Filled with lifelike dinosaurs, the celebration of the ‘Jurassic Park’ franchise first came to Melbourne in 2016 — and it’s returning.
When 2024 kicked off in Melbourne, it did so with arrival of Dinos Alive: An Immersive Experience in the Victorian capital; however, that isn’t your only chance to see lifelike prehistoric creatures in 2024. Once it ends its current Sydney season, Jurassic World: The Exhibition will roar into town with its own critters, as well as a celebration of three decades since the first Jurassic Park movie initially rampaged across the big screen.
Yes, it’s been a great time to fascinated with dinosaurs over the past few years — we’ve seen two seasons of Prehistoric Planet on streaming in 2022 and 2023, too — and this latest exhibition arrives as part of a global tour. A showcase with the same name displayed in Melbourne back in 2016, but the new visit comes after stops everywhere from London, San Diego, Paris and Madrid to Seoul, Shanghai and Toronto. On offer: life-sized versions of the movie franchise’s animals.
Expect to feel like you’ve been transported to Isla Nublar, complete with a walk through the big-screen saga’s famed gates. From there, you’ll walk through themed environments featuring dinos, including a brachiosaurus, velociraptors — yes, get ready to say “clever girl” — and a Tyrannosaurus rex.
Also linking in with the animated Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous series, there’ll be baby dinos, including the show’s Bumpy.
So far, dates for Jurassic World: The Exhibition‘s latest Melbourne stint haven’t been revealed, and neither has a venue, but you can join the waitlist to find out as soon as details are announced. The showcase finishes in Sydney on Sunday, February 18, so expect it in Victoria sometime afterwards.
Whenever it does start roaring, attendees will be able to get roaming while staring at animatronic dinos, including the new ankylosaurus and carnotarus. Fingers crossed that a velociraptor pops up in advance of the exhibition’s arrival, as it did up north as well.
Now, all that’s left is to decide which Jurassic franchise character you want to emulate (the best choices: Laura Dern’s palaeobotanist Ellie Sattler, Sam Neill’s palaeontologist Alan Grant and Jeff Goldblum’s mathematician Ian Malcolm, of course).
And no, when Michael Crichton penned Jurassic Park in 1990, then Steven Spielberg turned it into a 1993 film, they wouldn’t have expected that this’d be the result 31 years — and five more movies — later.
Jurassic World: The Exhibition will return to Melbourne in 2024, sometime after finishing in Sydney on Sunday, February 18 — head to the exhibition’s website to join the ticket waitlist.
Images: Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment.