Dinosaur World, whose former name is John Agar?s Land of Kong, has always been associated to the known star of Zontar, The Thing From Venus. Its sculpture Emmit A. Sullivan is also the artist behind the Rapid City, SD?s dinos, and the Christ of the Ozark?s statue.

According to Ola Farwell, the original plan was to construct a giant statue of General Douglas MacArthur but local authorities disapproved the idea, and so the 42-feet tall King Kong was established. Rob Holster said that the idea of the world?s largest King Kong is invented by Bert Holster of Texas. The first King Kong structure was built with moving arms and blinking red eyes. But these features broke down not long after its completion.

In 2005, the dinosaur park closed down. Speculations say that the turn out could have been better if MacArthur?s statue is built instead of King Kong?s.