Dinosaurs delight, amaze visitors at Volo Auto Museum’s new Jurassic Gardens

VOLO – Once past the towering T-Rex at the entryway, visitors to the new Jurassic Gardens at Volo Auto Museum walk into a world thick with the pounding footfalls and piercing cries of dimetrodons, pterodactyls and triceratops.

Dozens of iguanodons, ceratosauruses and velociraptors dot the landscape.

“With the background sounds, the lighting, the foliage, the movement, it pulls you into dinosaur times,” said Brian Grams, director of the Volo Auto Museum. “We paid a lot of attention to detail to make this an immersive experience.”

The immersive experience has more than three dozen animatronic and several static dinosaurs on display, as well as a dino-themed playground outside. Tickets are available on-site at 27582 Volo Village Road or at volocars.com.

The new – and permanent – exhibit is the culmination of an idea that was sparked in 2019. Transforming what formerly was the mercantile mall took nearly a year, including a few seven-day workweeks to stick to the mid-May opening plan.

During the COVID-19 pandemic closure, crews gutted the 13,000-square-foot space that the creatures now inhabit. Along with carefully building each metal frame beneath the animatronic dinosaurs, they installed greenery, a pathway, a theater-quality sound system and stones with dinosaur descriptions and era information.

Instructive world maps, an incubator lab, a small theater, a fossil dig for budding paleontologists, a mining sluice, an expansive arcade and a gift shop are part of the fun.

“It’s a dream come true for kids,” Grams said. “We expect to see a lot of school field trips come through in the fall. We’re already getting calls.”

A soft opening the weekend of May 14 drew about 1,600 visitors, including Tamara Cialabrini of Crystal Lake, who wrote on Facebook: “We took our son today and he was obsessed. We’ll be visiting many more times.”

Jurassic Gardens is not the only new draw at the reopened Volo Auto Museum. A restored, fully functional 1920s Herschell Carousel and surrounding grand music hall is open to the public for the first time.

The museum’s vintage tractor display has been expanded, more movie cars are on view, and a streamlined ticketing terminal is in place to reduce wait times.

With pandemic restrictions loosening, the ShowBiz Pizza Place is set to reopen in June.

Grams also plans to bring back summertime train rides that offer a guided tour of the property, which recently expanded by about 60 acres to the north.

“Now more than ever, there is so much to do and see,” Grams said. “We’re looking forward to showing off what we’ve accomplished.”

The museum is following state COVID-19 guidelines. Visitors who have been fully vaccinated are not required to wear masks. Those who have not been vaccinated are urged to wear masks.

Tickets to see Jurassic Gardens are $15.95 for ages 5 and older and free for those 4 and younger. Auto museum tickets are $19.95 for adults and $12.95 for children ages 5 to 12. Combo tickets, which provide entry to both attractions plus a second consecutive day’s entry free of charge, are $31.95 for adults and $24.95 for children.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily for both attractions.

For information, find Volo Auto Museum or Jurassic Gardens on Facebook, visit volocars.com or call 815-385-3644.