Those that go to Disney World in Orlando may miss the best attraction of all!  One hour west of Orlando (1/2 hour from Tampa) on Highway I-4 is Dinosaur World in Plant City, Florida,  Exit 17.  You can spend 3 hours or bring a picnic lunch for a full day of fun for $9.75 adults, $7.75 for kids, worth every penny.  Open every day.  Over 150 life-size dinosaurs in a natural outdoors jungle setting of ferns, cypress and banana trees.  We are not easily impressed - but this is an awesome experience for young and old.  Well maintained and educational.  Birthday parties and field trips are welcome with group rates.  There is another Dinosaur World in Cave City Kentucky too!  Full details at www.dinoworld.net .  In the meantime, enjoy our Virtual Tour...

Lystrosaurus ("spoon lizard"), a sturdy plant-eater with distinctive tusks

Protoceratops ("first horn face", related to Triceratops with a bump instead of a horn

Protoceratops (eating) 

Raptor being eaten

Elasmosaurus - the tall one ("thin plate lizard"), a plesiosaur, the same as the Loch Ness Monster claimed to exist in Scotland)

Mosasaurus ("long one"), a marine reptile named for the river in Holland

Massospondylus ("massive vertebrae") an herbivore 13 feet long with large thumb claws

Tanystropheus  ("long vertebrae") with a very long neck but only 10 vertebrae)

Saurosuchus ("lizard crocodile") a meat eater.  Meat eaters usually died when they lost their teeth rather than from old age

Fantasy species we call Tadpole Horriblus

Coelophysis ("hollow bones") found in New Mexico, they traveled in herds and cared for their young

Liliensternus (a therapod named for the German that discovered it)

Ceratosaurus (a horned lizard that hunts in packs)

Stegosaurus (roofed lizard) has the smallest brain of all dinosaurs

Scutellosaurus (little shield lizard) the size of a house dog

Gastonia  (an ankylosaur, named for Robert Gaston, an amateur scientist who discovered it)

Utahraptor ("thief from Utah") a kind of Velociraptor as in Jurassic Park

Pterodactylus ("wing finger") with hollow bones that flew and ate insects

Huayangosaurus (named for where it was found in Huayang, China), a stegosaur

Dilophosaurus (two crested lizard) but no frill as in Jurassic Park (fiction)

Saltasaurus (found in Salta, Argentina), a sauropod

Ornitholestes ("bird robber) small and agile

Styracosaurus ("spiked lizard") traveled in herds

Iguanodon ("iguana tooth") tooth found in 1822 by Mary Ann Mantell is the first recognized dinosaur fossil, displayed in New Zealand 

Deinonychus ("terrible claw"), hunted in packs, one of the most dangerous dinosaurs

Parasaurolophus - a hadrosaur with a weird hollow crest that may have been used to make sounds like a didgeridoo

Thescelosaurus ("marvelous lizard") an ornithopod, one found skeleton with a fossilized heart was named Willo, displayed at the museum in Raleigh NC

Psittacosaurus ("parrot lizard") with a beak for eating vegetation, first found in Mongolia

Saichania ("beautiful" in Mongolian language) named for the beautifully preserved fossil found there; a club tailed dinosaur

Tyrannosaurus Rex ("tyrant lizard king") made famous by Jurassic Park

Carnotaurus ("meat-eating bull") only one specimen ever found,  a real devil of a terror, which some have likened to their ex-wives

Leaellynasaura (named for Leaellyn, the daughter of one of the discoverers; specimen found in Australia

Brachylophosaurus ("short crested lizard") the crest is solid; specimens found in Canada

Stegoceras ("covered horn") a pachycephalosaur with a head like a bicycle helmet perhaps used for butting heads with rivals

Triceratops ("three-horned face") made popular by The Land Before Time film

Stygimoloch ("River of Hades demon") name is Greek and Hebrew, named for where it was found in Hell Creek, Montana

Spinosaurus ("spiny lizard") a carnosaur shown in Jurassic Park III; the most complete specimen was destroyed in WW II

Ultrasaurus ("ultra lizard") with some of the largest bones of dinosaurs

Fossil dig

Minmi (named for its discovered site) the shortest named dinosaur

Dromiceiomimus ("Emu mimic") for its resemblance to the emu bird; good vision and intelligence

   

Bone yard with Ultrasaurus leg

Maiasaura ("good mother lizard") known from large nests found in Montana, young stayed with the herd for a long time

Hylaeosaurus ("woods eater") an ankylosaur plant eater

Euoplocephalus ("well armored head") specimens found in Canada, an ankylosaur

Torosaurus ("piercing lizard" ) a ceratopsian with the largest frill

Tsintaosaurus (named for where it was found, Tsintau China) a hadrosaur nicknamed  the "Chinese unicorn"

Scelidosaurus ("ribbed lizard") a plant eater found in England

This display shows how dinosaurs are carved from styrofoam

Chasmosaurus ("cleft lizard") named for the large holes in the frilled bone, without the holes it would be too heavy to hold up his head

Pelecanimimus ("pelican mimic"), a coelursaur specimen found in Spain with over 200 teeth

Silvisaurus ("forest lizard") specimen found in a cow pasture in Kansas, the skeleton damaged by the cows' hooves

Dicynodon (top) ("double dog tooth" with no teeth and only 2 fangs for digging roots

Lycaenops (bottom) ("wolf face") a meat eater that hunted in packs

Pachycephalosaurus ("thick headed lizard") a plant eater that butted heads with rivals as mountain goats do.

Dryptosaurus killing another ("tearing lizard") a carnosaur with large claws, it hunted alone

Dromaeosaurus ("fast lizard") fleet of foot, with large claws, they hunted in packs

Troodon ("tearing tooth") once known as Stenonycosaurus, a meat eater with large eyes and brain, found in Montana

Gasosaurus (eater) a carnosaur found on the property of a gas company

Velociraptor (running away) (raptor means "thief" like the hyena of the dinosaur world

Avimimus ("bird mimic") found in Mongolia, with large eyes & brain, thin legs & birdlike feet

A subspecies of Parasaurolophus we named  "Trashasaurus"

Allosaurus ("other lizard" - second fiddle to T-Rex) a carnosaur, one of the largest North American meat eaters

   

 

Brachiosaurus ("arm lizard") group display of adults and babies, a plant eater that lived in forests rather than in water.  An adult needs 400 pounds of food a day.  Not pet material!