Some of the dinosaurs that will be part of Jurassic Quest. Photo courtesy of Jurassic Quest
The dinosaurs are coming! The dinosaurs are coming!
Get ready, Maine, because the Jurassic Quest experience will be spending four days in Portland, transforming Cross Insurance Arena into a place where humans and dinosaurs co-exist. With huge animatronic displays and several learning activities, along with a dinosaur-themed bounce house, fans of these long-extinct species will get their fill.
Dinosaurs will always capture people’s imagination (and not just kids) because it feels surreal, mythical and almost impossible to believe that reptiles so gigantic roamed the earth.
Thirty years ago, when the blockbuster film “Jurassic Park” was released, dinosaur fever took hold and given the success of the film’s many sequels, dinosaurs will continue to rule the box office as well as the curiosity of us humans.
One of those humans is 5-year-old South Portland resident Theodore Wolfgang Benson, who goes by Wolfie and has a goal of becoming a paleontologist. He’ll be starting kindergarten soon, but at the moment is focused on attending Jurassic Quest with family and friends this weekend.
Wolfie’s favorite dinosaur is the Carnotaurus because he’s a big fan of their horns.
“I’ve learned so much from his passion, he teaches me about the species,” said his mother, Lisa Benson.
Wolfie Benson, 5, with some of his dinosaur collection in his South Portland home. Photo by Lisa Benson
Wolfie will be in for quite a surprise when he gets to Jurassic Quest.
“It’s fascinating how much almost any kid loves dinosaurs,” said Dustin Baker, who works for Jurassic Quest, based in Los Angeles, doing public relations and sometimes going on tour as a brand ambassador/trainer known as Dino Dustin. “They know that you’re just as excited about them, so when you tell them you love a certain dinosaur or have a fun fact about it, it’s pretty cool.”
Some of the questions he fields are about height and how a certain dinosaur can move.
A particularly big hit at Jurassic Quest is the baby dinos. “You can meet and touch them,” said Baker.
As for his personal favorite, Baker named the Ankylosaurus because it looks like a tank with bony scales called osteoderms and has a clubbed tail.
Baker appreciates that his job helps people experience something they won’t soon forget. “I think that’s the heart of who we are and the heart of why we do what we do is that we have a unique ability to make core memories for families,” he said.
Baker said he gets a huge kick out of seeing kids see a dinosaur for the first time, meet a baby dinosaur up close and get to ride on one. “It’s such a unique event and a unique time for kids,” he said.
A child riding a carnotaurus at Jurassic Quest. Photo courtesy of Jurassic Quest
Along with the exhibit itself, there’s also an area dedicated to fossils where Baker said attendees can learn about, see and touch them as well as make their own fossil molds. At the excavation station, kids can take a brick that has a fossil in it and chisel it out.
Kids and adults, too, can learn about a lesser-known dinosaur called the Utahraptor. “One of our dinosaur trainers will bring out a Utahraptor that will interact with the crowd and you get to learn how to tame and it teach it tricks.” Wolfie is going to lose his mind over this one for sure.
Baker said that Jurassic Quest works with paleontologists to create exhibits.
“We want to make sure they’re accurate, and kids have a sense of fascination and thrill, but also they’re being educated at the same time,” he said.
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