Ahead of its planned 2026 closure, Disney has launched a limited “farewell” merchandise collection for DINOSAUR at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Available exclusively at the Dino Institute Gift Shop (at the ride’s exit), the collection features a themed hat, stainless steel water bottle, magnet, and collectible pin. A matching t-shirt was also released but had already sold out during our visit. Cast Members couldn’t confirm a restock, but with demand that strong, it seems likely more may arrive in the coming months.
Much like Disney’s recent Vault merchandise collections, the collection’s featured design is based on an original t-shirt available closer to the attraction’s 1998-2000 opening timeframes. Remember Countdown to Extinction? The inclusion of the tagline “The Future is Truly in the Past” is especially fitting for a farewell collection. Take a look!
Baseball Hat | $29.99
The khaki hat features an embroidered design with the DINOSAUR logo, the trio of running dinosaurs including a Velociraptor, Carnotaurus, and Iguanodon, with “IT’S FAST! IT’S A BLAST! IT’S IN THE PAST!” underneath. The back has an embroidered “The future is truly in the past” in a stylized retro font.
Steel Water Bottle | $29.99
The canteen water bottle features the same Dino trio logo, with “the future is truly in the past” in a small handwritten-type font underneath. The bottle has the same design repeating on two sides.
Magnet | $14.99
A plastic magnet also features the same logo design.
Pin | $14.99
The Disney pin has a unique design aside from the rest of the collection, with a Carnotaurus with bursting points above a cloud that reads DINOSAUR. I can’t put my finger on it, but this design seems a little off, like something’s missing? Maybe a pin-on-pin element, or less spacing around the DINOSAUR text…
Countdown to Extinction
If you’re heading to Animal Kingdom soon, don’t wait! These items won’t last forever, and judging by how quickly the t-shirt disappeared, they won’t stay on shelves for long.
What makes this release especially exciting is that it’s another rare case of Disney designing attraction-specific merchandise. In recent years, much of the retail focus has been resort-wide or character-themed collections, making these ride-centric items feel all the more special. For fans of DINOSAUR (another Michael Eisner masterpiece — yes, I will absolutely romanticize one of WDW’s last standing mostly-original projects), this collection is a meaningful way to celebrate the attraction before it becomes extinct.
This DINOSAUR tribute comes as part of the attraction’s slow send-off, with Disney previously confirming its eventual Indiana Jones replacement as part of Dinoland’s re-theme to the Tropical Americas. No exact closing date has been announced (outside of we have the rest of 2025 to ride one last time) but this merch launch suggests the countdown [to extinction] has quietly begun.
