Fifteen-foot tall dinosaurs and their young will return to the Lake County Fairgrounds Aug. 30-Sept. 2 for the third annual Jurassic Quest. Inside the darkened exhibition hall, dinosaurs will roar while baby dinosaurs will seek pets from humans.
These animatronic puppets have been created to look and move as the real dinosaurs did more than 65 million years ago, according to Dustin Baker, stage and public relations manager for Jurassic Quest.
Since the show opened seven years ago, it has traveled to more than 150 venues across the country, featuring more than 100 dinosaurs.
“We’ve doubled the size from when we started,” Baker said, adding more rides are also available since the venture began.
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The 9-foot-tall dinosaur children love to ride will be there, he said, but youngsters who are intimidated by its size now can ride on smaller ones. Dino scooters are available for toddlers to ride. Children also can hop in a bounce house, dig for fossils and get their faces painted during their quest.
What sets this exhibit apart from others is the educational component, Baker said. The Jurassic Quest team works with paleontologists to ensure the dinosaurs featured are accurately portrayed, and visitors can take guided tours to learn about dinosaur attributes and the time periods and environments in which they lived.
“We take pride in that,” Baker said.
The staff continually works with paleontologists to gain the most up-to-date information on dinosaurs, including what they looked like and how they behaved.
For example, paleontologists are debating on whether the spinosaurus walked on all four legs or only its hind legs. So now Jurassic Quest has one of each, although both might not be at all venues, Baker said.
As for the velociraptors — they don’t look like the ones in “Jurassic Park,” Baker said. “They were not that big. They were smaller and had feathers,” he said. “We’re not trying to make a movie. We’re trying to give an accurate representation of what the dinosaurs looked like … It’s important to us that customers get accurate information on those dinosaurs.”
With the price of admission, visitors can tour the exhibit on their own or take a 30-minute walk with a dinosaur expert who will reveal fun facts and interesting information, Baker said.
He added Jurassic Quest includes dinosaurs the typical person hasn’t read about or learned much about. T-rex will be there, but so too will be the baryonyx, a fish-eating dinosaur that lived more than 100 million years ago.
“This is a great experience for families as well as those who know a lot about dinosaurs,” Baker said. “When you walk in, you hear the rumble and the dinosaurs roaring and T-rex is greeting you. The look on the kids’ faces — there’s nothing like it. When they see dinosaurs for the first time they light up. The dinosaurs are moving and interacting with the kids. It’s like no other experience.”
Baker said Jurassic Quest sold out at a recent venue in Canada and last year sold out at Navy Pier in Chicago. The Grayslake venue typically has 5,000 adults and children attend throughout the long weekend, he said.
Those ages 2-64 pay $22 daily. Each child’s ride or activity costs $5 extra. Ages 65 and older pay $20. A $36 VIP ticket for children ages 2-12 gives free access to all the rides and activities, he said.
“We suggest people go online and purchase tickets instead of waiting until the day of the events,” Baker said. “They can use the SAVE20 promo code to get 20 percent off tickets.”
Jurassic Quest
When: 3-8 p.m., Aug. 30, 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Aug. 31 and Sept. 1; 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Sept. 2
Where: Lake County Fairgrounds, 1060 Peterson Road, Grayslake
Tickets: $20-$22 for admission; $36 for VIP pass, including rides, inflatables, activities; under 2 are free
Information: 936-588-3332; jurassicquest.com/events/grayslake
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.