LEHI — If the crowds continue to visit the new dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point as they did in droves Saturday, the North American Museum of Ancient Life will easily outstrip early, conservative projections.
The museum opened its doors at 10 a.m., and by 3 p.m. more than 3,000 visitors had spent time digging for fossils, casting dinosaur claws or putting Stegosaurus bones into the proper places.
"We expect we'll close out today with between 3,500 and 4,000," said Bill Bridges, president of the $20 million museum that sits just west of I-15 between the Alpine and Lehi exits.
Many had made advance reservations trying to bypass long lines and large crowds. Others, like the White family that stopped on its way to Kanosh from California, noticed the huge Camasaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex on the outside of the building and gave in to the children's pleas.
As a result, Justin, Logan, Hunter and Paige White were soon busily pouring cement into molds at the Replication Station to make castings of dinosaur-era fossils.
"It's a birdie tooth!" said 3-year-old Tatum Beard from Kaysville.
"You mold it, and then you get to keep it," said Taylor Workman, 11, of Draper.
On the fast-track since Quantum Construction broke ground on the building a year ago, the museum is six stories high and has 122,000 square feet of display, storage and working space.
Ultimately, the great hall will house a 110-foot-long Supersaurus and a 45-foot-tall Ultrasaurus as well as a good number of rare specimens not on display anywhere else in the world.
In the meantime, visitors can find out all about the dinosaurs on the "Comput-o-saurus" stations inside the exhibit hall.
"This is the realization of a dream," said Cliff Miles, chief executive officer of Western Paleontological Laboratories, the company that provides expertise and prepares the displays.
Miles spoke briefly at grand-opening ceremonies for about 2,000 invited guests Friday night at a preview event that included city and county officials, local dignitaries and dinosaur lovers of all ages.
"I found a dinosaur foot," said 5-year-old Cami Durrant, wearing a yellow helmet and safety glasses as she brushed away crushed walnut shells to unearth skeletal remains in the brush quarry of a creature that lived hundreds of millions of years ago.
At another station, guests could learn that the Spinosaurus lived in Africa, and the Elamasuar lived in Kansas, while the Gastonia, Diplodocus and Utahraptor lived in the Beehive state.
Sam Ben and Shauna Eddington mapped their finds at the Raising Giants Quarry. David Valentine recorded his find of a dinosaur tooth.
A couple of ambitious youngsters made the "Climb Through Time," while their parents checked the drawers of fossils that matched the stratified layers of the earth, beginning with those from the pre-Cambrian and Cambrian era, more than 500 million years old.
Some counted time in the geological mode while others made a picture to add to the Cooperation Mural puzzle.
Another put together a red life-size Velociraptor.
One little boy climbed on a dinosaur leg three times his size.
Other visitors checked out the tool box for the properly equipped paleontologist, tools that include a pizza carton, picks, tags and toilet paper.
Adults climbed in with their children to dig for treasure in the mock quarry.
"We expect adults to play like kids," Miles said. "We encourage it."
There's also an expectation that the museum, after it is fully completed in 2001, will bring as many as 1.5 million tourists to Utah County, according to Utah County Commissioner Gary Herbert.
That would top the Alpine Loop which currently draws 1.3 million visitors to the area, said Richard Bradford, executive director for the Utah Valley Economic Development Association.
"Really, for the first time, we have a destination point in Utah County in Thanksgiving Point," Herbert said. "The benefit is not just in the quality of life and wholesome entertainment but practical in terms of the tax benefit."
Phase I of the dinosaur museum includes the opening of 5,000 square feet of display space featuring a dozen different dinosaur fossils, the Expedition cafe, the Findings gift shop and the 350-seat Iwerks Extreme Screen theater.
Phase II will include the expansion into the 30,000 square-foot giant exhibition hall and a travel-through-time museum "ride."
The museum is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays until 10 p.m. Prices are $6.95 for adults and $4.95 for children between 3-12. For reservations, call 1-801-766-5000.
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com