Jurassic World: The Exhibition, August 2024

I love the Jurassic Park & Jurassic World films, and the kids REALLY love the Jurassic Park & Jurassic World films, so we thought we’d give Jurassic World: The Exhibition another try.

We first visited Jurassic World: The Exhibition on its first run in London back in 2022. We’d seen videos of it and it looked amazing with all of the dinosaur animatronics and scenery, the gate and more so we had to give it a go.

And whilst it was great, it kinda felt rushed. But because the T-Rex and Indominus scenes were so great that time, we thought we’d try again now it was a little closer to home at the Trafford Centre in Manchester.

Well, it ain’t cheap to get into Jurassic World: The Exhibition and tickets vary in price wildly depending on your selected date. The fluctuations seemed ridiculous, ranging from £19-£39. The day we’d selected had a family ticket which worked out at £20 each for the four of us, so if you do plan on going, check a few possible dates before you book. And as it’s the Trafford Centre, parking is free!

We arrived, early doors on a grey and miserable morning in Manchester, at a pop-up building on one of the overflow car parks. We got a bit lost, as the satnav was sending us on a wild goose (or Pterosaur) chase, but the massive building covered in dinosaur pictures guided us in.

On entry, we scanned our tickets and then took part in the green screen photo shoot. The photographer made us do ‘there’s a dinosaur above you, look scared’ poses which didn’t really match the final picture. We had a decent one from London last time, so no matter. If you want the photo, check out the backgrounds before you pose, so you know what it’ll look like. There are 4 to choose from.

After the photo, and a short wait, you enter onto the Isla Nublar ferry pre-show, which is cool. You’re loaded into a room set up like a small ferry, with seats in the centre and screens around the outside like closed windows. When the pre-show starts, the windows open and you can see the ocean outside and the main screen begins, telling you a little bit about your excursion to Jurassic World. Our trip seemed to be on a breakdown, so we had a fair wait, and the cast member entertained the kids with dino trivia and jokes.

The gate. Its awesome. Not quite as impressive as the original Jurassic Park gate or the one at Universal Islands of Adventure, but awesome nonetheless. You step off ‘the boat’ into a dark, tropical themed room with the Jurassic World gateway in front of you and a massive Brachiosaurus animatronic straight ahead. A brilliant opening to the exhibit. Very Jurassic Park.

Around the Brachiosaurus exhibit there are some telescopes so you can investigate the giant screen behind it and see if you can spot any other dinosaurs lurking, whilst the animatronic centrepiece is amazing with its long neck swaying back and forth with the authentic movie dino sounds playing around it.

Dotted around the rooms, there are screens playing information videos about some of the dinosaurs you’ll see on your travels and boards with more info on the flora and fauna that surrounds the room. Aside from the Brachiosaurus, this room had a Parasaurolophus animatronic, one of the Jurassic Park Jeep Wranglers and a mother and calf Pachyrhinosaurus in a cage. We had plenty of time in this room and the staff were happy to take family photos for us.

The lab area is cool. More actors in lab coats wandering around in here to answer your questions. One said to me “I’m a scientist, and I know lots of things!”

The lab is full of exhibits of mosquitos trapped in amber, dinosaur eggs and baby dinos in incubators, scientific equipment and poop. Yes, that’s right, dino poo that you can get your hands in and feel! It’s not real, obviously, as they’d never let you play with real dinosaur poo. That’d be a health and safety nightmare.

We also got to meet a baby Stygimoloch in here. Soooo cute!

The next room was the fossil room, with a large sandbox at its centre with brushes and equipment for the kids to play palaeontologist for a bit and uncover the hidden bones and dino fossils beneath. Around the room were models of a T-Rex skull and Sauropod leg bone along with more screens and information boards.

The sign at the end of the room said ‘Meet Baby Bumpy from Camp Cretaceous’, so whilst people were queueing to get to the next room, we weren’t planning on leaving until we’d met Bumpy! And after what seemed like an age, they brought Bumpy out for photos. Elliott loved this, and who doesn’t like Bumpy??

