New dinosaur experience in Wichita wants to bring back affordable social spaces

A new dinosaur experience is coming to Wichita. Lost World: A Dinosaur Experience had its soft opening on June 24 and is looking at July 11 to officially open its doors.

The business, at Third and West streets, behind All Out Detox, is a warehouse filled with more than 30 animatronic dinosaurs as well as a fossil dig and gift shop.

“We just have always felt like dinosaurs are something that really no matter what age you are, there’s something intriguing about them,” Lost World owner Rachel Marlow said.

Opening July 11, Lost World will have three sessions every Saturday, 11 a.m.-1p.m., 2-4 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. Price of admission is $10 for children, $7 for adults, $5 for seniors and free for children under 2 years old.

“Our goal is to keep it where large families could definitely bring everybody and not sweat over the price,” Marlow said.

Lost World will also be available to rent for parties, and it will occasionally host movie nights. The experience is not a traveling exhibit and will be open year-round.

Marlow said she wanted to fill the gap in social spaces that was left following COVID.

“When I was growing up, we wanted experiences, and we wanted to do things, and so we just kind of thought this would be a really cool thing to set up and bring to the community,” Marlow said.

The animatronics come from various sources and have been upgraded to have better movements and sounds, Marlow said.

“We have some virtual reality experiences that we’ll be incorporating down the road,” Marlow said. “We’ve luckily developed relationships with people that basically manufacture them for us specifically.”