Life size animatronic dinosaurs coming to the Philadelphia Zoo

The Philadelphia Zoo has some Big Time news.

The Philly landmark, at 3400 W. Girard Avenue, will soon host Big Time: Life in an Endangerous Age, a brand-new immersive multi-sensory experience featuring 24-life-size, animatronic dinosaurs that will transport guests back to when these giants roamed the Earth. Opening to the public on March 29, Big Time highlights some of history’s most powerful events, volcanic eruptions and asteroid strikes that changed the atmosphere, the level of the seas, the temperature of Earth, even the amount of sunlight on the planet. Through evocative landscapes, realistic settings, immersive sounds and life-like giants, Big Time takes guests through the Age of Dinosaurs to present day, showing what life was like and the challenges faced when these amazons walked the planet.

“We are very happy to welcome guests to the zoo to experience Big Time, a tailor-made adventure immersing guests in the world of history’s most impressive behemoths, taking them through cataclysmic events, highlighting threatened animal species today and providing ways to help enact change,” said Philadelphia Zoo’s President & CEO Vikram H. Dewan. “Big Time is a dynamic experience that will stimulate the senses and transport guests back in time to walk among dinosaurs like the mighty T.Rex, puts them face-to-face with an enormous Woolly Mammoth, and side-by-side with a life-sized polar bear, elephant and Sumatran rhino.”

Big Time features Volcano Vapors, where smoldering rocks, rivers of molten lava and clouds of acidic ash set the scene detailing the changes that effected dinosaurs forever. Guests will also experience Prehistoric Passage, where a 40-foot-long, T- Rex chomps his jaws and a strange-looking Ankylosaurus thrashes its gigantic club-like tail. Attendees can keep trekking to the Asteroid Void and explore a desolate landscape, the aftermath of the enormous asteroid that struck Earth, wiping out dinosaurs. Migration Maneuvers will take adventurers back 70,000 years ago when humans began migrating, causing devastating effects on the wildlife they encountered. And in North America, people will encounter the Smilodon, aka “Saber-tooth tiger,” and a 15-foot-tall Woolly Mammoth. In Madagascar, guests will cross paths with a Megaladaplis or “Koala Lemur,” and in Australia, witness the Procoptodon, an ancestor of today’s kangaroo, standing 10-feet-tall and weighing more than 500 pounds.

Returning to present day, attendees will meet some species whose days are numbered due to the actions of humans—a life-size Sumatran rhino, massive polar bear, colossal African elephant and monarch butterfly—illustrating how we can all make a difference doing our part to help wildlife here and around the world.

As the Big Time journey comes to an end, guests can take steps to help turn the tide for endangered animals and enact change to ensure a future where we can all live and thrive together on our planet: Take a packet of the seeds and grow native plant species; Send a postcard or sign an electronic petition to advocate for global conservation actions aimed at addressing wildlife extinction; And advocate for 30×30 and ask national and world leaders to protect 30% of lands and oceans by 2030.

Reservations and tickets are now available for Big Time and can be made online at PhiladelphiaZoo.org. Big Time will be open from March 29 through Sept. 30 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Attendance will be capped to ensure a safe experience and face masks are required.