Once in a while an event or exhibition comes along that you just know is going to take the city by storm, and
Dinosaurs Unleashed certainly has all the ingredients to be one of those....
Billed as "the UK's largest animatronic dinosaur adventure", Dinosaurs Unleashed will have kids across the nation tugging at their parents' coat tails, pleading for them to be taken to this Triassic/Jurassic/Cretaceous extravaganza, taking place at the O2 Arena in Greenwich.
With life-size dinosaurs aplenty, no longer will comparisons need to be made about how many double-decker buses this or that creature was as big as (it's usually about three).
More than 22 life-size dinosaurs will have kids falling over backwards in utter awe as they gaze up at these gigantic vertebrates that roamed the Earth in the days before X-Factor and electric can openers (some 65 million years ago, to be precise).
Favourites at the show include:
T. Rex – was about 12 metres long and 4 metres high (how many double-deckers is that then?).
Triceratops - looked a bit like a rhinoceros. If often had run-ins with the T. Rex, which wasn't particularly good for the Triceratops as it would usually come off second best.
Diplodocus - if there was ever a cute looking dinosaur, this would be it, with its long bendy neck and friendly face (or am I thinking of a cartoon character now...).
Stegosaurus - had distinctive plates and spikes along its back and tail. It was thought to have had a brain the size of a walnut, which seems remarkably small considering it had an extremely large body to manage.
You'll also find a CGI prehistoric aquarium, holographic video presentations given by wildlife guru Chris Packham, and lots of fascinating interactives to keep everyone entertained.
Among the interactives is the Fossil Zone. Here, kids can learn about what a fossil is and how they form. You can even roll your sleeves up and take part in a fossil dig.
Dino Paint explains how we don't really know what colour dinosaurs were. Here, visitors have a chance to think about and digitally design a colour scheme for a dinosaur (how about pink with yellow spots?).
For an experience that'll be as educational as it is fun, Dinosaurs Unleashed looks set to be as huge as the dinosaurs themselves.
