The triceratops has been with the museum for 23 years, and after decades of wear and tear it was felt that the fiberglass beast, named Tricky, could do with being sent for a makeover to get it back to looking its best.

The logistics of removing the dinosaur presented quite a challenge for the Pickfords team, and their operation to winch it up off the ground and place it onto a flatbed lorry was all captured on film by the camera crew from the Channel 5.

Dinosaur Museum Discount Vouchers

While the Dinosaur Museum staff are eager for the return of Tricky as soon as possible, in the meantime they have plenty of other features inside the museum to wow kids and adults alike, including full dinosaur skeletons, genuine prehistoric fossils and hands-on multimedia displays.

The museum is open daily from 11am-4pm, and the entry prices are £6.99 for adults, £5.99 for seniors, and £5.50 for children (free for under 3s). For 50p off each ticket purchase, print off a discount voucher from the Dinosaur Museum website.

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Just as Ben Stiller’s Hollywood blockbuster Night at the Museum spawned an equally successful sequel Night at the Museum II: Battle of the Smithsonian, Dorchester’s own Museum Night has also returned by popular demand for a second outing in 2011.

For those who didn’t go last year, Museum Night is an initiative to promote Dorchester museums, and gives families and individuals the opportunity to visit a variety of different venues from 5pm to 9pm for just £6. The event takes place on Saturday 14^th May, and there are no fewer than six participating museums:

• The Keep Military Museum
• Dorset County Museum
• The Teddy Bear Museum
• The Tutankhamun Exhibition
• The  Terracotta Warriors Exhibition
• The Dinosaur Museum

Not only that, but this year’s Museum Night also includes the Roman Town House!

So what is there to see?

Ever wondered what Hitler’s desk looked like? Well wonder no longer, because it’s right here in Dorchester, inside the Keep Military Museum! If you’re curious about the Fuhrer’s taste in furniture, and intrigued as to what he kept in his desk drawers, May 14th is your chance to find out for yourself. This strange artefact was recovered from the ruins of the Chancellory in Berlin in 1945 by the Dorsetshire Regiment, and now resides on the first floor of the museum.

The Tutankhamun Exhibition takes you a bit further back in time, to one of the most famous moments in the history of archaeology – the moment in 1922 when Howard Carter and Lord Canarvon chiselled the first hole into the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun, which had been untouched for thousands of years.

“Can you see anything?” Canarvon asked Carter as he peered into the hole. “Yes” he replied “Wonderful things!”

This magical scene is recreated at the exhibition in Dorchester, and so too are many of the “wonderful things” that so entranced Carter and his team of archaeologists. Everything is replicated to the greatest possible level of authenticity, right down to the smells in the exhibition’s replica tomb, which were formulated using samples from aromatic oils found in the real tomb in Egypt.

If you feel like something a bit more quirky and whimsical, there is the Teddy Bear Museum, a collection of teddy bears spanning more than one hundred years.

When you step inside the museum, you enter the home of Edward Bear and his human-sized bear family. You will find the Bear family relaxing around their home with their extensive collection of more conventionally sized teddy bears.

It’s an enchanting and nostalgic experience, and for those of you wanting to take something home with you, there is also a charming period gift shop full of hundred of bears waiting to tempt you!

Museum Night tickets are available now from the Dorchester Tourist Information Centre or any of the participating museums. Family tickets bought in advance will be £6, which covers up to two adults and four children. Tickets bought on the night itself will be £10.

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Dinosaur Skeleton at The Dinosaur Museum

Although dinosaurs became extinct nearly 65 million years ago, they are very much alive in the hearts and minds of today’s children and adults all over the world. For dinosaur lovers, Dorset offers 2 great attractions, The Dinosaur Museum in Dorchester and fossil hunting on the Jurassic Coastline. The coastline of Dorset is a fossil hunting haven for both novice and experienced fossil collectors. The 150km (95 mile) stretch of coastline covering Dorset and East Devon spans 185 million years of geological history and has been granted World Heritage Status.

The Dinosaur Museum is located on Icen Way in the centre of Dorchester. The museum, which celebrated its 25th birthday on Saturday 27th June 2009, was an instant success when it opened being the only museum on mainland Britain dedicated to dinosaurs. It has won many accolades including twice being voted one of Britain’s Top Ten Hands-on Museums, as well as Dorset’s Family Attraction of the Year. Most recently it was chosen as one of Britain’s Ten Best Child-Friendly Museums.

