EVER since I watched Jurassic Park as a child, I've been curious about dinosaurs - but I never thought I'd come face-to-face with a Tyrannosaurus Rex or a Triceratops.

This week I did.

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I visited the amazing new Dinosaurs In The Wild attraction, which is in Manchester until January. And although I know it is supposed to be one for the kids, I am living proof that it is great entertainment for adults too.

The multimillion-pound exhibition is a thrilling mix of theatre and theme park fun where visitors are taken back 67million years.

Using cutting-edge 3D effects, animatronics, sound and lighting, visitors witness "live" dinosaurs as they have never been seen before. The attraction is produced by Jill Bryant and Tim Haines, who are the brains behind the TV show Walking With Dinosaurs.

Jill said: "We were keen to create something new that raised the bar for live action experiences." And they've certainly done that.

On arrival, I was put into a group with fellow dinosaur fans and told we were heading off to a scientific research station. While eagerly waiting in line, I was handed a pair of 3D glasses for whenever we looked outside of the external window of the time machine.

We then took our seats, the room rumbled and red lights flashed - all giving us the impression we were shooting backwards. After a couple of seconds, a shutter opened to reveal dusty terrain, volcanoes and large trees.

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The 3D graphics are brilliant - they really do trick your mind into thinking you are staring out of a window and heading toward the research base.

En route, we passed the dinosaurs - including an angry Ankylosaurus, as well as one that ran across the roof of our time machine.

The vibrating walls, special-effects lighting and moving creatures really made the experience realistic. The attention to detail was fantastic and scripted actors guided us, giving information about the dinosaurs while pretending to be researchers on the base.

They really made the experience for me. They had a wealth of knowledge, interacted with the crowd and never once dropped out of character. They took us through various "research labs", some more interesting than others.

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Time travellers can visit a "hatchery" where dozens of eggs are incubated. Our group witnessed a Dakotaraptor hatching. You can even observe, up close, how ticks fed off dinosaur skin, and feel some "dinosaur dung".

I avoided the latter.

My favourite, although slightly gruesome, was the state-of-the-art dinosaur "autopsy". We took a seat on a viewing platform while a "professor" sliced open the stomach of a dinosaur and pulled out various innards. I watched intently, as did most of the time travellers, although some did look a little terrified.

This is a fantastic exhibition. My only criticism is that it lasts just 70 minutes but you could spend double that time pottering around.

In the final part of my tour, the group of 15 to 20 people were taken up to a "lookout" area where everyone was given the chance to watch and observe the magnificent creatures roaming around.

Using our 3D glasses, we watched the dinosaurs squabbling, running around and, well, I won't spoil the ending.