With this year being the 30th anniversary of the Jurassic Park film, there was an offsite planned to take place in San Diego during San Diego Comic-Con 2023 — and we were lucky enough to score tickets to the free event titled “Step Into Jurassic Park.”
The offsite activation was only open the Friday and Saturday of the convention, July 21-22, 2023, so time slots were limited and went very quickly once tickets became available. I was able to snag 4 tickets to the 11:20am time slot on Friday, so without any other plans that morning, we were actually able to sleep in! That is very rare for SDCC.
However, this offsite was a little further out than most other offsites typically are. It was located at 325 15th Street, which is several blocks northeast of the Petco Interactive Zone, and a few blocks east of the San Diego Central Library. From our hotel, the Manchester Grand Hyatt, Google Maps said it would take 24 minutes to walk there, so we figured that with SDCC foot traffic through the Gaslamp, it would be more like a 30+ minute walk. But that’s okay, because we’re #ComicConFit!
We met our friends Pablo and John there (yep, the same Pablo and John from our Paramount+ article!), and went over to the Reservation line. I was asked if I had tickets, and pulled them up on my phone to show the attendant, then was let into the line. Oddly, they never scanned the tickets, just looked at them.
While waiting in line, one of the attendants came out holding a baby dinosaur! It was moving around in such a way that made it look realistic, and the attendant had on a headset and speaker and was talking about the dinosaur. This aspect, combined with hearing the theme song from the movie playing, almost made it feel like we were really going to Jurassic Park!
Before long, we were waiting at the gates to go in. The attendant talked to us a bit about what to expect and gave us all brochures.
Then finally, it was our group’s turn to step into Jurassic Park! I’d say there were about 10 people in our group. We went into a tent that appeared to be an excavation base camp, similar what you see at the beginning of the movie when we meet Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler. We were given a little background info, were warned to watch out for Velociraptors, and then were sent on our way to explore the park!
Our first stop was to see the amber where the “Dino DNA” had been preserved, as well as some incubated dinosaur eggs. I was hoping to see one hatch, but no such luck!
Moving on, we came to the Dilophosaurus, the dinosaur that killed Dennis Nedry in the movie! A staff member asked if a brave soul might want to sit on the rock and face the dinosaur, and Pablo immediately jumped at the chance. Soon after, a few other brave souls, including myself, also faced the Dilophosaurus as it sprayed its venom at us.
Next, we headed over to the Velociraptor enclosure, where we didn’t actually see any Velociraptors, but we saw the remains of their meal!
Then came the moment we’d all been waiting for — the T-Rex toilet scene! “When you gotta go, you gotta go,” as Ian Malcolm would say.
Of course, they couldn’t leave out the iconic Velociraptors kitchen scene. The staff member played into the role, hiding behind the cabinet, then we each got a chance to do the same.
Finally, one person in our group was able to fix the controls, and we made our escape from Jurassic Park!
Upon escaping, we exited into a courtyard outside that had several picnic tables set up, where we could sit down and eat the dino nuggets we were given! There were also three dipping sauces available to choose from: honey lime sriracha, togaroshi BBQ, and honey mustard. I went with the honey mustard and Josh went with the BBQ. We also each got a boxed container of water, each of which had various dinosaurs on them. Mine had a Triceratops.
There was a Visitor Center gift shop area, but you couldn’t actually buy anything there. You could just scan the QR codes and buy the items on Amazon. They also had a little LEGO area set up, and we couldn’t resist playing with the Jurassic Park themed LEGOs for a few minutes (we definitely didn’t get enough playtime with LEGOs at the LEGO DreamZzz Watch Party on the IMDboat the night before!). Josh had the brilliant idea to build a toilet and recreate the toilet scene!
And so ended our visit to Jurassic Park! With Jurassic Park having been one of my favorite movies growing up, it was amazing to see so many memorable scenes not only brought to life in front of our eyes, but to actually become a part of those scenes as well. The staff members both dressed and acted the part to help make us feel as if we were really stepping into Jurassic Park. Plus, providing the free dino nuggets and dinosaur themed box water was a nice touch as well. All in all, this was a well-themed and fun experience!
Stay tuned for more articles about our experiences at SDCC 2023!
