Are you brave enough to come face-to-face with a red-eyed dragon? How about a teeth-gnashing T-rex or a long-taloned griffin?
This April school holidays, families visiting Hunter Valley Gardens can wander a world filled with enormous creatures – where dinosaurs stomp, mythical beasts guard hidden corners and glowing eyes suddenly appear between the trees.
It’s all part of the Mega Creatures day and Night Safari event, which has grown in truly MEGA proportions in recent years. There are now more than 100 creatures hidden throughout the gardens, including dinosaurs, giant insects, enormous arachnids and magical beasts.
And the best part? Most of them are animatronic. As you approach, tails swoosh, eyelids blink and giant jaws slowly open to reveal rows of impressively large teeth.
This year the event has expanded again, with nine new dinosaurs joining the line-up alongside a family of unicorns, a chimera and even floral dragons. There’s also more entertainment for families to enjoy, including a knights-versus-dragons battle talk, face painting, egg hunts, scavenger hunts and a magical photo opportunity with a "real life" rainbow unicorn. Altogether it makes for a fabulously fun and feel-good day out.
And don’t forget – Mega Creatures can also be experienced at night. It's really quite awesome seeing the glowing red eyes and biofluorescence of a giant brachiosaurus, three-headed dragon and sabre-tooth tiger under the light of the moon.
The Gardens’ famous rides will also be open every day and night throughout the event. There is an epic 35-metre-long Super Slide, a Ferris Wheel, swing chairs, a traditional Venetian Carousel and spinning teacups!
Mega Creatures is here for a limited time – Saturday 28 March to Sunday 26 April 2026. Don't delay "snapping" up your tickets.
Scroll on to read about Playing in Puddles' visit to Mega Creatures, or click the link below to grab your tickets now.
Get tickets to the Night Safari and see the Mega Creatures under the light of the moon
The hugely popular Night Safari is returning these April school holidays – and it’s one of those outings that feels genuinely special once the sun goes down.
families can wander the grounds and see the Mega Creatures illuminated with lighting and enhancements – think glowing red eyes and biofluorescence! Seeing this fantastical land at night brings a whole new dimension of wonder to the experience, and we absolutely loved it when we visited. Remember the thrill of spotlight as a kid? Well, that’s the same feeling here – only way cooler. And if you have kids in that tween stage who are a little hard to please these days, then this event is a massive winner.
We thought our kids (then aged 5 and 7) might be a little freaked out to see these creatures at night, but they had an absolute ball and kept assuring us they weren't scared – well, they admitted, maybe just a teeny tiny bit: just enough to excite. We also saw many two- and four-year-olds running around and showing no signs of fear. And believe me, when you come across the pod of brachiosaurus under the light of the moon, it all feels pretty special. Particularly when the daddy of the family is 16m long and 13m tall!
Join in the Hoppity Hollow Easter Egg Hunt and meet the Easter Bunny this Easter long weekend!
If cute and cuddly is more your thing, visit over the Easter long weekend to meet the Easter bunny and join in the Gardens' annual Hoppity Hollow Easter Egg Hunt. Each child will be encouraged to find three brightly coloured eggs with the numbers 1,2 and 3. Once the child finds one of each number, they can exchange these for a chocolate egg. Multiple hunts will be run throughout each day over the long weekend.
Be sure to purchase your Easter Egg Hunt tickets ($2) as an add on to your pass when you book.
Bonus fun included with your entry
The event has expanded its bonus entertainment this year – and it’s all included with your entry ticket. Here are some of the extra experiences families can enjoy while exploring the gardens.
Dragon’s Quest: Watch a brave knight take on a flight of dragons in this lively medieval-style adventure filled with action and storytelling. Kids will love cheering on the hero as she protects the realm.
Dinosaur Diggings: Young explorers can dig for fossils with the Mega Creatures Explorer – a hands-on experience perfect for budding palaeontologists.
Magical Unicorn Meetings: Meet a "real life" rainbow unicorn. The perfect selfie for young believers.
Fairy Face Painting: Add a little sparkle to your visit and get your face painted by a garden fairy.
Creature Egg Quest: A mysterious creature egg has gone missing somewhere in the gardens. An egg will be hidden every day! Find it for the chance to win a family pass to the Spring school holidays event.
Bug Scavenger Hunt: Collect stamps and solve riddles as you explore the gardens on this fun scavenger adventure.
Evening entertainment – Potion Play with the Wizard: After dark, kids can join a mysterious wizard for a playful potion-making show filled with colourful brews, smoky mixtures and magical fun.
See the entertainment schedule below, so you don't miss out.
Mythical creatures await in The Land of Legends
New in 2025, the Land of Legends quickly became a fan favourite – and it’s returning in 2026 with even more mythical creatures to discover. This year families can meet a majestic unicorn family and the unforgettable Chimera – a wild beast that’s part lion, part goat and part serpent (yes… it’s as strange as it sounds).
