It’s always difficult to find a balance of activities for the school holidays so when we were invited along to Dinosuar World Live in half term it seemed like the perfect treat for J who, at 5 years old, is well and truly in the dinosaur stage. Our house is full of a lot of roaring and dinosaur teeth (various rocks he has collected on our walks!).
Photo credit: Robert Day
It’s fitting as we seem to be having a dinosaur themed couple of months as we recently got to review the new World of dinosaurs at Paradise Wildlife Park as well. Miss A is interested in dinosaurs too and can hold her own on the roaring front, but as she’s not quite 3 was very much on the lower end of the age scale for this show (the tickets actually say 3+).
We went to see the show at Hertford Theatre which is a really nice size. It’s not too big and has good views from every seat, meaning everyone could really get involved in the action. Although, if I was booking this, I would definitely try to get a sit in the front few rows to stand a chance of getting up on stage.
Photo credit: Robert Day
The premise of the show revolves around the presenter, Miranda, who tells us that her family were paleontologists and she now cares for lots of dinosaurs. She then brings them out one by one, sharing fun facts and showing them to the audience. It would have been nice for there to be more of a story thread or have the dinosaurs interact more, but I’m not sure the children really noticed this!
The dinosaurs themselves are amazing. They are operated by actors – think War Horse – but the movements are very fluid and realistic so you almost forget they are there. The actors also make all the noises as well which was very impressive.
There are various different dinosaurs from a baby Triceratops to a Segnosaurus, to a Giraffatitan that hatches during the show. But the star of the show was the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Now, they do not hold back on this one! There is smoke, lighting and sound effects to add to the dramatic entrance and the creature is huge.
Photo credit: Robert Day
It was all too much for Miss A at this point who I had to take out of the theatre as she was so terrified. Now I understand she is very young and it was probably a mistake to take her, but J was also very scared and there were kids as old as 10 in tears as well. So I do think they should probably put an older age limit on it or tone down this segment a little bit.
There were lots of opportunities for kids to go up on stage which was nice and would have been a special experience for all those involved. The presenter was also very good at engaging the audience and J was on the edge of his seat (literally) for most the show!
After the show, you were able to meet some of the dinosaurs, which was a nice touch and both J and Miss A really enjoyed this. The queues weren’t too long and it was great to get up close and be able to touch them.
Photo credit: Robert Day
Altogether, including the meeting the dinosaurs, the show was a little under an hour long. It was a good length for little ones as they didn’t have a chance to get bored or fidgety but I do think the tickets were a little pricey (£64 for a family of four) for that length of time. I realise that the theatre can be expensive but I feel I wanted more of an afternoon’s entertainment for that amount of money.
If you have a dinosaur lover in the family, then I would recommend this show as it is unique and and mesmerising but I wouldn’t pay to take younger siblings or anyone who was a bit nervous along as it wouldn’t suit them.
The show has dates all across the country until November.
*Disclosure: We were given complinmentary tickets for this show in return for our honest review.
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