Return of the Original Dinosaur Park Brontosauruses to Dinosaur Adventure Golf - 16 Years in the Making

Spring has sprung on Clifton Hill, and with that means the de-winterization of Dinosaur Adventure Golf. We usually see updates to the course around this time of year, usually a new figure or two or maybe some new signage, but this year's new additions are probably the most important in the course's history to longtime fans of Clifton Hill or anyone who grew up in the Falls.

Built in 2010 and opened in 2011, Dinosaur Adventure Golf was the spiritual successor and sort of expansion of the former Dinosaur Park Miniature Golf. Dinosaur Park originally opened in 1992 as a nameless mini golf course that was part of the Dazzleland complex. It was given a huge theming update in 1994 to capitalize on the success of the Jurassic Park films, becoming Dinosaur Park Miniature Golf. The course operated here until 2002 when Dazzleland was replaced by The Great Canadian Midway and the former location of the course became Boston Pizza. From there it was moved to the former parking lot in front of the old Comfort Inn. When the current course was nearing completion in 2010, Dinosaur Park was closed and all of the original dinosaurs "migrated" across Clifton Pl. to the new course. All that is, except for three. The original Pteranodon that sat stop the original course's sign, and the pair of neck-up Brontosauruses that peeked out from behind a tall hedge.

Figures when they were brought out of storage in spring of 2019.

At the course's original Dazzleland location, the Brontosauruses were placed in one of the course's ponds, making it appear as if they were emerging from the water rather than towering over the foliage. When Dinosaur Adventure Golf opened, two large, concrete pads were constructed in one of the ponds on either side of a footbridge over the water. That being said, for 10 years, there was absolutely no sign of the Brontosauruses returning, however nothing else took their place on the concrete pads. They remained a memory of the old course until spring 2019, when suddenly, they appeared lying on the ground next to the pads in the ponds that hadn't been filled for the season yet. Despite this, they were never put up, and instead moved to lie in the gardens adjacent to the pond when it was filled with water for the summer season. They would lie here for the next 7 years, their condition deteriorating as they were stepped on, hit with putters, and annually covered in snow. One had even lost one of it's glass eyes by 2022.

The statues as they sat for many years, still awaiting installation.

It's unclear why exactly this occurred, but it appears as if there was some sort of issue fastening the the dinosaurs to the concrete pads. They were obviously planned to be installed there since day one, and perhaps HOCO (who owns the course) ran into a planning issue installing them. It does seem like the pads seem a little small for the size of figures' bases. It's possible they came up with a solution, brought them out of storage in 2019, but had to go back to the drawing board for some reason. It appears metal pads have been welded to the bottoms of the figures to allow them to bolt onto either side of the pads in addition to sitting on top of them.

Metal pads securing the figures to the concrete on either side. It does appear based on the shape of the figures themselves where they meet the pads that this is how they were built to be installed, and likely originally were.

Regardless of how long it took, I'm overjoyed that these beautiful statues haven't just returned, they've also been beautifully restored and displayed in a pond the way they were intended to be for the first time in 24 years. As I've mentioned before on this website, the original Dinosaur Park Miniature Golf location beside Dazzleland is my earliest memory, and although I don't have distinct memories of these particular statues until the course moved to Comfort Inn, I have fond memories of gazing at them from my hotel room window as a kid. It'll be interesting to see if they receive any spotlights and how they look once the course's fountains get filled for the season.

The statues in their original location when the course was connected to Dazzleland can be seen in a pond at the center of this image, 1999. They were beautifully lit from below and displayed in a similar manner to the new installation. This photo was taken aboard the Space Spiral Tower Ride, with the Quality Inn's Golden Griddle visible at the top.

It should also be stated that we still have no idea who sculpted these incredible statues. The newer Dinosaur Adventure Golf figures are mass-produced from a variety of high-profile manufacturers, but the old Dinosaur Park figures appear to be totally unique. White Hutchinson Leisure-Learning Group designed Dazzleland along with it's original mini golf, although we don't know if they provided the dinosaur updates that came to the course just two years after it opened. Photos of the course with the dinosaurs present are featured on the company's website, however they make no claims about designing the figures, just the course itself. Unfortunately, records on the project apparently no longer exist at W.H.L.L.G.'s offices. The statues were wrongfully attributed to Niagara Falls artist Derek Costello for years due to an erroneous claim by blog website Roadside America, but during my interview with him in 2023, Mr. Costello told me he simply created a proof-of-concept for the course, which was rejected at the time for being too large (this was a T-Rex head which lives on in The Haunted House of Wax in Niagara Falls, NY, another Costello attraction). The irony of this, of course, is that the figures that were eventually ordered new for Dinosaur Adventure Golf are nearly twice the size of the original Dinosaur Park figures, so perhaps Costello was a bit ahead of his time.

While the newer figures may be larger and scalier than the Dinosaur Park originals, the level of detail in these hand-created statues is unmatched. All of the old Dinosaur Park figures convey such deep emotion, from the lizard-like snarl of the Dilophosaurus and Velociraptor, to the majestic and beastly gentleness of the Triceratops or Brontosauruses.

If HOCO was accepting proposals for third-party artists to create the dinosaur statues, it stands to reason it wasn't W.H.L.L.G. who designed them, meaning we still don't know where these incredible works of art originated. Speaking of which, we've seen a couple repaints this spring. The old Dinosaur Park Dilophosaurus has been painted an extremely dark green. Most of the dinosaurs were a much less intense green during their time at the Dazzleland location, however they were painted with stripe and lizard-like patterns during their time at Comfort Inn. The original giant turtle from Dinosaur Park has been given a new shell pattern too. The Oviraptor has strangely been painted neon green like a figure from a 1950's roadside mini golf, but despite the strange colour choice, I'm just thankful they're still giving these original figures love and attention. Brand new additions include some neat fossil panels filling out some of the empty spaces in the gardens and plenty of other dinosaur bones.

Repainted Dilophosaurus (left) and fluorescent Oviraptor (right).

This leaves the original Pteranodon as the only Dinosaur Park figure that has so far faced extinction. If the Brontosauruses were in storage for as long as they were, it stands to reason this figure might still exist in storage as well. If it can be done, I think it would look great perched on one of the rocks on the side of the volcano. For the vast amount of change that HOCO has brought to their side of Clifton Hill in the last 10 years, it seems like they at least preserve what they remove. Hopefully the original Dinosaur Park figures aren't going anywhere anytime soon, and hopefully we'll some day know what studio or artist is behind these iconic statues.