In 2015 we went to Jurassic Quest website , an exhibition of life-size robotic dinosaurs that also featured tons of activities related to all things prehistoric. If you read last year’s trip report, you know I loved Jurassic Quest. The dinosaurs are incredible and there are a wide variety of activities to delight children. Photographically, this was a fun but challenging situation as well.

When I learned Jurassic Quest was coming back to Fair Park in Dallas in 2016, I knew we had to go, and this video will offer information about this year’s event.

 

 

BACK TO THE JURASSIC PERIOD IN 2016

This year’s Jurassic Quest features several new dinosaurs, and some of the existing dinosaurs have been reconfigured into new poses and groupings.

In fact, the exhibit had grown to the point where some of the activities had to be moved outdoors. So, if you went last year and enjoyed it - go again.

As I noted last year, Jurassic Quest includes variety of activities to keep your kids excited and involved. There are different types of dinosaur rides, Bounce houses, A fossil dig, Face painting and learning stations, Jurassic Jeeps for little drivers, And of course, the obligatory gift shop to provide momentoes of the day.

As far as the real kids were concerned, however, the real stars of the day were the baby dinosaurs and the man-sized walking dinosaurs.

The baby dinosaurs are puppets. The puppets were extremely lifelike and the puppeteers delighted the kids with snuggles and playful nips.

The walking dinosaurs are costumes worn by employees. These creatures wander around inside a barricaded petting area, but also make treks through the main concourse and even outside to the line of people waiting to get in.

As with the puppets, the walking dinosaurs thrilled the youngsters. They interacted with visitors and tolerated thousands of little hands petting them from all directions. At times I thought the walking dinosaurs got a little rough. I saw a few kids get knocked over as the dinosaur played with them, and the tyrannosaurus rex liked to tail-whip people - very hard.

At one point I got a tail whip that literally knocked my gimbal silly. The tail whips happened frequently and weren't by accident. A few minutes later Mr. Rex tried it with me again but I saw it coming and blocked it.

I liked the walking dinosaurs almost as much as the kids did, but the tail whips are a bad idea.

The tails are made of foam rubber but they are hard enough to knock over a youngster or hurt anyone who gets hit in the face. The tail whips are a bad idea.

I loved the walking dinosaurs, as did all the kids. I just thought they were too aggressive. The walking dinosaurs had guides to help them travel through the main concourse, but in the viewing area they were on their own. A handler would have been a good idea there as well..

For me, the robotic dinosaurs were the reason I was there and they were just as awesome this year. Last year I pointed out that the lights were too dark. It wasn’t much different this year, but in fairness it really affects photographers more than regular visitors. The lighting is there to create effects, and the dinosaurs are actually finished in colors to work with accent lights rather than typical fluorescents. It just makes shooting video much more difficult.

Some of the kid activities were in the dark as well but this was probably a limitation of the building’s lighting controls - it’s an exhibition hall, not a theater.

None of this mattered to the kids, however. You could tell they were thrilled with every aspect of their day.

With the crowds and lines and all the excited children, parents’ patience will be tested by Jurassic Quest. You can avoid a lot of the frustration and keep your kids happier if you follow the suggestions I’m about to offer. My suggestions are based on the show in Dallas, but I bet they apply to most of the venues for this show.

First, buy your tickets in advance through the Jurassic Quest website. We got our tickets ahead of time, and when we arrived that morning we walked straight into the show. People who were buying their tickets at the door were already standing in a 30 minute line.

Second, get there early, around the time it opens. We arrived before 10 am and were able to walk straight in. By the time we left at 1:30, the line to get in with advance tickets had a wait of more than an hour.

And here is the line for people who were buying tickets at the door. They were waiting for up to three hours.

And late arrivers will continue to suffer after they get in the front door. There are lines for every activity except the robotic dinosaurs, and by afternoon those lines went on forever.

Your best bet is to show up early and do the kids’ activities and shopping first, before the crowds build. Then you can wander through the robotic dinosaurs while everyone else is standing in line to ride a triceratops.

Last suggestion - you'd be smart to bring along snacks for the kids. In Dallas the food lines were long, the prices were high and most people had to sit on the floor as there weren't enough tables and chairs. We saw lots of families bringing in snacks at Fair Park. Your venue may have different rules so check into that before the big day.

Jurassic Quest isn’t to blame for the long lines - in fact, this problem is really the result of the show’s awesome quality and success. You just have to be smart about attending. Follow my suggestions and let the people who don’t watch this trip report deal with the frustrations.

Jurassic Quest is fantastic. The kids love all the activities and you’ll be amazed at the incredible robotic dinosaurs. If you had any doubts about the cost for tickets, put them to rest. Jurassic Quest is worth every penny. I can't think of a family exhibition that I'd recommend more.

