Use It or Lose It Vacation: Day 3 - Jurassic World: The Exhibition

My wife had some vacation days that she needed to use or she'd lose them, so we both decided to take the week off and do some fun things as a family together. So today, we kept Troy out of school and took him to Jurassic World: The Exhibition. It’s a traveling dinosaur experience that landed in Dallas for the latter part of the summer and is due to depart at the end of the month. Since Troy lives and breathes dinosaurs, we thought he might like to meet some “real” ones up close and personal. So we all boarded a ferry and headed out to Isla Nublar, a little island off the coast of Costa Rica, to find Jurassic World.

When you step off the ferry, you’re greeted by the towering gates to the park. They were open, and we were ushered into a treehouse, where we were greeted by the tall, swaying head of a brachiosaurus, towering above us. The animatronics head swept back and forth and dipped down, opening its mouth and letting out a moaning growl. Troy was so excited that he started shaking. Here was a real, live dinosaur standing right in front of him…so close that he could almost touch it. It was just like when Darius from Camp Cretaceous first saw one while swinging past on a zip line. He was in the show!

We immediately got another treat when they brought out a baby ankylosaurus. Troy got to get right up close to her as she moved and waggled in her trainers arms. Bumpy, that was her name, even sniffed his shirt to determine if he was food!

As we rounded the corner, we passed by an asset containment truck. All of a sudden, a pachycephalosaurus stuck her head over the side of the truck and growled at us. She continued to moan and growl, testing the sides of the truck as she threw herself against the walls of her box. Troy was fascinated by her, yelling, “Stiggy! Stiggy!” which is the nickname given to a stygimoloch, which is a sub genus of pachycephalosaurus.

As we passed through another set of doors, we found ourselves in the genetics lab where they create and grow the new baby dinosaurs. There were several eggs of unknown species and three newly-hatched parasaurolophus babies sleeping under warm lights. And Troy also got to meet another baby, an adolescent stygimoloch with its trainer had come out for some exercise. He showed no fear, walking right up to the baby dinosaur, saying “Baby Stiggy, mama. Baby Stiggy.”

From here we were ushered into the velociraptor holding facility, where the cunning, stealthy dinosaurs were being held with their heads in steel masks. Charlie, Delta, and Echo were lined up side-by-side, watching us. Their eyes moved to follow our every step, and occasionally they fought and pulled against their restraints, shaking the entire wall. The fourth member of the group, Blue, was mysteriously absent. Only an empty mask showed where she should have been.

It didn’t take us long to figure out where she was. In the next room, a trainer brought Blue out to show her to us. He talked to us about velociraptor behavior, while never taking his eyes off the aggressive predator. Blue for her part was trying to sneak up on him from the side, testing his weaknesses and waiting for the right moment to attack. Not wanting to push his luck, the trainer decided to corral her back into her pen.

As we moved into the next area, we were greeted with a large pen with a tall fence. Dense foliage covered most of the pen, and Troy was zeroed in trying to figure out what was in there. He didn’t have to wait long, as the foliage started to shake and a deep pounding reverberated through the air. Suddenly, Indominus Rex’s head pushed through the leaves and roared its intimidating voice. Troy was so close that he could have felt the spit flying from its mechanical mouth. Indominus grabbed a haunch of meat and disappeared back into the foliage once more, and we headed on to the next area.

From here, we found ourselves in the gyroscope area and had the opportunity to meet a baby Pteranodon. All of the other kids were too timid to walk up to her, but not Troy! He went right up and tried to pet her. Of course, the trainer wouldn’t let him for fear he’d get bitten. Unfortunately , our stay in this room didn’t last long as an alarm started to blare and lights started to flash. Apparently, there was an asset out of containment, and they needed to get us to safety.

We were taken to another room with a tall fence and thick trees. As the ranger explained the situation and tried to keep us calm, assuring us that everything was under control, suddenly a familiar roar rang out behind us. As we turned around in terror, we came face to face with a T-Rex. Even though they told us not to make eye contact, Troy stared her down with absolutely zero fear. T-Rex accepted the challenge, and the two of them engaged in a growl off. Before things could get too far out of hand, the ranger dragged us through a steel gate, closing the T-Rex in the pen and leaving Troy slathered in a vicious snarl.

It was all that I could do to hold him back as he tried to get back in to the T-Rex. Luckily, we now found ourselves in the gift shop, so he was quickly distracted by all of the over-priced toys. We bought him a Mosasaurus and a T-Rex to add to his growing collection. I’d been trying to find a good T-Rex for him for a while, so it worked out. And that’s how we ended our trip to Isla Nublar. It was an amazing experience, and they did an excellent job on everything. The only downside was that it didn’t last longer. We wanted to stay and see even more dinosaurs, but I guess it had to end at some point.

From there, we headed to a homemade ice cream shop in Denton for a sugary refuel. My wife and I each got an ice cream with the intent that Troy would take a few bites of each of ours. Unfortunately for me, he didn't like her ice cream choices, so he stole mine because I got the one with the chocolate chunks and the chocolate syrup on top. Oh well, I did get a few "licks" in before it was confiscated.