The Boneyard in DinoLand, U.S.A. at Disney’s Animal Kingdom permanently closed on September 1. Take a last look around the paleontology play area.

Entrance

The Boneyard was located just past the bridge from Discovery Island to DinoLand, U.S.A. Themed to a dinosaur dig site, it had an entrance structure that looked like temporary scaffolding and fencing.

A fenced-off area on the left of the entry gates featured rocks and props, as though excavators had just recently left.

There was a sifter and brush, a plaster-wrapped bone, and a tin box on the ground. A hard hat hung from a large wooden crate. A thermos sat on top of the crate.

Further into the entrance structure were some plaster-wrapped fossils. A metal pail overflowing with plaster sat next to the fossils.

The Boneyard sign resembled a piece of bone, hanging in front of the entrance, thanks to chains and rope. The play area’s subtitle was “Fossil Fun Site.”

There was a bulletin board to the side of the entrance. Signs on the board read:

The Dino Institute Welcomes You
You are about to enter an active dinosaur dig site. The Dino Institute has opened this site for your enjoyment and to inspire children of all ages to learn more about the mysterious world of the dinosaurs.

This imaginative playground is best enjoyed by children 10 and under. We ask adults to supervise young children on this exciting dinosaur dig site adventure. We urge you to exercise extreme caution while climbing and exploring. Please use the pathways, as they were carved out for your safety by excavators before you. Have fun!

Fossiliferous Fun
Brought to you by The Dino Institute

According to the backstory of DinoLand, this dig site was established in 1947 when a fossil was discovered. On the board are pictures of some of the “fossils” in the site, as well as a map which highlights the different dinosaurs.

The Boneyard was open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. most days. Safety information was posted at the entrance. Children under the age of 7 years old had to be accompanied by a person aged 14 years or older. Guests were instructed to remove drawstrings and other accessories from around the neck and warned that surfaces may be hot.

The entrance structure had more props on wooden shelves above the gates. These included large casts of bones, baskets, lanterns, and buckets. Though the playground usually closed before the sun went down, there were lights to keep the entrance illuminated when it was dark.

Guests exited through the same structure, down a different pathway. There was a Cast Member stationed at the entrance to welcome guests. Speakers mounted in the entrance played music and dig site announcements from The Dino Institute.

Playground

The larger section of The Boneyard was a traditional playground with various-sized slides. It was covered by fabric shades on tall posts. There were benches and picnic tables throughout for adults to relax on while their kids played.

One of the first things kids encountered upon entry to the playground was an old rusty jeep. This was partially buried in the playground’s “dirt” — actually a soft rubber floor material.

Kids could climb into the jeep. It had no seats or a steering wheel.

To the right after entering were two short slides, perfect for the youngest of paleontologists. Short sets of stairs led up to these slides. They were open-air while the rest of the playground’s slides were enclosed.

The walls of The Boneyard resembled packed dirt and rocks embedded with dark brown fossils. Guests could climb on some of these fossils.

Around this Parasaurolophus skeleton were crevices and tunnels for guests to explore.

Atop the walls were props like crates, barrels, and boxes that might hold dig site materials. There was a metal gate above a section of tunnels.

This sign included more information about plaster wrapping bones.

Here we have a long-crested dinosaur. Parasaurolophus is one of a family of duckbilled dinosaurs known as hadrosaurs. Freshwater mollusc fossils indicate the presence of ancient streams, making this area a likely place for large herds of hadrosaurs to gather. Examine the patterns of the sand here to decide if you think that this was a dune or a beach environment.

There are two graphs and notes arguing that this area was either a beach or a dune.

The outer walls of the playground were wooden fences, tall and steep enough to keep guests from accidentally climbing out.

Safety signs told guests to watch their heads when walking through tunnels.

In this tunnel, there was a dinosaur skull and more bones embedded in the walls. This may be a T. rex.

There were dinosaur footprints in the rubber floor called Trackways. These were from a Sauropod and Theropod, according to the nearby sign.

These dinosaur tracks are at the lowest level of this deposit. They are the oldest fossils yet unearthed here. The tracks belong to a lone Sauropod (plant-eating dinosaur) and a theropod (meat-eating dinosaur).

More signs throughout the play area reminded guests to keep their shoes on while exploring.

A Triceratops skull was on this rocky outcropping. The rocks had flat areas to make them easier for kids to climb.

There were several informational signs throughout, posted on walls and next to fossils. There were also trash cans, recycling bins, and water fountains.

