Jurassic Quest Drive Thru Experience Review

We headed out to Jurassic Quest for Valentine's Day. In previous years, Jurassic Quest was an in-person event. This year, it's a drive thru with about 70 fairly realistic dinosaurs, from little Compsognathus to giants like Spinosaurus and Megalodon. Some of the dinosaurs even move.

Our time slot was 12pm to 1pm. Even though we arrived about 20 minutes early, they ushered us right in. There was no waiting and a masked attendant scanned our ticket in seconds. Our check in was quick and totally touchless.

When we got inside I saw a long line of cars going through the experience. I was a little worried it would go too slow and the kids would get bored, especially since we had driven about 40 minutes to get there. But the line went swiftly and the pace was perfect for the kids to take in everything. We personally kept the windows up and that didn't bother the kids at all. But, there were many kids hanging out the windows or sticking their heads through the sunroof. (Although they ask you wear a mask if your windows are rolled down, most of the kids weren't wearing masks. Take that as good or bad at your will.) Everyone was really having a great time.

As we went through and gazed at the enormity of the dinosaurs, a perfectly timed audio told us about the dinosaurs we were looking at, which I believe were mostly in order of time period. My 4 year old was ecstatic, jumping up and down in the van as he caught a glimpse of the next huge Dino. My 6 year old, our family dinosaur expert, took it in a little more quietly. He was in charge of telling us what dinosaur was next. Because Jurassic Quest prides itself on creating dinosaurs as close to real ones as possible, he could easily name the majority of them. Plus, now that he can read fairly well, he was able to read the signs for some he wasn't sure about. He was also taking note of things like claws and feathers, and listening for new facts on the audio.

Overall, it was a very well put on event. I believe it is worth the $49. Is it a day at Legoland? no. (But of course, that would cost more than $49 per person.) The entire experience lasts a little less than an hour. To really get the kids excited, I suggest making it a part of a special day. Since we did it on Valentine's Day, the kids had a special breakfast before we went, I made them snack bags for in the car (which was easy since they just got a lot of snacky- treats this week for the holiday) and when we came home we had more outside fun and a special dinner with dessert.

Here are some ideas for a special dinosaur day.

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DINO MEALS

Dinosaur Breakfast: Check out this link for a Stegosaurus pancake with fruit.

Dinosaur Lunch: Do your kids like PBJ and Mac and Cheese? Make dinosaur style with Organic Dinosaur Mac and Cheese, and these dinosaur sandwich cutters.

LEARNING MATERIALS

Don't Forget to prep them with dinosaur learning materials. My boys really love this

Dinosaur Encyclopedia.

DINOSAUR GAMES

For at home, take a look at this board game. Do you have a decent length drive? The kids can play dinosaur games on a phone or tablet. PBS kids has great educational games here: Dinosaurs Games | PBS KIDS.

DRESS THE PART

If you want to really get into the spirit, you can have the kids dress up as Paleontologists. My kids recently wore vests and hats for career day that I found here.

HAVE A DINO-RIFIC DAY!

*I am a Amazon Affiliate. I may receive compensation for qualifying purchases at no additional cost to the read. All recommendations are 100% my own.