to-know-about-this-years-disney-springs-christmas-tree-trail/
8. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BdK88XzFdXc/