Review - Texas - Grapevine - Prehistoric Park

 

Prehistoric Park in the gorgeous lake-side Meadowmere Park in Grapevine, Texas is a limited-time dinosaur walk-through experience. Open daily until April 16, 2023. There are lots of hands-on activities and if you can manage to come in the evening of April 15th they have a Dinos After Dark experience from 7pm-10pm (which might be a little scary for younger kids who don't like being in the dark).

General admission is $29/car. Children 12 and under will receive an activity sheet to punch/stamp as they explore the trail.

Please note that there are limited food options here. They did have a Kona Ice truck, a Funnel Cake truck, and (for a few hours) a Coffee truck. It's best to bring your own food/drinks and enjoy a picnic on the lawn. They do have restrooms (which were dimly lit and might be a little scary for younger kids) right inside the park.

After you pay the entrance fee, you will enter the parking lot on the left side to park before walking along the dinosaur trail.




The dinosaurs are animatronic which means they move and many have sound effects.

As your walk along the dinosaur trail, you will find some hands-on learning exhibits. For example, here are exhibits on dinosaur talons and another featuring different types of eggs.


Some of the exhibits have a self-punching device which you will use to mark your activity sheet. After you collect all the punches, you will turn in your sheet at the final tent (behind the restroom building in the market tent) to receive a free gift.


The forest trail is across the street into the trees. The trail is well-marked and there are a few dinosaur props found there (they do feature fake blood which might be scary for some kids).

Be sure to stop by the Dino Photo-Opn in the market tent behind the activities featuring scientists opening fossils.

Details:
Address: 3000 Meadowmere Ln, Grapevine, TX 76051
Hours: 9am-6pm Daily (special night hours 7p-10pm)
Admission: $29.00 per vehicle

Get more information from the official website, https://gograpevine.com/

Overall Family Review:

• 18 year old - Liked the bean bag toss
• 13 year old - Liked the activities
• 8 year old - Liked the activities
• 2 year old - Liked the fossil dig site, bean bag toss, forest trail

Review - Texas - Grapevine - Legoland Discovery Center

March 2021 is the ten year anniversary of this hidden gem. Legoland Discovery Center is tucked in the back of the Grapevine Mills Mall and within the last few years they added a splash zone outside (open during summer hours).

It is highly recommended to pre-purchase your tickets as they may sell out as they limit the number they sell each day. You can purchase tickets online through their website. Annual passholders can make their reservations online as well.

 

 

When you arrive at the center, you will be directed into a queue. (Just a note, guests were not practicing social distancing in this line if that makes you uncomfortable.)

When you redeem your tickets/passes, you will be given one bag of bricks for each guest. These bricks have been sanitized (and you can smell it).

You then proceed to the left into the center. The green-background photo setup was not in order on the day we visited which is fine since that is an upcharge.

Miniland room contains miniature models of important places around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex including downtown, the DFW airport, Grapevine, and more. For the holidays, there were several santas hidden throughout the scenes.

 

There are rides for ages 4 and up including Kingdom Quest (shoot-em ride), Merlin's Apprentice Ride (pedaling ride), Forest Ranger Pursuit (car driving).

There is also a giant playground with Ninjago theming.

 

Even the restrooms are lego-themed and were very clean.

 

During the summer, the pirate splash zone is (usually) open.

 

 

 

 

The fun part of Legoland are all the artwork/lego creations (thanks to the resident Master Builder)

So with your individual bag of bricks, find a bowl and seat and begin building. There are racetracks if you choose to build cars/racers.

This location does have a Starbucks cafe. They also have party rooms which are currently not in operation due to Covid. At the end of your journey, there's a nice Lego shop which does contain exclusive items you can't buy anywhere else. It did get a bit busy by lunchtime and there's a limited number of building areas.