Changes: Visitor Center

Revision as of 20:32, 19 April 2014

The Jurassic Park Visitors Center was a fictional visitors' center at the hub of Jurassic Park, featured in the novel and 1993 movie of the same name as well as its game adaptations. The center was located at the zoo-like amusement park set up by millionaire John Hammond (founder of InGen) on the island of Isla Nublar (near Costa Rica). It was themed around dinosaurs and was intended to be the main hive of activity for guests visiting the park.

Exterior

Bp VisitorCenter Front — Entrance To Visitors Center (Blueprints)

The exterior of the building was made of decorative concrete that followed an unusual concave curve. The lower front section, which had flowing water ducts and decorative foliage on either side, followed a convex curve and was split in half by the stairs which led up to the main entrance door. To the left of the stairway, was a wheel chair accessible ramp. On the tinted door was the design of an egg with light rays spawning from its core. Engraved around the door were decorative faux dinosaur fossils, with a releif of the park's skeleton mascot adorning the top of the door. Six tall black tinted windows, three on either side, spanned the building's facade. Keeping in line with the tropical retreat theme, the top of the building had three thatched, tiki-hut styled roofs with a larger one in the center to house the main entrance hall. The top also had guard rails, apparently for use as some kind of observation deck. The Visitor Center was inseparable from the tour as the main vehicle garage was located in the basement. The tour cars would exit the visitor center via the left side arm from the alcove. Lush rain-forest trees surrounded the area along with an observation pond and other decorative plants.

Interior

Bp visitorcenter map f1 — Visitors Center Map (First Floor)

Inside was the main entrance hall, leading off to different parts of the building. There was a staircase leading to the balcony walk way and above that were glass windows bringing light into the hall. The middle of the hall showed two museum quality dinosaur skeletons replicas, one a Tyrannosaurus rex and the other a sauropod,^[1] suspended by cables in a fighting pose. Once again the hall was made of limestone with wood edges and the floor was laid with black marble. At the rear of the room was a long illuminated wall length painting of dinosaurs in their natural habitat. The rear also led to the restaurant and gift shop. A banner hung across the hall with the words, "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth."

The main mural seen in the background, blown up and printed onto transparent windows, was actually three 8 1/2 by 11 paintings painted by the famous naturalist painter Doug Henderson, depicting life in the Jurassic period. The ones on either sides of the doors (one is a Gallimimus, the other a group of Brachiosaurs) were two of the paintings while the other is the main center mural.

The black and white mural in the dining area behind the buffet was actually a painting that is based on Picaso's 'Guernica.' In this case, instead of people, Dinosaurs are in their places.

Rooms located within the Visitor Center

Cretaceous Cafe - The restaurant located inside.
Visitor Center Kitchen - Where the food is cooked.
Gallimimus Gift Shop - The gift shop.
Control Room - Security room.
Genetics Lab - Where the geneticists create dinosaurs
Cold Storage Room - Where the embryos are stored.
Emergency Bunker - A bunker hidden underground.
Garage - Where the cars are kept when not in use.

In The Novel

In the novel, the building was described as being a very modern, tall, primarily glass rotunda with a black metal frame, making it appear extremely high-tech. There was a banner that hung from the ceiling which read: WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH. Other exhibits were present as well, namely WHAT IS A DINOSAUR? and THE MESOZOIC WORLD. Guard stations were in the main lobby and on the second floor near the labs. The park was controlled from the control room, and the garage housed the parks vehicles underneath the center.

The Visitor Center and Safari Lodge also feature a closed-circuit Television network which would broadcast certain areas of the park (presumably the pens and habitats of the featured dinosaurs). Each Channel for a different Dinosaur Area:

Channel 2: Hypsilophodont Highlands
Channel 3: Triceratops Territory
Channel 4: Sauropod Swamp
Channel 5: Carnivore Country
Channel 6: Stegosaurus South
Channel 7: Velociraptor Valley
Channel 8: Pterosaur Peak

Following the raptors escape, the Visitor Center is raided. Both Security Guards are killed, being ripped to shreds by the savage animals. The building offered little protection, with its glass doors and windows easily being shattered. The raptors were also easily able to jump onto the second floor balcony. The animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex is also destroyed by the raptors. The building was destroyed by the Costa Rican military when they napalmed the island at the end of the novel, with Grant personally seeing it bust into flames.

Jurassic Park-inspired games

The Visitor Center has appeared in all games based on the first film.
The Visitor Center was featured as an arena in Warpath: Jurassic Park.

