Mountain America Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point

This an amazing place for kids! There’s so much to do, but the highlight is definitely the interactive areas. They have a great spot where kids can play with sand and toy dinosaurs, it keeps them entertained for a long time and makes learning super fun. The baby dinosaur show is cool and a must-see; it’s interactive, cool, and the kids absolutely love it. Overall, a fantastic place for families with little ones. Highly recommend!

In January 2026, we visited the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah. The exhibits are colorful and informative, and there are many interactive exhibits for children of all ages. The Jurassic Jungle was a great indoor playground for both adults and young children. There is also a sand and water play area with dinosaur toys included. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point.

Absolutely unforgettable for the whole family! The Mountain America Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point was a hit with both of my kids, they were completely mesmerized from start to finish. From towering dinosaur skeletons to hands-on exhibits that let them touch, dig, and explore, every corner sparked their curiosity. The layout is spacious and easy to navigate, and the staff were friendly and helpful. Educational, exciting, and super fun, it’s a must-visit if you have little ones who love science or dinosaurs!

I am interested in ancient life and thought the museum did a great job showing the progression of life forms over millions of years on earth. Many dinosaurs are shown and easy to understand scientific explanations are present. Families with children were the kids enjoyed the displays. Children play areas are present. Very worthwhile.

Our 2.5 year old toddler who's obsessed with dinosaurs had a time of his life. Great for all ages. Very interactive, accessable and fun. Tickets are cheaper online, kids under 3 years old get in for free

I miss the fake people that were Paleontologists. The museum has changed for the worse. When I went back there, it was nothing like my childhood. The dinosaur animatronics are not cutting it. It used to be a magical place where kids can be nerds about dinosaurs. But it’s changed so much and I personally want it to go back how it was.

A Must-Visit for Families – We Love This Museum! We have an annual pass to the Museum of Ancient Life and visit at least once a month—it never gets old! The exhibits are incredibly informational and engaging, perfect for both kids and adults who are curious about the ancient world. One of our favorite parts is the kids’ water table attraction—it keeps the little ones entertained for hours while still being educational. The museum is well-maintained, thoughtfully laid out, and always a fun experience. Highly recommend it for families, science lovers, and anyone looking for a fun, enriching day out!

This museum is absolutely incredible. Not only are the exhibits extremely well curated. But they have classes and all sorts of fun activities for kids, not to mention the Jurassic jungle play area.

Such a fun day at the dinosaur museum! We visited the Jurassic side (which was an additional cost) and it was totally worth it! The play area is huge, tons of space for the kids to run, jump, and just be wild. It was clean, well-maintained, and super engaging for little ones. On the museum side, there was so much to see and explore. My kids were fascinated by all the displays and interactive elements. They especially loved the sandpit with water and the dino dig zone! such a great mix of learning and play! Highly recommend for families looking for a fun, educational, and active day out. We'll definitely be back!

There's no doubt that this is a really cool and large dinosaur museum. It's littered with activities for the kids and quite a bit to look at. Unfortunately, id probably say it's currently one of my least favorite activities at thanksgiving point. Probably due to the age of my kids. They are 2 and 4 , and don't quite enjoy themselves as much here like they do at the Jurassic jungle or the museum of natural curiosity. Even if you have younger kids though, it's still a decent place to spend part of your day, especially if you have the annual pass and want to change things up.

I ventured down from Salt Lake after thinking about visiting for a long time. Since I can't drive, it was a long journey! Honestly, I don't think my $27 was worth it. I had to use noise-canceling headphones because of all the screaming children, who ran around and bumped into me more than once. Most exhibits didn't seem to cater to "all ages," as the website implied, and I woke up the next day sick and with a stye. This experience is only worth it if you A) drive, B) have kids, or C) are a kid yourself.

The gentleman that greeted us today was so sweet and welcoming. We homeschool so today was a field trip and our kids loved everything! So much to see and do. Your kids will enjoy everything. Definitely recommend bringing your kids here.

