Draco - Sunday, 9 December 2007

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Draco - Sunday, 9 December 2007

Post by Draconisaurus »

Name: Draco Astreus
Position: Team Leader, 3D modeller, event scripter, sound design, level design, texture design
Occupation: Aspiring Game Designer, Boyfriend, Restaurant Front Worker
Age: 20
Listening to: Withdraw - Mechwarrior 2


And now, the conclusion.
So we left off with the Animal Kingdom, that's pretty much all the cool stuff there was to see there, at least that I'll show you at this time. ;) The second half of my vacation was spent at my aunt Cindy's house along with my cousin Katie and uncle David, and also "Annie" was there for a few days - a foreign exchange student from South Korea, 7 days younger than me, who used to live with them all the time but now lives at the dorms of FSU. She and I apparently have unfathomable depths of common philosophical ground, an area of thought important to us both, and we talked for many hours while I was there. Haven't been able to connect with another person on such an intellectual level as that for many a year. That in itself just about made the whole vacation worth while, but it wasn't over yet.

My next themepark stop was at Disney World, with my mom, grandma, and two other relatives. I'll make this part brief. Before we got to the park, there was this cool monorail we took... ;) I took quite a few images and videos of it, I'll share just a few images here.
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Oh yeah.. these birds you see here.... are everywhere in Orlando, particularly the theme parks. Kinda like modern day compies, they fill a similar niche..
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My mom and I posing before the castle thing in the middle, on a picturesque day...
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Then there was of course the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which has been upgraded since I last went, many years ago now. They have music from the 2nd movie playing much of the time, which was just candy for my ears, couldn't resist the urge to dance to it haha.. The first time we got in with about a 10-15 minute wait, but the second time around, we basically walked through the maze straight into it, which was a great video opportunity.. *pets digital camera*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSkzqsxOYXE
(and yes the music playing in this vid is not the music I referred to)
Here are a few photos of certain spots from the first time around, which you can see a lot better..
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Here's a part in the ride where the captain on the ship that's bombarding the coastal town has been replaced with Captain Barbossa, basically screaming that he wants Jack Sparrow delivered to him... also, more Pirates of the Caribbean 2 music in the background, yay 8)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBESuvIMxio
Did snap some shots on the ride.. Here's Jack, hiding in a barrel! Also the dog with the keys.
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On the way out of the ride, I spotted this cool map in the gift shop. It seems to have been put up in conjunction with At World's End, kinda Oriental-ish.. but I have no idea what the map is actually showing.
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Ah yesh, me attempting to look a bit Piraty..
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Ah yeah, here is one of the places my grandpa designed.
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It's called Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, basically a Western-theme roller coaster, going through some canyons, a ghost town, stuff like that.. actually there is one cool part on the ride...
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The last ride we went on was the Haunted Mansion one, which was pretty cool. No pics of the ride itself (it was REALLY dark in there), but I do have an image of the horse and herse that brought us there.
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.....and THAT was my adventure at Disney World. The very next day, which was in fact my last full day in Orlando, my aunt Jan and Uncle Alan took my mom and I to Universal Studios - a friend of Jan's works there (do I have connections or what, eh? :yum: ), who apparently designed the technology for the simulator-esque Spider-man ride at Islands of Adventure (IOA), and does some other things. When we came to park there, guess which section we happened to be in?
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I <3 the interesting specular highlights they gave the rex-skull.. neato, it doesn't show up anywhere else. Anyway, we went down several moving sidewalks and came into the entrance to the whole location - the area just before it divides into the main Universal Studios park and IOA. This here is the closest I got to the original park, haven't been there since I was in like, kindergarden.. No idea when I shall have the chance to return.
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So anyway, then we took a plane to the Islands of Adventure, but our pilot was a little out of it and crash landed us on a restaurant, so we had to make the rest of our way on foot.
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Here's the main lighthouse for IOA, you'd think the pilot could have at least seen that..
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Then we arrived at the main gate to IOA, but we had to wait for our contact so he could let us in through the Employee gate. Apparently he was at a business meeting with Universal Studios executives, concerning final plans for the Harry Potter zone of IOA that began construction just after I came home. We were actually waiting for almost an hour, IIRC.. but I used the opportunity to take a multitude of texture reference photos (something I did a lot of in Orlando, I can't tell you how many odd or suspicious looks I got). When he did come, we had introductions and all to who each of us were. After general pleasantries and him telling me that the dinosaurs, as I had hoped, had gotten an upgrade since my last visit, I thought immediately of what I wanted to say to him.
Me: Oh, hey! I have a question. *folds arms*
IOA Guy: What's that?
Me: Do you know anything about Jurassic Park 4?
IOA Guy: No, sorry, but even if I did, I couldn't tell you. (typical)
Heh, so I don't really know if he knew anything, but that's what I got out of him. Btw, my RSS has picked up some stories lately that suggest JP4 is now being held back only by the writer's strike, and that a 2009 release is hoped for.

