We Got Tickets!

I cannot begin to describe to you the experience that is Walking with Dinosaurs. It is one of those things you have to see for yourself.

Thanks to the folks at work, Darling Man, ZBoy, Kylee, Ben and myself got to go to the show. We met up with Jenn and her husband and she gave me her spare ticket - I sat with them in the next row down from DM and the kids.

Sadly, the show only seemed 50% full. I suspect the economy - lots of tickets were given away or sold for reduced prices and still only half the seats were occupied. Personally, I LOVE this kind of thing, but I'm sure it makes things hard for the show itself. It has to cost quite a bit to put on something of this magnitude (23 semi trucks in the parking lot!).

After gathering popcorn and drinks, we excitedly found our seats and waited. Assuming that photography would not be allowed, I'd left my camera behind - only to discover that they only asked that no flashes be used - Argh! I'd have loved to take pictures of this!!! The lights went down and a spot came on, and a man in explorer-adventurer-type garb came out. He talked about paleontology and when the dinosaurs lived and then... there was a dinosaur out there wandering around.

It was the most amazing thing! I cried. I have the same reaction watching Jurassic Park, when Dr. Grant sees a living dinosaur for the first time - it's the sense of wonderment at seeing something that you shouldn't be able to see but do anyway - and seeing these dinosaurs, even though I knew they were puppets or robots or something else, struck me exactly the same way. After the initial amazement, I wanted to know how they did that, but shortly lost myself in watching the dinosaurs - because that's what they were. I turned around and looked at Darling Man, and asked if he cried. He said, "Yes... we're weird."

ZBoy was scared and spent some of his time with his head buried behind DM's back, but after a while, even he forgot to be scared and when I turned around to look, Z, Kylee and Ben were all sitting there, mouths hanging open and eyes shining, totally caught up in what was going on down there on the floor.

There was a short intermission, then they came back with the big guns - the predators. A huge shadow darkened the screen and the audience gasped - it was T Rex! But what came out from behind was a baby. He ran around and practiced hunting on two herbivorous dinosaurs that were out there. They got tired of him and boxed him in when a huge roar came from the other side of the floor. Mama T came thundering out of the curtain to protect her baby. I swear everyone froze. She chased the two herbivores off then nosed her baby and the entire civic center went "Awwwww...." She was VERY impressive!


This post can in no way do this show justice. All I can say is that if you get the opportunity to go, DO IT! Don't take small children, but over 7 is probably okay. And take ear plugs. It's REALLY loud.