Brookfield Zoo Dinosaurs Alive! Exhibit Review
Fun Children's Activities in Chicago – See Animatronic Dinosaurs
May 10, 2009
Families visiting Illinois and looking for things to do in Chicago that are both fun and educational should visit the Brookfield Zoo Dinosaurs Alive! exhibit. Running from April to October 2009, this special Chicago tourist attraction contains 18 life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, a simulated dino dig site for kids, a model of a dinosaur fossil quarry, and a Shopasaurus gift shop fully stocked with dinosaur toys.
Children's Activities in Chicago – Animatronic Dinosaurs
Chicago tourists entering the Brookfield Chicago Zoo's Dinosaurs Alive! exhibit find themselves in a simulation of a Mesozoic forest, walking along a trail past 16 life-sized prehistoric dinosaur robots. These replica dinosaurs move and speak, making noises ranging from chirps to roars. Four of the animatronic creatures can be operated by visitors pushing buttons on easy-to-use remote control boxes.
Chicago Tourist Attraction – Prehistoric Dinosaurs
The animatronic dinosaurs featured in this fun Chicago activity for kids include:
- The Ruyang Yellow River dinosaur, the largest dinosaur ever discovered, which is set up in Brookfield Zoo's Roosevelt Fountain where all zoo visitors can enjoy watching it roar and spit huge streams of water.
- A flying Pteranodon.
- A remote-controlled robot Dilophosaurus.
- A Metriacanthosaurus.
- A Yangchuanosaurus.
- An Omeisaurus.
- An Allosaurus.
- A Stegosaurus (and a baby Stegosaurus).
- A remote-controlled robot Baryonyx.
- A Deinonychus.
- An Apatosaurus (and a remote-controlled baby Apatosaurus).
- A Triceratops.
- A remote-controlled Parasaurolophus.
- A Tyrannosaurus rex (and a baby Tyrannosaurus rex).
Controls for the four remote-control robotic dinosaurs are easy for kids to use. Clear pictures label each button to show which part of the animatronic dinosaur will be moved by pushing it. To teach zoo visitors about these prehistoric creatures, the sign on each box describes characteristic ways that each type of dinosaur moved, explaining how dinosaur tails could be used for balance or how front limbs and claws could be used to catch food or for self-defense.
Chicago Brookfield Zoo Dinosaurs Alive! Exhibit Features
This fun Chicago attraction for kids is designed to both teach and entertain. Interactive signs are interspersed with the gigantic robotic dinosaurs, providing information parents can use to help kids learn about these amazing prehistoric creatures.
Some signs help children understand how modern birds and reptiles are related to dinosaurs by having kids compare features and traits possessed by the animatronic dinosaurs with characteristics of modern zoo animals. Other signs offer more in-depth dinosaur facts, such as how scientists determine names for dinosaurs or what current theories scientists believe about dinosaur behavior. One particularly striking sign provides zoo visitors with a visual representation of how an Apatosaurus egg compares in size to a modern ostrich egg and chicken egg.
Other dinosaur exhibit features include a model of the Danshanpu Quarry in China and two 4-foot by 8-foot raised dino dig sites where kids can use small brushes to uncover dinosaur fossils.
Chicago Brookfield Zoo Dinosaurs Alive! Review
Overall, this exhibit is well worth the price of admission to the Brookfield Zoo (plus the extra dinosaur exhibit admission fee). Families visiting Chicago tourist attractions for kids will not want to miss this one.
The dinosaur exhibit designers paid great attention to theming, and parents will enjoy details like overturned jeeps and funny signs warning visitors to stay on the path or risk getting squashed. Seeing so many life-sized animatronic dinosaurs displayed next to each other helps visitors appreciate how big some prehistoric dinosaurs were, as well as providing a better sense of the comparative sizes of different dinosaurs.
Some other reviewers have complained that the dinosaurs should have a greater range of motion to be more exciting and realistic. Considering the fact that the electronic components inside these robot dinosaurs have to be sturdy enough to withstand the cold and rain of an outside environment, it is amazing that these robot creatures move and speak as much as they do. And even in repose, their design is startling and scary if an unsuspecting visitor turns around and suddenly spots a previously unnoticed one.
Of the other exhibit features, the model quarry is small and unremarkable, but the Dino Dig Site is fun for kids. Parents need not worry about mess, either, for children dig through small bits of rubber to uncover the fossilized bones, not sand or dirt.
Brookfield Chicago Zoo Dinosaurs Alive! Exhibit Information
- Admission to this animatronic dinosaur exhibit is $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 3 to 11 and seniors, on top of the general zoo admission price of $12 for adults and $8 for kids and seniors. (Members of the Brookfield Zoo pay only $2.50 or $1.50 to see the dinosaurs.)
- Dinosaurs Alive! will run during normal zoo operating hours through late October 2009.
- The Shopasaurus gift shop carries fun, educational dinosaur toys ranging from dinosaur excavation kits and plush dinosaur stuffed animals to dinosaur playsets, books, games, and souvenir shirts.
Families on vacation in Illinois that are looking for fun places to visit in Chicago will enjoy this interactive dinosaur exhibition at the Chicago Brookfield Zoo. To teach kids facts about these dinosaurs ahead of time, read Jurassic Dinosaurs Alive and Early Cretaceous Dinosaurs Alive, as well as an article about their Dino Mall Tour.
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