Thanksgiving Point is an adventure waiting at every corner for every member of the family! They have attractions to please the minds of the kiddos and to tickle the senses of the adults!

Here’s what Thanksgiving Point offers:

Water Tower Plaza for the shopping and dining

Gardens where 55 acres encompasses the brilliant sight of 15 themed gardens

Farm Country where an interactive, hands on farming experience comes to life

Museum of Ancient Life which houses the world’s largest collection of mounted fossils

Golf home to the largest Utah golf course spanning over 200 acres surrounded by the beautiful mountains and elegant gardens

Movies home to the XanGo 3D Mammoth Screen and the Megaplex 8 theaters playing the first run films

Today’s review is just going to cover The Museum of Ancient Life. We will write up a review for the others at another time.

Summary of The Museum of Ancient Life:

This museum “claims” to be the World’s Largest Dinosaur Museum based on the fact that they have the world’s largest collection of mounted dinosaurs.

The first exhibit hall is how Paleontology works and peering windows into the live Palentology lab.  This is a fun way to start off!

Human Microphone was "tuned" into the lab happenings

As you enter the regular exhibit halls, there is a “star room” which is quite cool and it literally feels like you are walking through space.

This was an awesome feature, but Human Microphone was scared to death of it (very understandable as the sense of reality is fuzzy for a 3-year old!). As such, the museum has provided an alternate way to enter the exhibit halls.

Then you visit the four different halls of the museum with hundreds of skeletons and dozens of exhibits.

The first hall shows many sea life skeletons and replicas.

Then you head into the most famous halls and bones of all – DINOSAURS.

You enter a large hall to house those large reptile skeletons.

There are a couple of these large halls to house the most famous of dinosaur bones.

It is AMAZING to see just how large some of these creatures were! Could you only imagine??

They even showed some without their skins…..

And what they may have looked like with their skins and animal instincts……

It is a kid-friendly museum in that they also have many “hands-on” exhibits and activities that children can take part in.

Our kids’ favorite exhibit is the erosion table!

A huge room houses a very large erosion table for kids of all ages to get “their hands wet and dirty” digging in the dirt with alittle river of water running through and plastic dinosaurs and trees roam (with the help of little hands).  Plus it is a great place for mom or dad to sit and relax as the perimeter of the room is lined with benches.  It may also be a great room to hang out in if you are a nursing mother with your other children as it was a comfortable locale to let the older kids play while the baby fed (I personally found this convenient as a nursing mother).

Younger kids can pile in on the inside where the ground is raised a couple of feet to help them reach inside better. The above picture shows the kids on the inside of the table where it is perfect height for Human Microphone.  But the girls are a little tall for the inside. Neither area was appropriate for Baby J.

Here is Ms. Optimistic on the outside and you can see it is just perfect for a 6 year old.

It is quite a messy activity! Sand and water = a mess! But hey, it is fun Mom and Dad!

Wait…. do our eyes deceive us?!?! Is that Ms. Pessimistic with a HUGE smile on her face?!?! Well….. you know what that means……. she likes a lot! Of course she does, it involves making a mess They use to have aprons that they kids could wear, but they were not available on our most recent visit. Thankfully they do have sinks with soap and water right there in this room to clean up as best as possible.

There is a baby crawl and play area right next to the erosion tables.  This seems to be perfect for crawling and young walking babies, but Baby J seemed just a bit too big for this area.

Another favorite kids’ hands on activity was an area at the top level of the main halls where kids could “build their own dinosaur,” participate in coloring activities, and play with a giant world map.

First, “build a dinosaur” is an activity that kids of all ages can participate in and be funny, creative and just super silly.

It was even an activity that Baby J can do – as she was too little for the erosion tables,  she was happy to feel like she was finally included!

Second, in the same area there is a giant wall World Map that contains lights with a board and the kids’ level where they can push the button next to an image of a dinosaur and a spot on the giant map would light up for where that dinosaur was located.

As you can see from the scale of sizes – this map is huge!

Finally, the last halls take you through extinct sea life and skeletons – Cassie and Ms. Optimistic find this area most interesting! It starts with the skeleton of a giant sea tortoise and ends with a giant Megalodon shark! YIKES! But the kids, especially Human Microphone, thinks this is just as cool as mud.

They had a Great White Shark hanging on the ceiling to give you an idea of the massive size of the Megalodon. We didn’t end up getting a picture of the great white at the museum for the scale, but this illustration gives you a great idea of the awe of this animal!

Thanks Howstuffworks.com for the illustration

Now you can see why some little 3 year old boy was sure taken with this part of the museum!