You’ll also come across legendary creatures like Cerberus, the fearsome three-headed dog, the mighty Phoenix, Pegasus the flying horse and the powerful Griffin – an eagle-headed lion that looks ready to leap straight out of a storybook.
The dinosaurs are out of this world!
Dino enthusiasts absolutely love this event that invites visitors to come face to face with tonnes of life-sized animatronic dinosaurs.
We haven't yet met a child who doesn't love dinosaurs and the Hunter Valley Gardens has done an incredible job at bringing that passion and interest to the fore. You'll get to meet all the classic favourites – a T-rex, triceratops, stegosaurus and spinosaurus – plus lesser known species such as the Wuerhosaurus, Huayangosaurus and Dilophosaurus. If you have a really keen bean, each dinosaur also has a plaque that outlines their history and fun facts: read them to your kids and they'll no doubt absorb it and regurg it back to you in years to come. They're clever like that.
Ignite your child's inner palaeontologist at the Dinosaur Diggings
Mini palaeontologists get an absolute kick out of entering the Hunter Valley Gardens' Dinosaur Diggings and being invited to dig for fossils. Under the shadow of a giant Brachiosaurus's skeleton are two archaeological excavation pits that may contain fossilised bones. Grab a small broom and get sweeping in the sand to see what you uncover. I think our boys could have spent all evening here uncovering new fossils and imagining what type of bones they were and from which dinosaur they came.
Beware as you enter the Dragons Den!
For fantasy fans, the Gardens will feel like a wonderland of epic proportions – a place where two-headed dragons roam alongside winged beasts and fire-breathing dragons.
Wander the gardens of the daytime and many of these beasts look friendly and playful – they remind us of the dog-like dragons from How to Train Your Dragon. Walk past those same beasts by moonlight though and they sit more in the league of Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings – cunning, evil, and most definitely not to be trusted.
There are other mega beasts to be spied, too
You'll find a heap of other mega beasts in the Gardens, too – ranging from the ginormously cute insects to the prehistoric! There are woolly mammoths and sabre-tooth tigers, giant spiders lurk in a cobwebbed walk-through cave, and giant lady beetles, cicadas, bees, and caterpillars have taken up residence in the grounds, too.
Experience the gardens
We love visiting Hunter Valley Gardens' school holiday exhibits – from their winter snow festival to their Christmas lights display – but most of the time, we're so busy enjoying their festivals that we don't have a lot of time to enjoy the gardens themselves. A visit to the Mega Creatures exhibit through the day, though, offers the perfect opportunity to marvel at the Gardens, as the creatures are scattered throughout the grounds.
There are eight kilometres of walking paths winding through 14 hectares of gardens. It's so beautiful and so relaxing – yep, even with the kids! You can easily spend an entire day here just soaking up the sunshine.
Our verdict: get yourself tickets – you'll love it!
Whether you visit through the day or night, you're guaranteed a fantastic adventure at Mega Creatures these school holidays. We can't recommend it enough. It's fantastic. Go on, do it: your kids will love you for it, and you'll have a heap of fun too.
Mega Creatures and Mega Creatures Night Safari at Hunter Valley Gardens
Where: The Hunter Valley Gardens, Pokolbin.
Age group: All ages.
Mega Creatures - day time.
Dates: Open daily - Saturday 28 March to Sunday 26 April 2026.
Opening hours: 9am – 4pm.
Book here.
Mega Creatures Night Safari
When: Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 March; Friday 3 - Sunday 19 April; Friday 24 - Sunday 26 April 2026.
Opening hours: 5pm-9:30pm
Book here.
Cost:
Mega Creatures Day OR Night entry: Adult (16+ yrs) $42. Child (4-15 yrs) $31. Child (3 yrs. & Under) FREE. Companion Card holder FREE. Family (1ad+2ch) $97. Family (2ad+1ch) $104. Family (2ad+2ch) $128. Extra child with family pass $28.
Other ticket options: You can also buy day/night combo passes and annual passes that provide unlimited entry to all of the Gardens events for 12 months! See their website for details.
Easter long weekend Hoppity Hollow Easter Egg Hunt (Friday 3 to Monday 6 April) : Tickets are $2 per child when purchased online as an add-on to your Mega Creatures Day tickets.
Ride costs: Each ride is $6 per person. Or you can purchase a 6-ride pass for $30 and get a bonus ride for free. Ride tickets are available for purchase in the event area at the Gardens.
Written By: KATIE STOKES
Founder & Editor
After working in print and online media for more than a decade, Katie launched Playing in Puddles in 2017. A mum of three young boys and local of the Central Coast, Katie loves discovering and sharing all that’s happening in our region.
