UPDATE: ‘Royal Gorge Experience’ gets replacement mechanical dinosaur following fire

Many of you recall the video of the mechanical T. rex at the Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience engulfed in flames in March.

The dino was ignited by an electrical short, but now, his replacement has arrived. The dinosaur will be there Wednesday morning.

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Thousands, if not millions, of people, have seen the video of the mechanical T. rex at the Royal Gorge Dinosaur Experience engulfed in flames.

“We’ve been on the home page of the Washington Post this morning, it’s been in several syndicated newspapers all over the country,” said park director Zach Reynolds.

The once ferocious T. rex, named Chicken, is now just an outline, surrounded by charred engine pieces.

The fire happened during business hours, around 11:20 a.m. Thursday. Reynolds said despite the loss, there is a silver lining.

“Exploding dinosaurs, that sort of thing, which is a lot of fun actually and we get that, being dinosaur lovers, seeing a giant dinosaur on fire is pretty fun,” Reynolds said.

Lea Schiola is the activity coordinator at the park. She was the first to notice the T. rex smoking.

“So it was just kind of the sad face the whole time, I was so sad to see him on fire. It was just shocking, like what? Why? You know?” Schiola said.

The fire lasted about five minutes, but even before the fire department got there, only a frame was left.

Despite the fire, the park is still open. But Chicken is now added to the extinct list.