Disney Details: Dinosaur Gertie at Hollywood Studios

Dinosaur Gertie’s Ice Cream of Extinction is an awesome Walt Disney World ice cream stand, but it’s also so much more. It’s one of the cool details at Disney’s Hollywood Studios that help make the park special, and is seemingly out of place but fits perfectly.

The park catches a lot of flak and is often ranked as the #3 or #4 park by most Walt Disney World fans, but there are some bright spots despite its many shortcomings. Today we’ll take a look at one such bright spot, and one of my favorite details of the park…that is, if a huge apatosaurus can be considered a detail.

I’ve captured dozens of photos of Dinosaur Gertie over the years, so I thought it would be fun to share a tribute post with some information about Gertie, plus photos and commentary. Since Dinosaur Gertie’s only serves regular soft serve ice cream, a full blown restaurant review doesn’t seem appropriate.

Why do I like Dinosaur Gertie so much? If I had to rank my top 10 favorite things on earth, the list would include dinosaurs and ice cream (and I guess things like family, friends, mashed potatoes, and the other essentials). As a dinosaur shaped ice cream stand, Dinosaur Gertie nails two of ten, and qualifies as one of the most awesome places.

Unfortunately, it’s just a little too awesome. Much like the sinkhole that (allegedly) closed Horizons, prevented Beastly Kingdom from being built, precluded the building of a 5th gate, stopped Country Bear Christmas from running, and ate the corpse of Jimmy Hoffa, the levels of awesomeness produced by an operating Dinosaur Gertie’s Ice Cream of Extinction are dangerous.

It’s now only permitted to be open a few days each year to keep these contagious levels of awesome in check. Kudos to Disney for adhering to the #1 Key to the Kingdom: safety. It would be an awful thing if Disney actually operated its prominently located establishments rather than just letting them sit, unused, most of the year.

At one time, the “Ice Cream of Extinction” in the name was literal. Walt Disney World served rare types of ice cream from around the world at Dinosaur Gertie’s. I don’t recall ever experiencing this firsthand, and the practice sadly ended by the mid-1990s.

Today, when open, Dinosaur Gertie’s is basically just a place to get soft serve ice cream and a few other items. I’m a sucker for soft serve ice cream, so that’s enough for me. (Although I wouldn’t complain about a return to something more ambitious…perhaps some flavor swirl ice cream?!)

For those who want to know more about Dinosaur Gertie, we’ve got a little background for you, as this is actually a Walt Disney World snack stand with a lot of history.

Dinosaur Gertie’s Ice Cream of Extinction was an opening day ice cream stand at the Disney-MGM Studios in 1989, and aesthetically looked virtually identical to how it looks today, except Gertie than had letters spelling “Ice Cream” standing in the snow on her back at that time.

The ice cream stand is in the style of California Crazy architecture, which was an eye-catching and tacky style of larger than life objects set up on roadsides in California attempting to lure travelers to stop. These designs were a unique form of marketing and commercialism that never really caught on outside of the West Coast.

Most of these stands were shaped like animals and were places to grab fast food from mom and pop establishments in the era before chain restaurants. Los Angeles historian Jim Heimann is the leading authority on these, and his book California Crazy & Beyond: Roadside Vernacular Architecture is a fascinating look hundreds of these long-forgotten stands.

We’ve actually visited some remaining vestiges of California Crazy architecture, including the Cabazon Dinosaurs outside of Palm Springs. (That’s my photo of them above.)

In addition to being particularly relevant to the topic at hand, the Cabazon Dinosaurs also have a bewildering and somewhat unbelievable backstory. But I digress…

The dinosaur is named “Gertie” as a tribute to trailblazing animator Winsor McCay. Gertie the Dinosaur was his 1914 animated short film that McCay used before live audiences as an interactive part of his vaudeville act. The film was only about 5 minutes long, but it contained over 10,000 drawings all done by McCay, by hand! McCay would stand to the side of the screen, while the childlike

Gertie did tricks seemingly at his command. This was one of McCay’s first animated films, and was revolutionary for its time. It’s widely cited as an inspiration for the next generation of animators, including Walt Disney, as it was one of the first animals depicted in animation with personality.

Personally, I think it’s pretty cool that Disney chose to use this ice cream stand as a tribute to McCay. (It also works to use a dinosaur due to the mostly discredited theory that an ice age led to the extinction of dinosaurs.)

Even before it was called Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the Studios has always drawn heavily on Californian architecture, so the California Crazy style would’ve fit regardless of what type of animal or object this stand was.

By designing it as Gertie, it doubly fits into the landscape of the park that’s all about Hollywood, as the architecture fits and it serves as a way to introduce guests to someone long forgotten by most, but who played in pioneering role in animation.

Most guests probably quickly pass by the placard explaining the inspiration for Dinosaur Gertie, but it’s a nice touch for those who slow down to read it. As is the case with so much of Walt Disney World, those who savor the details are rewarded accordingly.

Another interesting touch that I didn’t notice for the longest time when going through this area is that there are Gertie tracks leading into Echo Lake!