Jurassic Park: The Game

thumb|300px|right The Visitor's Center is featured in Telltale's Jurassic Park: The Game, it is exactly the same as the movie version.

It eventually suffers additional damage after the events of the film. The top rotunda is bitten and broken while front entrance to the Center is broken as a Tyrannosaurus rex breaks through it.

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis

In Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis the visitor center is part of the entrance.

Damage

JP-WhenDinosaursRuled — The Lobby Destruction

During the dinosaur breakout, the building incurred extensive damage. The main hall was nearly destroyed when Velociraptors entered the building and climbed onto the skeleton formation, buckling them and bringing them crashing to the ground. All the skeletons were destroyed. A T. rex also caused damage in the hall. The theater window suffered several bullet holes by Dr. Alan Grant while he shot at the Velociraptors trying to burst through into the control room, which was covered by glass as the Velociraptor broke through and consequently shattered the window.

Production locations

Exterior: Valley House Plantation Estate, Kealia, Kauai, Hawaii.
Interior: Universal Studios Hollywood, CA.
- Visitor center lobby and rotunda: stage 12.
- Visitor center kitchen: stage 24.
- Visitor center control room, theatre, and dinosaur hatchery: Stage 28.
- V.I.P. dining room and visitors' dining room: unknown stage at Universal Studios, Hollywood, CA.

Real-life Jurassic Park Visitors Center

See Jurassic Park Discovery Center for a complete description

Universal Orlando Resort's Islands of Adventure theme park in Florida has the Jurassic Park Discovery Center, a real-life version of the Visitors Center from the film. The center is modeled after the film's center, but is quite different.

The outside of the center has, instead of windows like in the film, a 3D mural embedded in the wall of Jurassic scenery. Inside, a large mural extends across the front wall containing several dinosaur species in a realistic artist impression of a Jurassic period forest, ocean, and field. Visitors who enter the front of the center and enter the main rotunda will see several skeletal mock-ups of Tyrannosaurus rex, Apatosaurus, and a Pteranodon. The "Center" connects to a Jurassic-Park themed playground, and houses a dining area and a gift-shop on the second floor.

Trivia

Briefly during the reboot sequence, a schematic of the building could be seen. This, however, was not entirely accurate. It would seem that the blue prints input in the computer were not the most up to date and were lacking in several key facilities.

Although the Site B lab's exterior in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (arcade game) was modeled after The Operations building in the film, the interior was heavily inspired by the Visitor Center.

Most of the artwork on promotional items for The Lost World: Jurassic Park, such as toy-packaging, books, and video game covers featured a green jungle pattern similar to the wall paintings in the cafe and rotunda.

Gallery

References

↑ Jurassic Park script, page 18.

External links and references

[1] Jurassic Park script, page 18.

[1]