In addition to all of the displays of dinosaur skeletons, another highlight is the dinosaur dig room at the very end. It is essentially a giant sand box where your kids can dig for bones by brushing the dirt away.  Another huge main attraction for our kids.

Here’s What We Like About The Museum of Ancient Life:

• It is all indoors – so no matter the weather, you are able to visit.
• There are quite a few hand’s on activities that appeal to a broad spectrum of ages -kids have a hay day in dirt all day.
• It is easily a self-guided tour.
• There really are quite a few mounted skeletons to view in different classes of extinct animals.
• There are several places to sit down and take a rest, breastfeed or visit with a friend while the kids explore that area.
• Parking is decent and many shady spots can be found.
• The bathrooms are well kept and very nice.

Here’s what we don’t like about The Museum of Ancient Life:

• It is expensive on a normal “non special” day – $10 per adult and $8 per child. So for our family of 6 (paying for 5 as the baby is FREE currently) would cost us $44.00 per visit.
• The cost wouldn’t be that bad except that every time we have gone – it is a very quick trip. What I mean by that is that although there is the claim that they are the largest dinosaur museum in the world – the visit is very short and you can literally walk in and out in less than an hour and have seen/read almost all you can.  If it was not for the Kids’ hands-on activities that slow the visit down, it would be very quick.  We actually went just the two of us several years ago before we had kids – we were in and out quick!
• We understand the rule, but you cannot have any food or drink at all anywhere in the actual museum.  It even means that they search your belongings and confiscate anything you have for you to pick up later. It is understandable, but quite annoying when you have tired cranky kids that want a quick drink or quick snack. Make sure bellies are full before entering the exhibits.

In fact, we snapped a picture of the confiscated food/drink table on our way to the exhibits:

The sign states: “ANY food or drinks in the exhibit, you will be asked to leave.”

There was a mom that was in the erosion table room sitting next to me feeding her 1 year old a few pieces of Cheerios while her older son played in the tables.  She was caught and they said – “You need to put that away now, give us the food or leave.”  They are serious!

Ways To Save for the Museum of Ancient Life:

• If you plan to attend more than 2 times a year as a family, then we recommend the Thanksgiving Point annual membership for $175 for all of the paid venues or $100 a year for just the Museum of Ancient Life.  This is ultimately going to save you most! It is also tax-deductible.  Ask for it for a family gift from your extended family too!
• Sign-up for the Thanksgiving Point newsletter to be notified of special deals, promotions or other offers for discounts
• Watch for coupons in the Hometown Values mailer that is sent to each county.  The Thanksgiving Point ads appear to be in most of the county editions across the Wasatch front
• If you are a AAA member, you can receive $2.00 off for two adults when you show your membership card

Overall, it is a fun, memorable and exciting activity.  Your kids will reminisce about the amazing sites to behold! You may need to invest in that membership if they can’t stop talking about it!

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This is a wonderful opportunity for you and your family to experience Thanksgiving Point activities on the cheap! Every Tuesday in August is two buck Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point. This means that everyone 3 and older can get into the participating Thanksgiving Point venues for only $2.00. This is good news as this gives you five opportunities as there are 5 Tuesdays in August!

Here are the details:

• Every Tuesday from 10 am – 8 pm, admission to each of the participating Thanksgiving Point venues is only $2.00 per person 3-years old and older (2 and under enter FREE already!)
• The participating attractions are:
  • The Museum of Ancient Life
  • Farm Country
  • Thanksgiving Point Gardens
• There are also $2.00 Fudge Tuesdays – receive a 1/2 lb. of Emporium Fudge for only $2.00, and cooking classes for $2.00 in the Emporium Kitchen.

The next Two Buck Tuesday is Tuesday, August 2nd, 2010.

We have been to the Thanksgiving Point attractions a few times – mostly in August of 2009 when this was offered last.  We wanted to give you our review of our experiences at Thanksgiving Point and will post those soon.

A couple of tips for $2.oo Tuesdays:

• Be prepared and plan to fight the crowds
• Plan to stay in line for the Museum for a long time – if you are going early, you will be some of the first to enter, but just be waiting outside.  If you arrive close to opening time, you will be in line for quite a while outside.  Best suggestion is to go a couple of hours after it has opened as the line to get in is significantly shorter and less busy.
• Plan to stay in line for the Farm Country Pony rides for a long time as well.
• Bring sunscreen or sun protection for the kids for the times you are in line, as well as a snack while in line as all food and drinks will be confiscated before entering the Museum Halls.
• Try to take a smaller stroller as it is hard to maneuver around the crowds
• Be prepared to have fun!

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