Towering quietly along Echo Lake in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, this green, smiling dinosaur might look like just another whimsical photo op, but Gertie is actually a Hollywood legend. She’s not just a snack stand or a cute backdrop, she’s a groundbreaking film star from the silent era who helped shape the very beginnings of animation.
So who is Gertie the Dinosaur, and why is she hanging out next to a lake with ice cream on her mind inside a Disney park? Let’s dig into the dino-sized story behind one of Walt Disney World’s most charming (and historically significant) not-so-hidden stars.
Gertie is an underrated gem of Hollywood Studios, but she has recently appeared on exclusive merchandise available at the park, including dedicated mugs, Starbucks cups, and a t-shirt!
Officially known as Dinosaur Gertie’s Ice Cream of Extinction, this snack stand offers Mickey ice cream treats and soft-serve.
Dinosaur Gertie’s Story
Gertie was built by Imagineers and debuted with their movie magic park in 1989, but her history goes way, way back. Well, maybe not quite prehistoric.
Gertie was one of the first animated characters to gain significant popularity and is often credited with helping establish the foundations of animation. The adorable Apatosaurus character was first introduced in the 1914 silent film Gertie the Dinosaur created by Winsor McCay, an early 20th-century animator and cartoonist. Gertie plays a friendly dinosaur who charmingly interacts with her creator. The film showcased McCay’s innovative use of animation techniques, including key frame animation and character movement.
Supposedly, McCay was inspired by a dinosaur skeleton put on display in 1905 at the American Museum of History in New York. There were no schools or books that taught animation at the time, so McCay invented key frame and cycling animation methods all on his own. According to McCay, he drew roughly 10,000 drawings of characters to make approximately five minutes of animation.
Twenty years after McCay’s passing in 1934, with the help of McCay’s son Robert and Disney Legend Dick Huemer, McCay’s original work was recreated for a 1955 segment of the Disneyland television series “The Story of the Animated Drawing”.
During work on the segment, Walt Disney spoke with Robert McCay, gestured to the nearby Disney Studio and said, “Bob, all this should have been your father’s.”
At the park, Dinosaur Gertie’s Ice Cream of Extinction was built as a tribute to “Gertie the Dinosaur,” one of the first well-known animated cartoon stars. The themed style of the building is known as “California Crazy” architecture, which was a popular design style for roadside attractions of the 1930s to attract the attention of potential customers in a BIG way. For example:
— Image from Jim Heimann Collection
Theme park lore, animation history, California architecture, dinosaurs, AND ice cream. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Every holiday season at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Gertie dons a Santa hat and holds an ornament in her mouth among more illuminated ornaments floating on Echo Lake. During Jollywood Nights, Santa-hat-wearing-Gertie is honored as a sugar cookie available to purchase for party-goers.
She was also front and center on the event guide for 2024!
Here’s hoping we see even MORE Gertie merch pop up at the parks; perhaps a Santa Gertie collection at this year’s Jollywood Nights?