So anyway, first we stepped into a gift shop, where I met a very old friend of mine.
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This guy is like, really awesome. Our IOA friend was still with us, so I immediately asked him "Hey! How much for the Tylosaur?! *LOL*", to which after a few moments he responded "Free, if you can get it out of here today." XD Too bad, no dice... Then he left us to explore the park on our own, saying he'd meet up with us again at 6 pm to give us a discount at the shop, and bring us to Universal Studios if we wanted. As it happened, at that point he had another meeting to go to, so there was no time for that. After he left, my aunt/uncle went their way and my mom and I went ours...

Well so, I had been to IOA 2.5 years ago and didn't need to see a lot of the stuff along the way.
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We crossed Super-hero Island to catch a helicopter leaving for Isla Nublar, and let me tell you, it was quite a site. We could see the Visitors Center from afar before we got there.
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Then finally, we arrived at the Jurassic Park gate! No trip to JP would be complete without it.
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There were a number of cool places to eat here, although many of them were closed much of the time - the Park itself was kinda dead almost the whole time! It was the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, most people had already gone back to school from the weekend holiday. As such, it became easier for me to shoot images of everything, so I wasn't complaining...
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The ground everywhere was awesome... made to look kinda like fossilized imprints of foliage etc, maybe I'll be able to duplicate it in a level sometime.
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Occasionally, we were made aware of exactly how safe the Park was by the fence pylons hidden in foliage.
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There was in fact a gatherers' Mercedes at Jurassic Park! I believe it's the type Eddie used in TLW.
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However, to my utter horror, I discovered that it was not unguarded.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK0F-JSH0wI
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Before fleeing from the scene, I managed to snap a few very nice images of the Rex's head. SI had better be happy...
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Running from the rex, my mom and I came to the Restrooms. The rex was thankfully gone when we came out.
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We made our way to the local gift shop called "Jurassic Outfitters", and lo! there before us stood a massive Velociraptor replica. It was even for sale! I may just buy it some day, down the road... Anyway, it was another perfect reference opportunity.
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Our next stop was the old Amber Mines. Quite a fun place! I fitted myself with a JP hard hat and moved in while my mom stayed behind.
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Once inside, I came to the place from where the Amber was mined. Cool stuff in there, you can see the insects in the amber pieces..
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This one here was rather interesting...
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...and this one is actually edible! I bought it and am planning to save it for some wild party in years to come..
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There was a rope bridge to an area of the Park neighboring the old Mines, but apparently, raptors had been loose recently and caused some damage to it..
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So I came down from the Mines and walked around, deeper into the Park.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7XW1vVkG80
As I walked, I found myself in the midst of a battle between spitting Dilophosaurs that had gotten loose and men carrying tranq guns from above.
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Right beside this was an area quite similar to the Raptor Pens, a neat reference opportunity..
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Then I came this cool little spot in the caverns nearby where you could echo your voice really well...
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L23mRgy_nvU

After all that, I went on to see other areas of the Park. I found a memorial for a dead Triceratops - apparently she was more sick than we thought.
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Finally we came to the Visitors Center (aka the Discovery Center), which let me tell you, was quite cool, inside and out.
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VIP Dining! Apparently, this rex has had one too many hard things to eat, lately...
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There were also some very nice JP paintings here. None are from the movie, I think, but may still be of some use...
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Notice the Paras? Slash was the one who realized that they look exactly like Trespasser Parasaurs. Coinsidence? I'm not sure, but it's very interesting...

