As a lifelong fan of dinosaurs, I try to attend anything related to prehistory's ill-fated 'terrible lizards'. I've been to a lot of dinosaur related museum exhibits as well as educational theme parks. It's just kind of my thing. After all, what's not to love about nature's version of Godzilla?Which explains why I found myself at a dinosaur theme park in a mosquito ridden forest in the middle of Nowhere, Alberta last weekend. I'd heard about Jurassic Forest from various websites, and after realizing that I'd be in the area, I knew I had to visit. There were promises of life sized models of dinosaurs, which were hooked up to motion sensors. Reviews of the park promised dinosaurs that growled, roared and moved. Naturally, I was hooked.
Upon arriving, I found that the park itself was beautifully landscaped, with a wooden walkway that meandered through a lovely landscape of local trees, grasses and flowers. There were informational signs on the local flora and fauna, as well as the expected dinosaur related fare. The setting was lovely, covering a variety of environments, ranging from marshes to forests. Although the park is small, it manages to cover a lot of ground without feeling overwhelming or exhausting. There were plenty of benches to sit on and rest, although the amount of mosquitos that were out were deterrent enough to prevent me from wanting to sit and bask in the sun longer than necessary. Bonus points for the tan I got while walking around, because Lord knows, my pale self could use a little sun.
The stars of the show were the dinosaurs. I was giddy as a schoolgirl talking to her first grade school crush after I stumbled across T-Rex in one of the exhibits. Dude was huge, and certainly made some impressive roaring sounds. I was so excited I clapped my hands and literally did a little jig, because after all, it's not every day you get to come across a T-Rex.
The placement of the dinosaurs felt (mostly) natural, and it was easy to suspend belief and pretend you were at some kind of Jurassic Park-esque place in which dinosaurs still roamed the earth. It was educational without being boring, and had a dose of campiness which I appreciate. I didn't even mind the fact that I was clearly one of the few guests over the age of five, since most of the visitors were tagging along with parents. I took it as a good sign that even the parents look engaged and generally interested.
My only complaint is that a few of the motion sensors didn't work, rendering mime like dinosaurs that remained mute and disappointingly still. Luckily, the malfunctioning dinosaurs were all the boring, plant eating ones anyway -- if T-Rex had not been working, I would have been a sad panda.
Here are photos and videos of my trip to Jurassic Forest. My videos are unlisted, so please do not link to them on other blogs or websites. As always, please don't use my photos or link to them.
