We arrived at the train station 30 minutes early. Since all of the kids' activities are at the Dinosaur Train's destination, make sure to bring something to keep kids busy while you're waiting for the train to arrive.
Macaroni Tip: Pack a lunch or snack and eat at one of the many picnic tables while you wait. Also take advantage of the Porto-Potties near the Ticket Office. You do not want your kiddo going to the bathroom on a moving train!
The 30 minute train ride was your typical train ride. There are colorful balloons and music from the Dinosaur Train show for entertainment, and the kids are given the Nature Trackers Guide to read about the "Challenges" they will be doing. Macaroni Tip: For a more stimulating experience, sit on the right side near an open window for great views of the river and to watch the Ol Susquehanna Engine blow giant clouds of steam.
The highlight of the experience was the Dinosaur Train's destination: the Nature Trackers Activity Area. As soon as we got off the train, there were lots of fun challenges/activities to explore. Kids can pick and choose which activities they would like to do, or follow the Nature Trackers Guide's Challenges.
Macaroni Tip: Plan on staying at the Activities Area for at least 2 hours to enjoy all it has to offer. Besides the challenges, there is an inflatable obstacle course, temporary tattoos, coloring stations, and spin art. There are also picnic tables and a concession stand where they offer typical carnival type foods like french fries and chicken fingers (dino-shaped, of course).
We decided to choose our own adventures and hit the corn stalks first. That was so cool! It was our first time walking through giant stalks of corn, and the path of animal footprints led us to a different inflatable dinosaur character from the Dinosaur Train show.
My son has been asking to dig for fossils for weeks and he finally got his wish in the form a giant archeological dig site filled with sand and buried dinosaur bones. Each child got a pail and paintbrush as tools to excavate the fossils and match the fossils to the names of the dinosaurs they belonged to. We never figured out what dinosaur we uncovered, but my son had a blast digging, brushing, and scooping with the rest of the mini-palentologists.
Macaroni Tip: Make sure the kids are wearing socks and closed-toed shoes to keep sand from getting all over the place.
Next up was panning for fossils at the Ol' Susquehanna Mine. This was our favorite activity. The story of the Mine is very amusing, and I loved the sensory experience this activity had to offer. It was priceless to see the look on my son's face when he lifted up his sieve to find fossils: shark's teeth, clam shells, stems and more! We loved this so much we had to go back a second time. Macaroni tip: One lucky kid gets to blow up the mine. Be sure to cover little one's ears because it is VERY loud!
We rounded out the day with an entertaining Dinosaur Game Show, featuring fossils parochially named Nixon and Elvis and the palentologists who found them. Overall, it was an enjoyable, educational experience for my son and me. I would highly recommend it to all dinosaur fans, young and old!
Disclosure: Macaroni Kid of Northern & Pascack Valley was provided complimentary tickets to review the show and for the purposes of a ticket giveaway on Macaroni Kid. All opinions expressed in this article are that of the author.
