Dinos Alive: An Immersive Experience at Sydney Olympic Park
Dinosaurs were big and scary, as everyone knows. But standing under one of the roaring, head-bobbing animatronics at Dinos Alive gives you a far more visceral taste of how terrifying it would’ve been, had humans co-existed with the prehistoric beasts.
The exhibition, run by American events platform Fever at its new exhibition in Sydney, features 80-plus convincingly realistic models – some a couple of stories high. Visitors wander along roped off garden-style paths, with some larger models projecting overhead, tails wagging or jaws snapping just beyond reach.
All the kid favourites are here – T-rex, stegosaurus, velociraptor – alongside plenty of more obscure species. Each diorama, complete with plants and other details, features a small illuminated plaque sharing key information about the species. The plaques are illuminated because the rooms are rather dark.
Noisy, too, now that we think of it, with a menagerie of speculative squeaks, chitters, groans and roars mixing into a sustained background ruckus. While dino-loving young children will undoubtedly get a kick out of the exhibition, there’s also the possibility that the scare factor all this movement, noise and animatronic realism will outweigh their excitement. If it gets too much, take a break in the middle room, a calming oceanarium with 360-degree projections of turtles, shimmering schools of fish, plesiosaurs and other aquatic species.
The final room is the best place to linger. In addition to dinosaur-themed slides and shopping mall-scale rides, it features two large beds where your little ones can dust for fossils, a colouring station where final drawings are scanned and animated on a vast screen, and a VR-headset experience. And of, course, you’ll exit through the gift shop, filled with dinosaur toys and other merch.
Open every day except Tuesday.