Visiting Dinosaur World Kentucky

LOCATION OF DINOSAUR WORLD KENTUCKY

711 Mammoth Cave Road
Cave City, KY 42127

CONTACT INFORMATION

Phone: (270) 773-4345
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dinosaurworld1/
Website: http://www.dinosaurworld.com/kentucky

IMPORTANT INFO

Basic admission: Adult-$12.75, Senior(60+)-$10.75, Child(3-12)-$9.75.  Children 2 and under are free.  Child passes include Fossil Dig.
Excavation pass (includes addition of Lucky Strike bag at the Dino Gem Excavation) Adult-$18.95, Child(3-12)-$16.95.

Open daily 8:30am to 6:00pm (CST)

Dinosaur world is handicapped accessible and dog friendly.  There is no food service available in the park and packing your own cooler and/or picnic lunch is encouraged.

OUR EXPERIENCE AT DINOSAUR WORLD

Jasper had been excited about Dinosaur World all day, but when we finally got there he was a little nervous.  It took a bit of reassuring that the dinosaurs aren't real.  "They're just like big toys!"  He finally believed us.

Upon arrival, you'll go through the gift shop (it's huge and awesome - take a few moments to browse) and purchase your admission tickets at the counter.  Then you'll exit through a back door into a central courtyard where you can access the different features of the attraction.

We chose to do the dinosaur walk first, so we headed down a well-tended path into a heavy tree covered area that looked like John Hammond's staff members had a say in the design.

The path is deeply shaded and we were grateful for that, as it was one of the hottest and most humid days of the summer so far.

The dinosaur exhibits are impressive, even more so than I was expecting.  The life-sized replicas appear in natural settings and there's an informational plaque with the name, pronunciation guide, and facts about the animal.

I had looked forward to making our visit an educational trip by passing along the information from the plaques, but Jasper shocked me by already knowing the names of several of the dinosaurs, even the more obscure ones that I had never heard of before.  Kids are amazing.

To me, the most interesting part of the walk was getting a scale on just how big (or small!) some of the species of dinosaurs were.  A few of them were much larger than I was anticipating, and some were much, much smaller!  You'll watch Jurassic Park with new eyes after visiting Dinosaur World.

There's a few fun photo spots and Jasper was all too willing to climb inside of this giant dinosaur egg.

I recommend taking things slow meandering down the shaded pathways through the woods and just enjoy being outside.

*John Williams score plays in the background*

Side note:  Can we just be done with that franchise?  I mean, how many movies are we up to now?  Nothing will ever touch the original.

Included with every child admission is the Fossil Dig.  Kids use plastic sifters to dig through a large sand pit full of shark teeth, gastropods, stingray barbs and Mosasaur teeth.

The pit is well-stocked and full of fun treasures to explore.

Jasper and Shelby LOVED this activity.

For participating in the fossil dig, each child gets to choose 3 fossils to take home with them.  On the way out, the dig attendant provided us with a small plastic baggie to protect our finds.

There's a dino-themed playground and as soon as my kids spotted it, I knew we'd be taking a break to let them play.

Needless to say, we basically had to drag them away from it.  The area is covered in playground mulch so on humid (read: sweaty) days, prepare for your kiddos to get dirty.  I recommend packing a brick of baby wipes in your bag to give 'em a quick clean-up after playing, or there are nearby restrooms outside of the main building.

Our final stop was the indoor prehistoric museum, a nice air-conditioned break from the summer heat.  The museum has a collection of real and cast fossils and lots of great educational information.

On our way out, we made a second stop in the huge 5,000 sq ft gift shop and let Jasper and Shelby each choose a toy.  Jasper was ecstatic about this dinosaur truck, and Shelby picked out a pink plushy brachiosaurus.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

If you're looking for something different to break up your time spelunking in Mammoth Cave, Dinosaur World is a fantastic option.  If you are traveling with your doggos and want to include them in your activities, Dinosaur World is dog friendly!  In addition to the activities that we participated in during our visit, there is also a gem excavation area and a bone yard located in the museum for learning the correct technique for uncovering skeletons from under the sand.  I went into our visit thinking it'd be a semi-cheesy tourist trap, and came out proven completely wrong - what a delight!

This is not a sponsored post, though we were provided passes to Dinosaur World to share our experience with all of you.  Our reviews are honest and if we have a problem with something, we'll let you know about it!