Nice big parking lot. I can see how it could get super busy on a weekend. Lots of very cool displays!!! They have a lot of fun interactive things for children, even a digging zone. My only complaint would be it splits to go up or down and it's hard to know which way to go so we ended up having to backtrack a few times... couldn't tell with the map. Most of the split offs are where the kid things are. Some of the displays are incredible!!! They have a huge longneck pelvis. I also didn't like how it just looked ENDS... but I guess it does have to come to an end. Gift shop was cute and not too pricey, and ice cream was awesome! Definitely can spend a few hours in here if you got little ones.

Open the door, get on the floor. Everybody walk the dinosaur. Wouldn't it be cool if they gave us all leashes and we could walk the dinosaurs? No, just me? OK. Moving on then.... The Museum of Ancient Life is a fabulous mix of visual exhibits as well as hands-on interactions for the young and restless. For those that have their ADHD in check, there are informational plaques and posters throughout that will educate you on all things prehistoric. They do a good job of providing a variety of ways to interact with this museum, many of them geared toward children. But even those of us that are well past childhood can enjoy this one. And maybe hum a little tiddy about walking the dinosaurs as we go along.

My family really enjoys visiting this museum. Having young boys that love dinosaurs certainly doesn't hurt and they have quite a bit to see and experience. The best value is getting the family membership and being able to visit all the museums. I gave it four stars because the value without a membership is not as good and is a bit pricey for a single visit. But it is worth taking kids and adult alike at least once.

This museum has so much to look at you could easily spend hours here and not get bored. Our kids LOVED this place! The staff is very friendly too

This is a great place for families to spend some time getting out of the sun and enjoy a stroll in the past with dinosaurs. We came with a group of six kids in each of them are very is ages enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

My kids are 3.5 yrs. and 2 yrs. old and they enjoyed the fun play areas, not so much of all the educational stuff; but they loved seeing the big dinosaur fossils. We got the Thanksgiving Point pass this year and have really been enjoying being able to go to their museums and park areas for just an hour or so because my kids can't really last too much longer than that. It's fun; I just wish they had some more interactive areas, but the fact that they have the water table area with sand is awesome and the "quarry" area helps make the visit worth it for my little kids.

My 4 year old really wanted to go see the dinosaur bones that she learned about at one of the camps over the summer. We went for an evening visit after my husband got done working. My daughter and I have a pass so we only had to pay half price for my husband's admission. My daughter was very inquisitive and asked tons of questions. We had a great time together and it was extra nice that there were only about 2-3 other families there in whole place. It was a great activity to do with the weather being cold now. My daughter had fun playing paleontologist and dusting off the dinosaur "fossils" and also the sand and water table. We took part in an activity with a staff member learning and talking about a dinosaur in fossil form, skeleton form and recreated form, and received tickets for free soft serve ice cream at the tower deli. We went through all of the exhibits and loved how much our 4 year old enjoyed it. She was asking what everything was and had my husband read nearly every placard. She was very interested in what the specific dinosaur did when it was alive. There are a few things that could use some updating throughout the museum but overall a delightful experience.

Overpriced for basic stuff. Little kids don't even know what they're looking at. You can literally walk in no tickets or any checks

I remember coming here when I was a kid! So we were excited to come see what the dinosaur museum had to offer. We came one Wednesday with my sister in law and her 3 kids. It wasn't busy which was nice because I brought my baby. I was honestly surprised at how stroller friendly the whole museum was, it was amazing! There were some really fun interactive things for the kids. But also some parts that are tempting for the kids to climb. I know they have season passes or a membership (not sure what it's called) but even being at the museum for the 5th or 6th time they were just as excited as before. It's cool to see the size comparisons between the Dino bones and other things. The set up bones are cool to see and there are lots of things the kids can touch. I personally learned more about dinosaurs which was cool. I think the insects stuck in the amber are my favorite, it's just so interesting and how amazing they are preserved so well. There are some cute picture opportunities as well which is fun. My niece and nephews really enjoyed the water table/wet sand play area as well as the sand pit where they have little tools to dig around to find bones. These two places are definitely the most populated in the museum haha. We will probably be back again at some point, Thanksgiving point has a lot to offer!

