The Jurassic Park Discovery Center is already among the most overlooked attractions at Islands of Adventure, but even its biggest fans might not know about the free Nursery Tour, a hidden gem that awaits inside like a mosquito encased in amber.
Today, we wrap up our roundup of Universal Orlando’s “secret” tours with the Jurassic Park Discovery Center Nursery Tour. Prior to the parks’ shutdown, this particular tour was on hiatus due to nearby construction, but hopefully it will return once everything returns to normal. When it is available again, it will be free to all guests like the other Universal attraction tours we’ve profiled.
Please note that due to COVID-19 the behind-the-scenes “secret tours” are currently suspended.
Begin by visiting the lower level of the Jurassic Park Discovery Center, below the Burger Digs restaurant. The edutainment exhibits here mix fiction from the Jurassic Park movies, such as using fossil DNA to bring dinosaurs to life, with skeletal remains and other paleontological displays.
The best exhibit here is the nursery, which lets guests watch an animatronic raptor being hatched, with a young witness getting to name the newborn.
You never know quite when one will emerge, but ask an attendant when the most recent hatching was, and if you should stick around for another.
Most visitors stop there, but, if staff is available, you may request to go behind the glass wall and visit inside the Jurassic Park nursery. There, you’ll get an up-close view of the employee-only facilities, including some authentic paleontological artifacts, as well as props used in the making of the films.
The best part of the experience is how “in character” the lab attendants are, as you’ll see when you watch this video of our most recent Jurassic Park Discovery Center Nursery Tour:
For all there is to see and do at Universal Orlando, check out The Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to our YouTube channel and sign up for our newsletter here. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