Nearly every surface featured dinosaur fossils. Also note the differences in color of the dirt and rock walls, indicating just how far down the excavators “dug.”

This board has information about the nearby fossil matrix.

These fossils are embedded in a fossil matrix

A fossil matrix is a jumble of fossilized bones, soil, stone and other remains.
Fossils are often found this way!

This massive matrix wall contains the fossilized bones of a large herd of Hadrosaurs
These duckbilled dinosaurs were one of the most common kind of dinosaurs. There are many different types of Hadrosaurids seen here including

• Parasaurolophus
• Edmontosaurus
• Corythosaurus

*Hadrosaurids (bulky heads) are duckbilled plant eating dinosaurs

A handwritten note by Jenny W. says, “This herd must have perished in some huge cataclysm. Could this be evidence of the asteroid impact? Surely, this is some evidence of mass extinction?”

The board responds to this note:

Several things are assumptions:

1. How can you tell this is a herd? Are there young, old, male, and female individuals?
2. Who says they all died at once? Couldn’t they have died over several years in the same spot like the La Brea Tar Pit creatures?
3. Who says they even died here? They might have washed down to this spot from somewhere else

Maybe they failed to cross a flooded river a hundred miles from here (that would explain the jumbled pile of bones)

Not every dinosaur fossil was labeled, but some had signs with more information about their species. This sign was posted in front of a T. rex skeleton.

The board includes written and typed notes from the paleontologists, as well as a rendering of what a T. rex may have looked like. A note next to the picture reads, “Mr. Rios, I presume this page was NOT ripped from an Institute library book! – Dunn”.

A Dino Facts sheet lists Mark Rios as the dinosaur’s excavator. Here’s the Site Information from the sheet:

Scientific opinion has changed about the T-rex since the adjacent sign was erected here in 1955. NOw we think that these dinosaurs were brainy, powerful, and fast for dinosaurs. They were efficient carnivores with a killing bite. Recent bite evidence indicates T-rex ate both duckbilled and horned dinosaurs and killed other T-rexes with its fierce bite.

The outdated “adjacent sign” mentioned was near the T. rex’s skull.

The Mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex

This is the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex, the first animal excavated on this site. These vast monsters once lumbered across the primeval landscape of America. A cold-blooded creature of this bulk could not possibly have hunted and must have been a scavenger. Lacking strong arms, , Tyrannosaurus used its tail to help support its huge mass.

A tunnel ran behind the T. rex, so guests could peek out through its rib bones. Its fossilized skull, packed with dirt, was perfectly positioned for photo ops.

A sign on a post next to the T. rex pointed to more of the playground’s slides.

These stairs led up to a trio of slides inside the rockwork.

At the top of the stairs, along the walkway, were set pieces behind tall fences. This was made to look like a lounge area for the paleontologists.

There were tables and chairs, a dartboard, and kitchen supplies. A dinosaur statue on the ground wore a red bandanna.

This Fossil Recovery List included the names of all the paleontologists working on the site:

• Bernard Dunn
• Shirley Woo
• Eugene McGee
• Jenny Weinstein
• Sam Gonzales
• Mark Rios

There were three slides accessible from the lounge area. They all exited onto rubber flooring on the lower level. They had “Spill Chute” signs above their exits.

A multi-story structure in the middle of the playground had two taller slides. These were yellow tubes with decorations that made them seem like construction equipment.

They had striped tape on them, caution signs, and “Authorized Personnel Only” signs. One curled down from the third level, while the other was more of a straight path down from the second level.

The structure had bridges and nets that guests could climb on. Some of the higher areas were not covered by shades.

There were multiple staircases leading to the upper levels. In the center of the structure was a spiral staircase that led through layers of dirt labeled for different periods of history. The first layer represented the late Cretaceous.

The exterior of the stairwell featured more embedded fossils.

Another fenced-off area held more props, including dig site tools. A chalkboard hanging on the outside included information about the site’s geology, including the different layers of land.

You can clearly see a narrow layer that contains what may be fresh water fossils indicating that this area may have been under the water millions of years ago. About 80% of fossils are not bones. Fossils include plant imprints, waste, teeth, footprints, skins, impressions, and remains of smaller creatures.

The rocks in this area preserve an excellent and puzzling example of the layers of the rock that make up DinoLand. We call these layers strata.