My family from Florida was in town this week and they wanted to see dinosaurs! They were wanting to go to Vernal but I convinced them that this Museum is just as good as the one in Vernal and MAN WERE THEY IMPRESSED! We needed to stay in an air conditioned building that was accessible for my grandpa's wheelchair! We reserved our tickets for the Museum of Ancient Life and with only 2 days ahead of time we were able to get a time that suited our needs! It was easy to make a reservation for the size of group we had and it was a GREAT time! My daughter who is 3 (and loves dinosaurs right now) LOVED all of the interactive stuff but also appreciated the skeletons and fossils! (But we were told afterward that she prefers dinosaurs with skin on them still. ) My cousin who is 9 LOVED EVERYTHING! She was fascinated throughout the entire museum! I really enjoyed the sound effects throughout the museum and it was very well thought through which I appreciate! I enjoyed all of the education along the way and was impressed by the layout of the museum. I enjoyed that the interactive parts were scattered throughout and that they dug in the quarry at the end of the visit! Overall It was great! It was the perfect length of museum for my 3 yr old (whom could have easily napped afterwards from walking so much).

Awesome place for the whole family! I'm very impressed with the amount of fossils in this museum. The areas are well presented and very informative, with a touch of fun. My daughter enjoyed the digging for fossil area the most. Also, she expend a good amount of time playing with dinosaurs in the water/rock/sand area. We had the opportunity to talk with the paleontologist. He was very friendly, specially with the kids. I enjoyed the conversation with him. Next time I will like to watch one of the movies that they offer in the theaters right there.

I can't believe it took me 15 years in Utah to come here! I love dinosaurs and they have one of the biggest museums about them! They have some awesome exhibits with great dinosaur bones. They also have some cool hands on exhibits for kids. There is a sand and water area that helps kids understand erosion. There is also a sand digging area that they can "find" dinosaur bones. Overall, it's a great place to take kids and learn about dinosaurs.

I am giving this 3 stars. I went to the museum approximately a decade ago when my son was a lot younger. This year we took the whole family (6 of us). It was quite pricey for one museum. Now if you had very little kids there were activities to sit and play. But, I would say kindergarten age and under. The teenagers were bored, they did enjoy the movie to tell them the history, but were bored with the child like activities. My 7 year old was interested, and the adults. Those in between it was a waste of time and money. It was $17 for kids under 13, $19 for kids 13-17, adults were $24 and seniors were $21. It took about 1.5 hours to walk through. My disappointment was that the museum really has not changed. There were some small updates, but if you saw it before it is still relatively the same. If you do not have e small children, which is whom it is geared most for, my advice take them to something more age appropriate. If you live in that area and go often would recommend buying their season pass, especially with little kids. As you would get your moneys worth. But, for a one day single ticket it was just okay. I don't think we will be back for a third trip.

a month ago This museum is a bit on the smaller side for having dinosaur exhibits. They have one area for rotating exhibits, it changes every few months. I think the price would be a expensive for what you get at The Museum of Ancient Life if you didn't have a membership pass. The sand play areas seem to be a fan favorite with all the kids. The one at the end is tricky, as there isn't a sink or anything to clean up with. The displays are so amazing! My children and I had so much fun walking around and reading about all the dinosaurs. I love the scare around one corner with a giant shark head! Would love to visit again. It's fun to walk through here at your own pace and they have engaging displays for kids with a lot of fun areas to stop and let them play. They have a handicap accessible archeology table so that kids/adults who want to participate in the fun can do so. My favorite thing has to be the star bridge.