And here's a clip of walking down the famous staircase to the bottom floor, where lots of interesting things can be found...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9rTxDTCJQs

Oh yes, and I shared a brief philosophical moment with the resident Tyrannosaur skeleton.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpTFOvqFrpw

On our way out, my mom and I were savagely ambushed by that loose velociraptor! We barely made it out okay.
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After leaving the Discovery Center, we happened upon a JP Explorer. I was about to spend a fine afternoon on the main tour, until a loose Spinosaur ruined the party. They really need to improve on their containment practices!!!!
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Since the main tour was off, we decided to take the Jungle River Cruise instead.
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As I entered the building, I noticed the attendant standing there and asked to take a picture of her uniform.
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I then continued ravidly taking photographs, at which point she reminded me that photography would not be allowed on the ride itself. I posed to her the point that I had seen many photographs and videos of the ride on the Internet before, to which she responded simply that they shouldn't have (not like I expected her to say something different). I asked her to show me where this was written; she sighed, rolled her eyes very slightly, and then pointed to the above sign, after which the closest mention she could locate was the statement that cameras were among the items to be secured during the ride. Suggesting that I would comply with this, I left her and proceeded to take images of the area that led to the ride.
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Here's a part of the video that was playing on suspended TVs. Unfortunately, the line was so short (non-existant) that I felt a bit rushed to get to the boat; one part that I didn't get showed John Hammond himself in front of the VC (as it is in the movie), with people coming in and out.. ah well here's what I did get.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJFuS3vwTIM

Now so, do you think I took pictures during the ride?
Hell yes.
I was originally going to take video; I decided I might as well obey a little bit and not do the video I wanted. xP Anyways it would mean more opportunity for clear photos, also I knew the lighting for the indoors part of the ride would not work.

The River Cruise starts out with its own JP gate, which sounds just like the main one when it opens. The voice Richard Kiley was in fact to be heard during the cruise, introducing it to us and describing the various dinosaurs and their habbits.
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Next we met the baby Stego from TC Ops Final (TC Act 1)! Sure enough, its grumpy mother was just across the way. We moved right along.
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Then something terrible happened. We were about to enter Hadrosaur Cove, when the boat was ubruptly diverted into the Raptor Containment Area.
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To our horror, we could see that raptors had escaped from Velociraptor Containment #2. As we moved in, we were advised to stay seated so that we could be resqued at the recieving dock. However, when we arrived, we could only hear the radio of the dead JPAC boatman who was to be our hope of resque. We soon realized it was his shirt that a couple of compies were fighting over.
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As if things couldn't get any worse, when we moved up into the cargo unloading building, a raptor transport unit's crane began to malfunction, and it almost fell on us. But we made it into the building.
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Unfortunately, within the building, my digital camera did not function almost at all. We were carried up inside, velociraptors growling at us from all sides, being spit upon by dilophossaurs, until we came to the end of the chamber... where there stood the monstrous figure of a full grown T-Rex. He stared us down and bellowed out at us as we approached.
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Just as we came within eating distance, the boat suddenly dropped straight through a hole in the floor, and we plumetted down into the river below, almost drowning. Call it, an Act of God. Obviously, we survived to tell about it, but only just.

Actually, someone else recorded the adventure for us. ;) Here's a video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZmApNpFHLeY
Listen for when we came up to the suspended raptor cage! Trespasser raptor vocals (used and unused in the retail) are coming from it, mixed with only a couple movie sounds. :| I wonder if the Tres Devs know about that....

