Christal Wagner Photography
DINO DREAMS
Yes. This is a whole post about my love of dinosaurs and a majestic family theme park called Dinosaur World so hold onto your butts. If you don’t get that reference, you might as well just stop reading this post now!
Let me tell you, for my fellow Dino nerds out there, Dinosaur World was an experience. Inexpensive, immersive and nostalgic, childhood dreams delightfully manifested into reality on this two hour walk! So what if I am in my thirties?! I am not ashamed to admit I was giddy with excitement and the park did not disappoint! This park is geared towards Dino lovers of any age with extra perks like fossil excavation for the kiddos. Dinosaur World is affordable, well -maintained, and makes for a lovely way to connect with your kids or relive your youth in an afternoon. While there are a few in the US, we visited the Kentucky Dinosaur World.
Whether you love dinosaurs, or your kids are superfans, I am certain that you’ll love the experience and at the very least, you’ll enjoy the pleasant walk. Along the short hike through the greenery, dinosaurs peek through the foliage and are transplanted into pockets of open area to create majestic scenes. I couldn’t help but sing the Jurassic Park theme aloud! Who am I kidding, those who know me know that I find myself doing that for a variety of reasons 🙂
Dinosaur World was a blast. It took me back to the days of playing archeologist, making mud pies, collecting pet bugs and obsessing over our outdoor shenanigans like Jurassic Park tag. This was certainly no ordinary game of tag. Instead, each player tagged “it” would choose what kind of dinosaur they were to embody based on preferred bonus traits specific to each of our handpicked and agreed upon options. Want to be able to be able to reach the top of the playground equipment? Better choose T-Rex to reach the humans on that second story of the Visitor’s Center. Er…I mean playground. The person tagged “it” would begin their transformation with a countdown that sent all of us mere humans running. Sweaty and grass stained we climbed the swing set like agile monkeys until we were just out of range from the neighbor boy posing as a savage spitting Dilophosaurus. Yes, we were most definitely weird but we were bursting with creativity.
On many road trips traveling down I-65 south, I would pass the giant T-Rex lurking in the distance. Finally on a road trip back from Bonnaroo, a music festival in Tennessee, I would finally walk up to the looming beast of childhood nightmares. We packed up our campsite and made a plan to head out early. After hitting up a Waffle House for some greasy diner grub and way too many cups of coffee, our next stop would be a trip to the past.
If road tripping by Cave City, Dinosaur World is much more than a great place to get some fresh air and stretch your legs. Catch all your favorite Dinos spread throughout the outdoor exhibit from the great Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus rex and Brachiosaurus, to many more! Next time, we’ll make sure to save time for a trip to explorethe nearby Mammoth Cave as well!
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If you are looking to do any of the following, than this is a quirky stop for you:
Relive your youth
See life-size dinosaurs
Take ridiculous pictures
Take a scenic walk through prehistoric times
If you find yourself doing the following, than this is for you:
Counting down the days until the next Jurassic movie comes out
Quoting Ian Malcolm (Not saying that I do that 😉
Listen to See Jurassic Right podcast with the one and only Steven Ray Morris
Catch yourself roaming the toy aisle just to see the newest Jurassic Universe toys but then talk to yourself, “they don’t make them like they used to…”
Have Kauai at the top of your bucketlist
Look forward to going to museums of Natural History to catch the Dinosaur exhibits just like you did at 9 years old
If you once did the following, than this is a must see side trip:
Made a Diorama for a Science Fair or, better known as a Dinorama!
Read Jurassic Park as a third grader and bragged about it incessantly (IT IS 572 pages you know)
Followed it up with The Lost World
Claimed to be Michael Crichton’s biggest and youngest fan
Spent many days and nights playing out scenarios locking down The Compound and getting the power up and running!
Let things get wild by introducing Barbie to the world of Jurassic Park
Still have your screeching Velociraptor and stopping T-Rex and wonder, “how do those batteries still work?”
Bust those toys out periodically and had more fun than you should publicly admit
Thought that buying boots and a flannel might mean you could probably become a paleobotanist like your personal heroine, Ellie Sattler
Declared that when you grew up, you’d get a green jeep and DEFINITELY get that iconic logo splashed on the side
Spent a summer week rewriting your own version of Jurassic Park
CHECK OUT SOME FUN LINKS/RECS BELOW:
Dinosaur World
See Jurassic Right podcast
https://play.acast.com/s/jurassicright
Dinosaur Discovery Museum
Field Museum
https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/sue-t-rex
American Museum of Natural History – digital offerings!
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
Natural History Museum of Los Angelos County
Exhibit at Milwaukee Zoo – October 2020
http://www.milwaukeezoo.org/visit/animals/specialexhibit.php
MOVIES/SHOWS:
Dinosaurs
The Land Before Time (& many sequels!)
We’re Back
Walking With Dinosaurs (Netflix)
Battle At Big Rock (You Tube)
Jurassic Park
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park III
Jurassic World
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Camp Cretaceous
Jurassic World: Dominion (Released 2021?)
Photos below by me & Phil 🙂
Phil taking in the T-Rex 
Me, nerding out. 
Phil observing the Stegos 
Phil has hatched