Tyrannostorus - Visit the dinosaur themed store in Mesa,AZ!

 

We recently had a dinosaur filled afternoon when we went to Jurassic Quest live, but that wasn't the only dinosaur themed stop we made that day. We have a dinosaur themed store in Mesa that I've been wanting to check out, so while we were in the area we stopped by on our way home. I also love the dinosaur pun name the store has, it is called Tyrannostorus and it is located at 1816 W Baseline Road Mesa,AZ 85202 it is located near where the loop 101 & US 60 meet. This store has a lot to offer, even if you just go to look you'll see a ton of awesome products & I could honestly spend a fortune here given the chance. Not only is Tyrannostorus a store, but it also feels like a mini museum. I do enjoy dinosaurs, but I originally wanted to stop here because I saw online that they have a selection of framed butterflies & insects, so being a collector I wanted to see what they had to offer & I was pretty happy with their selection.

This store is packed! Everything is well organized and has it's own section that it is sorted into. They have framed butterflies and critters as mentioned above, fossils, mine your own gem bags, replicas, stuffed plushies, purses, local treats, and more. There wasn't a section of the store where I didn't spot something I would want to buy. One of my favorite parts is for gem collectors & small children who like hands on activities, you can purchase a bag of sand which contains gems and use their mining station located in the middle of the store to see which gems you ended up with. While we were in the store there was a family who had purchased a bag & there was a friendly and knowledgeable staff member assisting them & telling them all about the gems in their bag. They also have a fossil dig inside of the store that kids can do. Depending on your budget they have small bags starting at $4.99 all the way up to a 25lb kit that cost $79.99. Price wise it depends on what you are shopping for, some products are average/normal and some products I found to be a big higher than other spots I visit for similar items. The store also offers birthday party packages & private party events that come with a number of take home products. 

When you check out you can also be added to a mailing list to receive future discounts/coupons to use in the store & the staff were great. The store has an open layout so it makes it easy to browse without running into other customers. We got lucky when we stopped by & there were only four other guests in the store, you can check them out on google to find when their slower times are if you don't want to deal with a larger crowd.  The giant dinosaur skulls they have on display in the middle of the store are also pretty cool to see. I did not work together with this store on a review, this is just a spot we visited & wanted to share with my readers as we all enjoyed our visit. If you live in Arizona or plan on visiting, feel free to check out my "Things to do in Arizona" section by clicking on the link in this post or the link on the right hand side of my blog to find more cool stores, restaurants, activities & more! 

Jurassic Quest - A Dinosaur Experience!

 

Over the weekend we went to check out Jurassic Quest for a family day! We were originally going to visit back in 2020 when they were in Arizona. However, the pandemic had just hit so all the shows were cancelled, so we didn't get a opportunity to visit again until now. What is Jurassic Quest? It is a fun dinosaur adventure & mobile dinosaur museum. They have life sized dinosaur statues, baby dinosaurs & their trainers, interactive kids activities, ride on dinosaurs and more. If you don't have any kind of dinosaur attraction near you, this is a great way to get to experience something similar when they stop by to visit your state. 

General admission is $22 which is for ages 11-64 and children 10 & under had two different purchase options, general admission which is also $22 or Kids unlimited which is $36. I definitely recommend the unlimited wrist band for smaller children, it will save you quite a bit of money since you won't need to buy rides and activities separately and your child will be able to get back in line for the rides & bounce houses as much as they'd like. They are in each location for three days & tickets can sell out so get your tickets early. Many of the time slots of our location were sold out for Saturday & Sunday, the line was a pretty decent size when we first arrived but the staff were quick at getting everyone through and into the event. Everything is self guided & is pretty easy to navigate where you are going.

This event is fantastic for small kids (under 10), it is an exciting space for them to explore and all of the bounce houses plus the ride on dinosaurs will help burn off some of their extra energy for the day. While we were there we saw seven or eight large dinosaurs the kids could ride on, three off them actually walked along a set distance while the others were in place like the one shown above but still had hands & heads that moved to make it feel alive. There were also several bounce houses, a fossil dig area where kids could use a paint brush to uncover bones in a large sand pit or they could go to the table area and break apart a fossil dig block. I think the only thing I would have changed about the location where this was hosted at here, is that the space was bigger. Based off of what I've seen online it felt like they weren't able to fit everything into the space at Bell Bank Park.

If you get snackish, they had a small concession stand with food and drinks. They also had a gift shop set up where you could buy shirts, light up wands or dinosaur shaped balloons. Trainers were walking around with adorable baby dinosaurs in their arms that you could take photos with, they also had a raptor show where kids could watch a raptor do a few trips and touch it. Before leaving they had a few photo opportunities set up where you could take a photo inside of an egg, or with a baby dinosaur. While it definitely felt geared specifically for small children, this was still a neat event for adults to see some massive dinosaurs & spend some time with the family. We enjoyed walking around and talking about the variety of dinosaurs they had on display and were able to see a baby dinosaur as well. 

I think they did a great job with setting up the large dinosaurs and the backgrounds that go with them. There are a lot of great photo opportunities in front of the dinosaurs & they had a variety of signs with information on the dinosaurs which is always fun because you might learn something new. This is a traveling event so they are in a new city every weekend, if this is an event that your family would love head over to their website to see which city they are headed to next. They will also have Canadian stops this year as well! 

Disclaimer- Tickets to the event for my family were provided by Jurassic Quest for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.