Our Dallas Spring Break Staycation continued, me + Princess Cupcake + my adopted child for the week. Except today, we added a few more of the Cupcake’s running buddies and their momma, backed up our 3rd row seats with boosters and took off for Glen Rose, Texas.
I’ve never been — but I’ve been the purveyor of many a Facebook albums of friends who have taken trips to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center and deemed it to be a worthwhile daytrip. Upon further investigation, the Wildlife center looked to be something that required pre-planning and an early departure for this Dallas-bound train. We nixed that fairly quickly. Next we evaluated the Dinosaur Valley State Park and thought while that looked lovely, but perhaps not quite the early elementary school level of entertainment we were looking for. Then… we found the Dinosaur World which was EXACTLY the speed we needed for a SUV full of Kinders and their short attention spans, and their two Mom’s who were squeezing in a little work before we hit the road.
The beautiful thing about having low expectations for something is that you’re thrilled once they’re surpassed.
Dinosaur World was the right kind of touristy fun that we needed for this state-bound Spring Break crowd.
Who wouldn’t be drawn in with this kind of welcome?
The whole facility was well-thought out from the colorful easy to read maps to the free wifi and shade-covered tables for the parents. Even the playscape was covered with mulch and had a fence around it to encourage little ones to stay contained.
When you enter the Dinosaur World, you walk through the large retail lobby. I was impressed with the vast and reasonably-priced selection of dinosaur-themed merchandise. Everything from interactive play, plush toys, apparel, jewelry and artifacts. They even had party supplies. What, what?
There are plenty of photo opps throughout Dinosaur World, but this was our favorite. Who can resist putting your head in a dinosaur for a picture?!
Or posing with a baby dino trash can?
First thing we did when we got there was to dig for artifacts. Each child is given a scoop with holes, and a cup to carry their treasures. Shark teeth and fossils were carefully contained in zip lock baggies for us to bring home.
The main trail in Dinosaur World is winding and twisted through lots of trees and was chock full of surprises around each bend. The kids dashed from one display to another, racing to see what was next.
After all that running, we found the “Boneyard” to be especially relaxing — for the moms. The kids grabbed the brushes and shovels and dove into the gigantic sandbox that was brilliantly placed beneath a covered roof with picnic tables for the sand-averse to sit on. Ginormous dinosaur “bones” are buried in the sand, and provided a great shaded activity for the kids to cool down.
Before we left, we became miners panning for precious gemstones. Our bags of dirt provided quite the haul. The Princess Cupcake came home with 91 beautiful rocks that we carefully washed and dried when we got home.
I give Dinosaur World in Glen Rose two hearty thumbs up. While you’re there, check out the shops in the historic town square and my favorite restaurant, the Pie Peddler (more on that next post).
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