Countywide : Robotic Tyrannosaurus Rex to Reign at Festival

For the first and perhaps last time, a life-size, two-story-tall, 42-foot-long, moving and roaring tyrannosaurus will appear this weekend in Orange County.

The 6,000-pound steel-and-foam creature, designed by Irvine-based Dinamation International, will be the star attraction of the Kids Stuff Festival at Lion Country Center in Irvine.

“When kids see dinosaur bones, they can’t picture the whole animal,” said Dinamation spokeswoman Wendy Keiper. “It’s hard for children to think in three-dimensional space. But we’ve assembled the dinosaurs for them.”

The robotic blue and black giant, carefully delivered Thursday via a cramped 40-foot moving van, can move its head, tail and short forelimbs, blink its fiery orange eyes and emit a frightening roar.

“We’ve tried to take the old, stodgy side of science into the MTV, video-game (generation),” Keiper said.

The festival is expected to draw 30,000 people. Other attractions include puppets, a POG tournament, sports clinics, a petting zoo, arts and crafts, in-line skating and laser tag.

Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for children age 3 to 16. Children 2 and younger are free. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

The towering tyrannosaurus cost Dinamation about $100,000 to build.