Dinosaur State Park CT

[fofinia]

Has anyone been to Dinosaur State Park in CT? I'm hoping to get away for a few days over the kids next school vacation. It isn't too far away but we've never been. It doesn't look to be too expensive. $6 per adult to get in. And the website says to allow about 1.5 hours.

http://www.dinosaurstatepark.org/index.htm

So I was wondering if anyone had any insight on if it is interesting. Plus if there is anything else nearby that would be interesting with kids. We would be staying over one night nearby.

I found this other place. The Dinosaur Place

http://thedinosaurplace.com/plan/index.shtml

It is about 45 mins away according to mapquest. But it looks like it is a money pit. Lots of different things to do. But each one costs a different amount. And it doesn't appear to me that one thing would take very long to do so you would want to do something else. I don't want to go someplace and then walk away paying $50+ per kid to do "activities".

Any help or insights would be great!

Thanks!

 

[dogwoodflwr]

It is in Rocky Hill right off 91. It is interesting. Good for grade school age. My daughter liked going there in grade school. It is set up around dinosaur tracks they found years ago.

Dinosaur place is a money pit. You can't do anything that doesn't cost . You used toi be able to walk the trail for a few dollars, now it $18 to walk the trail. Not budget friendly in any way.

Hartford has a new science museum, Mark Twain house, walking tour of Old Wethersfield, that's want I can think of now.

try visiting the site visitconnecticut dot com

Good luck in planning.

 

[ctinct]

Dinosaur State Park is nice, but I wouldn't drive too, too far to see it. It's not really very big. Most of it is tracks they uncovered in just one building. How old are your kids? If you do go, be sure to bring plaster of Paris, a bucket, and some old rags. You may need cooking oil also-it's been a while since I've been. You can make a casting of one of the prints (outdoors). You will end up with a very large paperweight or doorstop with a dinosaur footprint on it. This is awesome if your kids like dinosaurs, but in our area, if you try to donate itto your school in a few years after your kids have outgrown it, you will find that almost every classroom already has a giant doorstop with a dinosaur footprint.

By the way, the footprint is relatively big, but the dinosaurs were not. If your kids are really into dinosaurs, you can also check out the Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven.

Oh, and with budget cuts and whatnot, I think Dinosaur State Park is closed one or two days a week now, so be sure to confirm the hours first before you drive over.

 

[onyx8]

Dinosaur State Park, while interesting, isn't worth much of a drive. Check out the new Science Center in Hartford, the kids would love it.

 

[scrapquitler]

Has anyone been to Dinosaur State Park in CT? I'm hoping to get away for a few days over the kids next school vacation. It isn't too far away but we've never been. It doesn't look to be too expensive. $6 per adult to get in. And the website says to allow about 1.5 hours.

http://www.dinosaurstatepark.org/index.htm

So I was wondering if anyone had any insight on if it is interesting. Plus if there is anything else nearby that would be interesting with kids. We would be staying over one night nearby.

I found this other place. The Dinosaur Place

http://thedinosaurplace.com/plan/index.shtml

It is about 45 mins away according to mapquest. But it looks like it is a money pit. Lots of different things to do. But each one costs a different amount. And it doesn't appear to me that one thing would take very long to do so you would want to do something else. I don't want to go someplace and then walk away paying $50+ per kid to do "activities".

Any help or insights would be great!

Thanks!

I've been to both.

Dinosaur State Park is okay but just okay. However they have done a big renovation since I was last there (years ago, LOL). With recent cutbacks, I'd be sure to call and check the hours, a lot of the state parks are not open anywhere near as many hours as they used to be.

I think realistically it would take longer than 45 minutes to get to Dinosaur Place from Rocky Hill, only because 95 traffic tends to be heavy all the time.
We went there, the walking around looking at the big dinosaur replicas is pretty cool, but it's an outside activity. I'm not sure how accessible that will be right now, not sure if the snow is melted down that part of the state yet, or how muddy the walking would be, I don't remember the walk being paved I think it was just stone, but that was when it first opened. And yes, it is something of a money pit...lots of extra activities, additional fees for each one of them.
'
You didn't say how old your kids are, but if they are under 5-6, my kids LOVED Kid City Museum in Midddletown, not worth a big trip to get there, but fun for imaginative inside play for the smaller ones. Good for 2 hours at least. We were members for years. On a similar note, my kids also loved the childrens museum that is down in Lyme/Old Lyme/Niantic (I don't remember exactly where it is). I've also heard great things about the Science Center of CT in downtown Hartford, though I haven't been there yet.

If you are thinking of heading down toward where Dinosaur place is, my absolute favorite thing in that area is the Mystic Aquarium. I've also heard great things about the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Museum, but I think it might be geared older.

If you were looking more for April Vacation, I'd suggest checking the schedule of the Essex Steam Train (and there is a riverboat ride that you can go on in conjunction with that, but I'm pretty sure that is summer only), not sure if the train operates on weekends now, I think there is an Easter thing they do, so you might luck into that.

 

[fofinia]

Thanks everyone! My kids are 6 and 9. So Shorter museum things are good. Sounds like the Science Center in Hartford is more interesting. We've been to the Boston Museum of Science tons of times. So not sure if that is a big enough draw.

They let you make your own casts of the dinosaur prints huh? That's pretty cool.

Thanks Scrapquitler for the rec on the Essex Steam Train. I'll check it out. And we were looking ahead to April vacation. The Dinosaur state park is open most days that week. Their schedule lists extra activities for Earth Day/Week. But not sure what they are.

HMMM. Not sure. I was looking into it for the close proximity as compared to going to someplace further away.

Thanks again!

 

[npmommie]

OP we have been to the Dinosaur Place, my kids enjoyed it and had fun.