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Is that an apocalyptic asteroid blazing overhead? What else could explain why some of the nation’s most rip-roaring dinosaur exhibits recently went extinct?
Last fall, tristate favorite Field Station: Dinosaurs in Leonia, NJ, sold off its terrific menagerie of 25 animatronic dinosaurs. Then in February, Walt Disney World in Orlando abruptly announced the permanent closure of DinoLand, an original piece of its Animal Kingdom park, opened in 1998. (It’s being replaced by a new “Tropical Americas” themed land with Indiana Jones and “Encanto” attractions.)
But parents of elementary school-aged paleontologists and precocious toddlers who already know how to say pachycephalosaurus shouldn’t fear another ice age. Life finds a way.
From coast to coast, new and long-beloved dinosaur experiences, along with museums and touring shows, are keeping the saurian spirit of the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods alive.
Closest to home, the American Museum of Natural History (already the go-to spot for rex-traordinary fun) opened “Fossils of the Flaming Cliffs” in April. The exhibit highlights discoveries from the Gobi Desert, a rich source of paleo-pay dirt. It also honors the late curator, Mark A. Norell, who studied the museum’s fossils and helped make the groundbreaking link between dinosaurs and birds.
The highlights of the show include a nest of eggs (one with a newly hatched dinosaur) of two birdlike oviraptorids, and the skeleton of an early rodent-like mammal.
(Speaking of mammals, be sure to go and peep the museum’s Paraceratherium — another Gobi Desert discovery — which was a hornless rhinocerotoid that was one of the largest terrestrial mammals to ever exist. It’s on show in the museum’s neighboring exhibit, “Impact: The End of the Age of Dinosaurs.” That show also features life-size models of a 27-foot mosasaur, a 30-foot, long-necked plesiosaur, and touchable triceratops.)
For more adventure, that’s certified triceratops, head upstate. In Albany, the New York State Museum just opened “Expedition Dinosaur: Rise of the Mammals,” which runs until January 2027. The show looks at the dramatic moments just before and after the mass extinction event 66 million years ago that wiped out our scaly (feathered?) friends.
There are life-sized animatronics to animate your tot’s imagination. Tyrannosaurus rex and Quetzalcoatlus? Check and check. Early mammals like loxolophus and triisodon? Of course. There are also immersive environments, fossils, and interactive experiences like the “Fossil Dig,” “Fossil Scanner,” augmented-reality sandbox, and “Dinosaur Draw Alive.”
The show’s centerpiece is the “Asteroid Experience,” which uses 360-degree light and sound effects to re-create the global catastrophe that fuels our SUVs today.
Continue journeying north to Buffalo and bee-line straight to the zoo, where Destination Dinosaur just opened in May. This prehistoric trail plays all the roaring, chomping animatronic hits with T. rexes, triceratops, giganotosauruses, and more than a dozen other life-size, multisyllabic reptiles on display. Can you dig it? Of course, just head to the fossil pit. Your family may even learn a thing or two at the twice- daily, educational dinosaur shows at noon and 2 p.m.
Over in New Jersey, a forever favorite for fossil hunters, the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum has a new experience to discover this summer. Located in Mantua, just south of Philly, and part of Rowan University, the museum is built on a site where over 100,000 fossils from more than 100 species have been discovered.
Its founding executive director, Dr. Kenneth Lacovara, is famed for unearthing some of history’s largest dinosaurs, like the massive 65-ton dreadnoughtus (featured in “Jurassic World: Dominion”).
It’s already loaded with creatures from the Cretaceous period — monsters that once upon a time tossed their weight around New Jersey like Chris Christie — and immersive fun and scavenger hunts.
But here’s a bone to pick: in March, the museum added a new star attraction, the Quarry Dig Experience. This isn’t some sandbox with concrete casts; it’s the real deal. For $25, you can get on hand and knee, spending up to one hour digging for real 66-million-year-old dinosaur fossils at a site that has produced mosasaurs, sea turtles, and shark teeth.
Should you become an overnight Richard Owen, the museum will display your find with your name affixed. But the museum promises that everyone who digs will leave with their very own fossil (even if you’re a lazybones and don’t find one yourself). No saur losers here.
Of course, there are dino-mite discoveries to be made across the country — from serious digs in Wyoming to more cartoonish takes on the land before time.
For the latter, head to sunny San Diego, home to Dino Valley at Legoland California. Opened back in 2024, the park is packed with pixelated predators from prehistory and colossal sculptures made from 1.8 million LEGO bricks, along with three roaring rides.
The “Coastersaurus,” which whips past a thousand-pound brachiosaurus (that’s a longneck to your little one), is the most thrilling. Your kids who aren’t tall enough to ride will enjoy the Duplo Little Dino Trail — a hide-and-seek jeep track down a dino trail.
Last but not least is North America’s numero uno touring dinosaur experience: Jurassic Quest. Coming off its Canadian tour, the show migrates back stateside starting July 3 at the Palmer Events Center in Austin, Texas, followed by dates in Alabama, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, and New Jersey throughout the summer.
Designed for children aged 2 to 10, Jurassic Quest is a maximalist take on the leapin’ lizards of the lost world. Expect a little bit of everything. Can you ride an animatronic dinosaur with teeth the size of your toddler’s head?
Will you hear roars of laughter from dinosaur-themed bounce houses? Can you dig for fossils, do creature crafts, hold baby dinos, and walk alongside scientifically accurate spinosaurus, T. rex, and velociraptors? If you answered yes to all of the above, you’ve got the idea.
Come on and join the tyranno-chorus.
