Opening Day of The Franklin Institute's Jurassic World Exhibit {Blogmas Day 16}

9:00 AM

I know, I know! "Katie, this post is so late! Opening day was like three weeks ago!"

But I wasn't sure if I wanted to post this before or after Blogmas and I wasn't sure if it was a right fit for Blogmas. Then I realized, "Hey, it's my blog. I can post this whenever I want to." Besides, these tickets were an early Christmas present from my parents, so it kind of relates to Blogmas.

Anyway ...

The earliest memories of my childhood are of me telling everyone I knew that I wanted to be a paleontologist -- mind you, I may have butchered the word because my parents told me I've been saying that since I was about three.

I was the little girl who played with Jurassic Park action figures (that belonged to my brother) and watched The Land Before Time (and all the sequels). Even today, my boyfriend gave me a dinosaur Build-A-Bear (which I appropriately named Dino because why not) since my love for prehistoric creatures has been a constant in my life.

When the Franklin Institute announced the arrival of the Jurassic World Exhibit come fall of 2016, I just about died. I was so ecstatic. DINOSAURS! (Sure, they may be animatronic but it's still pretty cool nonetheless.)

My parents got me opening day tickets for an early Christmas gift for me. I was basically a child running around the Franklin Institute in a 21-year-old's body. I've been to the last couple of exhibits they've had in the past few years (Titanic and Pixar), but I was definitely more excited for Jurassic World than anything else.

I may be a little biased because of my love of dinosaurs, but this exhibit was amazing and definitely worth the trip into Philly for. I had so much fun seeing the animatronics, especially the ones set up straight from the movies.

There's always time for a quick selfie in the car.

"We've been pre-booking tickets for months. The park needs a new attraction every few years in order to reinvigorate the public's interest. Kind of like the space program. Corporate felt genetic modification would up the wow factor."

"They're dinosaurs. Wow enough."

"Not according to our focus groups. The Indominus Rex makes us relevant again."

"The Indominous Rex?"

"We needed something scary and easy to pronounce. You should hear a four-year-old try to say, 'Archaeornithomimus.'"

"You should hear you try to say it."

Just the happiest bean at Jurassic World.

"Remember why this place was made, Claire. Jurassic World exists to show us how very small we are. Very new. You can't put a price on that."

My first glimpse at a (not-so) real dinosaur!!!!!!

"How fast are they?"

"Well, we clocked the T-Rex at 32 miles an hour."

"T-T-Rex?"

"Mhm."

"You said you've got a T-Rex?"

"Uh-huh."

"Say again?"

"We have a T-Rex."

"Mommy's very angry."

"Turn the light off!"

Here's my babe just watching the little babes.

"A hundred million years ago, there were mosquitoes, just like today. And just like today, they fed on the blood of animals. Even dinosaurs. Sometimes, after biting a dinosaur, the mosquito would land on the branch of a tree and get stuck in the sap. After a long time, the sap got hardened and became fossilized, just like a dinosaur bone, preserving the mosquito inside. This fossilized tree sap, which we call 'amber,' waited millions of years with the mosquito inside until Jurassic Park scientists came along. Using sophisticated techniques, they extract the preserved blood and bingo! Dino DNA!"