The 4th highest grossing film of all time,
Jurassic World was always going to spawn a lot of merchandise, and the largest
and possibly greatest is touring the world as we speak. Opening at Australia’s
Museum of Victoria (and currently on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia),
I was lucky enough to see Jurassic World: The Exhibit before it finished its
run in Melbourne.
The Journey is a clever one. To start with, I found myself
lining up outside the exhibit with a handful of people near a couple of life-like Velociraptors that
had seemingly escaped and were hanging around a shipping container. I can only
assume this is where the park was holding the goats it feeds the T.rex.
When it is time to enter, the first thing you find yourself
in is one of the vessels sailing across to the island of Isla Nublar. You learn
about weather conditions on the island and a few of the highlights (in reality
you are being creatively held back while the tour before you clears the first
exhibit), and after only a few minutes the doors open and you find yourself at
the gates to Jurassic World.
Inside is an enormous wooded area with a life size
Brachiosaurus eyeing off and reacting to the gathered crowd. I must admit I did
hang back and have a look at everything between groups and I still am not sure
if the Brachiosaur was reacting to me or was on a set pattern. Either way, it
was pretty cool.
Something to keep an eye out for is the Parasaurolophus
exhibit. When I first walked past the dinosaur was moving and doing stuff far
back in its display, but later I noticed the dinosaur comes right out and interacts.
Next is the enormous (and possibly oversized)
Pachyrhinosaurus in its pen. I was amazed at the range of motion this one
exhibited and was happy to stand there for some time and watch, but there was
more of the park to be explored and I was off.
Soon you enter the Jurassic World’s center of operations. Here you
could explore the technology that helped create the park, and you get to
interact a number of displays and even help create your own dinosaurs.
It took
me a while to notice at the far end there was a large screen counting down to
what has to be the jewel of the display, the Tyrannosaurus rex paddock.
Once the gates to the paddock opened you walk along a security
fence with a truck at the far end. Here you wait and watch as a simulated storm
hits the park and, a lightning flash reveals the T.rex.
It stalks forward,
investigates the truck, almost flips it over, roars a few times, possibly eats
a goat (that could be my imagination), then heads back. I loved it- I loved it
so much I stayed and watched it a number of times.
The final display is an enormous stegosaurus in its paddock.
Everything is sunshine and fun and a pleasant video interpreter starts telling
you about the dinosaur until a warning klaxon goes off….something is wrong. Suddenly
the light changes, the stegosaur goes wild and the Indominus rex escapes its
paddock. This is all very exciting and the attack goes for a while so you get
to have a good look at both animals, though again you could also stay and watch
it a few times.
This is almost the end of the exhibit. There is an exhibit
display that explains a lot of the science behind the park and the dinosaurs;
we also got a rundown of Australian dinosaurs, something I am sure the museum
had put together and not part of the actual exhibit.
I liked it, a lot. The animatronics or top shelf and show a
wide range of motion. There are also some clever pieces that add to the
experience, and there is also more merchandise for sale in the shop than you
can shake a raptor at.
