"Jurassic World: The Exhibit" at the Field Museum

[Halichoeres]

I expect that most people here are familiar with the Field Museum, which has big, important paleontology collections and a set of really good exhibits, especially Evolving Planet. Starting today and running through the summer, the area immediately adjacent to the museum will host an "experience" featuring animatronic dinosaurs based on those in the movie. It's a separate admission from the museum itself, and I think their idea is that people will come to see the JW stuff and then want to see the real things inside the Field. This week they allowed those of us work here to preview the attraction. Here's a few photos--I did the best I could considering that the lighting seems specifically designed to frustrate attempts at camera phone photography.


Brachiosaurus, just the head and neck. A tall person could probably jump up and touch its nose.


Can't really tell here, but it has terminal nostrils, which is a small improvement on the movie version.


Parasaurolophus, looks like it's designed after cyrtocristatus.


They're hard to get good shots of because they don't sit still for a second.


Pachyrhinosaurus. I think it's a little larger than life size.


It has those old fashioned feet.


You get to meet a 2.5 m tall Blue, which is a guy in a suit.


Tyrannosaurus on a track, terrorizing a Land Rover. The loosely draped skin reveals the complete lack of dorsal neck muscles.


Stegosaurus


I was trying to capture the workmanship on these, but the staples don't really show up in the photo.


Indominus rex


There's a build-a-dinosaur station. A buddy of mine made this dinosaur centipede.  There's also a mock-up of the JW genetics lab that you can walk around in.


Relevant to this forum, there are these PVC figurines (T rex, Indominus, and Blue) for $10 apiece, and I think you can only get them in the exhibit (I haven't seen them in the museum gift shop). Frankly I think that's highway robbery, but I'm sure they'll go like hotcakes. They also have Fame Master 3D puzzles and a few of the Hasbro action figures.

I am not technically employed by the museum (I get my paycheck from a university), but I'm still reluctant to editorialize too much on the "exhibit." You can probably guess how I feel anyway. But if you're into this sort of thing, it's in Chicago for the summer. Definitely come inside the museum and check out the real dinosaurs, though.

[BlueKrono]

Cool! I picked a good time to visit.

[Brontozaurus]

I saw this exhibit when it was here in Australia and...yeah. I do think it's not a bad idea to use a popular movie to encourage people to explore real science, but for a museum exhibit it did lean a bit too much in the entertainment direction. Not to mention there were a few errors here and there. Pretty sure I saw a sign in the amber lab saying Stegosaurus was from the Cretaceous or something like that. At the very least it was hosted by the Melbourne Museum, which has a kickass palaeontology exhibition, so I couldn't get too mad.

It didn't have the build-a-dinosaur station or the toys you posted. I feel a bit miffed, wouldn't mind that Indominus rex. I did however get a very cool crocodile skin-patterned wallet from the gift shop.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I was there when they were in Philly. I thoroughly enjoyed it (though I'm a big JP fan) but the real highlight of my day was the ANSP earlier that morning especially since it was during Paleopalooza.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

i hope this gets to come closer to me, looks awesome!

i would have bought one each of those build a dinos..they look like SWS maquettes.

[Halichoeres]

i hope this gets to come closer to me, looks awesome!

i would have bought one each of those build a dinos..they look like SWS maquettes.

Unfortunately, the build-a-dino station is just for playing around, you can't buy them. However, inside the museum there is a plush build-a-dino station if you're into that sort of thing!

[Nanuqsaurus]

That Pachyrhinosaurus looks really good! Why can't they have that in the JW movies?

[Paleona]

I got to see this last weekend, and I have to say it was a fun time The animatronics were great- they had some sort of sensors or something, because their heads would actually follow and "look" at you~ (And not just in standard spots by info plaques) With the Jurassic Park theme playing, it was all very nostalgic. 10 year old me was pretty satisfied, haha. I wish the Parasaurolophus hadn't just been a head, but still very cool.

I didn't end up buying anything at the gift shop, but they did have some fun bags and pins. I'd probably go see this again if I'm over in Chicago again before they close this up!