Dinosaur Land — Attraction in Stephens City

Okay, I’ll be upfront and honest - this is a bit of an excited, over-positive 5 stars. I just couldn’t help but give 5 stars, I mean who doesn’t love dinosaurs??!

This is such a fun short activity, super super simple but you gotta love and respect the business. They have a sign for each dinosaur, with the name, pronunciation, and a small bit of information about it. Incredibly informative! Did you know velociraptors only grew to be 6.5ft, and 30 pounds?? I didn’t!

There’s also a LOT of dinosaurs I had never seen or heard of before, or ones that are obviously similar to a modern animal, and were very unexpected. There’s also a megaladon you can walk in, a Godzilla with a big hand you can stand in, and an awesome sign to take a picture in front of. Tickets are $10 to get in, which at the end of the day when you think about it, is kind of expensive for an unguided short walk that will take you an hour at most. But, I really didn’t care, dinosaurs are just so fun.

They do have a really awesome gift shop that has surprisingly great prices on plenty of stocking stuffers, road trip memorabilia, and everything in between. We got a fridge magnet to remember Dinosaur Land by, but it did reveal that the dinosaurs were once much brighter and cleaner. All of them are basically just brown, black, and green because the paint is so faded and gone. They need a refresh - a good power washing at least!

I’ll definitely still come back when I’m in the area, and it will feel nostalgic. It’s just so simple and easy and fun, I can’t help but to keep saying, “who doesn’t love dinosaurs?” Thanks Dinosaur Land for being such an underrated landmark in the world and in my heart, and making me feel like...

I had not been to the spot since I was a kid. My son who is 3 really wanted to go so we decided to make a afternoon of it. While he enjoyed looking at some of the attractions not being able to climb on stuff was a disappointment for him, but I understand. However the upkeep of the attractions is terrible. Endoskeleton frames on some of them are collapsing or have collapsed and look terrible, paint hasn't been touched up in years, stuff falling off the frames. The sea-monster area had no water and looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. The ones that you can actually climb in/on had not been cleaned at all. While I expected some dirt on those, it looked like they hadn't been touched in years. When we completed walking around which only took around 25 min even after stopping to take pictures, talk about the dinosaur and play with other kids, we went into the gift shop. He wanted a dinosaur. I had seen some when I was standing around the counter area that had tags for around $10. While you can get the same toy at chain stores for a lot less, buying him one from there would have more sentimental value. As we browsed he found a T-Rex he wanted. I was going to let him have it until I saw the price tag. $33.95! I am sorry but there is no way a 6 inch tall rubber, unposable toy should cost that. I own a business and understand pricing but that is out there. Seeing something like that turned me off and I chose to leave. While younger kids can still have some fun there, the upkeep and cleaning need to be addressed. Until then it really isn't worth the price...

When i was a child, my parents took us to this magical place...it was later the setting for many childhood dreams. In the mid 90s, i was traveling home for a visit and stopped in Virginia to see an old college friend. After a short visit, she gave us directions back to I-81 that didn't include backtracking. As i rounded the hills and came to that 3 way stop, my breath was sucked from my lungs as my eyes fell on a fiberglass dinosaur that had been one of the greatest highlights of my youth. I couldn't explain it to my husband. All i could do was tell him we had to stop. Our then 18 month old son was not nearly as impressed as i had hoped, but we made up for that with so many visits over the next decade. As fate would have it, our second son was a big dinosaur lover, so this was his favorite place to stop when going to grandmas. Our 4 kids are grown now, but they still talk about DinosaurLand fondly, and with the cheesey memories that are today lost, too often, to bright screens and 600 channel distractions. This isn't a natural history museum with accurate representations... this place was built in the 60s so your expectations should align more with the original Land of the Lost tv show, than of Speilbergs Jurassic Park. Last time i visited, they had added some modern day, GIGANTIC new dinos in the open grass area... they were impressive, large, modern, cool... but i preferred to walk under the tall pines, amongst the "Grumpys"... always hoping to run into Will or Holly. � Thanks for the memories DinosaurLand. Always...