Walking with Dinosaurs – The Live Experience Review
Back in June we saw a news story on TV about the Walking with Dinosaurs live experience show. It looked really cool with Life sized robotic Dinosaurs taking over a hockey rink and roaming around. We found out that there were only two Canadian stops for the show. Toronto and Edmonton. Looking at the schedule we saw that the show opened the 25th of July in Edmonton Rexall Place. We juggled a few travel plans around and then purchased tickets on TicketMaster’s web site.
The show uses about 2/3’s of the arena surface as a stage, and we ended up getting our tickets pretty high up in the stands for the opening night performance. I can honestly say I am not sure if the lower bowl seats would be any better than the higher seats. Ticket price was 40.00 CAN + service fees to get in for our seats
You are led back in time over 150 Million years by a Paleontologist that serves as your guide. They talk about the different periods in time and the continental drift. As we approach each error we are introduced to several Dinosaurs from the era. These Dinosaurs are life sized robots (or puppets) that move around like a real dinosaur would. The detail on the dinosaurs is incredible and they truly look lifelike. The smaller dinosaurs are played by people in costumes although at first I did not notice the human legs in the smaller dinosaurs although they are quite obvious. Once I saw that though I always saw them, although it did not affect my ability to enjoy the show.
The larger dinosaurs are mounted on flat bases that have a driver hidden underneath. While these platforms do drive around the legs of the dinosaurs move as if they were walking. It is very easy to get immersed in what is happening on the stage and forget all about it.
We see quite a variety of dinosaurs (15 total) in all different settings, including a flying Pteradon. We are introduced to several herbivores and it not long before the first carnivores arrive. The first of the Brachiosaurs is actually quite large. During its encounter with an Allosaurus we find out that it is only a youngster and one of the adults comes out. This dinosaur is huge! We see several more types of dinosaurs and the end of the show brings the star attraction T-Rex.
If you are familiar with the Walking with Dinosaurs TV series you will definitely recognize some of the story lines that are used from that show.
All in all the show is very enjoyable. The first half is 45 minutes followed by a 15 minute intermission and then another 45 minutes of show. This show was well worth the drive to Edmonton to see it. IT is playing with two shows per night until July 28th. It will also be playing in Toronto from August 8th through 12th 2007.
As for the seating, I don’t know if I would want to sit closer to the stage (floor), I think that you could easily be overwhelmed by the size of the dinosaurs and may miss out something. Sitting up higher gives you a complete field of view so you can catch all of the action all over the floor.
I have some pictures that I took during the show available here:
You can also learn more about the show and dates for the city nearest you at:
http://www.dinosaurlive.com
I did manage to shoot a little video on my new RCA SmallWonder EZ201 video camera. I will post those soon and add a link to this post.
On a side note I was a little upset with the hospitality shown by the Edmonton Journal. When I purchased my tickets through TicketMaster it indicated that there would be a souvenir poster available. We saw the table where they were handing out the posters and IK stood in line with three ticket stubs to get a couple of posters. When I got to the front of the line they checked the tickets and said I could not get a poster because these weren’t Edmonton Journal pre sale tickets. I indicated that Ticketmaster said there would be a poster but was told that was a mistake. I sent my 6 year old son that wanted to see the show with a ticket stub to get a poster (who could resist those Puss n Boot eyes) but again he was told no. He immediately started crying and some very nice man who had three posters gave him one. Many thanks to the gesture of kindness from that gentleman and thumbs down to the Edmonton Journal that cannot give a poster that is worth .25 to a little boy. Maybe if they had been nicer I may have bought a paper the next time I am there. Believe it or not I will remember that for a long time!
Stephen
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