Our fascination with Dinosaurs

The museum is a real treat for children and it combines life-sized reconstructions of dinosaurs with fossils and skeletons to create an exciting hands-on experience. Our fascination with dinosaurs started in the 1820s when the first true discoveries of dinosaur bones were made in England. Then in 1841 Sir Richard Owen invented the word “dinosauria” – meaning terrible lizard’ – to describe this group of prehistoric monsters. More recently the Steven Spielberg films “Jurassic Park” and the BBC’s magnificent science programmes ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ has excited people’s imagination.

This interest in the history of dinosaurs and sense of “dinomania” is reflected in The Dinosaur Museum. Multimedia displays tell the story of the prehistoric animals that ruled the land for some 150 million years, finally becoming extinct 65 million years ago. Life-size dinosaur reconstructions – including Tyrannosaurus rex, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops – beg to be touched by little hands – that’s encouraged.

Children Love Dinosaurs

Children from a very early age seem fascinated by these prehistoric beasts. They quickly learn their names, and all the dinosaur facts associated with them. Dinosaurs help to extend a child’s imagination and channel that interest to study science and this is recognised in the National Curriculum. It is no surprise then, that the Museum is extremely popular with schools linking various topics to the study of dinosaurs, and the Dinosaur Museum has an enviable reputation for its educational services. The Dinosaur Museum is a family museum and has frequently appeared on television, usually in children’s programmes such as Blue Peter, the Tweenies and many others.

The Triceratops dominates the Museum’s courtyard and on entering the museum children will encounter a complete dinosaur skeleton of the famous meat-eating Megalosaurus, a Jurassic dinosaur, with its sickle-shaped claws and teeth, mounted over a set of very rare footprints made by that dinosaur.

Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur to be scientifically named 175 years ago, by Reverend William Buckland. This skeleton vividly contrasts with the skeleton of the small fleet-footed vegetarian dinosaur Hypsilophodon. My son visited the museum with his school this week and enjoyed creating his own dinosaur on the computer. There are hands on displays, dinosaur skeletons and dinosaur reconstructions to keep the children entertained.

In the Buckland Room there is a life size reconstruction of a Corythosaurus known affectionately as Dina to all in the museum. She was originally made by the special effects team of the BBC hit sci-fi series Dr Who. Called “Invasion of the Dinosaurs” the programmes starred Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and Elizabeth Sladen as his assistant – Sarah Jane Smith.

Among the most dramatic displays are the awe inspiring life-size dinosaur reconstructions. There are two life-size dinosaur reconstructions, of T rex, one of the largest meat eating land animal ever and of a Stegosaurus with its strangely shaped ridge of plates along its back. Children are encouraged to touch the displays with hands including some of the dinosaur fossils.

After visiting the museum you can view the dinosaur news blog which offers an up to date source on palaeonthology and prehistoric creatures and news on fossil finds during the year.  Or, view the recent Pliosaur film reporting on the 25 large pieces of a fossil collected by Mr Sheehan along the Dorset coast.

The Dinosaur Museum Facilities

Look inside The Dinosaur Museum at Virtual Dorchester

The ground floor of the Museum is accessible for people using a wheelchair (only one step with temporary ramp at the entrance). The two upstairs galleries are inaccessible to wheelchair users and to compensate a concessionary rate is charged. Car parking and a wide range of cafes and restaurants in Dorchester can be found within easy walking distance of the Museum.

The Dinosaur Museum is open all year round and during the holiday period April to October it is open Monday to Sunday between 9.30am and 5.30pm.

Between November and March it is open reduced hours 10.00am to 4.30pm. Admission is £6.75 per adult, Children over 4 £4.95, Seniors/Students £5.75 and a family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) is £21.00.

Please contact the Museum for special rates for groups and schools.

There is an online shop selling everything from fossils, dinosaur DVDs, toys, dinosaur t-shirts, stationery and museum souvenirs.

Why not try a visit the Virtual Dorchester pages to view the new 360 degrees virtual tour of the Museum to get an overview of this fantastic family attraction and be part of the Jurassic Experience.

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