Ripley's Unlocks the Dinosaurs
- Jun 11
- 2 min read
Ripley’s Aquarium Becomes First Attraction on Earth to Host
Uncaged, Free-Roaming Dinosaurs — Right Next to the Penguins
GATLINBURG, TN – June 11, 2026 — It turns out dinosaurs never really went extinct. They just needed the right address!
Ripley’s Venture Realm, powered by AStation, opens today at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies' famed Penguin Pavilion. The experience marks a world first! A live animal exhibit, enhanced with mixed reality entertainment, has never been done before, explains AStation and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! World Entertainment.
Guests now share the Penguin Pavilion with Tyrannosaurus rex and flying pterodactyls, all thriving once again in a lush early Earth setting. The Earth, it should be noted, was still very much under renovation at this point in history — erupting volcanoes dot the landscape, and the occasional meteor shower lights up the sky. The African penguins, for their part, appear unbothered.
“Ripley’s has spent over a century finding things that seem impossible and putting them in front of people,” said Sion Yang, Chief Technical Officer of AStation. “That spirit made them the perfect partner for technology that most people have to see to believe. We are honoured they trusted us with their stage.”
“AStation’s Enterverse™ technology is far beyond anything we’ve seen in the attractions industry,” said Pablo Chavez, Regional Operations Manager at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! World Entertainment. “At this time, Ripley’s is the only place it can be experienced in North America.”
Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies features thousands of sea creatures as well as an underwater shark tunnel, a stingray touch lagoon, and live mermaid dive shows. The aquarium has been voted the number one aquarium in the nation and named a “Top Destination to See Penguins” by USA TODAY.
The Penguin Pavilion is an expansive outdoor area. AStation’s patented Enterverse™ platform is the only mixed reality system capable of operating at that scale outdoors, geo-sensing the environment and seamlessly layering digital worlds onto the real one. Guests wear Apple Vision Pro headsets and walk freely, without tethers, through a prehistoric world that coexists with the very real African penguin colony waddling past their feet.
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High-resolution images, video assets, and additional information are available by clicking here.
About AStation
AStation is the pioneering mixed reality entertainment company with adventure outlets in Asia. Its proprietary technology, Enterverse™, is the world’s only large-scale outdoor mixed reality platform. Global licensing is now underway. The company is comprised of leaders in Extended Reality, Tourism, Destination-Based Entertainment, and programming fields.
Built on the foundation of a daily newspaper cartoon in 1918 - still in print today - Ripley's Believe It or Not! World Entertainment has grown to be a global leader in family entertainment with more than 100 attractions across nine countries. Along with Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Ripley's Aquariums, Great Wolf Lodge (Niagara Falls), Guinness World Records attractions, wax museums, traveling shows, miniature golf courses, mirror mazes, and more, the world of Ripley's continues to grow through exciting new experiences and online content.
Media Contacts:
Ripley’s
Suzanne Smagala-Potts, Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications
smagala@ripleys.com, (727) 439-0136 439-0136
AStation
John Kageorge, Vital Communications
john.kageorge@vitalcommunications.ca, +86 (185) 1115 84556 (185) 1115 8455