I was able to get $3 tickets for their Super Tuesdays they do in August. This is honestly the only time I take my kids to Thanksgiving Point, it's a fun family tradition now. I bought my tickets with reserved time online, for this event it must be done online in advance. During August they book up usually a week in advanced for early times so make sure to plan accordingly. Kids 2 and under are free which is nice. Anyways, I got a booked time of 11:15 am and was able to get a pretty close parking spot near the entrance on the east side. My son loved all the dinosaurs and was very excited to play in the dirt at the end. My twin daughter took turns roaring at all the dinosaurs. I like all the interactive buttons, flaps, and videos for the kids. It's more stroller friendly than wagon friendly with navigating around other guests. One of my complaints is they don't have a way to avoid going into the water/sand table area if you have a wagon/stroller. I also wish they had a wash up station or a brush to get the dirt off at the last activity area. Otherwise I still like going to see all the dinosaurs every year, I don't get sick of it. They had a fun little gnome scavenger hunt going on but I didn't pay enough attention to find any.

We were taking our 18 yr old granddaughter on a senior trip to Yellowstone and we stayed the night in Lehi. Our waiter at the restaurant told us about this museum in conversation so we went the next day. Wow! What a fabulous collection of dinosaurs and the information for each one was very good. We also visited the butterfly enclosure and it was beautiful. The plants were just amazing too! We would definitely recommend this museum to anyone interested in dinosaurs and fossils. The giant sea turtle remains my all time favorite!

I like museums a lot. A whole lot. I can get really into them and spend inordinate amounts of time getting really excited about whatever the subject matter is. Dinosaurs, cities, eras of time, or whatever else anyone with a big collection of old or similarly-themed stuff will set up. MoAL is all about dinosaurs, but really much more than that. It's more about ancient life in all regards--ancient plant, ancient beast, ancient landscape. My favorite parts are the massive skeletons. I mean, any kid at heart is going to love looking at them, ya? I also like digging around in the sand and water to watch how the slow flow carves out landscapes and buries different parts. Yes, I'm a grown man. And yes, I visited with another friend who's a grown man, and YES, I still played in the water and sand. I stopped short of brushing for bones in that area, but the kids there seemed to love it. On that note, you must know that there will be kids crawling all over the place here. Literally crawling. And you know what? That makes me pretty happy. That's why it's here. I also would love to attend an event there some evening geared just for adults. If you guys are looking for anyone to plan that and loop in local businesses *ahem* I think *cough* I know a guy who does that. While I love the use of displays and placards, one thing I'm starting to see at a lot of other museums is a lot of interactive, touch screen, technology-driven displays. I wonder what kind of interactive educational opportunities would exist by replacing some of the older desktops with something like that? It's easy for me to say that on a whim, but more difficult in practice $$, I'm sure. All in all, it was a nice way to spend a rainy afternoon. We also stopped at the IMAX for a 3D movie which was a nice change and blew my mind super wide open about the stuff that lives on the bottom of the ocean. Like, whoa.

Adults can be kids here! It's so much FUN and lots to see and take in. The details in their displays are astounding! I didn't realize how many fossils and things have been found and excavated in Utah alone! Now I know that if another meteorite hits that my family and I will be preserved just fine. ;) lol

Could have been a bit more for my 3 year old little guy. But we had a good time nonetheless. The sand/toy Dinos were a hit, he also like the digging at the very end. $35 was a bit on the steep side for an adult and a 3y/o but guess they need to keep it running.

My 8yr old liked this museum better than the Natural History Museum in SLC, even though it's smaller. There are lots of dinosaurs, several interactive exhibits, excavation areas, and a nice sized gift shop. Oh my favorite was the huge turtle. Look at the kid on the bottom for size comparison: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/museum-of-ancient-life-dinosaur-museum-at-thanksgiving-point-lehi?filter_by_userid=True&select=0xqsNzDcsXCgv4UHQz3T8g&userid=QhYJx2jQdPuSq3fGe3aGcA#SWoMFCOHX748dUTExBungA This museum reciprocates with the ATSC passport program, so we were able to save $54 (2 adult, 2 child) in admission just by being a member of our local science museum. How cool is that. If we had stayed one more day, I would have sent my son to the Jr Lab which is only on Saturdays and Sundays (which requires extra money and probably reservations too). They let the kids do excavations and other hands on exciting things that kids like to do. The guide said this museum actually holds the most fossils (in the ?? state? country? world? I wasn't paying attention) so there are lots of drawers of old fossils of everything. Would I drive here from SLC just for the museum? Probably not, but we were coming back up from Bryce so it was a nice stop.

