DINOSAURS COME ALIVE AT ‘JURASSIC QUEST’
“There aren’t many opportunities in life to ride a 6 ton armored dinosaur like you’re in a particularly awesome cartoon, but “Jurassic Quest” has you covered.
“Jurassic Quest” is a familyowned Texas endeavor. It was started in 2013 by Dan and Leticia Arnold of Spring, who apparently came up with the idea after a robust discussion about dinosaurs around the dinner table. From that simple beginning has grown the largest animatronic dinosaur experience in North America, with touring companies that have traveled around the U.S. and Canada and have hosted more than a million visitors.
“Most people can only name three or so dinosaurs off the top of their heads, but we have over a hundred,” says public relations manager Dustin Baker.
The main exhibit contains life-size and incredibly lifelike animatronics, some of which have the ability to be free-roaming. “Jurassic Quest” keeps paleontologists on staff to make sure that they have the most up-todate information on how their dinosaurs are portrayed, augmenting the designs to account for the latest discoveries in the field.
That educational bent is a primary aspect of “Jurassic Quest.” Though attendees are invited to roam unaccompanied, guided tours are offered to add a level of learning.
“Most of the time you experience dinosaurs it’s in a book or a fossil in a museum,” says Baker. “Here you don’t have to use your imagination. It’s like they’re there. They turn, they roar. It’s awesome that you don’t have to try that hard to see what they
were like.”
In addition to the exhibit, there are hands-on stations for kids. They can learn how to make fossil molds, do dinosaur related crafts and even participate in an excavation that allows them to take a fossil home as a souvenir. There are bounce houses and the like, too, but compressed air and rubber can never compete with riding a tanklike behemoth from the end of the Cretaceous.
Animatronic dinosaur shows have a long and proud history in the city. The Houston Museum of Natural Science hosted “Dinamation” in the 1980s, thrilling visitors with comparatively primitive robotics that nonetheless delighted children. More advanced techniques were incorporated in the “Walking With Dinosaurs” exhibition at Toyota Center in 2008. The practice of bringing the ancients titans to life continues to improve with research and technology, offering visitors memorable experiences like no other.
“When you come into our event, you are going to be transported to a prehistoric time,” says Baker.