Just A Little Way Off Route 66 In Front Royal, VA

Is a piece of classic Americana - Dinosaur Land.

This place has cracked me up for the 15 years I've been traveling to Front Royal.

In fact, it's the major landmark I use - "Take a right or a left at Dinosaur Land?" sort of thing.

I didn't have a camera with me, so I have to thank my friend J.A. for snapping some pix with his camera phone.




From a review I found:
"Built in 1968, Dinosaur Land still stands as a reminder of an era filled with drive-ins, B-monster movies and a certain amount of innocence that allowed for us to stare in awe at life-sized fiberglass models. Today its lure is more for children looking for a place to play and adults still searching for that last bit of childhood. However, it has so much more to offer. Where else can you sit in the hand of the famous movie star King Kong for a mere $5.00? If you are inclined you can even climb inside a 60' shark, wrestle with a 70' Octopus or trade moves with a 14' preying mantis that looks like it walked right out of a set of a 1950's nuclear radiation movie. The park is a virtual warehouse of old sci-fi movie props just waiting to be photographed with you as the latest star. No need for computer generated imaging. It's just you and the "real thing" and there's no problem with copyright issues. In fact, photography is encouraged at no extra charge. Talk about a true time warp!
In addition to all the campy fun, you just might actually learn something. Parts of the park are actually educational. Information is posted near every model with interesting facts and descriptions of many lesser known creatures such as a Diatryma to more popular Mammoth and Sabre Tooth Tiger. Many animals are forever frozen in candid scenes from their daily lives such as the Pteranodon lodged in the tree branches overhead ready to swoop down upon its prey or the Brontosaurus craning its neck to nibble leaves from a high treetop. Even the depiction of the "Epic battle" between the meat eating Tyrannosaurus and the herbivorous Titanosaurus gets the basic message of "survival of the fittest" across to even the youngest of visitors.
In its day, Dinosaur Land was the promise of every child's imagination. Now it takes a bit of that same magic as well as a longing for childhood to bring the luster back to these somewhat aging characters. Though it's a bit tarnished from years of use, it is what it proclaims to be and nothing more. Signs warn that some of the dinosaurs are being repaired and that the weather has "been hard on the park"." review