My kids loved this place! We saw the 3-D movie, it was cute but not sure it was worth $6!! We loved all the hands on exhibits, especially the sand and water area! This is a must-do with kids!

The experience was great. But it was really expensive about $20 a Kid and for adults it's $24. I would say you should go there it has a lot of good information and sand and water tube box things at two areas and you can stop and let your kids play. It also has a dress up place you can dress up as dinosaurs. So I would say go there it really fun also there's a little Tv with some shows about dinosaurs and ancient life. it's really cool and informational. So if you want to learn about the past go there.

This is a fantastic museum. The first thing I always notice during our visit is how clean everything is and it smells clean. The viewing of the paleontologists working is superb and my eldest has had several conversations with them. The layout of the dinosaurs is phenomenally well thought out and beautifully designed. The ONLY thing I could suggest being updated, please add stools or a step around the sand/water play area. *if you are considering buying a annual pass, DO it! Especially if you will visit TP weekly. It's paid for itself within half a month.

It was so sad to start my tour of the museum with a live iguana on display in a tank that is too small for it. Later, I saw fish that were in dirty water that was not enough to cover them. Some fish were even trying to leave the dirty water to find a better environment outside the water. You can see this in my photo that I posted to Yelp. Look at the upper right side. Unfortunately, I'm not just echoing the other comments made by reviewers. I hope the museum can take better care of their fish and reptile. If not, I just ask that they re-home them. I will not be recommending this museum to anyone or visiting again until the museum addresses this issue.

I've been here twice now and both times I left satisfied. The museum isn't necessarily that big, but it has some really cool things to see and do, especially for younger kids (like a fossil dig and water table).

My sister-in-law used to work for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, so I have seen some good-looking exhibits. I believe I have the (relative) privilege to say the replicas at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point are of the highest caliber. The space is small but the quality is high. There are 60 complete dinosaur skeletons in the museum, some you can touch, including a gargantuan Apatosaurus (or one of those type of dinosaurs with the long neck and tail) that you end up walking right under. Sure they're replicas, but when do you get to truly stand next to these things? Or touch them? Interestingly, there is a large window you can watch real paleontologists working on dinosaur fossils. Many exhibits are hands-on. There are placards which tell you where the original bones and fossils were unearthed. The museum gives you a chance to learn a few things rather than simply nodding your head and moving on. For the kids, there is a huge fossil dig room, where they get to unearth surprises under the sand with little brooms. Not the best room to sit in for too long if you have asthma, but the little ones love it. There is a build your own dinosaur display that is fun and a large magnetic dino wall puzzle to figure out. For an extra fee, kids can cast a fossil of their choice and drill their own real fish fossil to take home. There are movies, too. There is a cafe that we did not eat at. The food seemed to be typical museum fare, with soups and sandwiches and salads. There are also other restaurants museums, and activities around Thanksgiving Point if you're making a long day of the place.

My son had a blast!!!! It's a wonderful place that has hands on activities. I didn't get to see a movie but I really want to because they look awesome!!

I grew up coming to this museum so when I brought by nephew here last week, I was expecting the same magic I remember. The museum itself is really cool however, I was really disappointed in the atmosphere outside. The music that was playing in the lobby was not kid friendly or dinosaur themed at all. I felt like I was in a church meeting or a old-lady themed boutique. The bathroom was also very dirty and you could tell it had not been updated since it opened years ago. The first exhibit we went to (before walking into the ancient life part) was filled with janky/random science projects that were run down and broken. It seemed empty and chaotic and I was wondering why this exhibit was here and not part of the natural curiosity museum. The dinosaur museum part was really fun and well put together. Lots of fun things for the kids to do. It was definitely crowded and a lot of the learning experiences would be hard for kids under 5 to read and focus on. I would recommend taking your older kids when they know how to read and can do more than run from one room to the next. Otherwise the money you paid will go to waste really fast if they aren't taking the time to really experience and learn in each room.

