Dinosaur World expansion to double size of desirability

PLANT CITY - Dinosaur World will break ground on an expansion plan to more than double the size of the tourist attraction.

The 12-acre expansion will comprise a 22,000 square-foot building to house a museum with a primitive theme, gift shop and office space. More dinosaur replicas will be added to the 150 previously at the attraction at 5145 Harvey Tew Road, just off Interstate 4 at Branch Forbes Road. A few woolly mammoth replicas may also be added.

Other new features will embrace a playground, more parking and bigger picnic areas.

Dinosaur World spokeswoman Nicole Randall said a few of the details won't be released but construction is predictable to be finished in fall 2011. The park, now 8 acres, will remain open throughout the expansion.

Dinosaur World, the brainchild of Swedish businessman Christer Svensson, opened in Plant City in 1998 on the position of the former Gator Jungle tourist attraction. Less than five years afterward, another site opened in Cave City, Ky.; in 2008, and a third opened in Glen Rose, Texas.