DWC: A Jurassic World Christmas

Entry for the most recent Dinosaur writers' challenge, good luck to every body who's participating!

The thought of flying had always unnerved Robert Jacobson, being thousands of feet up in the with no control of what would occur unnerved him in a significant manner.

But, it was December twenty-fourth and his five year old daughter, jessica, wanted to see the prehistoric animals of Jurassic World. He had jokingly mentioned they could always visit the local museum -- only two blocks away -- if she wanted to see dinosaurs. His wife, alice, also had shown a fascination with these creatures when she had come across the park's website. So, in early november when driving his 2004 subaru forrester to work, he jumped at the chance to win three tickets to the island via a call-in competition

Now, he stared uneasily at the flowing emerald waters of the ocean below.  From this dizzying view, Tiny brown precipices were scene to peak defiantly from the watery depths. It took a moment for Rob to discern these as newly forming islands.

He turned from the window queasily, wishing he had took his wife's offer of the aisle seat when they were first boarding.

"Daddy! daddy! we're almost there, daddy!" his daughter's joyous voice shattered his train of thought.

"that's right sweetheart, not that much longer", he said blandly.

He caught his wife's gaze, it ws one she always gave him when she could see the tensions drawn out on his face. He smiled faintly before turning back to the window -- running through every thing that could go wrong with this metal death trap he was strapped into.

He must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew was being awoken by a combination of his daughters excited babble, and the droning of the pilot.

"Ladies and gentleman, welcome toJ urassic World!" came his voice

Rob yawned,stretching his arms and getting to his feet.

"ready to go sweetheart?" he said absentmindedly. He looked out his window one final time and saw a sort of bullet train that those who had already exited the aircraft were boarding.

His daughter's excited jibbering brought a gigantic smile to his face, knowing full well the exhilleration that something of this stature brings on children.

They boarded the subway-esque vehicle and waited to get moving. Jessica could barely sit still, her happiness not quite at its peak yet. Alice put her arm around her, resting her chin on top of Jessica's head. Her eyes caught robs, and a small smile was present. He returned it once more, and began to ponder what animals they would have at the park.

over his thoughts, he could hear the faing voice of the conductor.

"fasten your seatbelts; next stop Jurassic World!"

Rob's favorites had always been the classics. Tyrannosaurus rex, triceratops, allosaurus, Brachiosaurus, you name it.There was something strangely remarkable about these gigantic ancient lizards that had dominated the Earth for millenia. The interest had waned when he became a teenager, but this park being opened a few years ago had reignited that interest.

"Rob, they have a mosasaur" said Alice. 

...What is that?"

"No idea in the slightest," remarked Rob. " I guess we're gonna find out here in half an hour. It's one of the first attractions"

After visiting the visitor center and receiving a map of the park, Rob stared in amazement from the front doors. The park was elaboratly decorated for the holidays. Ceramic and plastic snowflakes hung from the street lights, the trash cans had green and red christmas lights on them, and amusingly enough, the animal trainers & keepers had red santa hats on.

"Daddy, daddy let's go see the Mososour!" came Jessica's gleeful voice.

Smirking at the cute mispronounciation, he bent down and picked up his wriggling daughter.

"sure thing, sweetheart. Alice, let's get a move on" he said.

Transfering his daughter to his hip, he grabbed his wife's hand. The small family began to walk the path to the  Mosasaur attraction.

"they really put alot of work into this place", said alice. Her eyes were huge and the pearly white smile Robert loved so much was prevalant. She was, to his enjoyment, just like his daughter in terms of amazement.

"reminds me of Sea World", he said.

The line was long, but it didn't last long. Rob flashed his tickets and jerked his head to the side, indicating the wife and kid were with him.

Wriggling with ecstasy and sheer five year old hype, Rob was forced to set Jessica down. She began to run ahead, shouting about the 'mososour' with the uttermost glee.

The place was crowded, but luckily they found their seats in the "B" section before the show started.

"Alright folks! we have a show for y'all today! " came the announcers voice.

The place lit up, the cheers were deafening.

"now, she's a little shy so give her a big round of applause when she comes out!"

A mechanical whirring was heard to the family's left. A large shark, which Rob readily identified as a Great White, was pushed out over the tank via a large crane. It was gigantic, he estimated its total length at 4 meters.

What came next absolutely dwarfed the largest carnivorous fish alive today.

"Eeeeeeiiii!! Daddy! Looookkk!" Jessica jibbered as she frantically pointed towards the water. At first he couldn't see anything, but then a colossal dark mass began to raise from the tank's depths.

The mosasaur breached, its blue-grean head and neck coming straight out of the water towards the shark. Rob followed it with his eyes, watching it snatch the shark and slink back into the water. A wave of water was displaced, splashing onto the onlookers in the lower two sections.

An explosion of minute fright followed by relieved laughter came from those two rows. Rob beamed, and with a little chuckle, began to realize he liked this place.

They stayed for another twenty minutes before taking off. Alice wanted to see the "duckbills" -- an innacurate term Rob meant she was referring to the Hadrosaurs.

Upon arriving at the Parasaurolophus enclosure, Rob could clearly see why they were referred to as "duck bills"

The animals were much larger then ducks, to start with. Something like 33 feet long and 7 feet high. Their bodies were a mottled greay-brown, with the males sporting n elaborate head crest. TIn the largest, Which Alice remarked was probably the alpha male, sported a head crest that was a dark crimson read. He honked -- very similar to a goose but much more guttural -- every few minutes.

"wow..." said Alice

"Yeah....wow..." remarked rob. He couldn't help but smile hugely. Looking around him at other visitors, he could see he wasn't alone. He glanced down at his daughter, who was gripping the guard rail looking at the huge animals with a sense of awe. He bent down and grabbed her. 

"alright guys, let's go look at the other animals. I wanna see the Tyrannosaur" he said. He couldn't keep the excitement from his voice; this was his all time favorite dinosaur. 

Once again shifting Jessica to his hip, he reached for his wife's hand. Together, they made their was deeper into the park. 

After this three day pass was through, Rob made a mental note -- he would definetly be bringing his family back here. This place, however they made it, was one of the best zoological attraction he had ever visited.

As they meandered down the dusty yellow and brown paths, the siren songs of the Sauropods rang brilliantly through the midday air...

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