The Jurassic World Exhibition was last seen in the UK a few years ago at the Excel London. Recently it made a return with an all new home in Manchester in a custom built temporary building which is setup on one of the Trafford Centre’s many car parks. When I heard this prehistoric attraction was making a return, I knew I had to return. I really enjoyed it the first time so was excited to visit again and see what, if anything, had changed. Please note, this article will include spoilers so you may want to skip to the end if you wish to keep the experience a surprise.
Finding the building was easy with marketing around the Trafford centre and carparks to advertise and direct you to the right place. It’s a short walk (or land train) from the John Lewis building to car park 7 where the exhibition has been built. One thing to note is that there are no toilets inside however there is a toilet block built around the side for guests to use before or after their journey. Tickets for the event are time slot based – they can be purchased in advance or on the door (For later slots) however, we recommend booking in advance to guarantee entry. Once our tickets were scanned, it was time for a quick greenscreen photo op before our journey officially began.
The transition from the outside into the Jurassic World is quite clever, with a fully immersive boat preshow taking you from Manchester to the island where the park resides. The preshow is very well put together with the visuals properly throwing you into the world of the films. Once the preshow is done, the boat doors open to the iconic gateway welcoming you to Jurassic Park.
From here, you are fully immersed in a world full of greenery and dinosaurs who are incredibly lifelike with realistic motions and sound effects. Dinosaur rangers are on hand to tell you all kinds of information about the dinosaurs before you and we have to say, they were fantastic! The rangers held so much knowledge and passion in their roles, they really pulled the experience together and made it for us.
We passed through a series of sections from dinosaur paddocks to an interactive research lab where baby dinosaurs were incubating in their eggs to a fossil dig pit where you could try your hand at searching for fossils before a wait to the next area. In these areas, rangers were also bringing out baby dinosaurs for the guests to meet including Bumpy from the Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous series. I love a character interaction and these baby dinos were no different – they were full of energy and character much like their ranger handlers.
My only issue with the attraction at this point was that there was no indication of how long the wait time would be. There was a screen, but it didn’t have anything past the exhibition logo. We were held in this area for quite some time waiting for the next scene to open. It was the same with the baby dinosaur meet and greets, there was a sign indicating their locations, but no times listed – so some may have entirely missed the meet and greets during their experience.
When the gate (eventually) opened, we passed into a Velociraptor training pen and were instructed to stand back – though separated by a fence, this felt like a slightly far away experience as a result. The raptor training began with “Blue” coming out for a brief demonstration. I’m sure on the London trip, this show was a little longer though as this time it was more a case of the raptor coming out and parading around before running back inside. I have to admit, after seeing the really well put together dinosaurs and even the dinosaur costumes at Dino Breakout at Drayton Manor this year, the Blue suit was a little disappointing with the performers legs clearly visible between the raptors.
Following the show we were in another holding area. This holding area held a large Ankylosaurus along with a Gyrosphere photo op which was cool however this area quickly became a waiting room with the guest enthusiasm wearing off about the environment soon enough. This is where the experience differed from the London version. When in London, there was another show scene featuring the Indominus Rex being fed, however in this version, this scene is not present. The wait here was quite long with again, no time indicator before we were moved on to the next room.
The next room had a sudden shift in pace, from the calm and positive dinosaur experiences before to something a little darker and suspense filled. We were led into a room where a ranger was struggling to open a gate. Whilst she tried to do this, the group was ambushed by a Carnotaurus on one side which made for quite the jumpscare. The area is more panicked than the previous experiences, leading to the same sense of chaos the Jurassic series has been known for, after all… Dinosaurs aren’t ideal pets. Just as we thought things were going wrong at the park, things got worse as the T-Rex had also escaped containment! Lights were being broken, sirens flashing and dinosaurs intimidating – it really felt like a movie set at this point and wow we loved it! The scene was full of drama and excitement with the group being urged to get down as the T-Rex roared out. The gates opened and our group was rushed to safety – in the gift shop!
The gift shop was a very different scene to the exciting finale. On the side, photos were available to purchase from the experience, but these were even more expensive than the Batman Unmasked exhibition starting at £15 for a print (I think). Elsewhere, the shop was packed full of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World merchandise including a small selection of exhibition themed items such as a guidebook. There is something in the gift shop for a dinosaur fan of all ages from clothing to soft toys. We picked up a few Bumpy themed items as they’re one of my personal favourites. But no pin badge unfortunately!
So, what did we think?
I am a huge fan of dinosaurs and thoroughly enjoyed my experience when the exhibition was in London. I absolutely enjoyed it again this time however felt like I wanted a little more from it in terms of content after the London version had some different scenes. I didn’t really want the experience to end as it was a lot of fun and its visually very appealing. I would say, if they were to add anything, it would be good to have some more indicators that there was stuff starting to go wrong in the “attraction” as the end feels like a very strange change of pace. Speaking of, whilst the attraction is suitable for younger audiences, be aware that the ending may be scary for some guests.
If you are a fan of dinosaurs or the JW/JP series, I would highly recommend booking in to visit this attraction. Tickets are available online and start from £30 for an adult timeslot (however prices do vary based on time and date and options picked)
Would I say its worth the price? Yes. The animatronics and team who have put this together have done such a great job. You can really be immersed in the world
Book tickets and find out more: https://jurassicworldexhibition.com/uk/
