We are a generation raised on dinosaurs. As current college students, we were the perfect age to be scared senseless by Jurassic Park years ago, and for those of us with weaker hearts, there were the Land Before Time films. What very few of us have experienced, however, is a face-to-face encounter with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. That’s about to change: dinosaurs have arrived in the District.
Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular is a traveling arena show featuring life-sized recreations of more than fourteen species of dinosaurs. Each dinosaur is fully mobile, including the three story tall Brachiosaurus. These aren’t just puppets, but anatomically accurate monsters created in collaboration with paleontologists, engineers, and artists—with an end product that can only be described as both awe-inspiring and terrifying. I don’t care how old you are, a twenty-foot Tyrannosaurus lumbering towards you is sure to raise your pulse.
Walking with Dinosaurs opened at the Verizon Center yesterday. Any self respecting dinosaur enthusiast owes it to himself to check this out. And remember, when face to face with a hungry Velociraptor, the one you see isn’t the one you should be worried about; it’s the two waiting in the bushes you didn’t even know were there. Clever girls.
Walking with Dinosaurs runs until Sunday, September 20 at the Verizon Center in Chinatown. Tickets range from $19.50 to $65.
