# Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular

Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular was a live adaptation of the award-winning television series Walking with Dinosaurs. Like the TV series, The Arena Spectacular has to recreate dinosaurs to the point of the viewers accepting the creatures as real. Created by late renowned Artistic Director and Visionary - William ‘Bill’ May. The show played its last show on 22 December 2019 at the Taipei Arena.

## Production

Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular was created by The Creature Technology Company. The production cost $20 million to stage and used puppetry, suits, and animatronics to create 16 Mesozoic era creatures representing 10 species. Each large dinosaur weighs several tons, and is operated by two "voodoo puppeteers" and a driver beneath the dinosaur who also monitors the hydraulics and batteries. The smaller dinosaurs (marked by an *) are suits operated by the person in it, each weighing from 20–30 kg (44-66 lbs). There are six puppeteers for these suits, which only have side views. The nine prehistoric creatures featured are:
* Allosaurus
* Ankylosaurus
* Brachiosaurus (1 adult, 1 adolescent)
* Liliensternus*
* Ornithocheirus also appeared as an animatronic in earlier versions of the tour, before being replaced with a CGI video sequence
* Plateosaurus (1 adult, 3 hatchlings)
* Stegosaurus
* Torosaurus (2x)
* Tyrannosaurus (1 adult, 1 juvenile*)
* Utahraptor (3x)*
There was also the carcass of an ornithopod and a video sequence about the Ornithocheirus. Some of the dinosaurs initially did not have feathers, but they were later added after new research showed dinosaurs possessed plumage. This also necessitated rewrites of the script, which were added to later iterations of the show as well as improvements in the animatronics, making them more responsive to puppeteers and giving them the ability to "eat" food and spray water vapor as "breath".

## Tours

Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular originated in Australia in January 2007 (as Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience), and toured North America in 2007–10, Europe in 2010, and returned to North America until 2011. It also toured Asia beginning in December 2010. In 2011 the show came to its final destination of its first tour, New Zealand. In 2012, the show toured the UK, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands.

### North America

Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular tour dates :
| Date | Venue | City |
| July 11-15, 2007 | Tacoma Dome | Tacoma |
| July 18-22, 2007 | Spokane Arena | Spokane |
| July 25-28, 2007 | Rexall Place | Edmonton |
| August 1-5, 2007 | Scottrade Center | St. Louis |
| August 8-12, 2007 | Air Canada Centre | Toronto |
| August 16-19, 2007 | Wachovia Spectrum | Philadelphia |
| August 22-25, 2007 | Schottenstein Center | Columbus |
| September 5-9, 2007 | Philips Arena | Atlanta |
| September 12-16, 2007 | Bi-Lo Center | Greenville |
| September 19-22, 2007 | Verizon Center | Washington DC |
| September 26-30, 2007 | Norfolk Scope Arena | Norfolk |
| October 3-6, 2007 | Continental Airlines Arena | East Rutherford |
| October 10-14, 2007 | LJVM Coliseum | Winston-Salem |
| October 17-21, 2007 | Sommet Center | Nashville |
| October 25-28, 2007 | American Airlines Center | Dallas |
| November 8-11, 2007 | ALLTEL Arena | Little Rock |
| November 14-18, 2007 | Cobo Arena | Detroit |
| November 28-, 2007 | MTS Centre | Winnipeg |
| December 5-9, 2007 | Bradley Center | Milwaukee |
| December 26-30, 2007 | HP Pavilion at San Jose | San Jose |
| January 3-6, 2008 | ARCO Arena | Sacramento |
| January 9-13, 2008 | Thomas & Mack Center | Las Vegas |
| January 16-20, 2008 | Rose Garden Arena | Portland |
| April 9-13, 2008 | North Charleston Coliseum | Charleston |
| June 11-15, 2008 | Xcel Energy Center | St. Paul |
| June 25-29,2008 | Quicken Loans Arena | Cleveland |
| July 30- August 3, 2008 | Madison Square Garden | New York City |
| August 7-17, 2008 | United Center | Chicago |
| September 26-28, 2008 | Staples Center | Los Angeles |
| December 10-14, 2008 | Van Andel Arena | Grand Rapids |
| July 30 - August 2, 2009 | Pepsi Center | Denver |
| September, 2009 | Gwinnett Arena | Duluth |
| March 31 - April 3, 2010 | First Interstate Area | Billings |
| July 28- August 1, 2010 | Allstate Arena | Rosemont |
| August 16-19, 2010 | Wachovia Spectrum | Philadelphia |

### UK

Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular tour dates :
| Date | Venue | Venue | City | City |
| 20–22 July 2018 | Metro Radio Arena | Metro Radio Arena | Newcastle-upon-Tyne | Newcastle-upon-Tyne |
| 26–28 July 2018 | Arena Birmingham | Arena Birmingham | Birmingham | Birmingham |
| 31 Jul–1 Aug 2018 | Echo Arena | Echo Arena | Liverpool | Liverpool |
| 3–4 August 2018 | Manchester Arena | Manchester Arena | Manchester | Manchester |
| 7–8 August 2018 | Motorpoint Arena | Motorpoint Arena | Nottingham | Nottingham |
| 10–11 August 2018 | FlyDSA Arena | FlyDSA Arena | Sheffield | Sheffield |
| 14–19 August 2018 | O2 Arena | O2 Arena | London | London |
| 22–23 August 2018 | First Direct Arena | First Direct Arena | Leeds | Leeds |
| 25–28 August 2018 | SSE Hydro | SSE Hydro | Glasgow | Glasgow |
| 29 Aug–2 Sept 2018 | SSE Arena | SSE Hydro | Belfast | Glasgow |
| 3–26 September 2018 | SSE Hydro | SSE Hydro | Glasgow | Glasgow |
| 19–23 December 2018 | 3Arena | 3Arena | Dublin | Dublin |
| 27–30 December 2018 | SSE Arena, Wembley | SSE Arena, Wembley | London | London |

## Reception

Elliot Wagland from Huffington Post UK called the show "an enchanting way to spend an afternoon", saying that it "stunned" his son into silence.