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Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures Merchandise of Extinction |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2019 |
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Tourists have been drawn to Diggs County since the discovery of dinosaur bones in the late 1940s. Seeing an opportunity to profit, Chester and his wife Hester have expanded their rural gasoline station and general store into a superstore for wacky dinosaur souvenirs — and for Disney stuff that you buy many other places. (You can read about the couple and how they fit into the backstory of Dinoland U.S.A. here.) |
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There’s nothing subtle about their style. Chester and Hester have made sure you can’t miss Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures. If one sign and one slogan are good, then many signs and slogans are better. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 Lots of signs |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2006 Side entrance |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2007 Entrance when approaching from the Dino Institute |
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Before you go in the shop, admire the details outside. Chester and Hester are quite clever. They’re also rather cheap; they don’t like to throw things away. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2007 Reused gasoline price sign |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 Dyno Gasoline pump |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2015 Signs under the eaves in the tradition of Burma Shave signs |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 Looking at the same signs in the opposite direction |
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Now that you’ve admired the exterior, let’s go inside. If you’ve been in an Apple Store, you know how sleek and minimal store interiors can be. Don’t expect that here. Chester and Hester have the opposite retail philosophy. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2006 Cluttered interior |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2007 “Pick Our Bones” |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2007 Black-and-white photo of Chester and his wife Hester |
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There are hundreds of details to look at in here — including a photo of the entrepreneurial couple. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2007 Gasoline nozzle dinosaur |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2007 Hester’s Dino Rocks |
Photo by Allen Huffman, 2007 “OG” replaced with “INO” |
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Oddly, Chester and Hester have chosen to offer all sorts of standard Disney Parks merchandise. For a store that promises wacky dino stuff, there’s way too much stuff that customers have already seen elsewhere and will see again and again in other shops. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2007 Disney candy section |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2007 Disney stationery section |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2015 Merchandise tied to Disney-Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur (2015) |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2015 Star Wars in a dino store? |
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Occasionally, Disney merchandise makes sense. Two movies Dinosaur (2000) and The Good Dinosaur (2015) are good fits. But why are Chester and Hester selling Star Wars merch? |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2015 Santasaurus |
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Chester and Hester have their own clever way to decorate for Christmas. Their T-Rex becomes Santasaurus, with a Santa hat, Santa beard, and bag of toys. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 Convenient restrooms |
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One good thing about Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures is that it has restrooms. The shop is the first building that many guests get to after exiting from the ride inside the Dino Institute, where they waited a long time and were then shaken around. The restrooms are more welcome than the lackluster merchandise assortment. |
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Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures opened April 22, 1998 — Earth Day, 1998 — as one of the original elements of Dinoland U.S.A. at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Back when the park first opened, a large white tent across from the shop’s entrance was home to Dinosaur Jubilee, an exhibit displaying fossils and skeleton casts. Guests leaving the biggest attraction at Dinoland, U.S.A., Countdown to Extinction in the Dino Insitute building, were funneled to the shop’s back entrance. In 2000, Countdown to Extinction was renamed Dinosaur to promote Disney’s animated adventure of the same name. Dinosaur Jubilee closed permanently the same year. The gift shop was first use of the fictional characters Chester and Hester, who were woven into the elaborate backstory of Dinoland, U.S.A. When it was time to add ride capacity to the park, Disney expanded the use of these characters. Chester & Hester’s Dino-Rama! with Fossil Fun Games and TriceraTop Spin opened November 18, 2001 on Diggs County U.S. Route 498. A second ride at Chester & Hester’s Dino-Rama!, Primeval Whirl, opened April 18, 2002. Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures had their final fay of operation on January 12, 2025, along with Chester & Hester’s Dino-Rama!. Construction walls went up the next day. A new Tropical Americas-themed land will replace Dinoland U.S.A. |
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Artist Concept Only © Disney Concept for Pueblo Esperanza, a Tropical Americas-themed land (yellow circle added) |
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A close look at the concept art shows a structure with the same roofline as Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures in the same location. Disney likes to reuse structures with perfectly good plumbing and electrical service. It just needs to have architectural materials and details applied to look like something you would see in Disney’s animated hit Encanto (2021). Expect a shop and restrooms, once again. Chester and Hester will be completely gone — unless WDI works in a clever little nod to the them, which is likely. Unfortunately, it’s also likely that Disney will once again stock some merchandise that breaks the theme, such as Star Wars items. |
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© 2026 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated January 2, 2026 |
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