Not really a fan of this bit, but the next room was the raptor training area, where you stand in a fenced off area, standing well back, while an actor does their best Owen Grady impression and trains a man in a Blue costume. Now, it’s fun and all but it’s a long room, very darkly lit, the bars are quite thick, and you have to stand behind the yellow line, so you struggle to see what’s going on inside the cage. The raptor doesn’t always walk the full length of the pen or come close to the bars enough either. It’s also quite a short scene so doesn’t really add much. Kids didn’t really enjoy it either. Shame.

The next room was pretty good. It’s another room made up like an outdoor/jungle scene with an amazing full sized (maybe) animatronic of an Ankylosaurus, which looks so cool in a tropical setting.

You can also take a seat in a Gyrosphere for a great photo opportunity. Could do with a queue here or at least a staff member directing traffic as it was a bit chaotic with people attacking it from both sides. After doing the Gyrosphere, reading the info boards and seeing the Ankylosaur, we moved into the final scene.

You’re ushered into the next room and asked to move down to the gate at the end, before the lights start flashing, alarms start blaring and it all takes a turn for the worse. A brilliant Carnotaurus animatronic rears it’s head from behind a fence, roaring down upon the victims (I mean paying exhibition guests), and the cast begin to panic and shout to open the gate. Then… BOOM. Giant footsteps and a deafening roar from the opposite side as the mighty T-Rex strolls in.

Flashing lights and loud roars make it feel like the T-Rex scene from Jurassic Park and really makes it come to life as we’re all running in fear of the apex predator. Once the gates are opened, the actors usher you through to your escape… into the gift shop! And just like that, it’s done.

The gift shop was pretty good. It was a good size; bigger than last time we were here and has a large model of Blue as you walk in. It offers a selection of Exhibition branded merchandise like posters, t-shirts and yes, fridge magnets (yay – they didn’t have any last time), plus general Jurassic Park and World t-shirts, toys, plushes, magnets, badges and games. All slightly overpriced, which isn’t unexpected. But not wildly so. The gift shop was also where you could scan your QR code and see your photo from when you arrived, decide which package/backgrounds you liked and purchase it.

There were no toilets inside the Exhibition. The website did say there were some outside, but we didn’t see any, so they may have been around the back if there were any. Best check before you go in. As for food and drink, if you need drinks or snacks, bring them as there was nothing like this in the gift shop, and you’re a 5-10 min walk from the Trafford Centre entrance if you wanted to grab something. Especially if you have kids, they always want a drink when they can’t have one.

You can’t not like Jurassic World: The Exhibition. It looks great, the dinosaurs are cool and the T-Rex scene at the end is an awesome spectacle, but there are a few things that could make it amazing.

Last time we had an amazing scene where you get to see the Indominus Rex being fed. That was missing this time, and it was a really good scene that I think this version desperately missed, and we found ourselves a bit disappointed by its absence. Yes, we had the inclusion of the Carnotaurus this time, but that was just a small add-on to the T-Rex scene whereas the Indominus scene was a room in itself. There were other scenes and dinosaurs, such as the Sygimoloch in the truck and the Raptors in the traps that we saw last time, that made this version of the exhibition feel smaller in comparison.

With the final showdown scene, it is very impressive and very immersive, but you kinda want to see a little more of it and enjoy it without the chaos too. They could do with allowing you a few minutes after the scene with the lights up so you can take some better pictures of the T-Rex and Carnotaurus instead of the rushed ‘quick, run, shut the gate, bye’ finale.

You are told to take your time, and they explain it’s a one-way system throughout and to make sure you do everything before moving on, but you can’t hang back in the T-Rex scene or the Raptor training. And if you do hang back to spend a little more time in some of the open areas you feel like they’re annoyed at you for hovering and the few times we did hang back, we were asked to move on. It’s an expensive day out, and you just want to make sure you see everything properly. Generally though, the staff were friendly and they’re happy to help you out with photos.

It’s a great experience with some amazing, immersive sections but it just feels rushed. Up to £160 for an hour for 4 people is steep, but if you’ve never been, it’s definitely worth visiting, especially if you’re fans of the Jurassic Park franchise like we are, or even if you’re not, the dinosaurs are cool regardless. We’ve been twice now so it’s not something we’d want to rush back to, not unless the whole thing gets a refresh with new experiences and new dinosaurs.

Looks like dates have been extended until January 2025, so get there while you can: Jurassic World: The Exhibition in Manchester