Virginia Living Museum Dinosaur Discovery Trail is OPEN – Bring the kids and explore Dinos in nature!
Virginia Living Museum Permanent Dinosaur Trail
For more than 25 years, dinosaurs have been a popular summer exhibit at the Virginia Living Museum. In 2016, as part of its 50th anniversary celebration, the museum opened a permanent outdoor Dinosaur Discovery Trail.
This permanent exhibit showcases 16 of the majestic animals that ruled our earth for more than 150 million years. Visitors walk through the woods to see realistic one-third to full-size dinosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretaceous eras. The dinosaurs will range in size from a mini Ankylosaurus to a 16-foot-tall Brachiosaurus. There is a baby T. rex photo op, a half-size T. rex, plus several nests and baby dinosaurs.
The trail has a children’s play area, dig pits for amateur paleontologists, including a 30-foot-long Allosaurus skeleton, and three huts full of dinosaur and Ice Age fossils, including real dinosaur fossils collected by museum staff in Montana in 1990 and an actual whale specimen found in Hampton Roads. The following are fun for kids:
- Sleeping Ankylosaurus (12 ft long) – fun for kids to climb on!
- Titanosaur femur (8 ft long) – fun for kids to climb on!
- Sleeping Muttaburrasaurus (10 ft long) kids can climb/adults can sit on it too!
“Everybody loves them and there’s nowhere you can go to see a dinosaur in real life,” says museum Deputy Director Fred Farris, who designed the exhibit. “Bringing dinosaurs into a woodland setting makes them come alive!
“This will be an amazing place of discovery and play for kids—-from dinosaurs to real, touchable fossils, from authentic dino dig pits to interactive play items. Kids can let their imaginations go wild as they play and imagine a world full of dinosaurs. It may also inspire kids to become a paleontologist or other type of scientist in the search for answers to so many unanswered questions about our world.”
The museum is located at 524 J. Clyde Morris Blvd., Newport News (I-64, exit 258-A).
It is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.
T-Rex Trek – Dino on the Loose!
Time: 1pm (weather permitting)
Keep your eyes peeled and your cameras ready—a roaring guest of honor is on the move! During select times, our animatronic T. rex makes a surprise appearance on the museum grounds for a quick trek.
Each T. Rex Trek lasts just 12–20 minutes, so if you hear the stomping (or squealing!), follow the fun before this prehistoric pal disappears back into the trees!
Date Time Performance June 21, 2025 10:30 am 12 – 20 minutes July 5, 2025 10:30 am 12 – 20 minutes July 19, 2025 10:30 am 12 – 20 minutes August 2, 2025 10:30 am 12 – 20 minutes
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