They’re fairly obvious, but for some reason it took me the longest time to see them. I guess sometimes the most clever Disney details hide in plain sight.

What’s most interesting to me is how well Disney accomplished this style of architecture that is admittedly tacky. Businesses that embraced California Crazy were typically mom and pop shops that were decidedly low budget. In other words, a far cry from Walt Disney World.

When built, California Crazy stands didn’t have a whole lot of artistic merit, and were largely viewed pejoratively. Present day historians mostly look back on them with an interest in kitschy Americana and the cultural oddities that have grown in California. They’re an interesting snapshot of United States history.

Dinosaur Jack's Sunglass Shack at Disney's California Adventure

Some of those enamored with California Crazy likely exist within the halls of Imagineering given that they’ve returned to the idea a couple of times. Decades later when building Disney’s California Adventure, Imagineering again incorporated California Crazy into a park.

The Route 66 area of the park in Paradise Pier featured its own large dinosaur (Dinosaur Jack’s Sunglass Shack) and a giant cheeseburger (Burger Invasion, a McDonald’s). The reaction to that use of California Crazy was widely critiqued and outright rejected by fans, and a little over 5 years after the park opened, it was gone.

Likewise, when Disney incorporated a roadside carnival into Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the concept was similarly met with scorn by fans, and continues to this day to be the most divisive land in any United States Disney theme park.

I am unabashed in my hatred for Chester & Hester’s Dino-Rama, which ostensibly stands in sharp contrast with my love of dinosaurs. Unfortunately, that land is substantively meritless, as well as being overly cynical and gritty for a Disney theme park. That’s just the beginning of the critical distinctions between it and Dinosaur Gertie.

Dinosaur Gertie succeeds while these other lands have failed in part because it manages to embrace an inherently tacky style in isolation and at a high quality of execution. More importantly, because it’s an idealized and “best case” take on California Crazy. Comparing Dinosaur Gertie to New Orleans Square would be a strong comparison, but the idea is sort of the same.

Had Disney gone for a wholly authentic portrayal of New Orleans, it likely would not have been as well received by guests. New Orleans is a beautiful place, but it also has sharp contrasts to that beauty. Most of Disney’s lands that use real world inspiration do this to some degree or another. That’s why Disney is often described pejoratively as being a “fantasyland” or a sanitized version of reality. Warts and all is great in the real world, but arguably not so much in an escapist environment.


In any case, Dinosaur Gertie presents an idealized version of California Crazy in much of the same way that other successful aspects of the parks convey their theme in thoughtful, detailed, and even sometimes insightful ways. They add to the body of work from which they draw inspiration, rather than simply ripping it off, or presenting a dumbed down take on it.

Rather than presenting a cartoonish and cheeky version of California Crazy (as was the case with Route 66), Dinosaur Gertie would probably be the nicest and most dignified version of California Crazy ever built if it were a real world establish. Just comparing Dinosaur Gertie and Dinosaur Jack side by side should demonstrate that. At least that’s my theory. Like I said at the outset, I love dinosaurs and ice cream, so pretty much any establishment that combines these two things is bound to receive praise from me.

For Walt Disney World trip planning tips and comprehensive advice, make sure to read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide and related articles. Also make sure to read our other Walt Disney World restaurant reviews and Disney Dining Plan resources. For updates on Walt Disney World, the latest news, discount information, and tips, sign up for our free monthly newsletter!

Your Thoughts

Do you remember what Dinosaur Gertie served back in the day? Do you have any interesting stories about Gertie? Do you agree that this is one of the coolest “details” of the Studios, or do you think it’s just an ordinary dino? Hearing from you is half the fun, so please share your thoughts in the comments!

35 Responses to “Disney Details: Dinosaur Gertie at Hollywood Studios”
  1. Cindy Curtis April 23, 2020
    • Amanda April 28, 2020
  2. Gina March 14, 2014
    • Tom Bricker March 16, 2014
    • Claire April 25, 2020
  3. Laurel October 31, 2013
  4. Kalie October 2, 2013
    • Tom Bricker October 4, 2013
  5. Dave October 2, 2013
    • Tom Bricker October 4, 2013
    • Dave October 7, 2013
  6. Amanda September 30, 2013
  7. Marc September 30, 2013
  8. Wayne September 27, 2013
    • Kelly M September 30, 2013
    • Wayne Jimerson October 4, 2013
    • rowrow October 2, 2013
    • Wayne Jimerson October 4, 2013
    • Claire April 25, 2020
  9. Kevin September 27, 2013
  10. amy September 27, 2013
  11. MarkWDW85 September 27, 2013
  12. Dana September 27, 2013
  13. Rune September 27, 2013
    • Tom Bricker September 27, 2013
    • Rune September 27, 2013
    • Kevin September 27, 2013
  14. Jeanne B. September 27, 2013
  15. Kelly M September 27, 2013
  16. Kristen September 27, 2013
    • Tom Bricker September 27, 2013
  17. Tammy September 27, 2013
    • Matt September 27, 2013
    • Tom Bricker September 27, 2013
  18. Theresa September 26, 2013

Leave a Reply to Rune Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *