There have been some strange refurbishments happening in Walt Disney World recently, and one of them is Primeval Whirl in Disney’s Animal Kingdom which was closed for refurbishment and listed as only a seasonal attraction. Now the attraction has been removed from the park map.
In this post we’re going to talk about the Primeval Whirl refurbishment, why it’s not open and what it’s schedule might be like moving forward now that it’s only in season operation in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
(UPDATED 7/15/20) – Primeval Whirl went into seasonal operation back in 2019, and has only been running for the busiest days. Now more doubt has come up if Primeval Whirl will ever open back up after the attraction has been removed from the Disney’s Animal Kingdom park map.
A closer look at the map shows that not only has Primeval Whirl been removed from the map, it doesn’t appear in the descriptions of the park attractions either. It’s like it was completely wiped away.
On the other hand, the other Dinosaur U.S.A attractions, TriceraTop Spin and Dinosaur, are both still listed.
Since Disney’s Animal Kingdom has opened with a much lower park capacity, this may just be a temporary change in order to not confuse guests. But since Disney was already planning on keeping Primeval Whirl closed for months at a time anyway, I’m not sure what’s changed to make the complete removal.
Disney hasn’t said anything about the future of Primeval Whirl, nor why they have removed it from park maps. But obviously whenever attractions go into seasonal operation, that isn’t a good sign for their future so this has been long coming.
Why is Primeval Whirl Closed/Seasonal?
Disney hasn’t given any official statement regarding why Primeval Whirl originally closed back on June 17, 2019, but it went down without notice and suddenly was under “refurbishment.” The reopening of the Dinoland USA attraction kept getting pushed back further and further and was then supposed to open September 29.
Only thing is that wasn’t the case, and it never really returned into action fully. Cast members were periodically testing the attraction in the Fall, and it has been open to guests on a very limited basis since closure. In fact, it’s been more cast members testing it out than anyone else.
We do know that the attraction had been fixed enough to run during the holiday season as it ran in parts of December and January. It has had a lot of operational issues though and has been hard to maintain.
Officially Primeval Whirl is Now Seasonal
According to Disney, Primeval Whirl has been officially moved into the “seasonal attraction” category. What exactly does that mean? In official terms, it means that it will only be running during the most busy times of the year (aka: Thanksgiving and Christmas). Besides that, a seasonal attraction doesn’t run much.
A quick visit to the Disney World website will confirms that they still have the attraction labeled as “Temporarily Unavailable.”
Looking at dates on the Dinsey World website show “No Times Available” all the way out from now through January 2021.
Is Primeval Whirl Ever Coming Back?
Up until this latest change, the plan has been to open Primeval Whirl for the holiday rush and potentially other supper busy times of the year in Walt Disney World. However, even during that time last year, it wasn’t open for many hours, and breakdowns were quite common.
The plan was probably just to run it when the Animal Kingdom is almost at max capacity, and that’s it.
The real question is whether or not Primeval Whirl is actually closing for good. Already, when an attraction goes into “season operation,” that is usually the kiss of death. Not many attractions in Disney park history have come back from seasonal status to be full season attractions, or at least not for very long.
Primeval Whirl was dealing with that, and now it’s been removed from the park map. This latest move likely means that Primeval Whirl’s days are numbered.
Disney know that park attendance is going to be incredibly slow for the rest of 2020, and into 2021. They obviously feel that with lower capacity there is no need to keep it running, especially given maintenance issues.
Many have speculated the future of Dinoland USA and it potentially getting a re-theme. That would definitely leave Primeval Whirl on the chopping block. It is one of the worst-rated attractions on property and I don’t think many would shed a tear for it if it did go away.
We obviously don’t have any insider info on that, but it wouldn’t surprise us if it does go away for good at some point in the next couple of years.
Again Disney hasn’t officially announced the future plans for Primeval Whirl yet, but we think that if you are hoping to ride it in 2020, and possibily ever again, you should temper expectations.
No. Primeval Whirl has been moved to “Seasonal Operation” and completely removed from the Animal Kingdom park map.
While we can’t say anything with 100% certainly, it certainly doesn’t look promising. Disney clearly is phasing this ride out of the park.
Stay tuned here at Ziggy Knows Disney for the latest updates on Primeval Whirl, we’ll let you know any updates that come along!
Check out the Full List of Disney World Refurbishments and Ride Closures to see what else is closing down.
Your Thoughts:
I want to know what you think about the Primeval Whirl closure and seasonal status change…
- Are you upset it’s currently down?
- Would you like to see it close permanently and be replaced by a new ride?
Let us know in the comments section below!
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My name is Ziggy and I love Disney, everything Disney! I grew up on Disney and it has and continues to be a huge part of my life. I started young when my parents took me to Disney World when I was 18 months old. Little did they know that would be the first of an uncountable number of trips we would take. I have so many amazing memories going to Disney with my family and friends and it has been interwoven into my DNA.
Tracy L Quintrell
Thursday 27th of August 2020
I love the looks of this ride and it is fun to ride on, but the last time I rode it my ribs were killing me for days after. Still hate to see it go. That ride and Triceratop Spin are the only things, to me, that tie in the whole carnival look of the area. That land, while I know the background story and understand it better than most, is really out of place for the theming of the rest of the park.
Robert A Sandefur
Sunday 2nd of August 2020
Its was my favorite ride for over 40 years of disney. Really disappointed!
Jacob
Thursday 30th of July 2020
i would hope disney would sell the primeval whirl roller coasters to another park and not scrap them like universal did to dueling dragons when they could have sold them off to some other parks
Greg
Thursday 23rd of July 2020
Numerous sites have reported that Disney has closed it forever offically. Along with Stitch and rivers of light show. I knew Stich closing was going to be coming, but I am still crushed. I loved that attraction.
Cristy
Thursday 26th of March 2020
My husband and I attended the Animal Kingdom after hours at the end of October 2019 and this ride was open. We rode it then and I was wondering if they open it mainly for events like that since a lot of the park is shut down during after hours events.