Tuesday 26 September 2017

Jurassic Kingdom Newcastle Review

On Sunday we went along to the Jurassic Kingdom event in Leazers Park Newcastle, as my three-year-old son is dinosaur crazy. I will start this review off by saying that I was giving complimentary tickets to the event in exchange for running a giveaway and promoting the event before it arrived in Newcastle. However, I was not asked to write this review and all views in this post are my own.

Jurassic Kingdom Newcastle review


My little boy Jacob has just turned three-years-old and he is dinosaur crazy, he absolutely loves them so when I heard that Jurassic Kingdom was coming to Newcastle on its tour of the UK I thought it sounded like something he would enjoy. Before the event, I did read some very mixed reviews of the event so I was unsure if he would like it but he absolutely loved it!

Leazers park Jurassic Kingdom

We had tickets to arrive at 10am when the attraction opened and when we arrived at 9.50am there was already a big line of people waiting to get in. We visited with our 3 and 4-year-old children, as our teen was in Portugal on the day we visited. Jurassic Kingdom is held in Leazer's park, right next to the RVI hospital and just a five-minute walk from the city centre. If you are planning on attending then I would recommend getting public transport or parking in the city centre as parking is very limited near the park and hospital. I would also recommend you wear boots or wellies as it is in a park and while some of it is on footpaths some of it is on grassed areas and as you can imagine at something like this it does get muddy, which can't be helped. 

Jurassic Kingdom Newcastle dino

After waiting in the queue for ten minutes with two impatient children the gates finally opened at 10am on the dot and the queue moved quickly. When we entered it was hard to see the dinosaurs as naturally, everyone was trying to take photos and see the dinosaurs, so we missed the first few out and made our way further into the park to avoid the crowds. 


Dinosaur at Jurassic Kingdom

The dinosaurs are all set out around the park, they are roped off from the public for safety reasons as they do move and make loud roaring noises when you pass. Each dinosaur has a sign next to it stating its name and a little bit of information about them. They are activated by motion sensors so there were wires visable, which is to be expected but my children did not notice these at all.  There were about 30 dinosaurs and they were all lifesize and rather impressive for children, especially the 18-meter high roaring T-rex. 

Giant T-rex overlooking st james park newcastle

While walking around the park there were lots of photo opportunities and whilst you could not get up close and personal with the dinosaurs on display they did have lots of dino egg shells you could climb in for photos.


 The trail around the park was clearly signposted so you know which way to go and so you did not miss anything out. It only took us half an hour to walk around the whole trail and take photos with each dinosaur, which when you think of the price (it would have cost us £44 on the day) it is rather expensive for what it is. 

Jurassic Kingdom UK

However, there is no time limit on how long you can stay in the park for and I have heard some people mention that they stayed for hours. There was an excavation area for children to dig for bones in that we did not try out and there was also an education tent which was showing dinosaur documentaries which we skipped as I don't think my children would have sat through. There was a dino ride that children could sit on but that was an extra £2 per child and a face painter which you had to pay extra for, I think these should have been included in the entry price like at similar events we have been too. 

leazers park newcastle jurassic kingdom

There was also lots of stalls selling foods, drinks and sweets and these were on the slightly more expensive side but I think that is to be expected when you attend events like these. Another thing worth noting is that a lot of the children at the event were really young and were handed activity sheets aimed at much older children, it would be nice if they had a one for younger children too. 

Jurassic Kingdom caged dinosaurs

So what did we honestly think? Well, my children loved it, they enjoyed seeing the dinosaurs, learning the names and getting their photos taken. I thought that it was something different and the dinosaurs were impressive being so big and moving about. The park was clean and tidy and clearly signposted but I did feel it was a tad on the expensive side for what it was, it would have been nice if the face painting and dino ride were included in the entrance price. However, you can get tickets cheaper if you pre-book online and if you use the discount code Newcastle20 when booking online you get an extra 20% off making it even cheaper at just £30 for a family of four making it much more worthwhile and a similar price to what we would pay to visit the cinema. 

