You may remember the television show called Dinosaurs, but you probably do not remember Dinosaurs Live! at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Dinosaurs Live! was a parade show that floated down Hollywood Boulevard, in front of the Chinese Theatre, and back to the front of the park in the early 1990s.
Dinosaurs Television Series
Dinosaurs was a sitcom-style television show starring a family of dinosaurs named the Sinclairs., which premiered on ABC in the year 1991. The Sinclair family were live-action dinosaurs, meaning they were people in costumes or puppets. Think Barney the Purple Dinosaur, but with far more scary features. Actually, we have a better comparison: think Jabba the Hut with a few differences. Their skin was obviously a cheap plastic and their look was just a bit unnerving, to say the least.
Regardless the television show was mildly successful, airing for four seasons. It was produced by the Walt Disney Company with the inspiration and help of Jim Hensen. Dinosaurs was set in 60,000,003 BC on Pangaea. Pangaea is the giant land formed by all the continents we know today on Earth before they broke apart, as theorized by scientists. It was similar in plot and setting to The Flinstones. While it was supposed to take place millions of years ago, the characters still had a good amount of modern technology and appliances.
Dinosaurs Live!
Shortly after the premiere of Dinosaurs on ABC, Disney started organizing a show themed after the Sinclair family for Disney MGM Studios. The show debuted in September 1991. It would be a small parade with the main float featuring cast members dressed as the Sinclair family members. The parade went up Hollywood Boulevard toward the Chinese Theatre and stopped in front of the Theatre for part of the show before returning back down Hollywood Boulevard toward the park entrance.
The Sinclair family was “chosen” as the “family of the day.” This actually made a lot of sense because a family of the day was always chosen in the morning in the early years of Disney MGM Studios. So this time, it just seemed like the Sinclairs were chosen that day. Well, every day that the parade ran at least.
As the family of the day, the Sinclair family of Dinosaurs got to “film” a promotional video for the park while guests watched. The parade float would stop in front of the Chinese Theatre and the “filming” would take place there. Guests watched as the family argued with each other in traditional sitcom family style as their float drove up the street. Then, they “filmed” their commercial. After that, they argued and interacted with the audience again on the way back down the street. Dinosaurs Live! lasted around 4-5 minutes total. The parade ran until August 1992, less than a year after its debut.
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