Jurassic World: The Exhibition

Following in the footsteps of the likes of The Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, The Lost World Travelling Exhibit, The Lost World: Behind the Screams, and the Jurassic Park /// Exhibit, Jurassic World: The Exhibition is a traveling exhibit featured in natural history museums. It premiered in Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute, where it was well received and even held a community fan event hosted by Jurassic Outpost. The exhibition then moved on to Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History. The exhibition features many animatronic dinosaurs from the Walking With Dinosaurs live show, and shows off key parts of the Jurassic World theme park as if you were really there. Along the way, guests learn fascinating facts regarding paleontology and the study of DNA as it relates to the Jurassic Park franchise.

Introduction
The Exhibition starts off with queue where, along the way, are multiple blue signs featuring dinosaur trivia questions, the answers to which are beneath the questions in smaller font. At the end of the queue are is a mockup ferry, complete with video screen windows of the “ocean” outside. Here, guests wait for an instructional video, hosted by Jurassic World head park ranger Allison. Allison is the guest’s guide through the exhibition, and appears in many informational kiosks throughout the exhibit.  Allison tells the guests the safety measures of Jurassic World, and explains its history. She then welcomes guests to Jurassic World as the doors open and the Jurassic Park theme plays, revealing the Jurassic World gates.

Land of the Giants
The First stop on our tour is Land of the Giants. This attraction is not featured in the 2015 movie “Jurassic World,” but does appear in conceptual art for it. Like in the concept art, guests will come face to face with some of Jurassic World’s largest residents, including the towering Brachiosaurus. Allison tells us that Jurassic World’s Brachiosaurus measure 65ft long and 35ft tall and weigh 70,000 pounds. The CGI model for the Brachiosaurus here appears to be a 3D scan of the Stan Winston Studios 1:16th maquette, which was also used to make the 1993 Jurassic Park Horizon brand model kit. Featured next the the massive animatronic Brachiosaurus neck is a cast of a sauropod femur. According to the Park Map, the Land of the Giants is located south of the main park venues surrounding the Lagoon, about northeast of the Golf Course.  Opposite the Brachiosaurus, is a Parasaurolophus animatronic. Unlike in the films, which use Parasaurolophus walkeri, the Parasaurolophus here is a member of the P. cyrtocristatus species. This contradicts the exhibits claim that both the Brachiosaurus and the Parasaurolophus are from John Hammond’s original stock. The exhibit also refers to Hammond’s doctorate, which is first observed at the end of the 1997 film “The Lost World: Jurassic Park“.

Gentle Giants Petting Zoo
The next stop is to the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo, which was filmed at the Honolulu Zoo in “Jurassic World”. Here, guests view a mother Pachyrhinosaurus with her infant, which were infant Triceratops in the film. A plaque tells us that the infant has been paired with the adult, suggesting that Jurassic World has no natural breeding program. An interactive game shows guests how Jurassic World pairs the adults with the infants, and explains that this is no easy task to do. Another plaque explains what “coprolites” are, which are nothing more than fossilized dinosaur dung. The plaque invites guests to investigate a pile of fake dino dung and try to figure out what Jurassic World feeds its dinosaurs. The adult Pachyrhinosaurus has scars along her barrel and flank, and a plaque suggests the Jurassic World’s Pachyrhinosaurus will fight with one another in an instinctual battle for mates. Jurassic World’s Pachyrhinosaurus are described as 26ft long, 13ft high, and weigh in at 16,000 pounds.

Discovery Center
Guests are invited to take a short break from dinosaurs in Jurassic World’s Discovery Center, where the dinosaurs are cloned, bred, and nurtured before being moved into the park. One one wall stands tall rows of alcoves full of amber from all over Europe, many from the Jurassic Period. On the back wall, is a lit up board, which explains the various terminology of time, and how the geologic time scale is laid out. Next to that is another lit up signs, which explains InGen’s process in extracting DNA from amber and how it gets made into a dinosaur. Once the DNA is extracted, it’s run through DNA sequencers such as the Hammond XB-20 (like named for the InGen founder), and gaps are filled in with the DNA of birds and crocodiles, who are extant members of the archosaur clade, the clade the held dinosaurs. Dino DNA is then inserted into an egg, where it is grown and hatched. Once hatched, the baby dinosaurs are nurtured until large enough to live in the park. Another wall is where the restricted embryo cold storage units are, and a silhouette of the coming attraction: the Indominus rex, is shown along with silhouettes of a tree frog, a pit viper, and a cuttlefish, all of which make up parts of the Indominus‘ genetic structure.