This place is very cool. Huge dinosaur bones that we've never seen before. I wish we went 2 years ago when my son was super into dinosaurs, he still enjoyed it but he wasn't as excited as he would've been. The place is clean and has lots of information. I wish they had a little more fun interactive stuff, but maybe it just felt like it wasn't really good because of covid. The water and sand area where you can create floods didn't really work and the quarry at the end didn't have enough tools. **We also had food at the cafe, just something super quick to hold us over for a few hours before we ate dinner. There was no option to review this separately so I'm adding it here. I'd give it a 1 star and don't recommend going there unless you need to get something in your stomach immediately. - nachos, they were as basic as it gets. Worse than gas station nachos and they didn't have jalapeños. -hot dogs, ketchup, mustard, relish, that's all they had. Bun wasn't even warmed. - garlic bread, very thin, like a thin crust pizza. Sauce was like a premise purchased one.

Great museum! There's a little something for everyone. They have plenty of things for smaller kids to interact with. The gift shop has reasonably priced items which is nice for bigger families or those on budgets. My only real complaint is that it was a bit too crowded to navigate at our own pace. But it was also a 2 buck Tuesday so I imagine it's not usually THAT busy.

Great place for kids!! If you are passing through town with little ones, I highly recommend stopping by this Museum along with TPI's others. This one in particular, has a fossil dig pit, build your own dams sand station, and build your own dinosaur speck just right for kids ages 2-10. I've been taking my kids here for years, and they still find joy in something new to discover.

I was very impressed with all the exhibit had to offer. They are geared towards all ages with great educational displays and placards for the older kids (read: me) as well as activities for little tikes. Our 20 month old had a blast growling at all of the exhibits. All of the full skeletal replicas were fascinating and the explanation of where the actual bones these were cast from originated was great too. The hands-on activities were perfect for my little guy but the place was short on digging supplies for the kids. This was strange since the place was relatively slow. I don't want to sound too cheap but $10 a head for adults seemed a little steep. That seems to be the magic number at Thanksgiving Point. $8 and I wouldn't have even thought about it. We LOVED that we could buy a good sized dinosaur toy for under $20. I was expecting a gift-shop-raping and was pleasantly surprised. Definitely a return to place.

Great museum for the whole family! Our group consisted of one senior, 2 adults, and 4 children ranging from 8 years old to 4 years old. All of us enjoyed this museum. The route through the exhibits can sometimes be confusing but this did not detract from our experience. This may be because one of our group had already been through so she was able to guide us. First of all, the staff at the front was very friendly and worked well with one of our kids that had some shyness when it came to stamping hands. When we first entered, it starts out with a dark room which is good to know when bringing kids. For me, it was exceptionally cool but for a small child it could potentially be scary and they may need a hand held or carried. It is all of 25 feet long so it is not a long way but enough for the effect of the darkness of space to be felt. The route then moves you through the different eras up to caveman at the end. The exhibits are well done and very colorful and lifelike. There are many "hands-on" exhibits that encourage touching. There are also several stations throughout the museum that encourage kids to interact. The felt wall that offered different shapes of felt that could be placed up on the wall to "build" a dinosaur or volcano or whatever the imagination comes up with was a huge hit with our kids and I noticed with many other groups as well. There was also a flipboard with dino heads and tails. Another station allowed the kids to "excavate" dino bones that were magnetic and then take them over to build the dino on a metal wall. This one was geared towards older kids as some of the pieces looked a lot alike and the magnets were very strong. There was a scale where the whole family could get on to show which type of dino you weighed as much as, a computer game, books, and a room with a very large sand and water play trough along with many plastic dinos. They provide rubbery vinyl or plastic apron so the kids aren't completely soaked when they get done. There is also a wash station to make sure all the sand is off before moving on. Finally, the last room is an excevation station that has 2 sections where the kids can move sand with rubber spatula implements or small brushes to expose buried "bones". The gift shop is a straight shot out of the last room but you can turn and go out the doors if you don't want to actually go in. I really like that because sometimes it is nice for the kids to just go and not see things that they are not able to get. However, for those that want to browse it is very close and not out of the way.