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 |Title = Jurassic Park Visitor Center
 |photo = [[File:JP-VisitorCenter.jpg|250px]]
-|When it was built = Before 1993, never finished
+|When it was built = Before 1993 (uncompleted)
 |Where is it? = [[Isla Nublar]]
-|What was it for? = Helping Guests
+|What was it for? = Main Hub of Jurassic Park
+*Island Monitor/Control Center
-*Monitoring/Controlling Jurassic Park
+*Visitor Reception and Lodging
-|Derelict or no? = Abandoned}}'''The Jurassic Park Visitors Center''' was a fictional visitors' center at the hub of Jurassic Park, featured in the [[Jurassic Park|novel]] and 1993 [[Jurassic Park (film)|movie]] of the same name as well as its game adaptations. The center was located at the zoo-like amusement park set up by millionaire [[John Hammond]] (founder of [[InGen]]) on the island of [[Isla Nublar]] (near [[Costa Rica]]). It was themed around dinosaurs and the center is the main hive of activity for guests visiting the park.
+*Main Dining Facility
+*Vehicle Garage
+|Derelict or no? = Abandoned/Demolished}}'''The Jurassic Park Visitors Center''' was a fictional visitors' center at the hub of Jurassic Park, featured in the [[Jurassic Park|novel]] and 1993 [[Jurassic Park (film)|movie]] of the same name as well as its game adaptations. The center was located at the zoo-like amusement park set up by millionaire [[John Hammond]] (founder of [[InGen]]) on the island of [[Isla Nublar]] (near [[Costa Rica]]). It was themed around dinosaurs and was intended to be the main hive of activity for guests visiting the park.
 ==Exterior==
 [[File:Bp_VisitorCenter_Front.jpeg|thumb|left|400px|Entrance To Visitors Center (Blueprints)]]
-The exterior of the building was made of decorative concrete and follows an unusual concave curve. The lower front section, which had flowing water ducts and decorative foliage on either side, followed a convex curve and is split in half by the stairs, which led up to the main entrance door. To the left there was a wheel chair accessible route. On the door was the design of an egg with sun rays spawning from it on its surface. Around the door were fake engraved dinosaur fossils for effect. Six tall black tinted windows, three on either side, spanned the building along with plants. The top of the building had 3 thatched tiki-hut styled roofs with a larger one in the center to house the main entrance hall. The top also had guard rails, apparently for use as some kind of observation deck. The Visitor Center was inseparable from the tour as the main vehicle garage is located in the basement. The tour cars exit the visitor center via the left side arm from the alcove. Lush rainforest trees surrounded the area along with an observation pond and a field off to the far left.
+The exterior of the building was made of decorative concrete that followed an unusual concave curve. The lower front section, which had flowing water ducts and decorative foliage on either side, followed a convex curve and was split in half by the stairs which led up to the main entrance door. To the left of the stairway, was a wheel chair accessible ramp. On the tinted door was the design of an egg with light rays spawning from its core. Engraved around the door were decorative faux dinosaur fossils, with a releif of the park's skeleton mascot adorning the top of the door. Six tall black tinted windows, three on either side, spanned the building's facade. Keeping in line with the tropical retreat theme, the top of the building had three thatched, tiki-hut styled roofs with a larger one in the center to house the main entrance hall. The top also had guard rails, apparently for use as some kind of observation deck. The Visitor Center was inseparable from the tour as the main vehicle garage was located in the basement. The tour cars would exit the visitor center via the left side arm from the alcove. Lush rain-forest trees surrounded the area along with an observation pond and other decorative plants.
+[[File:Themepark.jpg|thumb]]
+===Interior===
-Either arm extended out and would have double doors that would lead to the alcoves visible from the outside. On the left side—opposite the rex's entrance area—the alcove served as a road from which the tour cars and other vehicles exit the garage. The double doors seen inside during the film would lead to a hallway bringing you down into the basement of the Visitor Center.[[File:Themepark.jpg|thumb]]
-The opposite side—the one in which the rex enters—was not used as an exit for tour vehicles and most likely was meant as an employee only exit, but was never completed.
-Briefly during the reboot sequence, a schematic of the VC could be seen. This, however, is not entirely accurate. It would seem that the blue prints input in the computer were not the most up to date and were lacking in several key facilities.
-==Skeletons==
-In the entrance hall of the Visitor Center two fossil dinosaurs were shown, a ''[[T. rex]]'' attacking a sauropod that was presumably a juvenile ''[[Brachiosaurus]]'' or a ''[[Camarasaurus]]'' because of its skull.
-==In The Novel==
-In the novel, the building was described as being a very modern, tall, primarily glass rotunda with a black metal frame, making it appear extremely high-tech. There was a banner that hung from the ceiling which read: ''WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH. O''ther exhibits were present as well, namely ''WHAT IS A DINOSAUR? ''and ''THE MESOZOIC WORLD. ''Guard stations were in the main lobby and on the second floor near the labs. The park was controlled from the control room, and the [[Garage|garage]] housed the [[Tour Vehicles|parks vehicles]] underneath  the center. The movie version, on the other hand, had a more tropical/colonial theme. Neither buildings were complete, with construction work still taking place although the film was meant to be less complete than the book.