Also, I did manage to capture another group's perilous adventure out of the Cruise:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z16XkvyPU_g

After the ride, we arrived once again in the gift shop. There was a neat soda cooler by the register, as well as a nice raptor image on the wall that may or may not be useful...
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Oh, there was also this thing. Some kinda portable pop cooler with a classic-style Spino logo... very interesting, and it was one of only 2 places this logo appeared in the Park.
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Also in the gift shop was this awesome hat. Kinda Grant-ish.. not quite the same but.. I took the opportunity to have some photos taken of me. I was very surprised afterwards with just how Grant-ish my expressions turned out on a couple..
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After all that adventure, we decided it was time for a lunch break. We headed back to the Discovery Center and had a bite to eat. After that, my mom read in a book while I went downstairs to spend more time with the attractions. I visited the Hatchery and had a bit of fun scanning an egg.. then, as a female genetics work passed by, I asked her if she would turn around and allow me to photograph the cool logo on the back of her labcoat that I had seen once already. She was very nice about it, and here's the result!
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After seeing how interested I was in the place, despite being roughly college age and thus probably stereotyped typically as not caring so much for such "childish" things, she seriously began to describe to me how the operations of the hatchery worked, things about the eggs, etc. I then pointed to a map of Isla Nublar visible behind the glass, asking if it would be possible for me to slip in and out to grab a photo. This wasn't allowed but, an assistant of hers passed by, who very gladly assisted by bringing my digital camera through the door marked BIOHAZARD and snapping a photograph of the map, holding her arms up. She then stood on an object and attempted to take a more straight-on photo, but the camera batteries died on her (they had been on their last leg for a while).
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When she came back, I gave her as much thanks as I could and told her it was quite alright that she didn't get the straight-on photo she tried to get. :) As the photo was taken and then still after I got it, the biotechnitial I first accosted proceeded to tell me exactly how the island worked, how eggs were transported via an underground system that ran everywhere, and all that. It was quite an experience, for such a JP fan as myself, let me tell you. ^_^ There's one more image from the area, of a terminal related to the egg-scanning process.
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There were also some computer terminals nearby, which she invited me to use before the Discovery Center closed for the night. Some of it was shown in my video from earlier - it's a station where you mix your DNA with that of a dinosaur's. First, you are profiled to see what dinosaur you are most like alread. Then, they do a brain scan, and then you put your hand on a panel, where you can feel a DNA sample being taken. Then, after waiting some moments, you get to see the result! (it was in fact an image of my face, textured onto a mesh of some dinosaur I'm not sure about, it's supposed to be a small packhunter that eats meat)
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And now, sadly, my trip to Jurassic Park was coming to an end. There were in total 545 images or videos that I took in the Park. Insane? Maybe, but it was well worth it, a truly unique experience and reference source. Now, during my stay at JP, many themes from the first two movies could be heard playing in different parts of the Park. In addition, there were some tropical remixes of traditional JP themes, one of which was very nice indeed! I would pay much money for a CD with all the new music they played there. Ah, well... here is the best I could capture (featuring bushes because I was keeping the camera as close to the source of the music as possible).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThemZbHVo9s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvxSgF77cGg

And so then, we flew back to the mainland of IOA. As we left, I snapped another shot of the Discovery Center, quite a beautiful sight at night:
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Back on shore, as we were leaving, I had a brief meeting with another old friend of mine, who speaks for the trees.
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At the very end of our stay, we entered a random gift shop, not directly associated with Jurassic Park, and discovered a hat which had not been at Nublar's gift shop.
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Complete with the button on the side, it allows for both Alan Grant and Robert Muldoon cosplay. :mrgreen: I quickly decided to purchase it.

And so, we passed the light house of the Islands a final time...
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...and came to find our plane exactly where we left it. By this time, our pilot had sobered himself and affected repairs, and we were off home in good time.
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On the plane, I found myself having a bit of trouble in fastening my seatbelt.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnAMg_bqrvE
..but I got it to work anyway. ;) And so ended my journey in the Land of Orlando.
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Here are most of the things I bought while in Orlando. Note that the white tiger is a Christmas gift for someone else.
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Btw, that necklace there has some text on the back which reads:
IF YOU ARE
CONSUMED BY A
DINOSAUR THIS
WILL NOT
DISINTEGRATE.

