Almost three decades in the making, Jurassic World: Dominion comes roaring into Capital Region movie theaters this weekend. Classic trilogy cast Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill team up with the new trilogy’s Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard in a near-future where dinosaurs live in the wild alongside humans.

While you won’t see any roaming freely around Upstate anymore, New York has a pretty awesome pre-history that would make John Hammond proud. If you have little dinosaur fans running around your house (or big ones too) here are some places in and near the Capital Regions where you can have your own Jurassic Park experiences before or after seeing the new movie.

The New York State Museum

New York State Museum
New York State Museum
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At the south end of the Empire State Plaza, find New York’s very first dinosaur fossils and footprints! You’ll find out more about what our home was like 66 million years ago when dinos walked, swam, and flew where we go to work and school today. There’s also the Cohoes Mastodon, which only died 13,000 years ago (peanuts to a brontosaurus), but is an amazingly preserved look into the Upstate of yester-yester-yesteryear.

Admission to the NYSM is free. Find out more here.

Dinosaur Footprints in Holyoke

The Trustees of Reservations
The Trustees of Reservations
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You’ll have to drive a little for this one, but it’s worth it if you want to walk exactly where the dinos walked. About 90 minutes out of Albany in Holyoke, Massachusetts are eight acres of real dinosaur footprints captured in sandstone and more than 800 fossils. These were some of the first dinosaurs to ever exist, including the ancestors of the kings themselves – Tyrannosaurus Rexes!

For more on Dinosaur Footprints, step here.

VIA Dino Discovery

VIA Dino Discovery
VIA Dino Discovery
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If you prefer your dinosaurs still with skin, and moving, try looking for them in the mall. While the Sears there went extinct long ago, VIA Port Rotterdam is now home to interactive displays and animatronic versions of Jurassic World’s greatest hits: Stegosauruses, Triceratops, T. Rexes, and more.

For tickets and hours, check out VIA’s site.

Lake George Expedition Park

Lake George Expedition Park
Lake George Expedition Park
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Call it the Jurassic Park of the Adirondacks! The recently re-opened Lake George Expedition Park’s Dino Roar Park has a Dino Nest, interactive Fossil Dig Site where kids can get their hands dirty looking for bones, multiple life size dinosaurs out in their natural habitats, and stage shows.

Find out hours and get tickets here.

Dinosaur World Live!

If you want to see dinosaurs come to life onstage, don’t miss this family-friendly, educational, world-traveling show coming to Albany’s Palace Theatre. How do they bring a pterodactyl to life? It’s not via DNA - think larger-than life puppets stomping through a 50-minute show, with 15 minutes afterwards for kids to get up close to their favorites and snap a picture. But make it quick! They’re looking hungry!

Moved due to COVID, the rescheduled show date is still to be determined. Tickets are available on The Palace site.

Dinosaur BBQ

TSM
TSM
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Sure, this seems like an obvious closing joke now, but did you see it coming? Besides, no self-respecting raptor would ever turn down a big ole rack of ribs.

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