Triceratops Encounter — Former Show · History & Timeline

Former Show · the memorial record

⚰ Permanently closed · 2012operated 9 years · 2003–2012

Also known as Triceratops Discovery Trail.

Replaced by Jurassic World VelociCoaster →

This show is gone, but its history stays documented — the full lifetime log is below.

Show history

the lifetime record

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2021

ChangedJun 10, 2021#

Jurassic World VelociCoaster formally opened on the cleared site, having been commissioned to replace the Triceratops attraction that had sat closed for nearly a decade.

Tracked byTheme Park Patch Notes
2019

◆ Latest milestone

ChangedApr 26, 2019#

Demolition of the defunct Triceratops attraction was underway by this date, with pile driving reported in the old Triceratops area as the site was cleared for a new Jurassic Park roller coaster.

Orlando ParkStop, April 26, 2019: 'they have finally started demolition of this now defunct attraction', with pile driving reported 'more recently in the old Triceratops Encounter area.' That dates the report rather than the first day of work: Wikipedia corroborates that permits filed in 2018 called for 'the demolition and site clearing of Triceratops Encounter' and that the removal came in spring 2019.

Tracked byTheme Park Patch Notes
2015

Changed2015#

The Raptor Encounter meet-and-greet was built into part of the closed attraction's entrance queue and opened on the site that year without any demolition, with the Triceratops photo rock left in place.

Tracked byTheme Park Patch Notes
2014

Changed2014#

The Triceratops animatronic remained inside the shuttered attraction and was not completely removed until early 2014.

Tracked byTheme Park Patch Notes
2012

Refurbishment2012#

The Triceratops walk-through closed permanently after its brief revival runs and never operated again.

YEAR IN DISPUTE, and we would rather say so than pick quietly. Wikipedia's former-attractions entry says 'it was not long before the attraction permanently closed in 2012', but that sentence carries no inline citation in the article's wikitext. Orlando ParkStop, writing March 27, 2015, instead says the attraction 'closed permanently back in 2010', and the last operation any contemporaneous article documents is the December 2010 trial week. We publish 2012 because a retrospective aside five years later is a common way an on-and-off run gets compressed to its first year, while the extra 2011 reopening is too specific to be an artifact; a reader who finds the 2010 figure has not caught us out. Neither source gives a day or month, and the permanence itself is not in doubt, as the site was later demolished.

Tracked byTheme Park Patch Notes
2011

Back Online2011#

After closing again soon after the December 2010 trial week, the walk-through operated once more under its original Triceratops Encounter name.

Tracked byTheme Park Patch Notes
2010

Back OnlineDec 13, 2010#

The walk-through reopened as a soft opening under the new name Triceratops Discovery Trail, running 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a trial week in which guests passed through electrified paddock fences to meet one of three animatronic Triceratops.

renamed Triceratops Encounter→Triceratops Discovery Trail

Attractions Magazine, published December 14, 2010, reports the attraction 'reopened yesterday', that 'team members were calling this week a soft opening', that it was 'expected to stay open for good now, but the team members said that will be decided after this week', and that guests could meet a baby triceratops held by a Jurassic Park staff member while waiting to enter. Wikipedia's former-attractions entry names the three animatronics Topper, Cera and Chris across three buildings and notes guests were allowed to pet the dinosaur; the park article dates the limited return to December 13. The physical description is filed on this date because the 2010 run is the configuration the sources actually describe.

Tracked byTheme Park Patch Notes
2003

Changed2003#

The Triceratops walk-through, in which guests were led past life-sized animatronic Triceratops and allowed to pet one, stopped operating for the first time.

Wikipedia's former-attractions entry states 'It originally closed at Universal Orlando in 2003'; that sentence carries no inline citation in the article's wikitext, and the park article's 'After five years' phrasing ahead of the December 13, 2010 return would instead imply roughly 2005, so year-only precision is all the sources support. The same entry notes the three animatronics 'would regularly break down' but does not itself assert that the breakdowns caused the closure. Recorded as a change rather than the closure because the attraction operated again afterward.

Tracked byTheme Park Patch Notes

Questions & answers

When did Triceratops Encounter last close for refurbishment?

The most recent closure/refurbishment documented for Triceratops Encounter is dated 2012: The Triceratops walk-through closed permanently after its brief revival runs and never operated again.

What changed recently on Triceratops Encounter?

The latest documented change (documented Jun 10, 2021): Jurassic World VelociCoaster formally opened on the cleared site, having been commissioned to replace the Triceratops attraction that had sat closed for nearly a decade.

How many changes are on record for Triceratops Encounter?

8 documented changes, dating back to 2003 — the fan-kept show changelog nobody else keeps.

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Questions & answers

When did Triceratops Encounter last close for refurbishment?

What changed recently on Triceratops Encounter?

How many changes are on record for Triceratops Encounter?