On August 10th, 2024, Jurassic Quest arrived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for the weekend. My family received 4 complimentary admission tickets to go check it out. We took our 2 grandchildren ages 8 and 15 years old. The event aka show was held at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. We spent a total of 3 hours enjoying the attractions at Jurassic Park. Here’s a summary of some of the things we saw and some of the activities the kids participated in. This is not an all-inclusive list!
** Complimentary tickets received to attend the event/show.
Here’s a few tips before you go: Make sure your kids wear socks! They will need to have them on their feet to get into the various dinosaur themed bounce houses. I recommend that they wear comfortable sneakers and dress appropriately for the activities that they’ll be enjoying. You can take a water bottle into the venue. Strollers, diaper bags, cellphones and cameras are allowed. The event and show is cashless. You’ll need a debit card or credit card to pay for any concession stand food, souvenirs or extra activities.
Upon entering they’ll scan your admission tickets. All younger children will receive a bracelet around their wrist. Everything is self-guided through the event. We started at the beginning and took our time walking through. You’ll see various type’s of dinosaurs on display, colorful lights in the background and information plaques with each one giving you their names, type of diets, when them roamed the Earth and other fun facts. To give your children a true learning experience, make sure you stop to read the information to your child. Let them ask questions!
Throughout the venue there are various places that you can stop and take photographs. We snapped several that day with our grandchildren posing with a dinosaur, sitting in a dino egg, sitting in the mouth of a large dinosaur, etc. Plenty of opportunities to grab photographs of your fun day.
Halfway through we came upon the inflatable bounce houses. They’re monitored by employees. They check the child’s age and size. They make sure they’re wearing socks. Children are let into the inflatable bounce houses by groups and for a certain length of time. Then the next group goes. This helps to keep the lines flowing and your wait time short. There are small inflatable bounce houses, medium sized ones and a larger one with tunnels and fun internal activities for the kids to enjoy. I recommend you pick one according to your child’s age and size.
We then came upon the football, soccer and basketball area where the grandchildren had fun trying out their athletic skills. A great way to let the kids burn off some of that excitement and energy. Our grand kids spent about 5 minutes trying out each one. They really enjoyed showing off their athletic skills to us!
At the event they had a fossil digging exhibit set up. Each child was given a block of plaster of paris (I think that was what it was) and a digging tool. They sat at a table and dug through the block to discover 4 hidden (faux) fossils inside. My grandson found 2 shells and 2 tiny rocks. He was so proud of himself for getting that block broken apart and to find little goodies hidden inside.
There’s a dinosaur show that occurs I believe every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I can’t remember exactly. We caught about 1/2 of the show while we were there. They have a person wearing a life-like dino costume as the main character of the show. The kids are able to talk to the dino, pet the dino and get a quick photo with him/her. I wish we had caught the entire show as it looked informative and definitely very fun!
After we were done seeing all of the exhibits and doing the activities we headed to the concessions area. You can get food, snacks and drinks there. They serve pizza, burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, french fries, soft pretzels, etc. There were various beverages available too. Concessions are cashless, so you’ll need to use your debit/credit card to pay for your food & beverage orders. There are tables there that you and your family can sit down to enjoy your lunch.
Before we headed out we took both grandchildren over to the souvenir store where they each got to select one item. Be prepared, these items are indeed marked-up and on the pricey side. Granddaughter got dinosaur slippers and grandson selected a bubble-blowing wand. Again, cashless, so you’ll need to use a card to pay for your purchases.
In total we spent 3 hours at Jurassic Quest. We took our time through all of the exhibits and activities…plus stopped to eat lunch while we were there. You could do the entire event in 2 hours if you wanted to. I think kids up to age 14-15 would enjoy it. Our grandchildren (especially the 8 year old) really had a great time. Matter of fact, he wants to go again next year!
Check out our fun Jurassic Quest Painted Seashells craft project that we did the weekend before the show. It got the kids really excited to go!
For more information and tickets please visit www.jurassicquest.com. Check them out on Instagram, Facebook and on X.com. Check out their Schedule of Events to find a show near you!!!
Disclosure: We received 4 complimentary admission tickets to see Jurassic Quest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. No monetary compensation was received. We are sharing our honest and unbiased opinion of the event/show with the readers of the TCC blog. Your opinion may differ.
