Buckle up, dino geeks. Field’s Jurassic World: The Exhibition just became the alpha of Chicago museum must-dos.
If you go
Where: Field Museum
When: May 26, 2017-Jan. 7, 2018
Tickets: for children and for adults for daytime entry in addition to general museum admission; for children and for adults for evening entry
It’s a rare, slightly euphoric opportunity to be able to visit and explore the fictional world of your favorite movie, let alone one of the most popular movie franchises of all time. But holy robotic dinosaurs, Batman, this exhibit will rock your prehistoric world.
The exhibit, which runs from May 26-Jan. 7, includes a visit to Isla Nublar where visitors will come face-to-face with towering, incredibly lifelike dinosaurs, visit the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo and The Hammond Creation Lab, get a special preview of Jurassic World’s top-secret project—the Indominus rex—and go inside the Raptor Training Paddock.
This vibrant realm was created by Imagine Exhibitions and is so larger-than-life that it’s housed in an exhibition tent on the front lawn of the museum, making it the first of its kind for Field. And get this, movie nerds — actual set props from the movie are used in the exhibit.
Need more convincing? According to 8-year-old Milo Barraca, the exhibit is “just like the movies.” And, as a self-proclaimed dino lover, he would know. Eight-year-old Sarah Cullen disagrees. She thinks the exhibit is even better than the movies. “Well, if the dinosaurs don’t try to eat you,” she added.
For the dinosaur purists out there who note that the Jurassic franchise isn’t the most scientific, rest assured that this exhibition is filled with paleontologist-verified facts, figures and touchable fossils. So as kids explore the interactive features of the exhibit, like building their own dinosaur or exploring computerized genome projects, they’ll pick up some knowledge about DNA, species extinction and more.
Director of Exhibition Operations, Tom Skwerski, says the hope is that the multigenerational obsession with Jurassic World will bring a whole new audience to Field. And it’s pretty safe to say that fans of the movies … or dinosaurs … or really cool robots … or science … or history, will flip out over this experience.
