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The North American Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point
LEHI — The North American Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point has 122,000 square feet of exhibit space that takes visitors back to the time when dinosaurs roamed the planet.
Visitors check out Dinosaur display at Thanksgiving Point.
Stuart W. Johnson, Deseret News |
More than 60 standing skeletal dinosaurs and hundreds of smaller items can be seen at the museum. There also are some 800 pieces in the small fossil collection. Museum director Bill Bridges believes the facility is the largest dinosaur museum in the world in terms of showcased items.
There's the "Star Tunnel," which takes visitors back a billion years or so. The walls of the mammal room are covered with murals. A 120-foot-long Supersaurus and 44-foot Brachiosaurus dominate the Grand Exhibit Hall. A giant flying fish and prehistoric turtles are also hanging in the sea room.
The "erosion room" is prepared for children who want to build sand dams and bury plastic dinosaurs for future excavation. So is the dinosaur "horsey" ride, complete with mix-and-match heads and tails.
Cliff Miles, a paleontologist with Western Paleontological Laboratories, determined from the beginning that the museum would be fun for adults and children. As a result, there are dozens of interactive displays, including dinosaur eggs and teeth that can be touched and rubbed and a machine that compares your weight to that of a dinosaur.
Throughout the museum, there are special lighting effects, water features and sounds that help carry the visitor back in time.
It's only fitting that a museum featuring the tallest and longest dinosaurs of the prehistoric ages should also sport one of the largest movie screens in the state.
The museum's Mammoth Screen Theater is outfitted with the Iwerks linear-loop projector, sound-equalizing system and 50-by-70-foot seamless screen.
Designed to seat 350 viewers, the Iwerks theater complements the museum with larger-than-life depictions that promise to amaze the audience.
Films are shown Monday through Thursday starting at 11 a.m. and every hour thereafter until 8 p.m.
The $23 million museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Combination tickets for the exhibit hall and the Mammoth Screen show are $14 for adults and $11 for children. An exhibits pass is $9 for adults and $7 for children. For more information, including discount pricing options and family pass prices, see the Web site, www.dinosaurpoint.com.
Thanksgiving Point, which also features shops, 18-hole golf course, gardens, a restaurant and animal park, is located 20 minutes south of Salt Lake City and 20 minutes north of Provo off the west side of I-15 near the Alpine exit.
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