Traveling Jurassic World Exhibition Has Arrived at Grandscape in The Colony

Travel to the mysterious Isla Nublar and enter Jurassic World—right here in Dallas! 

Round Room Live and Cityneon are kicking off the North American leg of their touring dino exhibition in the DFW metroplex. Jurassic World: The Exhibition sets up an immersive 20,000-square-foot space filled with the most advanced animatronics you’ve ever seen and invites you to explore iconic scenes from the Jurassic World movie franchise.

 

“The Closest You’ll Ever Come to Living Dinosaurs”

The exhibition’s tagline is spot on: it really does feel like you’ve set foot in a zoo specifically for these, living, breathing ancient creatures. Proprietary state-of-the-art animatronics by Creature Technology Co. are designed to make the animals look as realistic as possible. The staff are all well-trained to refer to the experience and the animals as though you are really visiting the Jurassic World park, which adds a little bit of extra immersive magic to the tour.

The exhibition runs from June 18 – September 5, 2021 in Dallas, so you have until Labor Day weekend to grab your tickets. 

We attended the exhibition’s media preview on opening week to get all the details, pictures, and videos before the grand opening. If you’re curious about what the Jurassic World Exhibition experience is really like, here’s the scoop. 

 

The Jurassic World Exhibition Experience 

 

Ferrying to Isla Nublar

When you first arrive at the exhibition, you’ll “board” a futuristic ferry boat that takes you to the shores of Isla Nublar, the setting for the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies. 

Screens on the sides of the walls offer the illusion of ocean water outside the ferry’s “windows” while an informational video gives you some background on the park. This part of the timed experience is probably used to help space out groups of guests throughout the exhibition so that no room is ever too crowded.

 

Arriving at the Jurassic World Gates

Cue the theme music: you’ve arrived at Jurassic World! Huge gates tower over you at the front of the exhibit, and you’re greeted by a baby dinosaur and one of the iconic jeeps from the movies.

 

The Land of Giants

The first larger-than-life dinosaur you’ll encounter is the long-necked brachiosaurus. He basks in the sunlight, peers down at you, and occasionally roars a little bit. You’ll also notice there’s a spiky stygimoloch who pops his head out of his containment crate to say hello.

 

The Hammond Creation Lab

Next you’ll visit the Hammond Creation Lab, where you can encounter baby dinosaurs gently breathing and eggs waiting to hatch in their incubators. Each egg has a QR code that opens a link to interesting dino facts on your phone. You can also use mounted touchscreens to sneak a peek at what’s inside each egg.

 

The Raptor Paddock

The Raptor Paddock is home to Echo, Delta, and Charlie: three velociraptors who will growl menacingly at your from their restraints. You can encounter Blue, the raptor trained by Chris Pratt’s character in the movies, interacting with guests in the next room.

 

Indominus Rex Feeding

Indominus Rex was genetically engineered with a combo of T-Rex, Raptor, Carnotaurus DNA according to Jurassic World lore, making her especially cunning and vicious. You’ll see her reach up and chow down on a hunk of meat inside her exhibit.

 

Gyrosphere Valley

After sharing the room with so many carnivores, take a break and see a “gyrosphere” up close. These glass transportation balls make regular appearances in the movies. You can also play archaeologist for a day and dig up fossils using a special brush that sends signals to a digital screen.

 

T-Rex Escape

Before you leave Jurassic World, the staff will alert you to a park-wide emergency safety situation: “an asset is out of containment.” You know what that means!

The grand finale is an up-close encounter with a T-Rex that was so lifelike, I started to get a little nervous while I snapped my pictures! 

The T-Rex practically chasing us out to the gift shop was the coolest part of the exhibition. The sound effects and the staff’s acting skills combined with the ridiculously lifelike animatronics really surrounded you with an air of danger, like you were dropped straight into a scene from the movies.

 

Tips for Visiting The Jurassic World Exhibition 

Tickets for The Jurassic World Exhibition at Grandscape from June 18 – September 5 start at $30 for adults and $20 for kids ages 3-12. You can park for free at the Grandscape, and you can even grab a bite or do some shopping at the local businesses while you’re there! 

Here are a few tips to know before you go.

 

1. Visit on a weekday for the best ticket prices.

It costs $5 more per ticket to visit the Jurassic World Exhibition on a weekend, so if it’s possible to make a weekday work for your schedule, you should! It will also likely be less crowded.

 

2. Check out videos of the predators before bringing younger kids.

The recommended age range from the Jurassic World Exhibition is 8-80. Smaller kids are allowed to enter, but there are some parts of the experience that might be too scary for them. Not all of the dinos are herbivores, and the T-Rex escape at the end in particular might be a little bit too real for some younger guests. My suggestion is to watch videos of the exhibition with your child beforehand to gauge how comfortable they are (there are some clips saved to a highlight on my Instagram page, and I’m sure there are longer ones on YouTube). 

 

3. Make sure to explore each corner of the room.

While you walk around through the exhibition, don’t feel like you have to rush yourself and don’t miss any of the cool displays set up in each very different room. Some of them are even interactive, like the egg incubators in the lab or the fossil dig site.

 

4. Don’t skip the gift shop.

The gift shop wasn’t open yet when we visited on media day, and I was actually bummed! The shirts, mugs, magnets, postcards and toys for sale were all super cool, and they are exclusive to the exhibition. So if you see something you want, that will be your last chance to buy it. Austin’s favorite souvenir they sold was a mug shaped like a T-Rex head!

 

The Jurassic World Exhibition was honestly so much fun. I keep telling our friends that it felt like taking a mini trip to the Universal theme parks! I felt so fortunate that the tour stopped here in Dallas, and I definitely recommend buying tickets this summer.

Looking for more fun things to do in Dallas this summer? Check out all of my local guides here, or follow along on Instagram!