dinosaur gardens

My grandson really loves dinosaurs and had a great time checking out all the statues and reading the information signs to my granddaughter and me. He would even add some missing info. Nice event for youngsters... Relaxing walk for the oldsters thru the woods while looking at the statues. Owners are very friendly and are doing upgrades on the exhibits. The gift shop has a nice selection of items at a fair price and even offer ice cream and light snacks.

Cute outdoor dinosaur display. We covered the entire park within thirty minutes. This is geared for the younger crowd. Preschoolers and elementary kids will enjoy. Anyone older will be bored. Really old park with dinosaur statues and walking paths. The gift shop has some cute dinosaur trinkets at fair prices. The mini golf course was a quick play. Overall, if you have young kids, you have to visit at least once.

Dinosaur Gardens is a holdover from the late 1940s to early 1960s roadside attraction era. Although it lacks the garish billboards that were a trademark feature of its genre, the place is instantly recognizable as a relic of a bygone era. Adults who appreciate this historic perspective will find this place fascinating. Little kids love Dinosaur Gardens too, because they don’t much care that the painted concrete sculptures are crudely rendered and they aren’t much bothered by the fact that the place is badly outdated, riddled with inaccuracies and weird juxtapositions, and more than a little wacky in the aggregate. Alas, relatively few adults, teens, or tweens are likely to find Dinosaur Gardens very entertaining. A big reason is that youngsters today are pretty dinosaur-savvy. While we were there a five year old girl pointed out that the forearms of the T-Rex sculpture should have just two fingers, not three.

As a child, growing up in Northern Michigan, we took a field trip to Dinosaur Gardens. A few weeks ago, visiting with my own child - a toddler, we swung through to see if "The DG" was as good as I remember. Now, the statues of dinosaurs aren't really historically accurate, but who cares? My husband and I had a nice time taking a stroll through the woods, and my son got to marvel at big, colorful giant dinosaurs. (A few of them appeared to be under renovations, but I've heard the place is under new ownership and they might be sprucing it up a bit.)Also, there's putt-putt golf and fro-yo. All told, it's worth the price of admission. Walking with a toddler, it took about an hour to get through all the statues.

Giant dinosaurs in the woods. We had two three year olds and they loved it. This place reminds me of many of the attractions that were around in the early 60's. Truly a step back in time. We didn't play mini golf but the course looked nice. Prices were reasonable even in the gift shop.

Unbelievable dinosaur gardens with real life looking replicas that will delight people of all ages. You can even get a nice game of putt-putt golf. The walk through the woods seeing all the sites is a delight for children and adults. Let your imagination soar when you visit this awesome place.

We visited Dinosaur gardens during our Michigan holiday. My 6 year son really likes dinosaurs. He loved seeing the life size replicas of all the dinosaurs and animals. My 3 year daughter also enjoyed it. She liked the frog and mushroom table / umbrella. My wife and I enjoyed it. I was a nice walk through the woods and it was nice to see the kids excited. The gift shop has all sorts of dinosaur souvenirs and refreshments. We spent an hour or so there. Admission for 2 adults and 3 kids ( 6yrs, 3yrs and 9 mos ) was $27. It would have been nice if kids under 1-2 years were free. Overall, it was a neat place to check out and we enjoyed it.

My nieces and my daughters (ages 2-5) LOVE this place. We've made it a tradition to go visit every July when we're up north. This place is definitely odd, but it's great at the same time. There is some silly religious integration (the Three Wise Men in the tail of the big brontosaurus?!), the signs are not at all accurate (one lists something about the "Carnivorous Period" - no such thing exists), and there is quite a mish-mash of representations (cave men, black bears, and dinosaurs all on the same trail), but, somehow, it really works for them! My mom comes with us and needs to be pushed in a wheelchair. The trail is technically wheelchair accessible, but it's a bumpy ride and definitely difficult to push someone on. We also had some trouble with our stroller in the past and have since ditched it. We paid about $22 for our family of four to tour and the whole deal took about an hour. You absolutely need bug spray before you head in because those prehistoric mosquitoes and black flies are no joke!This year we were pleasantly surprised to find that there are new owners and some changes to good ol' Dinosaur Gardens. There is now a frozen yogurt shop as part of the store and it's clear that several of the dinosaurs have been repaired and repainted. We're excited to see the rest of the "facelifts" next year!

This quiet spot has life size models of pre-historic animals scattered through out. The wooded setting give you the feeling you're really back in time. Take plenty of insect repellant, though. There are lots of mosquitos

We took our kids there last summer, at the time they were 6 and 4. They loved it. The real sizes and little plaques at each dinosaur were entertaining and educating. There are benches to sit and relax/rest as you go, too. The store is cute with lots of little goodies to buy. All in all we spent about an hour or so there messing around one Saturday afternoon and it was fun for all. There is no ATM and they do not take cards - so bring cash though!

Owner has them set up very well. Great for kids. Oh and adults too. You get a good idea how it was back them.

A cute place to take kids under 8 years old. It is past it hay day; but if in the area and you have young ones they will enjoy it.

Kids really enjoy it and parents enjoy the nature walk.

Dinosaur Gardens is a unique place for youngsters located on US-23 in Ossineke between Harrisville & Alpena. The park consists of different very large statues of dinosaurs, all of which can be touched by kids. It was developed back in the fifties by one sculptor who created all the large statues by hand...no power tools. The current owners do a good job of keeping the park and trail clean. You walk along a hard packed gravel path (hard to push an umbrella stroller) through the woods and it took a good 30 minutes to complete the trip. There was a statue about every 50 feet. There were also a lot of mosquitos but the shade provided nice relief from the sun. The kids did love dinsosaur gardens and it was a lot bigger than we expected. Also there were some pretty graphic dinosaur fighting scenes but we just walked past those and our kids being so young did not even notice. We ended up eating a picnic lunch there by the little river that runs through since the grounds were so well kept. Be aware that the park admission only takes cash--no credit cards! The park also offers a putt-putt course but we did not play. Make sure to visit the large Flights of Imagination park across the road (the castle playground as my kids call it).