A drive-thru Dinosaur adventure came to Detroit, and we were able to attend! Although we received our tickets at no cost, all opinions are 100% my own.
Over the weekend, Mike and I took Sofie and our niece to the Dino Safari: A Drive Thru Adventure Detroit at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, MI. I wanted to share my honest review with you all. We had never done anything like this, but thought the kids would enjoy it! The show only runs in Detroit until July 5th, but there are other cities that have it going for a few more weeks.
What is the Dino Safari: A Drive Thru Adventure?
This drive through exhibit was set up to take a drive through different parts of the world in pre historic times showing off 40+ huge robotic dinosaurs. To my understanding, the Drive Thru part of it was to put on a Covid-19 Safe family fun activity that all ages could enjoy.
Check out the website for more information: https://dinosafari.com/
What to Expect at the Dino Safari
When you arrive
Well, to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect! After reading the description and seeing lots of comericals on TV for this event, I was excited to take my 3 year old daughter and 4 year old niece. When we pulled up we received a “Passport” Coloring book, crayons, and a “Dinosaur egg”. Then you are asked to download an App to play the audio tour portion of the drive.
The Drive Thru
It took me a few minutes to try to download the App on my phone as my husband already started driving through. So we were a little behind on the audio tour and the girls were laughing and asking questions so I couldn’t hear it anyways. So honestly I think a tune-in radio station would have worked better. It was designed to stay between construction cones and we were in a huge gravel parking lot.
The drive was set up in different countries so would say Entering Australia, then would have dinosaurs that would have been from that region. And so on.
The Dinosaurs
I will say that the Dinosaurs were life sized, had movement, and even their eyes blinked. This girls would say “Look he’s moving his tail” “Look he is dancing”. So the dinosaurs themselves were pretty neat.
The “Survival Pack”
The website list you receive a Survival Pack to take home. I am not sure about other cities, but all we received were the mini Passport coloring books that had the dinosaurs listed. The girls got a plastic egg that you are supposed to return back to the mama T-Rex by throwing them into a big “nest”. The girls would have been happier keeping the eggs and kept asking if there was anything in there.
How long is the drive thru?
The drive thru/ audio tour if we listened was probably about 20 minutes. So if you are expecting this “adventure” to be an all day event, it isn’t. If we didn’t have a car in front of us we probably would have cruised through the whole thing in about 10 minutes.
How much are tickets?
The tickets for a regular car load cost $49.95 and for larger vehicles (8 + passengers) cost $59.95. So the more people you have, the less per person.
My Review on the Dino Safari Drive Thru Adventure: Detroit
Personally I was a little underwhelmed by the event. The website and commercials made it look way more interactive showing the workers coming up to the car window with baby dinosaurs, etc. We didn’t have that. The audio tour would have been better on the radio so that we could hear it/ easier to get to. The parking lot it was in felt like we were in a construction zone.
For the little ones though, I think they enjoyed it for something different to do. The girls said it was cool. Sofie seemed excited (and at some points scared) of the dinosaurs. But they were giggling and smiling so we will say it is a win for the smaller children. I am glad it was only about 25 minutes from our house so that we didn’t make too long of a trip for the event.
