DWC: A Jurassic World Christmas

     It’s Christmas already! What better way to spend Christmas than on Isla Nublar? I decided to visit the island for a few days with my best friend. Today, December 23, we’re going to Main Street! When we exit our hotel, we already see some of the guests and employees wearing little Santa hats. Some of the carts and buildings are decorated with lights and wreaths. We’ll have to visit the park at night!

     First stop, the Suchomimus skeleton! We see it wearing a large Santa hat, and we take some pictures with it. After a few minutes, we visit the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo. After waiting about half an hour to get in, we see a baby Triceratops wearing a little red nose on its small horn! How did they get it to cooperate? We take turns riding it before we get hungry. We visit a small restaurant and get some good Christmas discounts! (Who doesn’t love discounts?) After that, we decide to go swimming.

     After a bit of time in the waterpark, we go to the Cretaceous Cruise. During the kayak trip, an Apatosaurus reaches its neck into the water right above us! We are able to touch the giant for a couple seconds before continuing. A couple minutes later, we see a Camptosaurus group wading in the shallow water. They get near us before running off when an Apatosaurus approaches them. After a long trip of seeing herds of Apatosaurus and Stegosaurus and various hadrosaurs, along with a few flocks of pterosaurs, we go back to our hotel. After a couple hours resting, it gets dark outside. This is when we decide to visit the light-covered areas.

     We visit the Pachy Arena, where there’s lights and holly draped over the fences and railings. After watching the dinosaurs for a bit, two males charge each other! Their thick skulls collide with a loud crash before they back off a bit. Their heads collide again, but this time the larger male kicks the smaller one’s chest. The smaller one rams the larger male in the chest, pushing him to the ground. He kicks the smaller male’s stomach and both begin to attack fiercely before a few keepers tranquilize them. The two are loaded up into a small truck and shipped into some holding compartments. One of the keepers tells us that he’s never sees a more violent battle between two males. I recorded the whole battle on my camera!

     After we exit the Pachy Arena, we go to the Triceratops Kingdom, which isn’t as lit up as the other areas, presumably to not aggravate the giants. However, most of them are sleeping, except for an adult and a couple juveniles. After watching them for a little bit, we decide to visit the Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom. When we arrive, the Tyrannosaurus is sleeping. We watch it for about a minute before going back to the hotel. We decide to visit the Mosasaur Feeding Show in the morning.

     At somewhere around 10:00 on December 24, we get into our seats. After waiting for a few minutes, the announcer tells us a little about the mosasaur and the show. After about five minutes, a giant pair of jaws about six or seven feet long burst out of the water and snap shut on the shark. The beast pulls the shark off of the post and lunges back into the water, splashing us. After that, we visit the Underwater Observatory. We walk down the stairs to the area, which is lit up with lights and wreaths. A large Plesiosaurus slowly passes in front of us as we watch the prehistoric sea life. After about half an hour of watching the creatures, we hear a knocking sound. Some of the glass starts to crack! A Plesiosaurus is banging its snout on the glass! Fearing a break in the glass, we make a hasty exit. We look back and see a tiny hole in the glass and the Plesiosaurus swimming away. After that, we decide to visit the Aviary. A large, two-story staircase takes us up the doors, and we enter. A large, wide bridge with lots of support is the way across. As we cross the bridge, flocks of Dimorphodon and a few Pteranodon go near us. One curious Pteranodon lands on the bridge! It stares at us for a bit, and I take a picture of it. It cocks its head and flies off. After a couple more small encounters with the pterosaurs, we make it across the bridge.

     We decide to take a ride in the Gyrosphere. After about an hour wait, we make it! We take the Gyrosphere to the Gallimimus Valley, and run alongside the creatures. They barely notice us as we travel through the exhibit. Then, we see some Apatosaurus and a couple of Brachiosaurus. We go a bit slower through this exhibit, and we make it through in about ten minutes. After we see some hadrosaurs in the Gyrosphere, we take it back. After going to the hotel for a couple hours, it gets dark again. We visit the park to see more lights, and this time we go straight to the Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom. The dinosaur is fully awake, staring at the lights lining the exhibit. After a couple minutes of watching it, the dinosaur rams its giant head into the steel-supported Plexiglas. We run off, afraid the dinosaur will break out after it breaks a couple of the supports and slightly cracks the Plexiglas.

     We hear a loud roar and run faster. We can almost feel the Tyrannosaurus stepping out of the exhibit and walking away. Fortunately, a few Triceratopses near the fence distract the carnivore for a bit. My best friend and I run into the nearest monorail, which takes us back to the hotel. We see a few Dimorphodon begin to fly near us as the alarms start to go off. Just then, the monorail arrives and takes us to the ferry landing. We just make it onto the last ferry as we see a few Gallimimus near the dock. What a way to spend the days before Christmas!