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Attraction Review

Dinosaurs in the Dark at Ouwehands Zoo

Attraction Review January 23, 2024

That time again: Another zoo in the Netherlands has been dinosaurified! Previously I showed you the dinosaurs that came to ZooParc Overloon, Dierenrijk and GaiaZoo. This time, it’s Ouwehands Dierenpark in the town of Rhenen that has been visited by creatures from millions of years ago. There’s a twist, though; whereas the previous attractions centered around the usual models and animatronics, this attraction is a dinosaur-themed edition of Ouwehands’ yearly Light Nights winter event. That means these dinosaurs are light…

ROARR!

Attraction Review March 28, 2023

Given Sam Bright’s excellent recent guest post on the Crystal Palace dinosaurs, it only seems fitting that we turn to another, more modern park full of full-scale life reconstructions of prehistoric beasts. Except, of course, this is firmly on the kitsch-o-saurus end of the scale, and there certainly won’t be a reference section at the end. Leave it to me to the lower the tone. What’s more, this is yet another example of me wallowing in childhood nostalgia. For I…

The Dinosaur Kitsch Parade

Attraction Review December 30, 2022

I wanted to do something quirky to close off the year. I like to think we are all dinosaur kitsch connaisseurs here. As the blog’s resident European mainlander, I have made it my mission to visit lots of dinosaur-related attractions, expositions and museums around the continent. I will then write whatever there is to write, whether it’s about priceless, unique vintage models in Poland or rubbish animatronics at some zoo. I’ve found that in this time of plenty there is…

The Dinosaurs of Silesia

Attraction Review Vintage Dinosaur Art June 20, 2022

Zoo Chorzów, or the Silesian Zoological Park, is located a stone’s throw from the centre of Katowice in the Upper Silesia region of southern Poland. The zoo was founded on its current location in 1954, as part of the Socialist-era post-mining development of a big city park also including an amusement park, a planetarium, a sports centre and an art gallery. And there’s dinosaurs. The Dinosaur Valley section of the zoo, or the Kotlina Dinozaurów, was finished in 1974. Originally,…

Dino Weeks at Dierenrijk

Attraction Review May 28, 2022

So, you might imagine we’ve all been spoiled a bit lately, what with Prehistoric Planet and all. It’s easy to develop high expectations, and to expect everything to be subject to the same sublime standards of visual quality and scientific accuracy. Lest we get too comfortable, I think it prudent to take a stroll among some good old fashioned ugly Chinese dinosaur animatronics. It’s good to be reminded that dinosaurs in public spaces can still be rubbish, too. Take it…

Dino Weeks at ZooParc

Attraction Review October 29, 2020

Dinosaurs and zoos, they go together like peanut butter and jelly. A lot of the major zoos in the Netherlands have some sort of dinosaur presence, from the beautiful sculputures at Artis Amsterdam to the Dinobos at Amersfoort (remind me to talk about GaiaZoo’s Dino Dome someday). Not to be outdone, the small, regional zoo known as ZooParc Overloon has been taken over by animatronic dinosaurs for the autumn of 2020. The dinosaurs are some of the ones also found…

Return to Het Dinobos

Attraction Review August 16, 2020

I’ve been having a pretty crazy summer, so when a dear friend of mine offered to take me to Dierenpark Amersfoort, a lovely, lush, forested zoo in the town of the same name, I jumped at the chance. Within the zoo is a bit of forest dedicated to dinosaurs: Marc visited for the first time in 2011, and I’ve been a few times as well. I was wondering if anything had changed and how the pandemic measures would affect my…

Paradise Park Revisited

Attraction Review January 7, 2020

Many years ago, Marc introduced you all to the marvellous wonder that is Paradise Park. Early in 2019, he also introduced me to the place. Now I will re-introduce you to it, because I am on a mission to bring back Ugly Ugly Dinosaurs to LITC (or, as those savvy to today’s Internet lingo call them, Cursed Dinosaurs), and there is simply no place quite like Paradise Park. Enjoy! Although there’s plenty of tourism in the greater Brighton area, there…

The Dinosaurs of Artis

Attraction Review Vintage Dinosaur Art November 17, 2019

Natura Artis Magistra, or simply Artis, is Amsterdam’s city centre zoo. It was founded back in the 1830s, making it one of the oldest zoos in the world. As such, it’s has a fascinating history: it has many monumental buildings, including the plantearium and the aquarium, it was a haven for refugees during World War Two, and it holds the distinction of being the place where the world’s last quagga lived and died. Our story today takes us back to…

Dinosaurs in the Wild – review

Attraction Review April 2, 2018

According to a whizzy promotional website, the Greenwich Peninsula is a whole “new London”, incorporating all-new developments of unaffordable homes, office blocks, leisure facilities, the O2 (formerly the Millennium Dome), and a slightly silly cable car. It’s also a place where, until the end of July at least, you can travel instantaneously to Montana and back in time 67 million years. That’s right – having already visited Manchester and Birmingham, Dinosaurs in the Wild has moved to the Big Smoke.…