Canada’s Dinosaur Park does not only feature life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, but it is also a non-profit reptile sanctuary. It is in Norwood, Ontario, which is just east of Peterborough. On their website (found here), they note that all their reptiles are rescued from the pet trade and that many are endangered species that cannot be returned to the wild for many different reasons. Some of their endangered animals are in regulated breeding programs to help save them from extinction, but they are a sanctuary for rescued reptiles, not a breeding facility.

We initially came here for the first time in July of this year when it seemed to rain every day. We were looking for something fun to do on one of those rainy days. The kids absolutely loved it, so we decided to go back one more time before it closed for the season. Tickets for the drive-thru are $30 plus tax per vehicle, which you order online through their website. We didn’t have to wait at all when we arrived, and the woman at the front just asked for my name to confirm that I had already purchased our ticket. Here, they were also selling surprise goody bags with items from the gift shop to raise funds to help care for the reptiles. The drive-thru took about 15-20 minutes from beginning to end, and the kids, who are 3 and 6 years old, LOVED every second of it!

After driving through the Dinosaur Park, we checked out the walking trail. We purchased our tickets for this in the gift shop, which lead into the indoor and outdoor reptile sanctuary. Here, we were able to see many different snakes, lizards, turtles, alligators, and crocodiles from all over the world. The boys were fascinated by the reptiles and loved seeing them up close and noticing the different colours, patterns, and sizes was quite exciting for them. The walking trail then lead back around to some parts of the dinosaur drive-thru. The boys insisted that I take their picture with every single dinosaur that we passed! The walk thru took us about an hour to complete. I would definitely recommend an afternoon here if you have any dinosaur or reptile lovers in your home!