A gated area under a staircase had a sign reading, “No Admittance, Authorized Personnel Only(osaurus)”.

There were two more slides across from the main structure, connected by bridges. These were also curving yellow tubes.

In addition to stairs, there was a long ramp that led up to the second level.

Near the ramp was a Pachycephalosaurus fossil.

This fossil is a Pachycephalosaurus (thick headed lizard). Male Pachycephalosaurus might have rammed their heads together fighting over females and territory, but that is not what killed this one. This animal appears to have been killed by some sudden event, such as a flood or mud slide. This is why the animal remains are so well preserved, making this a rare and very special find for us.

Oldengate Bridge

From the second level, guests could head across the Oldengate Bridge to the actual dig site. This bridge was the main entrance to DinoLand, a mirror to the demolished Dino-Rama Cementosaurus at the other side of the land.

A sign near the entrance to DinoLand read:

Oldengate Bridge

This fossil Gateway is composed of the giant bones of a Brachiosaurus, one of the largest creatures that ever walked the earth. It stands fifty-two feet tall and more than eighty feet long. A peaceful plant-eater, the Brachiosaurus‘ enormous neck allowed it to browse amid the upper branches of prehistoric forests.

This replica fossil is cast from the bones discovered in Colorado in 1900. The original is now in the Field Museum in Chicago.

To get a closer look at this astounding giant, visit THE BONEYARD, our working dinosaur dig site.

The Brachiosaurus was partially held up by scaffolding. Its tail was not connected to its torso, instead held up a few feet away over a pathway.

Guests crossing the bridge passed right under the Brachio’s ribcage and neck.

Dig Site

On the other side was a dig site for kids to play in. Once again, guests were reminded to keep their shoes on.

Another ramp led down to the dig site. This was a dirt area full of plastic pails, small shovels, and brushes.

Kids could use the shovels and brushes to uncover different fossils buried in the dirt. Around the dig site were benches and set pieces. The rock walls also included built-in ledges for sitting.

A Cast Member stood watch on one of the staircases leading down to the dig site. There were speakers, lights, and fans on the scaffolding ceiling. Trees provided extra shade.

Instead of dinosaur fossils, this excavation was actually centered around a mammoth fossil, as described by a nearby sign.

This is not a dinosaur! This Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) perished just 10,000 years ago – over 64 million years after the last dinosaur disappeared.

During the Pleistocene Ice Ages this area was populated by animals such as lions, giant sloths, giant beavers, and huge mammoths like this. Evidence suggests that this mammoth was killed by human hunters. Many sites in North America preserve such kills, but here there is evidence that a pride of smilodons (Saber Tooth Cats) drove off the hunters, whose hurried footsteps scatter from this area.

The sign includes an artistic representation of Paleo-Indians taking down a mammoth with spears. There’s also a diagram of the dig site, outlining the exact location of the mammoth and the smilodon and human tracks.

In addition to the large dig site, there were a couple of smaller dirt areas to the sides for young guests who might want to dig alone.

Many props and signs in The Boneyard featured The Dino Institute logo. The Dino Institute is home to the DINOSAUR ride, which will permanently close in February 2026 to become an Indiana Jones attraction.

Fun props filled this cage, evidently for the paleontologists to use during excavation. There were construction materials like a stepladder, hard hats, and full-sized shovels.

A pair of road sign-style signs warned of Stegosaurus crossing and a T. rex.

Video Tour

Watch our full 4K video tour of The Boneyard below.

DinoLand U.S.A.

Chester & Hester’s Dino-Rama closed in January 2025 — the first phase of closures for DinoLand. Dino-Rama included TriceraTop Spin, Fossil Fun Games, and Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures. The gift shop’s building will be repurposed for the new land, but the rest of Dino-Rama has been demolished.

DINOSAUR, Restaurantosaurus, Dino-Bite Snacks, Trilo-Bites, and character meet and greets are still available, but will close in February 2026. Disney has filed construction permits for some of the areas that are still open.

Tropical Americas

DinoLand will be replaced by a new Tropical Americas area, set to open in 2027. The land includes the fictional village of Pueblo Esperanza featuring a carousel of carved Disney animals. There will be a new playground to replace The Boneyard.

The world’s first-ever Encanto ride will take guests into the film’s story on the day Antonio receives his gift of speaking with animals. DINOSAUR will become a new Indiana Jones ride. Guests will follow Indy into an ancient Mayan temple, where he is investigating a mythical creature.

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Shannen Ace