Jurassic Quest is a touring exhibit. Here is its published schedule of upcoming events with links to ordering tickets.

 

Photographic Comments for Jurassic Quest Dinosaur Exhibition

This year I decided to stick with two cameras at Jurassic Quest - my Nikon D5300 for stills and a GoPro HERO4 Silver for videos.

As stated earlier, the show is still extremely dark, which makes photography more challenging.

For stills I shot flash images at ISO 800 and non-flash images at ISO 3200.

I encourage you to shoot flash and non-flash pictures of the robotic dinosaurs. The flash will give you a better typical exposure of the beasts, and obviously there will be less noise with the lower ISO. Remember, though, that the dinosaurs are finished to be viewed with colored accent lighting rather than the harsh, direct light from a flash. This means you'll blow out the lighting effects in your flash shots and the colors may seem exaggerated and unrealistic. You can tone that down in post processing if you'd like.

However, if you duplicate your shots without the flash unit, you'll capture the lighting effects that were intended for the dinosaurs, which can make for some nice photos. The two problems with this are that 1) you're shooting at higher ISO so you get more grain, and 2) without the flash your contrasts are crazy. As a result, many of your pictures will be blown out bright in one area but grossly underexposed in another.

I left many examples of this in my photo album for this show so you can see what I mean. It's very easy to tell which pictures were done with or without a flash.

You may feel the urge to use a tripod so you can shoot at slower shutter speeds and bring down the ISO. Not a good idea.

First, there are 8 million kids running around the exhibition and not a single one of them is looking where he or she is going. You can count on your tripod being a target for some careening kiddo and that concrete floor is very unforgiving to a camera that has been knocked over.

Second, even without the risk to your equipment, remember that the dinosaurs are moving. If you slow down your shutter speed, you can expect lots of blurry shots because the dinosaurs moved their heads, opened their mouths, etc.

I walked into the show with my 18-140mm lens on the camera. I quickly swapped that out for my ultra-wide lens. The dinosaurs are just too big to capture even at 18mm unless you have a full frame sensor, and if you try to back up to shoot the picture someone will just step in front of you. Take your regular lens along with in case you want close-ups, but plan to use a wide angle lens for most of your shots.

This means you probably need to plan for your external flash unit so you don't get the lens shadow on the bottom of your pictures.

Video is a lot more basic. I mounted the GoPro on the PilotFly Funnygo 2 gimbal so I could wander through the exhibit and get smooth shots. The gimbal got bashed by a tail-whipping t-rex . . . I still haven't confirmed if the gimbal is damaged or not. Otherwise, the setup worked as well as could be expected in such a low light setting.

A fun alternative would be to wear a head mount or chest mount for your GoPro.

The GoPro is not up to dealing with the contrasty environment presented by Jurassic Quest, and the wide angle lens on the camera only makes that worse. You can get around that by moving close to your subject. You get fun shots that way, and by reducing the area shown in your field of view you reduce the potential for varying contrast levels. By moving close the GoPro will meter more accurately. Then back off to get "full dino" video and deal with the contrast as best you can in post-production. Be sure to shoot with Protunes turned on so you have the most flexibility for editing later on.

The first thing you'll have to pack in your bag is patience - you will find that you're constantly surrounded by ankle-biters (children, not dinosaurs). They're excited and having fun, and will constantly run in and ruin your carefully composed shots. Breathe deeply and set your camera to continuous shooting. Then just hold down the shutter and let the pictures fly.

As I said before, the animated dinosaur section is way too dark. I know they're going for dramatic effect but it's done to extreme. Even with a very fast lens, you'll be taking long exposures where the dinosaurs are moving and kids are jumping into your shots . . . frustration. Even with a tripod, you're still going to get motion blur in the animated dinosaurs. Besides, with all those crumb-crunchers running around it wouldn't be smart to trust a tripod not to get knocked over.

Photo Ops - there are photo opportunities everywhere you turn at Jurassic Quest. Parents, you need to be photographing fools . . . balance your shots betweeen close ups of Junior riding a dinosaur or getting his face painted, and pictures of the exhibits themselves.

I saw lots of parents posing their kids in front of a dinosaur and snapping a shot with a cell phone. I really hate pictures from cell phones - they're really bad and the tiny flash unit on a phone isn't going to expose this situation properly. Of course, parents got pictures after their child's face was painted or as they sat on top of a dinosaur ride. I heard "look here . . . smile!" a thousand times.

Those are fine. But if you want AWESOME pictures, look for unposed shots. There is so much to engage a child at this show. Take photos of your kids when they have no idea you're shooting. Capture them petting the baby dino, riding a t-rex, getting a face painting (not just after it's done), bouncing through a jump house. If you capture their genuine expressions you capture their emotions and their experience. Those are the photos that will help you remember this terrific day for years to come.