Went here for the first time today. First thought is it's a bit pricey, $20 for adults and $15 for kids 3 and up. Wondered if it was worth it as we were taking a 3 year old dinosaur lover. Bottom line is, I think it was. He loved the life sized dinosaur exhibits and the hands on activities. I thinks this is a place you can take kids of all ages and make it work. If they want to read the exhibits and learn a lot it's very informative and if they're little and just want to look and play it works pretty well too. We ended up buying a yearly membership and we went to the butterfly exhibit and the museum on the same day and without the membership it would have cost us over $100 for 2 adults and 1 - 3 yr old bit now we can go to 5 different activities at Thanksgiving Point for a year as much as we want with the membership. Looking forward to trying out the rest of the activities.

Good for kids not great otherwise. Its pretty expensive and not that amazing. Its cool ish dont get me wrong but $20 a person is alot for what it is. Like i said kids will be really excited seeing the dinosaurs but the parents won't be as excited.

Went for the first time last summer(late review, I know!) I had 3 other adults and 3 small children with me and we all enjoyed ourselves. The layout was perfect and the exhibits were fun! We were big fans of the water/sand area!! I was surprised that the kids were so involved as well because they were a little younger(5, 3 and 1) but they loved learning about everything. I can't say anything about the price because I paid $35 to visit all 4 areas at Thanksgiving Point. I could see how a family would get up there in price, but we literally spent the entire day between them all, so I think it's worth it. Definitely recommend! ps- Only took the one star away because it was incredibly busy and a bit tight at times, but still definitely somewhere I'll go again and again!

We have been a member of the Dinosaur Museum for the past four years and have never tired of it. The Museum is a nice mix of a more traditional museum with a hands-on discovery museum with a handful of interactive exhibits including the infamous water table with sand and plastic dinosaurs that you can burry, coloring activities, open spaces, games, exhibits, hundreds of dinosaurs on exhibit, and a sand pit where your young scientists can dig up their own fossils. The kids get excited about going every time we mention the idea. I especially like how the exhibit progresses from geologic period to another, oldest to newest, and highlights locally discovered fossils including the Utah Raptor. It's a great place for a family activity on a snowy or rainy day.

I am right in between 3 and 4 stars after our family's first (and probably only) visit. We showed up right at opening (10am) on a Friday afternoon and luckily snuck in right before a daycare took over the place. I can hardly fault the Museum for this, but man those rascals swarmed the place like roaches (not like my kids who are, or course, perfect). The exhibits are impressive. The 2 Brontosaurus (I think thats what they were, I am trying not to show my naivety by saying "longnecks") skeletons were very impressive. Unlike others, I'd trade having real bones for being able to walk directly under a skeleton. They also had some fun activites for the kids, like a build your own Dino place that kept my brood busy for about 30 minutes. We opted to eat lunch at the "Expedition Cafe" and it was decent food, but a little pricey. $25 for hotdogs for the kids, sandwich for me (no chips or drink), and a salad for my wife seemed a little steep, but not terrible. Thats really my only complaint. Between lunch and admission we dropped about $60. I don't think we'd head back any time soon, but I would have no problem recommending it to others.

The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point is a good dinosaur museum with an impressive collection of fossils, tons of informative exhibits, and lots and lots to see. This is a great museum for kids and it shows because it is usually PACKED with kids. I'm marking the museum down not because I don't like but because I don't like that most of the skeletons on display are replicas and not real bones and secondly because the museum gets crowded very easily and sound carries everywhere. The day we went screaming kids could be heard throughout the museum and it was very unpleasant. I realize that is an issue not with the museum directly, but it still took away from my enjoyment.