Good to know, I guess!! :P

And so, of course, how does Iowa welcome me back? Like this!
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:cartman:

Ah well, I better get used to it, I'm planning to move to Pennsylvania in a few years. Maybe the humidity will keep the cold from being quite so bitter.. Anyway, I have some final photographs here. About a week after my return, after a nice shower and shave, I decided it was a nice time for some cosplay as Alan Grant. :D
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And then, JP3 style!
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And well, that sums up this developer journal. :) Thanks for reading!! Hope you enjoyed, and hope that some of what I brought back may be useful here. On my final note, here is my new avatar!
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- Drac.
Last edited by Draconisaurus on Mon Dec 10, 2007 5:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Christopher
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Post by Christopher »

Sounds like a fun trip! I love theme parks, hopefully I can visit these ones someday.

You should have organised a truck to tow the Tylosaur away. :P And out of curiosity, how much was that Raptor replica worth?
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Post by Draconisaurus »

Christopher wrote:And out of curiosity, how much was that Raptor replica worth?
Heheh, actually, I'm sorry to report that I didn't get around to asking. Thing is that I'm sure it's waaayy beyond my reach now, and that I'll know when I have that kind of money to throw around, whatever its cost is. I'm planning to get it for my future office space, when we have enough money, if it's still there... Haha, you could actually call them up and ask, I'm sure. While we were in Orlando, we called Sea World to see if they still had the JP3 arcade game in their arcade center (which I played 2.5 years ago). Since they didn't, we went to Disney World instead. :?
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Post by tatu »

Draco, how long have you worked on JPDS now?:P 3 years? xD haha nice btw :yes:
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Post by Draconisaurus »

tatu wrote:Draco, how long have you worked on JPDS now?:P 3 years? xD haha nice btw :yes:
Yep! :mrgreen: Hmmm I should make some special announcement about it... I'm not sure what it would say yet....

Oh and, just so everyone knows, the Pirates on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride did not eat any of the tourists while we were there.
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Post by Second Illiteration »

Well a full body shot of the rex would have been better :P And I have some shots of that first raptor....those ones you took might help fill it out.


And why do you look angry and determined in most of your pictures?
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Post by Draconisaurus »

Second Illiteration wrote:Well a full body shot of the rex would have been better :P
Sorry I was too busy running for my life :P Anyways he tended to keep the rest of his body pretty well hidden in the foliage.. :?
And I have some shots of that first raptor....those ones you took might help fill it out.
Ahh lol good.. I thought it was going to be completely unique. :P I wonder how long it's been in that gift shop...
And why do you look angry and determined in most of your pictures?
LOL!!! Wow, well I guess I do.. I'm not quite sure I would say angry.. Heh, for the Alan Grant cosplay images, I gave expressions (mostly) that I remembered him having in the movies. I think Grant is pretty much like that, at least in the better parts of the movies. I always think of Alan Grant as a man on a mission, trying to think of how to best get him and his companions out alive, knowing they depend on him.
As for the rest of the images, well I generally have a determined face on when I'm dealing with something I really like. Also whenever I was trying on a hat, I was trying to play the part of a character from the movies, specific or general.. Anyways I am a very determined person in everything I do. :yum: My face looks "happy" when something humerous is going on, hehe, not when I'm confronting the very essence of one of my biggest hobbies (except when something funny happens during that, which occasionally it did :lol:). Anyways I am very much a thinker.. my "deep in thought" face is never "happy", it's very considerate and .. "determined".. but not angry. ;)

Oh and SI, I'm hoping a skin made from the first raptor can be put into JPDS1... ;)
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Post by Second Illiteration »

I actually started one a long time ago...I think I was going to use it in the raptor battles:

Image
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Post by Shadow Wolf »

looks awesome SI :) nice job presumably that's not how it's gonna look finished though? :D
post something intelligent before I go insane from a combination of exhaustion and boredom
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Post by Draconisaurus »

Second Illiteration wrote:I actually started one a long time ago...I think I was going to use it in the raptor battles:

Image
Aha, other than a little stretching around the neck, that looks sweet. 8)
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Post by Second Illiteration »

Yeah...neck stretching does happen....
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