Following the success of last year’s DinoZoo, Bristol Zoo has welcomed back T-Rex, along with 11 new dinosaurs, to form the basis of this season’s exhibit, DinoZoo 2!
During the exhibit, DinoZoo Rangers will be on hand to help you understand more about these ancient creatures including Carnotaurus, Dilophosaurus and Quetzalcoatius. You can also dig for fossils and meet some prehistoric inhabitants on the Dino friendly tour.
Practically Perfect Family was invited along to the launch event on Friday evening, so off we went, armed with our three mini critics to check out the new exhibit – well, it would have been rude not to wouldn’t it? 😉
Unfortunately, not being very perfect, Mummy left the proper camera at home so all these photos are taken on my HTC Mozart mobile – and at night! Amazing what picture quality you can achieve with a phone nowadays, isn’t it?
Our big boys are full of confidence but 4 year old Zu still gets quite frightened of strange noises, so I had some concerns. We had a little chat before we went, explaining that the dinosaurs weren’t real and that Mummy or Daddy would take him away if he was really scared. He’s been to the zoo lots of times so the familiar environment helped.
At the Coral Canopy we were greeted by our first dinosaur – a cuddly fellow so no worries there! Zu was already practicing his RAAAHRS.
Weather conditions were pretty poor for the start of Spring, although the threatened snow didn’t reach Bristol so at least we can be grateful for that. After refuelling the kids with ‘Kool Kidz’ meal bags and us with a sneaky glass of red, we headed off in the cold, dark drizzle to start the theatrical tour of the dinosaurs. Trainboy (9) and Bubble (6) rushed ahead to listen to the talk and get up close to the noisy, animated dinosaurs. Zu stayed at the back and squeezed the circulation out of my hand.
Part way round the tour, Zu and I were happy to be distracted by the ‘science lab’ where we found little pots which appeared to contain something like cumin seeds.
On closer inspection under a microscope it was clear that these were in fact tiny teeth, (which I believe came from a Morganucodon, but please forgive me if I’m wrong as I am definitely not the dinosaur expert in our family!). Zu forgot all his worries and felt much happier when inside the ‘science lab’.
If you are visiting during DinoZoo 2 I would definitely recommend taking time to pay a visit to this part of the exhibit. The microscopes were too high for Zu to see through but after we found him a case to stand on he was engrossed. We found it so fascinating we ended up at the rear of the tour behind ours and eventually had to be rounded up by a ranger!
We also had the chance to watch renowned illustrator Andy Council constructing a dinosaur mural.
It will be interesting to see the finished version when we next visit the zoo!
Despite the cold, we all had a great evening.
The star of the show for my big boys was our lovely DinoZoo Ranger. After the tour he tirelessly answered question after question about different aspects of dinosaurs and impressed them with ancient artefacts such as fossils and a giant tooth!
I think most of the questions were relevant, although I did overhear Zu asking whether Alex had Angry Birds Star Wars on his phone!
Daddy and I particularly enjoyed this part too as we enjoyed another glass of wine a lovely warm cup of coffee in peace while Alex educated and entertained the boys.
I would definitely recommend Bristol Zoo for a day out. We always find there’s plenty to do and its clever combination of indoor, undercover and outdoor space makes it a practical all weather destination.
In conclusion I have created the extremely scientific equation below.
3 young boys (with seemingly unending thirst for knowledge) + Dinosaurs + DinoZoo 2 Rangers on tap = Happy,somewhat less frazzled parents
Definitely worth a visit!
DinoZoo 2 is now on and runs right through until 8th September
Planning a visit? We’d love to hear how you get on in the comments box below
Disclosure
I received no payment for writing this post, however we were offered free entry to and hospitality at the launch event.
All opinions are mine and my families.
