BUFFALO, N.Y. — Before football season begins and Bills Mafia arrives, dozens of life-like dinosaurs are roaming the parking lots Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.
Billed as the nation's largest touring dinosaur exhibit, Jurassic Quest Drive Thru features 70 animatronic dinos, from adorable babies to a T-Rex and more. The creatures have taken over the parking lots across from the stadium on Abbott Road, for guests to see from their cars as they drive through the experience while listening to a choose-your-own adventure audio tour. There will also be trainer meet and greets and photo opportunities along the way.
"We work with paleontologists to make them look as accurate as possible," said "Dino" Dustin Baker. "You drive thru and listen to narrators tell you all about these dinosaurs in a fun way. There's a loose storyline as well. So it's a really cool way to get the kids out, learn about dinosaurs, and not feel like you're teaching them something."
If a drive-through dinosaur experience sounds too similar to the start a popular movie franchise to you, Baker says there's no need to worry.
"This is very lifelike, but not as scary," he told 2 On Your Side. "These are not movie dinosaurs, these are dinosaurs, like I said, we work with paleontologists to make sure they're accurate. So the velociraptor you see in our exhibit is very different from the one on the movies, because velociraptors were really about the size of a turkey. So the things that you see here, the dinosaurs, the creatures that you see here, are what paleontologists believe at the most accurate depictions of these dinosaurs."
Tickets are $49 a vehicle and must be purchased in advance through www.jurassicquest.com.
Show dates are Friday, July 16th - Sunday, July 25th, with no shows on Mondays & Tuesdays.
Times are as follows:
- Saturdays: 9 am – 9 pm
- Sundays: 9 am – 8 pm
- Wednesdays: 1 pm - 8 pm
- Thursdays and Fridays: 9am – 8 pm
More information is available by clicking here.