Walking Among the Dinosaurs at Jurassic Quest

Have I mentioned how much my 6 year old loves dinosaurs? That child would rather watch Jurassic Park/World movies than Disney Princess movies. She has a HUGE crush on Chris Pratt who plays Owen Grady - trainer to her favorite dinosaur, Blue, the velociraptor. She even learned to say paleontologist. Quite a mouthful, but it goes with the dino theme. 

So, you can bet I was super excited to be given the chance to take my family to Jurassic Quest. They were in Abilene, Texas this past weekend. When my daughter found out we were going, she started a countdown! Everyday, she checked the calendar to count the days until we would go. 

I had written a post before telling you about Jurassic Quest, what they offer, how to find out where they will be and yes, gave you a great discount code! Well, now I'm giving you additional information. I called up the Expo center that this one was held in. They had set up a concession stand, as they don't allow outside food and drinks in. That included water bottles! So be ready for that. Also know the time they start and close. For us, that was 9AM to 8PM. Depending on what you plan to do there, you need to give yourself up to 2 hours to experience everything. 

So how was it? 

Worth the 2 hour and 21 minute drive to and from? For the 6 year olds enjoyment alone - yes!

My other 3 were grouches, more or less. This really is for the younger kids to enjoy.

As you walk towards the Expo Center, you can see several 'dinosaurs' displayed outside. My husband said they reminded him of those ones you would see at theme parks near the rides. 

It was a very short walk through the exhibit. I think in total, we were there 45 minutes. And that included the line wait just to ask how much the ride tickets were.

Those are $6 by the way. Or you can get an all-inclusive pass for $16 that allows multiple turns on any of the thrills. Which weren't as many as I thought. You get those at the Souvenirs table.

They had a few green screen photo ops set up. Depending on which kind you wanted, they were $15-$40 each. 

We had arrived just before noon. I think that was when the floodgates opened and people really started showing up. 

The part my daughter loved the most was the 'Live Velociraptor Training' show. A feathered raptor came in view, did some tricks and even danced with the 'trainer'. But after a few minutes of watching from her dads shoulders, even she got bored and was ready to move on. 

We didn't see the baby dinosaurs she hoped to view. There were the ones on display with the big dinos, but none being held and meant for petting.  We also did not see the Megalodon. I'm not sure how we missed it. Maybe it was outside under a tent? But those looked like rides and were overly crowded. 

Lastly, and this wasn't a surprise to us, but you have to take their info-graphic signs with a grain of salt if you believe in creation. Most of what they showed to be what dinosaurs looked like were nothing more than ideas based on a handful of bones. Something we had to remind the little one of. 

I'll conclude here that she really had fun. She imagined herself being in Jurassic Park or World. Dinosaurs surrounding her. Cute, ugly, gentle, dangerous - they were all interesting to her imagination. And that is all that truly mattered to me at the end of the day. I'll try to do something for her siblings later. But for now, she was our focus. And it was great!