Dinosaurs in the Wild Review

If you have children that love dinosaurs, then you may have seen that Dinosaurs in the Wild has arrived at London Greenwich and it offers an interactive experience to see 'real' dinosaurs up close.  The boys and I visited in half term and it was one of our highlights of the week.

The Dinosaurs in the Wild experience is close to Greenwich tube station and a short walk from the O2 arena and it was easy to find thanks to plenty of signposts starting in the tube station.  You are split into small groups as you enter which are the perfect size to mean you are never queueing or stuck behind someone too tall.  You enter a time travel machine and are transported back 67 million years to a time when Tyrannosaurus Rex and Ankylosaurus ruled the earth.  

It is a fast paced show which sees you spending between 5 and 10 minutes in each room and with a 4 year old that doesn't have the longest concentration span I found this ideal.  We never got bored or impatient for the next part, but we had enough time to properly explore where we were before being ushered into the next room.  The boys got to handle dinosaur poo (through gloves), take a look at a t-rex arm, watch eggs hatching with tiny triceratops inside and learned about how dinosaurs laid the eggs and how they looked after their babies.  Everything was interactive and fun and accesible on every level so that the adults took away as much as the children.  

After the Dinosaurs in the Wild show we got to chat to the men behind it all including the paleontologist Darren Naish who ensured everything stayed factually correct.  Children may not spot their favourite dinosaurs featured because the dinosaur period was so long, they may not have co-existed at this time.  The information is all based on their knowledge of which animals lived where and when and how they lived together.  There are no cartoon green dinosaurs, but instead they have the specs and patterns that were most likely true.  We spoke to Tim Haines too who created the award winning series 'Walking with Dinosaurs' and was the creative director behind this project.  He told us how he wanted to make something that wasn't just for children but something that would entertain all ages and he definitely succeeded.

At the end, we were taken up to the lookout tower which was a big room with four giant windows.  With our 3D glasses on we could see the dinosaurs moving around us and everything up to this point was so convincing for my boys that when the T-rex started to come towards us they did get scared.  The experience is so real but the staff were brilliant at looking after the children and making sure they were reassured.  As the experience finished our group was taken back up to the time machine to head back to 2018 and the gift shop.

The Dinosaurs in the wild experience isn't cheap considering it was around 70 minutes long and the gift shop was equally as expensive.  It was fantastic though, and I would highly recommend visiting, especially if you can go off peak.  We had an amazing time and I would consider going back and taking Finn as well as at 3 I think the pace would suit him (It is open until 31st July so this may well happen).  All three of us learned a lot and came out smiling.  The boys have talked about it lots since and have asked to revisit.  

PIN ME!

We were given complimentary tickets to the experience

 but all thoughts and opinions are completely my own.