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I might as well start by addressing the T-Rex in the room here: this touring dinosaur experience, which begins a UK trek with a few weeks in north London, is not in the best of nick. I saw it on the first day it was open to the public, and many of the animatronic dinosaurs were visibly wilting already (splits in their foam skins, sagging horns), while many were missing the signs explaining what they were.
Some of the problems were faintly laughable: an exhibit called ‘caged raptors’ featured a pair of velociraptors snarling away next to an unassembled cage. Clearly the models have been repurposed from some other, older show (I’d guess from China, given that a number of the press photos seem to be from there). A VR experience is alluded to on the show’s website, although if it was actually there I missed it.
Still, sometimes you’ve got to ask what exactly it is that the target audience wants, and it’s worth saying that neither my children nor anybody else’s seemed remotely bothered by any of the above. There really are a lot of dinosaurs – the bumf says 50, which sounds about right – and what they lack in quality they frequently overcome by spectacle: the two T-Rexes and a brachiosaurus are comfortably the biggest animatronic models I’ve ever seen.
There are creatures kids can officially sit on and have their photos taken with, and frankly there was a lot of climbing on the creatures you’re presumably not supposed to sit on (not from my treasures I hasten to add). It’s quite cool the way the dinosaurs are dotted throughout the woods of Grovelands Park. And the price is not too bad: factor in the 20 percent discount widely advertised on the show’s posters and it’s south of a tenner per ticket.
Okay, so I can’t really get romantic about Jurassic Encounter, and if you’re looking for something crafted with fewer dinosaurs but a bit more love I’d definitely direct you towards the returning ‘Dinosaur World - Live!’ over at the London Wonderground this August. But the summer holidays are long, and you can only visit the Crystal Palace statues so many times. For all its faults, Jurassic Encounter is a couple of hours of solidly diversionary dinosaur #content, and I think most parents will take that. Plus, I guess it’s reassuring to know you could take most of these creatures in a fight.