This place was very cool! Who doesn't love dinosaurs?! I especially liked the "underwater" exhibits. They were so artfully done and quite mesmerizing. Everyone should go to this place! However, I do have this warning! Be prepared to come across Utah's most non-exotic and over populated animal. The "idiot mom". They travel in packs of 2 or 3. They never go anywhere without their children (usually 5 or 6 per mom). The children will destroy exhibits, scream, make everything sticky, step on your feet, and terrorize anyone who comes close. Do not bother approaching the moms. They will not blink an eye as their children cough and sneeze on your leather purse. Nor will they scold their pack for mowing you down as you are walking to the next display. They will just keep discussing their latest kitchen remodel with other "idiot moms". Your only chance of fully enjoying yourself is to bring ear plugs and hand sanitizer. There are no safety zones in this museum. Children are encouraged to venture everywhere with no supervision or manners required. *please do not confuse "idiot mom" with "good mom". You will easily be able to see the difference. But "good mom" is by far the more rare species.

This place is awesome! They claim to have the world's largest dinosaur fossil collection in the world. Basically I think this place is fantastic! It is so cool how much they have on display. The other cool part is how much of it you can touch! It was cool to feel the difference between an actual fossil and a replica. I know that many places like this are geared towards kids, and maybe I'm still a kid at heart but I thought it was a great thing for adults too. I learned a lot and really can you ever be too old to check out dinosaurs.

This museum is GREAT! I love the view into the research lab where they are working on fossils, but the interactive exhibits are the best! Build-your-own-Dino, the giant sand and water table to the fossil dig...we easily could have spent more than the two hours here we did! The cafe here is pretty decent. They offer great culinary food for grown ups as well as the usual kid fare. We will definitely go back when we are in town next!

Now this is a well-done museum. Everything from floor to ceiling seems have to have been addressed, from the huge pteranodon over the torvosaurus, letting you know right off the jump what you're in. It's pretty much full throttle from there. The walls are generally covered in either nicely done stone work or something relative to the respective eras in terms of flora, etc. There are numerous movies playing and a lot of gearing towards children, including several rooms that are likely to be of little interest to any not in their younger years. They also do a good job trying to display the passing of time with a relatively simple yet entirely brilliant geared wheel system. Tons of work has gone into this and very little is left to chance and it shows. Staff was universally incredibly friendly and seemed overall pretty happy. It is by no means primarily a children's museum. There is enough to wow any visitor, though most people will be entranced by the more complete skeletons, such as the enormous turtle, the dueling t-rexes and a few of the mammoth displays of ummm mammoths. Some of the stuff is a bit questionable to lead kids into the field of science, but when they get it right, they get it way right, all the way down to the gift shop, in which I finally was able to find my two favorite prehistoric creatures, liopleurodon and smilodon. There is also the Expedition Cafe, but unless you're near to dying of hunger, skip it. There are a ton of other restaurants in the area and you're very likely to find something that is not only better done, but that you will like better by driving a couple minutes. The decor of the cafe, done in the theme of "exploration", is sort of like a field camp and nicely done as well, but you're greatly overpaying for what you get. They have a panini press and probably a hot plate, so don't expect too much there. Chicken nuggets are at least real and the cookies were the size of my son's face, but I personally don't foresee me eating there again. I don't mind the cost so much; museums like this, which are stellar, I want to support and so I don't mind what wound up being a somewhat expensive trip, which breaks down as follows: Admission for myself, wife and son ($15 for each of the adults, $12 for the 4 year old): $42, gift shop visit (2 toys, 4 magnets, 1 small child binoculars): $36, Expedition small lunch (2 sandwiches, 2 bags of chips, a 5pc of chicken nuggets, 1 "face" cookie and 3 drinks): $25. The gift stuff was definitely overpriced, though it is less if you're a member, but that is part for the course with museums. The lunch was as well, at least in terms of value, so word to the wise on that stuff. Overall we did have a very awesome time and this is arguably the best museum of its type I've been to...

This museum is well planned out. I was really impressed with all the educational material. I learned something new myself. I would highly recommend this place.

My kids love this place! My boys ask to go here all the time. A family membership is super useful if you plan on going a lot and can afford it. Sometimes you can get membership fee deductions when you calculate your taxes so save the receipt and make sure to claim it on taxes. Can save up to 50%!