Dinosaur Tours Mallorca – is it really worth it?

In November it rains in Palma. Not occasionally. Rather, it actually only occasionally doesn’t rain. So for all families with children the question is: “What do we do at the weekend”?

My wife came across an advert for the Dinosaurs Tour in Palma and ordered a few tickets online. Price per ticket: 10 euros. We arranged to meet a few friends and met up on a huge empty site called Son Fusteret, where a black industrial tent stood next to a circus field.

Full of anticipation, we marched into the black tent. We men, in particular, were already really curious to see what there would be inside the enormous tent.

Inside, we were amazed by the apparent absence of a ventilation system. It certainly was nice and warm. Despite the miserable weather outside. In Corona times I would have preferred it a bit cooler and with more fresh air, but never mind! We were there early, it was still relatively empty, and the warmth was quite pleasant.

The dinosaurs are large plastic sculptures that are bathed in different colour schemes by powerful LED spotlights. In the otherwise dark hall, it looks quite spectacular. On top of that, there’s a sound designer’s narration playing from a recording, imagining how this dinosaur might have roared. And most of the models even moved individual body parts up and down.

I made a short video for you so you can see for yourselves:

That was basically the pattern throughout the whole exhibition, which essentially consisted of an elongated oval about 50 metres long. At the end there were the obligatory ride-on machines—just with dinosaurs. For what you got, I found 3 euros per ride pretty steep. Looked at positively, the ride was so slow that even very small children shouldn’t get scared. However, the dinosaurs were—logically—quite tall. But above all, I thought it was too expensive! And then, of course, right before the exit there was the obligatory merchandise shop…

As an adult, you were “done” after about 5–10 minutes; the kids still found it quite fun to rummage for fossils in the sandbox and spent a bit longer with the exhibition.

Did the kids like it? Yes, they did. Would I go again? No, probably not. And is it really worth it? Let’s put it this way: at 10 euros a head, I found it just about reasonable. Basically, all these attractions and rides always feel overpriced, at least. I suspect because the effort behind them is high—transporting all the stuff somewhere and setting it up. Then doing massive advertising again in a new place, only to move on again. Still, for me there wasn’t enough fascination. Another father said it would surely have been mind-blowing for him as a child. But today the world of images is already so perfect. And even the bad kids’ streaming series are at a high visual level. And then a few plastic dinosaurs just seem shockingly “fake” with their cheap lighting effects.

But if you see it as an outing for the kids, and don’t assume the whole day will somehow be “filled”, then it’s fine. No more and no less.

So have fun, and hopefully the rain will stop soon!