YMMV / Dinotopia

• Adaptation Displacement: Majority of the people who know about Dinotopia only watched the miniseries and/or the In Name Only animated movie, Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone due to television being more widespread than the books as a medium.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: At a cursory glance, Dinotopia seems to be an island where man has Domesticated Dinosaurs. Certainly dinosaurs are explicitly proud of their strength and happily carry humans and pull heavy things for them. However, humans and dinosaurs are supposed to be on equal standing. And if you ask Lee Crabb, he would tell you that the dinosaurs are the true rulers and the humans just their opposable thumbed little servants.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • First Flight has a plot that revolves around the main characters riding around on Giant Fliers. Doesn't sound familiar enough? His mount is named Avatar.
  • The variably anthropomorphic dinosaur residents of the island are sometimes derogatorily referred to as "scalies".
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?:
  • The first Dinotopia illustrated novel is a book with loads and loads of illustrations. And it involves talking dinosaurs. It never had a chance. Gurney has stated that his books are for all ages; he likes media where things can be enjoyed both at a shallow surface level and also when more thought is applied.
  • The spinoff novels on the other hand, are definitely meant for kids, though a few of them have crossover appeal. Have we mentioned the Knights of the Unrivaled?
• Woolseyism: An alphabet used widely in Dinotopia is simply called the "footprint alphabet", since it is based on the shapes of dinosaurs' feet. The Polish translation of the book calls it "alfabet łapiński", with the latter word being a portmanteau of "łaciński" (as in "Latin alphabet") and "łapa" (foot).