ROARR! – the UK’s largest dinosaur-themed adventure park – has opened a new attraction, where dinosaurs come to life with the use of the Park’s new augmented reality.
From an impressive 12-metre-long Brachiosaurus to a Triceratops, Valley of the Dinosaurs features 50 animatronic and static dinosaurs.
The 85-acre adventure Park worked with Norwich-based We Are Immersive to create the augmented reality concept and user interface design, which has been implemented via ROARR!’s existing iOS and Android app.
Featuring seven interactive challenges, from Design-o-saurus, where a dinosaur egg waits to be customised before a little creature hatches out of it; to ROARR! like a T-Rex, a test to see if individuals can roar loud enough to make an augmented T-Rex appear, the 3D model experiences add an interactive dimension to the attraction.
We Are Immersive has worked collaboratively with Attractions.io, the company which developed ROARR!’s app, to blend both the native app and the web-based augmented reality functions to create a seamless user experience.
Adam Goymour, park director at ROARR! said: “We are immensely proud of Valley of the Dinosaurs – a £350k investment to offer our families a completely new experience whilst enjoying an epic day out here at ROARR!
“We knew from the start that we wanted it to be fun and engaging and overall enhance the day. The clever use of AR by We Are Immersive has meant that we can provide our guests with a portal into the digital world, where they can do things that they can’t experience in real life.
“The Immersive team has worked incredibly hard to make the AR elements extremely user friendly and highly enjoyable to elevate the attraction even further.”
ROARR! has also incorporated within the attraction a statue of the park’s legendary Norfolk-born explorer Cornelius Weston Smythe, the sanctuary owner for rescued dinosaurs. The character features in an interactive screen, as young guests can press a series of buttons to hear different snippets from Cornelius as he encourages them to find the missing pages in his notebook on their journey.
As families leave Valley of the Dinosaurs, there’s a magic mirror surprise, where guests are joined by some friendly dinosaurs for a family photo memento. There are three dinosaur animation overlays to choose from, and visitors are provided with the option of receiving the image either by text after scanning a unique QR code or via email.
Goymour said: “The magic mirror experience at the end of Valley of the Dinosaurs is such a welcome addition to the attraction. This is a highly shareable element where our guests are provided with an unforgettable memento of their day out, and we were adamant right from the planning stages that this wasn’t going to come at an extra cost to our guests.”
Robin Fuller, creative director at We Are Immersive, added: “We’ve really enjoyed adding this extra level of storytelling and interactivity to Valley of the Dinosaurs. Augmented reality is the perfect tool to bring the stories (and the dinosaurs) to life as moving, interactive experiences.
“One of the really great things about the magic mirror and all of the augmented reality attractions is that it puts a level of creativity back into the hands of the visitors. It gives them a chance to make their own little stories in the way that they take and share their pictures, following in the footsteps of the legendary Cornelius Weston Smythe.”
Alongside We Are Immersive, additional Norfolk based companies have supported the development and implementation of Valley of the Dinosaurs – including Naked Marketing, who has overseen the branding concept for Valley, and Suffolk’s Creative Penguin, which has created the signage for the new attraction.
Valley of the Dinosaurs is the latest investment at ROARR! following over a decade of additions to the park – including the opening of Dinomite, ROARR!’s and Norfolk’s biggest indoor play area, in 2011, Dippy’s Splash Zone in 2016, Predator High Ropes in 2018 and the 224-seat Dippy’s Theatre in 2021.
ROARR! also opened Dippy’s Exploration Adventure, a new indoor quest where visitors can explore the dark ruins by travelling through the tunnels and climbing over obstacles to reach the end without disturbing the hungry carnivores.