All Tracks Lead to Grapevine

Grapevine's nonstop schedule of fun promises a 'dino-mite' summer

Come face to face with Grapevine's fossil-filled past.

Photo courtesy of Visit Grapevine

This summer, Grapevine transforms into a playground of prehistoric beasts, musical beats, lakeside leaps, and more.

Whether you're in town for a weekend or settling in for a season of fun, Grapevine offers a dizzying array of adventures for every kind of explorer, from fossil-hunters to wine-sippers, art lovers to escape-room sleuths.

Here’s a roundup of the biggest events lighting up Grapevine in June and beyond.

Prehistoric playground: All tracks lead to Grapevine
Dinosaurs are making a comeback in Grapevine, which has been the site of exciting dinosaur discoveries since 1974.

From now through August 31, Historic Main Street is dotted with dino tracks leading to themed treats, hands-on exhibits, and full-sized fossil fun.

Kids (and their grown-ups) can pilot simulation pods at the Be the Dinosaur exhibit, devour chocolate dinosaur lollipops from Dr. Sue’s Chocolate, bite into dino cupcakes at Main Street Bistro & Bakery, make your own colorful dino egg at Vetro Glassblowing Studio, contribute to an eight-foot chalk mural at Holder Dane Gallery & Art Studios, and board the Grapevine Vintage Railroad for Dinos on the Tracks, a Jurassic joyride featuring friendly dinos.

Grapevine train All aboard for adventure.Photo courtesy of Visit Grapevine

For those seeking a bird’s eye view of ancient stomping grounds, the Grapevine Observation Tower offers a 150-foot-high panorama of dino territory.

At Historic Nash Farm, the action continues with a life-size dino dig garden and tales from the notorious 19th-century "Bone Wars" fossil feud. Over at the Grapevine Public Library, guest speakers bring paleontology to life through games and hands-on learning, from fossils and ancient ecosystems to local discoveries like the Ampelognathus coheni.

Each week, catch dino-themed Cartoons & Crafts at the Lancaster Theatre, and enjoy classic dinosaur flicks at the Historic Palace Theatre. Over at Peace Plaza, sunlight becomes your artistic assistant during shadow tracing sessions with massive dinosaur shapes.

Want to take your adventure outdoors? Hike the Dino Trail along the C. Shane Wilbanks and Wall-Farrar Trails, where you just might spot a fossil or two while discovering more about Grapevine’s place in paleontological history.

Kids can test their explorer instincts in Pterodactyl Wings Alley (aka Weems Alley), where flying reptiles hang overhead, and pose for a prehistoric photo opp in a safari-style dinosaur Jeep at Liberty Park Plaza.

History buffs will appreciate the hands-on activities at the Settlement to City Museums, where you can print your own dinosaur cards and see a real Hadrosaur track at the Grapevine Historic Museum’s Ice House exhibit. Meanwhile, Grapevine City Hall displays authentic bones and fossils from the region’s own prehistoric past.

Summer onstage, in the sky, and under the sun
If you prefer superheroes over sauropods, head to Gaylord Texan Resort for the brand-new Universe of Light. This glowing spectacle features 1,000 handcrafted lanterns and LED-powered tableaus of DC superheroes and villains — think Metropolis meets immersive art gallery.

Gaylord Texan Resort Universe of Light Calling all superheroes to Gaylord Texan Resort.Photo courtesy of Gaylord Texan Resort

Meanwhile, Great Wolf Lodge is cranking up the volume with live concerts handpicked by country star Gabby Barrett. Performers like Travis Denning and Tyler Farr will keep the weekends lively, while the resort’s upgraded water park ensures daytime splashing is just as exciting.

Lake Grapevine’s WhoaZone is back with inflatable slides, floating cabanas, and a seriously bouncy obstacle course that’s perfect for adventurous spirits.

And don't miss thisssss: Repticon on June 28-29. From slithering snakes to rare lizards, this exotic pet expo at the Grapevine Convention Center is for anyone curious about the creepier side of the animal kingdom.

Sip, savor, and solve
Wine lovers, rejoice: Grapevine’s Summer Solstice Wine Trail on June 21 invites you to sip through seven winery tasting rooms along Historic Main Street, each offering curated pairings and a commemorative glass. For a tropical twist, Messina Hof is pouring summer-inspired wines paired with flavors like coconut and pineapple at their Tropical Tastes & Perfect Pairings evening on June 28.

Grapevine wine Cheers to the longest day of the year.Photo by Kevin Brown

If you're up for a challenge, step inside the Enchanted Cottage escape room at The Grapevine Escape, where Clarence the Wizard has left a mess of magical proportions. Your mission? Clean up the chaos before he returns.

A city that sings
Every Friday night in June, Grapevine Main LIVE! brings Peace Plaza to life with tribute concerts. From '70s disco to Fleetwood Mac and Bryan Adams celebrations, each evening promises high-energy fun under the stars.

For a performance with purpose, don’t miss The Longest Day 12-hour Concert on June 21. Musician Joshua Ingram will play from sunup to sundown as part of a global Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser. Bring $12, 12 friends, and your best dance moves for a cause worth supporting.

Whether you’re grooving to live music, floating through a neon-lit Gotham City, or digging for dino bones, Grapevine’s summer calendar is anything but ordinary. Start planning your adventure at GrapevineTexasUSA.com.

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Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

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