Walking With Dinosaurs in New Jersey?

Bloomfield resident Guy Gsell has a vision. And that vision is 24 life-size animatronic dinosaurs all rearing their terrifying heads and roaring in a theme park in Secaucus, starting in May, 2012. His company is officially called Jerseysaurus, but the obstacles are formidable enough that he jokingly calls it JerseyTsuris.
Gsell, who is now known in Hudson county as “the dinosaur guy,” spends his days meeting with paleontologists, talking to the Meadowlands Commission staff, visiting the factory in Texas where the animatronic dinosaurs are made, checking out other dinosaur exhibits and looking to lease a parcel of at least 15 acres in Secaucus. There are three potential tracts that meet his specifications, one of which even affords a view of the Empire State Building.

But he hasn’t nailed it yet. “If I don’t get a lease, I don’t have a dinosaur park.”

Like the Renaissance Faire, “Field Station: Dinosaurs” would be housed in tents, with no permanent buildings. “It’s supposed to feel like a scientific encampment,” Gsell says. He’s planning on a parking lot for the folks from New Jersey and envisions a NJ Transit train — “the Dinosaur Express” — for folks from New York City. He plans on charging $20 for adults and $17.50 for kids, and having the park ready enough to start selling it at the NJ teachers’ convention in November.

"I have read Jurassic Park,” says Gsell. “My dinosaurs will not be attacking people, because they’re fake.” Still, there’s enough artificial intelligence built into the mammoth creatures — the dinosaur formerly known as a brontosaurus is 33 feet long — to give one pause.
“They roar, they move their heads to track your movements,” Gsell says. “And when the crowds get big they get nervous.”