Next to that guests can build their own dinosaurs, color them, give them custom patterns, and then have a picture emailed to them. In the center is a hatchery pod, where behind glass, visitors can see little dinosaur eggs with QR codes on them, which tells scientists which eggs hold what dinosaurs when scanned. Next to the eggs, is a nursery pod, where three baby Parasaurolophus are napping in the heat. Opposite the lit up wall is where guests get a sneak peak into Jurassic World Control Room procedure. Guests can view maps of the island, as well as security cam footage of the parks backdoor infrastructure. One lit up plaque even shows off the Gyrosphere controls, where the number of units and the park population is monitored. According to a Mr. DNA info plaque, the incubators we see in the exhibit were props used in the Jurassic World movie.

Raptor Paddock
Once again moving on to dinosaurs, guests are given a special behind the scenes look at Owen Grady‘s Velociraptor training program. Allison comes onto a TV screen where she provides information on Jurassic World’s most dangerous predator. The Raptor shown in her introduction actually appears to be more closely related to the Velociraptor antirrhopus sornaensis breed that InGen left on Isla Sorna, than they do Jurassic World’s newly bred Raptors. When the video turns off, Grady’s voice comes on over an intercom, where he directs Blue, the beta Raptor of Owen’s pack, out to the visitors. A dinosaur costume comes into view, the Velociraptor, which has been painted to look like Blue. Blue walks around the cage, snapping at visitors who get too close, before trotting back into her pen. Allison comes onto the screen, and tells guests that the show was a bit more intense than expected, but hoped we enjoyed the show. Guests are then funneled into the next attraction.

Interesting error in this part of the Jurassic World exhibit, is that the length and height for Velociraptor is switched on the info plaque. The height is also said to be 6ft, but the image shown next to human silhouette is the size of a real life Velociraptor mongoliensis, not a Velociraptor antirrhopus, aka Deinonychus. There IS a Deinonychus plaque as well, and that size comparison next to the human silhouette is the correct size for a Jurassic Park style Raptor. However, to throw a monkey wrench into these heights, the Raptor size chart with Blue in the next room is shown to be little more than 5ft tall.

T. rex Kingdom
Guests are then placed into a room, where they await Jurassic World’s star attraction, a very old, but no less ferocious, Tyrannosaurus rex. In this room, guests can view just how hard a Tyrannosaurus could bite, can examine a T. rex skull that was used in the film, and see how they measure up to some of Jurassic World’s iconic attractions. When the time if right, guests are lead into the terrifying Paddock 9, where they get to see the Tyrannosaurus herself up close. Guests are separated from the T. rex by a 10,000 volt fence, the sign for which is in Spanish. The T. rex thunders into view, bellowing roars filling the paddock, where she knocks at a Jurassic World service truck, before the ACU pushes her away. The Tyrannosaurus found in this attraction is the largest specimen known, at 45 ft long.

Gyrosphere Valley
The final dinosaur attraction at Jurassic World: The Exhibition is the Gyrosphere Valley, where guests can stroll through the illustrious lawns and view dinosaurs like the gigantic Stegosaurus. This Stegosaurus is 14ft tall and 30ft long, but in person seems so much bigger. All seems so tranquil and nice until the terrifying Indominus rex escapes and attacks. The only custom animatronic for the exhibit, the Indominus roars angrily and over a log, until the Asset Containment Unit comes and is able to subdue her. Guests then go through a log into the final part of the Exhibition.

Innovation Center
The Innovation Center is Jurassic World’s central hub, so to speak. It’s the visitor center for the park, where guests can learn about dinosaurs from all over the world, and great their own hybrids out of 3D scanned models. In the Innovation Center, guests may examine real dinosaur bones, or visit the exhibit’s gift shop, where guests can find toys, trinkets, plushes, and even school items to bring home their experience at Jurassic World.