Last year’s popular Dinos & Dragons Adventure Park returned to the McAllen Convention Center this week with more dinosaurs and a new theme that tells the story of a ranger in search of lost eggs, which allows families to participate in the hunt for a reward.
Parents can bring their kids to explore and discover different species of dinosaurs and ask the ranger questions to learn more about them.
“It’s a really cool experience because you’re able to hear the sounds that they would make and their movement as well,” Jessica Gonzalez, the Marketing and Special Events Supervisor for the McAllen Convention Center, said. “It feels very real once you’re walking around … I was actually caught off guard many times.”
Some of the dinosaurs aren’t just life-sized statues, they’re animatronics that move their heads and wag their tails in a realistic fashion. It’s almost uncanny.
The company that provided the dinosaurs to McAllen, LFC Exhibits, which is based in Singapore, started off as a movie props company and it has traveled to different countries like China, India and Canada to put on all sorts of exhibits.
Spencer Tan, the founder of LFC Exhibits, said the cost of the entire exhibit is about $1.5 million and some of the dinos weigh nearly five tons, like the spinosaurus, which can be found at the northwest side of the exhibit.
Tan was also the mastermind behind this year’s theme, ‘The Lost Eggs,’ which tells the story of a man named Ranger Greg who’s transporting his dinosaurs but when his ship breaks down in McAllen, he realizes he’s missing five eggs.
“He starts panicking and he wants the people to help,” Tan said. “The visitors and their children, they’re coming here to help find the five eggs.”
Visitors can participate by taking photos of the colorful, two-foot sized eggs scattered across the exhibit as they walk through each scene, which aims to tell a story of how dinosaurs came from dragons, and once presented, they’ll be able to receive a mystery reward.
There are also other activities available to the public, such as watching a movie at the Oval Park while munching on snacks and beverages, visiting the petting zoo at the far northeast end or taking pictures at the photo lab located on the northside.
Tan also spoke about the struggles of assembling the dinosaurs in South Texas.
“I think the challenging part of this event itself is the wind,” Tan said. “All the problems can be resolved but I think what’s important is that you really need to get your work organized and, you know, you always need to look at the weather forecast.”
The aforementioned spinosaurus had some damage the day before opening due to the strong winds the Rio Grande Valley experienced during the assembling of the dinosaurs, which lasted about two weeks.
But because the exhibit was brought in last year, workers at the McAllen Convention Center had the experience to assemble the exhibit a lot quicker this time around.
Feddel Gabriel, the head of prop assimilation who also paints the dinos using an airbrush, says the obstacle is keeping the statues upright and painting them when the air is blowing in your direction.
“Well, we have to work on some things and some things we can’t until the wind dies down or the rain stops,” Gabriel said. “So, if we can’t get up high, we work down low. If we can’t work in the wet weather then we work where it’s dry.”
The Dinos & Dragons exhibit will run for about two weeks and is closed Mondays and Tuesdays for ‘feedings,” an inside joke among the convention center crew.
General admission tickets are $15 and can be purchased through ticketmaster.com. Children 6 and under enter for free.
