If you’ve ever dreamed of turning your backyard into a prehistoric museum that’s sure to piss off your HOA, now’s your chance because a New Jersey theme park is selling off its herd of life-size animatronic dinosaurs—on Facebook Marketplace.
Field Station: Dinosaurs is (soon to be was) the Leonia-based educational theme park where kids learned that dinosaurs are awesome. Unfortunately, it will be closing for good on November 9. But before it fades into the tar pits of kitsch New Jersey history, the park is throwing a garage sale on Facebook Marketplace, where it’s selling off its stock of big-ass dinosaur statues.
Over 30 animatronic creatures are up for grabs, ranging from a $700 almost but not quite life-size Pterodactyl to a massive, 52-foot-long Spinosaurus priced at $2,900. For the sum of $2,700, you can take home a 39-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex. That includes its voice box and control system, ensuring you’ll be able to startle children by unleashing a mighty T-Rex roar when they pass by your this Halloween or any other day of the year.
That is, of course, if you can figure out the logistics of transporting such a behemoth, since all the beautiful animatronic dinos come with varying levels of articulation, sound effects, and a clear warning that buyers are solely responsible for deinstallation and transportation.
Originally opened in Secaucus in 2012, Field Station: Dinosaurs relocated to Leonia’s Overpeck Park in 2016 after getting bulldozed for one of the worst reasons imaginable: to make way for a new high school.
It tried to hang on with spooky fall events like “Dinosaurs After Dark,” complete with lantern-lit tours, a singing Dinosaur Troubadour, and a set of words I am fascinated by: “The Dinosaur Séance,” which, according to the park’s website, is some kind of ride that promises to take park visitors on a journey through the “shadowy realm of dinosaur ghosts.”
The fact that anything within experience with that description is closing can only mean ominous things about our economy and the state of our nation.
Four it closes for good, the park is hosting one last series of events, including a “Jurassic Petting Zoo” and a “Dogs & Dinos” day, where you can ensure that your sweet innocent little pup will be scared shitless at the sight of a massive, realistic-looking dinosaur.
The post In the Market for Giant Animatronic Dinosaurs? Facebook Has Them. appeared first on VICE.
