[Day-Trip Idea] Dinosaur World Debuts At Sweet Valley Ranch in Fayetteville
Fayetteville, NC – Sweet Valley Ranch is a 300-acre farm featuring live animals, fishing ponds, and crop fields. Owned and operated by Fred Surgeon, the farm started as a place for his wife Anita Surgeon to board her favorite horse. Today, the farm raises over 350 animals ranging from zedonks and llamas to peacocks and Angus cattle. The latest addition to the ranch? Dinosaur World! (Please scroll down for more photos and the Dinosaur World promo.)
An extension of the ranch itself, Dinosaur World features 35 animatronic dinosaurs of varying sizes, fossil digs, inflatables, and a scavenger hunt. The entire farm is open during the day for patrons to enjoy, but the most fun is had after the sun has set. The Interactive Rescue Mission allows guests to survey the park for clues to help rescue a trapped scientist from dangerous dinos.
The 2-hour mission gives families a chance to use cognitive thinking skills and clue hunting to find a numerical code to unlock the cage where the scientist is trapped on the dinosaur trail. Clues are located around the farm and can be easily found by children and adults alike. After finding all of the clues, guests take a tram ride to the dinosaur trail. The scenic guided tour of the animatronics features fog machines, flashing lights, and realistic sounds. The tour guides help immerse guests in the experience by making the dinosaurs seem real as well as providing facts about different species along the way.
Sweet Valley Ranch owner Fred Surgeon had lots to say about the attraction’s educational purposes. “The learning experience starts from the time you enter the park and see our 100-year old pecan trees, to when you’re journeying around the farm, and along the dinosaur trail.” Surgeon mentions the importance of showing how his farm operates and the symbiotic relationships between many of the flora and fauna on the ranch.
The family component of the activities around the park is also important to Surgeon and his staff. “We’re really about promoting family togetherness. The activities we have here cover a wide gamut and age range, and so because of that, we can promote families being together and enjoying different aspects of the farm. Our goal is that families will find something out here, whether you’re five or eighty-five years old, to enjoy.”
Surgeon owns and operates many businesses around the Fayetteville area, but tells us that creating Dinosaur World is something he never thought he would be able to accomplish. “What I want people to remember Fred Surgeon for, hands-down, would be Sweet Valley Ranch. To me, that would be my legacy.”
Dinosaur World at Sweet Valley Ranch will be open to patrons from June 9, 2021, to August 8, 2021, Wednesday through Sunday. The Interactive Rescue Mission is available only on Saturdays from 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm. Tickets and additional activities can be purchased on the Sweet Valley Ranch website or in person at the ticket booth located at 2990 Sunnyside School Road, Fayetteville, NC 28312. Look out for other seasonal activities such as the Haunted Hallows of Cedar Creek in September and the Festival of Lights in late November.
(Gallery) Dinosaur World at Sweet Valley Ranch in Fayetteville, NC (Photos: Mary Song):
