The Tennessee Aquarium is partnering with WTCI-TV to bring the Dinosaur Train Discovery Tour to Chattanooga Jan. 19–21. Buddy, the adorable T-Rex star of this wildly popular PBS Kids program, will be in the Tennessee Aquarium’s River Journey building to meet fans from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19. He will also appear for fan photos between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 20, and Monday, Jan. 21. Kids will also have an opportunity to pose for pics behind a Dinosaur Train cut-out inside the Aquarium’s Ocean Journey building.
Dinosaur Train airs locally on WTCI-TV 45 weekdays at 1:30 pm.
The program embraces and celebrates the fascination children have with both dinosaurs and trains while encouraging basic scientific thinking skills. Each episode is a mix of animated dinosaurs and live action segments with a paleontologist. The Dinosaur Train Discovery Tour coming to the Aquarium will encourage kids to learn more about creatures such as penguins, horseshoe crabs, sharks and more! The Dinosaur Discovery Train Tour is free with Aquarium admission. See what else is happening at the Aquarium at
www.tnaqua.org .
More dinosaurs will seem to roar to life just two blocks from the Aquarium. The Creative Discovery Museum will debut a new exhibit, “Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice” on Saturday, Jan. 19. When visitors cross the threshold of this exciting new gallery, they will travel back in time to explore the Age of the Dinosaurs. Guests will encounter realistic, fully touchable dinosaurs, including a Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops. Then children can unearth fossils at the Big Dig and identify them in the Field Research Station. Kids will also have fun exploring a smoldering volcano, an “icy” slide and prehistoric cave. At the photo kiosk, visitors can take a photo with a dinosaur and e-mail a digital postcard to family and friends. This new exhibit will be at the Creative Discovery Museum through May 12. For more information: www.cdmfun.org
Chattanooga visitors can also ride the rails on a rolling time machine at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum on Saturday, Jan. 19. The Missionary Ridge Local begins at the Museum’s Grand Junction Station and takes passengers over four bridges and through the Pre-Civil War Missionary Ridge Tunnel. The train departs every Saturday in January at 10:40 a.m. and 12:05 p.m.. For more information: www.tvrail.com
Visitors can make a weekend of trains and dinosaurs by staying at the famous Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Guests can choose a hotel package that bundles accommodations in a sleeper railcar with tickets to local attractions. The Choo-Choo complex also features an authentic 1924 New Orleans’ Trolley, Model Railroad Museum, four restaurants and shopping. Book online at: www.choochoo.com/guestpackages.php?dest=24