-The Visitor Center and [[Safari Lodge]] also feature a closed-circuit Television network which would broadcast certain areas of the park (presumably the pens and habitats of the featured dinosaurs). Each Channel for a different Dinosaur Area:
-*Channel 2: Hypsilophodont Highlands
-*Channel 3: Triceratops Territory
-*Channel 4: Sauropod Swamp
-*Channel 5: Carnivore Country
-*Channel 6: Stegosaurus South
-*Channel 7: Velociraptor Valley
-*Channel 8: Pterosaur Peak
-Following the raptors escape, the Visitor Center is raided. Both Security Guards are killed, being ripped to shreds by the savage animals. The building offered little protection, with its glass doors and windows easily being shattered. The raptors were also easily able to jump onto the second floor balcony. The animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex is also destroyed by the raptors. The building was destroyed by the [[Costa Rican National Guard|Costa Rican military]] when [[Costa Rica Napalm Bombing|they&nbsp;napalmed the island]] at the end of the novel, with [[Alan Grant|Grant]] personally seeing it bust into flames.
-==In The Film==
-The movie version, on the other hand, had a more tropical/colonial theme. Neither buildings were complete, with construction work still taking place although the film was meant to be less complete than the book. The main hall was only shown for a minimum time and was still under construction. The control room and the lab could be seen through an introduction ride called the [[Showcase Theater]].
-===Interior===
 [[File:Bp_visitorcenter_map_f1.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Visitors Center Map (First Floor)]]
 Inside was the main entrance hall, leading off to different parts of the building. There was a staircase leading to the balcony walk way and above that were glass windows bringing light into the hall. The middle of the hall showed two museum quality dinosaur skeletons replicas, one a [[Tyrannosaurus rex]] and the other a sauropod,<ref>Jurassic Park script, page 18.</ref> suspended by cables in a fighting pose. Once again the hall was made of limestone with wood edges and the floor was laid with black marble. At the rear of the room was a long illuminated wall length painting of dinosaurs in their natural habitat. The rear also led to the restaurant and gift shop. A banner hung across the hall with the words, "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth."
-Again the interior was still under construction.
 The main mural seen in the background, blown up and printed onto transparent windows, was actually three 8 1/2 by 11 paintings painted by the famous naturalist painter Doug Henderson, depicting life in the Jurassic period. The ones on either sides of the doors (one is a ''[[Gallimimus]]'', the other a group of ''Brachiosaur''s) were two of the paintings while the other is the main center mural.
@@ Line 57: / Line 34: @@
 *[[Emergency Bunker]] - A bunker hidden underground.
 *[[Garage]] - Where the cars are kept when not in use.
+==In The Novel==
+In the novel, the building was described as being a very modern, tall, primarily glass rotunda with a black metal frame, making it appear extremely high-tech. There was a banner that hung from the ceiling which read: ''WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH. Other exhibits were present as well, namely ''WHAT IS A DINOSAUR? '' and ''THE MESOZOIC WORLD''. Guard stations were in the main lobby and on the second floor near the labs. The park was controlled from the control room, and the [[Garage|garage]] housed the [[Tour Vehicles|parks vehicles]] underneath  the center.
+The Visitor Center and [[Safari Lodge]] also feature a closed-circuit Television network which would broadcast certain areas of the park (presumably the pens and habitats of the featured dinosaurs). Each Channel for a different Dinosaur Area:
+*Channel 2: Hypsilophodont Highlands
+*Channel 3: Triceratops Territory
+*Channel 4: Sauropod Swamp
+*Channel 5: Carnivore Country
+*Channel 6: Stegosaurus South
+*Channel 7: Velociraptor Valley
+*Channel 8: Pterosaur Peak
+Following the raptors escape, the Visitor Center is raided. Both Security Guards are killed, being ripped to shreds by the savage animals. The building offered little protection, with its glass doors and windows easily being shattered. The raptors were also easily able to jump onto the second floor balcony. The animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex is also destroyed by the raptors. The building was destroyed by the [[Costa Rican National Guard|Costa Rican military]] when [[Costa Rica Napalm Bombing|they&nbsp;napalmed the island]] at the end of the novel, with [[Alan Grant|Grant]] personally seeing it bust into flames.
 ==Jurassic Park-inspired games==
 * The Visitor Center has appeared in all games based on the first film.
+* The Visitor Center was featured as an arena in [[Warpath: Jurassic Park]].
 ===Jurassic Park: The Game===
 [[Video:Visitor Center|thumb|300px|right]]
@@ Line 92: / Line 86: @@
 ==Trivia==
+*Briefly during the reboot sequence, a schematic of the building could be seen. This, however, was not entirely accurate. It would seem that the blue prints input in the computer were not the most up to date and were lacking in several key facilities.
-*In the raptor attack scene it says raptors can open doors but the Visitor Center's dome does not have the doors like the kitchen does. Therefore the raptors shouldn't be able to get in. Unless if there are any explanations, then it remains unclear of how the raptors were able to get inside. They most likely came in through the wall that was under construction like the Tyrannosaurus did.
 *Although the Site B lab's exterior in [[The Lost World: Jurassic Park (arcade game)]] was modeled after [[Worker Village|The Operations building]] in the film, the interior was heavily inspired by the Visitor Center.
 *Most of the artwork on promotional items for The Lost World: Jurassic Park, such as toy-packaging, books, and video game covers featured a green jungle pattern similar to the wall paintings in the cafe and rotunda.