Dinos In The Dark: A (21+) Night At the Carnegie Museum

Each year, there are cool things that pop up after our Achievement list has been made and posted, so in the past few years we started accommodating these with Wildcards. A Wildcard is just that: an event that we hadn’t planned on but somehow knew we needed to make space for. This year, our first Wildcard was an awesome 21+ night at the Carnegie Museum.

I don’t know if other cities do this, but Pittsburgh is all about the over-21 party nights at our various museums. Last year, we got to check out After Hours at the Library and 21+ Night at the Science Center. But until this year, I didn’t realize the Carnegie Museum did one as well! Since we have the most awesome collection of dinosaurs in, well, basically anywhere, it made perfect sense to have Jurassic Park After dark.

As we waited in line to get our wristbands at the entrance, we were treated to a performance of the soundtrack to the movie. What a great score!

And once we had signed in, it was time to determine what we were going to do. The event ran from 6-10pm, and there were a variety of different activities you could participate in. One hourly event caught my eye right away…

Animal Encounters!! Yes, every hour, on the hour, you could meet and pat real animals! This is Marilyn the Skink. She was very soft.

And this is Hunter the baby gator! He was very well-behaved. He is very young and will eventually be ginormous. The girls running this exhibit were the best. Not only did they put up with a bunch of 30-somethings patting their reptiles, they answered questions and told us all kinds of information about the animals. So fun!

Not all of the museum was open, but there were a ton of different exhibits you could see (without having to peer over the tops of little kids, bonus!). Obviously, the impressive dino collection was open.

There, we were able to meet (and pose with) this lovely dinosaur, Spiney the Spinosaurus. He was a little bitey.

There was a costume contest for people who wanted to dress like characters from Jurassic Park. And this Dr. Alan Grant here was totally up for posing for silly pictures!

No 21+ night is complete without some wine and cocktails. We tried one of each of the two specialty cocktails. Really liked the Tyrannosaurus (the bourbon cocktail), although the Triceratops (rum-based) was a little too sweet for our tastes.

We also ate a little dinner that would have made both a velociraptor and a stegosaurus jealous! We had a roast beef sandwich and a side of hummus and pita.

Yelp was one of the sponsors, so we got to take silly pictures with this gigantic dinosaur bone as well as spin the prize wheel to pick up some neat Yelp swag.

The Hall of Wildlife was open and featured a DJ, so there was a lot of dancing around with the stuffed bears.

Downstairs, the children’s hands-on area was open…. and you know that meant it was time for epic dinosaur battles!!

T-Rex was on hand for classy prom-style photos.

And if you were in the mood for arts & crafts, there was a station where you could make a fossilized stegosaurus toe.

(Side note, dogs are really interested in trying to eat fossilized stegosaurus toes.)

Finally, on our way out of the museum, I even got to pose with my arch-nemesis, the supervillain Albatross. I didn’t notice him in the Extinct Birds Exhibit. Yet.

Jurassic Park After Dark was a great night. There was so much to do; you really need the full night to enjoy everything. The next After Dark is being held on April 10, so get your tickets now!

Just be prepared if your dog starts taking an interest in studying dinosaurs after you come home.