Jurassic Quest brings its life-size T. rex, the baby dinos kids can pet and the raptor-training pen to the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne Oct. 16 to 18. This stop adds Frozen Frontier, an Ice Age walk-through with a towering woolly mammoth and a saber-toothed cat, and Jurassic Quest says it is the first time Frozen Frontier has come to Fort Wayne. One ticket covers it, the dinosaurs and Ancient Oceans, a glowing prehistoric sea with a 53-foot megalodon. Fort Wayne is about two hours northeast of Indianapolis up I-69, which puts this on the short list of day trips from Indianapolis that fit in one Saturday.
Jurassic Quest Fort Wayne 2026: Dates, Hours and Tickets
- Dates and hours: Friday, Oct. 16, 1 to 6 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 17, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (the 8 to 9 a.m. hour is the sensory-friendly session); Sunday, Oct. 18, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Where: Expo Center at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, 4000 Parnell Ave., Fort Wayne
- Tickets: General admission is $35 with fees for everyone 2 and older; kids under 2 are free. Kids Ultimate, for ages 2 to 10, is $46.79 and adds unlimited rides, bounce houses and the Jeep track. The Kids Dino-Mite Experience is $94.94. Buy through Jurassic Quest’s Fort Wayne page.
- Timed entry: You pick an arrival time at checkout and can stay as long as you like. Popular time slots sell out, and walk-up tickets, when there are any, can cost more, so book ahead.
- Parking: $8 in the main lot, cash or card, one entry with no in-and-out.
- Sensory-friendly session: Saturday, 8 to 9 a.m., sold as its own $35 ticket, with the lights up, the sound down, smaller crowds and extra staff. You can stay past 9 a.m.
What’s in Frozen Frontier, Jurassic Quest and Ancient Oceans
Frozen Frontier
The Ice Age section is the reason to make the drive. Jurassic Quest describes it as a towering woolly mammoth, a saber-toothed cat “and more,” and that is all it says, so expect the mammoth to be the photo. Fort Wayne is the only Indiana stop on Jurassic Quest’s current schedule, and there is no Indianapolis date listed, so this is the closest chance to see it.
Jurassic Quest
The main floor is the moving, roaring dinosaurs the show is known for: an 80-foot Apatosaurus, a 60-foot Spinosaurus and a life-size T. rex, with young dinosaurs roaming the crowd alongside their trainers. The baby T. rex, Triceratops and Camarasaurus are out on the floor so kids can walk up and pet them. The Raptor Training Pen runs live shows where kids learn how to train a raptor with the dino trainers, and kids under 2 can join in.
Ancient Oceans
A glowing prehistoric sea with the 53-foot megalodon as the centerpiece. Plan on the open-jaws photo.
Jurassic Quest Tickets: What Each One Includes
General admission gets everyone into all three experiences, plus the baby dinos, raptor training, fossil digs, craft and brick stations, the Glow Zone (bricks that glow under UV light) and the LEGO build zones. It also covers Tricera-TOTs, the soft-play area for kids under 3. Kids Ultimate adds unlimited rides, slides, bounce houses and the battery-powered Jeep track, and you can upgrade a child’s ticket at the Dino Store inside the event. The Dino-Mite ticket adds fast-lane access at select rides, a dino meet and greet, a VIP lanyard, one face-painting session and one green-screen photo; face painting and green screen cost extra on any other ticket.
Rides and inflatables are for ages 10 and under with a 140-pound weight limit, so adults and older kids need nothing more than general admission. The biggest rides and inflatables have a 36-inch height minimum, socks are required for the inflatables and the soft-play area, and a kid under 2 who wants to ride needs a Kids Ultimate ticket or single activity tickets sold on site. The math for a family of four: two adults and two kids on general admission is $140 with fees; moving both kids to Kids Ultimate makes it about $164, before parking.
This weekend is also Halloween-themed, with spooky decor, a dance party and a Halloween contest. Costumes are welcome as long as they are not inflatable. If you are staying closer to home, our Halloween events near Indianapolis page has the local options.
Before You Drive to Fort Wayne
- Pick the day on purpose: Friday runs 1 to 6 p.m. only, which works as a weekday outing if your district’s fall break runs through that Friday. Saturday and Sunday are the full days. General-admission time slots on Saturday start at 9 a.m.; the 8 a.m. slot is the sensory session.
- Bags and food: The Coliseum bans large backpacks and duffel bags, searches anything bigger than a clutch and does not allow outside food or drink. Clear bags are welcome but not required. Strollers and wagons are fine inside the show.
- Plans change: Ticket sales are final unless you add Ticket Protector at checkout. It cannot be added later, and it refunds the tickets if you cancel by 11:59 p.m. the Wednesday before the show.
- Discounts: Jurassic Quest sells discounted tickets through GovX for military, veterans, first responders, medical workers, government employees and teachers.
Dinosaur-obsessed kids who can’t make the drive have a year-round option in Dinosphere at the Children’s Museum; see our Children’s Museum of Indianapolis insider’s guide. For everything else happening around Indy that weekend, see our things to do this weekend in Indianapolis page.