Jurassic Kingdom Newcastle Leazers park dinosaur

If you have a dinosaur fan then they will love Jurassic Kingdom and if you can get the discounted tickets then I would recommend going. Just make sure you bring your wellies and camera. 

flying dinosaur

Jurassic Kingdom is at Leazers Park Newcastle until Sunday 1st October, it is open daily from 10 am until 6pm with last entry at 5pm. Full details can be found at www.jurassickingdom.uk and I highly recommend you book tickets online & use the discount code Newcastle20 if you are thinking of going. 

Disclosure I received a complimentary family ticket to attend this event. 


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34 comments

  1. This looks like such a fun place to visit with children - I remember going to a dinosaur exhibition as a child and being completely fascinated!

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    1. It really was fun for the children, they were amazed x

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  2. Lily is fascinated with dinosaurs and has been from an early age - she'd love this! We went to London Zoo recently and they had dinosaur animatronics - there weren't that many though and I'd have been a bit put out if I'd paid extra for that!

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    1. They had about 30 at this event, my son loved seeing all the different ones x

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  3. Oh wow this looks amazing! I'm a huge dinosaur fan so would love this!

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  4. Wow this looks like such an amazing thing to visit - the dinosaurs look breathtaking and are as good as any child will ever get!

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  5. Ahh, it's a shame you can't get up and close to the dinosaurs but gotta be safe and all that. I hope my little one likes dinos when he's older - I'd love to adventure round somewhere like this.

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    1. Oh I bet he does, little ones seem to love dinos xx

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  6. I've never heard of Jurassic Kingdom but looks so much fun! T used to be really obsessed with dinosaurs, it's a different obsession now. Kids eh? x

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    1. It is travelling the UK, I had never heard of it either until a few weeks before it arrived in Newcastle x

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  7. Going to take my niece and nephew here. Im sure they'll love it. Thanks for the honest review.

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  8. Wow my youngest is OBSESSED with dinosaurs and would love to go here! Shame it's not local!

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    1. It is heading to Leeds, although I am not sure how far that is from you xx

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  9. Oh wow my son would have LOVED this!

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  10. Now I would not expect to see that in Newcastle. Fantastic!

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    1. I know, not what you would expect to find near a football stadium in a city at all x

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  11. I love that photo of the t-rex with St James' Park behind it! So cool!

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    1. They really did look impressive with St James park as the backdrop x

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  12. This is perfect for a dinosaur fan! I love how big they are too

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  13. This would be Sebby's idea of heaven as he is dinosaur mad. Just a shame its so far away

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    1. It has been travelling the UK, although I don't think it is heading near you which is a shame xx

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  14. What a shame you can't get up close to then. They look so realistic. My daughter would love it here! x

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  15. My son is dinosaur mad too. He would like this park for sure.

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    1. They are heading to Leeds, so not too far from you xx

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  16. I went to Leazers Park with my family and after walking round for half an hour we all realised how overpriced and overrated this actually was. This was not was advertised. The dinosaur moved ever so slightly and you could see all the workings. They could have made more of effort to at least cover the stand the dinosaur were on. It was not helped by the weather as we were standing in a bog most of the way round. Good job we were prepared with willies. I wouldn't go again. Over priced and overrated for what it was.

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    1. I noticed that too, however I am lucky that my children are small enough not to have really noticed the wires etc. I do agree they could have maybe tried to hide some of the stands with fake leves or something. I think we were lucky and visited on a dry day, although parts of the field were very muddy even then

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  17. This has just arrived in Leeds and after a disaster trip to a poor imitation several years ago, was wondering if it was worth considering now Little M is older. The size of them is really impressive, i can imagine its the kind of thing, children would remember for years. #daysoutwithatoddler

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    1. They really are very big! My little boy is three and he enjoyed it x

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