Denmark Dinosaur World — Attraction in Bow Bridge

We visited Dinosaur world for the second time with high hopes that things would have changed since our last visit. Must to our dismay things we possible worse. Do not waste your time and your money. As you walk in you are greeted in a dimly lit reception area with tacky work mismatch office furniture, tacky dinosaur decals on the wall and an empty snack shelving unit. The one redeeming feature was the owner was dressed in Jurassic park style safari suit giving us hope that things inside were looking up. Once you pass through the gift shop you walk into what can only be described as an old shed that has been with little to no ventilation. There are a number of animatronic dinosaurs lit with sporadic coloured light but unfortunately they are filthy and covered in spiderwebs making the display look it was left over from Halloween. Once you work your way through the tight gaps between the dinosaur you are able to view a number of retiles in large glass fronted enclosures. This is nice, however the only draw back being that they are very tired looking, one has a large crack going over the front and another had a pile of blown heat bulbs stacked on top of the cage. This just gave the impression that the animals were not as cherished as i am sure they are by the owners. The redeeming feature of this experience was the ability for the kids and adults to handle and view snakes and lizards close up. Unfortunately that is about as good as it gets. Once you venture outside to view the 'bird park' you are presented with what i can only say are some glorified aviaries from Bunnings as well as a few additional larger cages at the rear of the property. It quickly becomes apparent once you are outside that you are actually in this couple backyard and really what you are viewing is their collection of birds. It starts to feel a little uncomfortable like when you are a kid and you are made to visit and uncle that has a strange collection of things. Advertised as a family attraction you would expect to find several places to sit and enjoy the gardens or bench seats to sit and watch the birds. The is only the one run of the mill glass 6 seater table with patio chairs available, once again driving home that you are in someone's backyard. They have a large majestic macaw that is in a cage possibly only 4m x10m with next to no enrichment for it. Such a bird disserves to be able to have more space than this. As do the other birds that are there disserve to have more enrichment. We were really disappointed that after 4 years that not a single thing had change with the exception of more spiderwebs. I realise there is a cost of living crisis but $14 for and adult and $7 for a child is crazy for what you actually get to experience. And before the owners respond to this saying 'i must have had a blindfold on' or 'i must have been asleep' or 'sorry i had a bad day before we visited' YES i have given you a negative review but i also want this attraction to be truly amazing and deserve the title of Dinosaur world, reptile and bird park. Currently it is nothing more than, come see the awesome dinosaur animatronics in my shed out back and my pet birds and snakes. This business could be an absolute gold mine! More enrichment activities for kids, you could have giant dinosaur eggs for kids to play in or have photos with, picnic benches, do the snake shows outside so people can actually see and are not all crammed inside like sardines! Actually talk about each animal you are showing rather than just handing them all out for people to hold. Make the dinosaur area just that, don't try and mix reptiles in too. Why not try and make people stay longer by putting things in 2 different areas. Have a interactive learning station for the kids. There is so much you could do to make this such an amazing business and also be a massive credit to the area. How about everyone wears a uniform so you can actually tell who is working there and people can interact with you. We left disheartened, disappointed, cheated,...

This place is so cool!

We arrived in time for the reptile handling & the lady who ran it was just brilliant. There were lots of kids there so she made sure there were enough lizards & snakes for everyone to hold one. She swapped them around, answered questions, knew each reptile by name & was happy to chat, it was really interesting & super relaxed... it wasn't a rushed experience, we had plenty of time to spend handling them & learning, it was unreal.

The same lady was next level with the birds for the rest of the day. It was such a highlight having a red tailed black cockie (her name was Molly) hop onto my hand, sit on my shoulder & chew on my jumper. There's a really nice selection of parrots that are tame enough to hold, feed or talk to... black cockies, alexandrines, sun conures, caiques, indian ring necks, corellas, lorikeets, & a sulphur crested cockatoo who talked the leg off a chair & was quite insistant on "scratch scratch". It was by far my favoutite part! Lots of wild galahs & aussie ring necks around too which was beautiful.

The aviary birds are gorgeous too... there was plenty of fruit & fresh foliage in very clean (& large/uncrowded) aviaries, I was pleased to see it & was surprised by the range of birds there. I'd read negative reviews about this area but i found all aviaries uncluttered allowing for AMPLE flight path & with natural enrichment rather than gimmicky plastic pet shop toys. I was impressed.

I loved the kangaroos too! I didn't get to feed them (all the kids did) but it didnt stop them from coming right up for a cuddle... they are so sweet & friendly.

The dinosaur display is cool too. animatronics, skeletons, videos... it was a cool display.

The owner was really lovely & helpful, & the tour guide was so much fun to listen to & chat to.

The grounds are tidy, clean & picturesque with beautiful denmark forest & plant life as well as the aviaries dotted around, & is set up so kids can roam & families can sit at a picnic table & eat.

It was a lot cheaper than it usually is for a family of 5 to do something like this & we easily lost a couple of hours there today. Our kids are teenagers... I reckon younger kids would love it even more. (The gift shop definitely looked like a kid's happy place so tell them to bring their pocket money!)

100% will be back & will make sure I'm there for the reptile handling session again.

Thanks for a great day, guys! Definitely a big...

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!

I would like the 5 minutes it took to see the dinosaur exhibit, and my $42 back.

It's called "Dinosaur World", yet it's nothing more than a shed with some plastic dinosaur bones. The rest of it is nothing to rave about.

You also CANNOT get your collectors coin from here if you're after it. The owner had a "dispute" with the coin collection guy. What the case really is which was clear by speaking to the bitter owner, was he didn't like that some people drove there just for the coin then left. He wanted to take EVERYBODY'S money that walked in the door. So he cracked it and got rid of the coin machine. Surely, just surely if he had any sense he would realise that some of the people arriving just for the coin would actually then pay to get in. Without the coin to collect they may never have even come. So it's sensible to have it anyway.

It's also very clear from any reviews that weren't outstanding that the owner takes a very defensive and arrogant approach to responding to these people. Any GOOD business owner would take constructive criticism gracefully and improve their business. Sadly in this case arrogance prevails. Of course I expect a "smart" reply. It wouldn't be in his nature to do otherwise.

So unless you're happy to hand over an unfair amount of money to see, well frankly bugger all, don't waste your time or money on this...