RAAAAAHHH!!!
Tonight was the long-awaited Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular.
(You may just have noticed I was going to this from previous posts of mine.)
I met up beforehand with soul_rider, longhairedhippy, Evie, neil_h, clarestar and bez_loves_pie for food at Prezzo. The service wasn't desperately quick, but that was okay as we had plenty of time and they did give us some damn fine pizza.
Then we collected grok_mctanys and longrat + family and wandered into the Arena. We found our entire row of seats. An announcement warned us that dinosaurs objected to flash photography and the consequences would be bad...for us. And also there would be no mobile phone signal for 100 million years :o)
The show was absolutely fantastic, featuring shifting continents, little hatchlings, battles with an Allosaur, inflatable trees, a pair of Brachiosaurs that practically filled the Arena, a forest fire accomplished through lighting and sound effects - and that was just the first act!
I was sat next to Evie, explaining some of what was going on. She seemed to enjoy herself immensely, despite being a bit fidgety. I popped out in the interval (to go to the loo and to buy dino tat) and was practically bowled over by B and Roozle as they jumped up to thank me for getting tickets, so I guess they were both having fun too!
Act 2 was devoted to the Cretaceous period, and very pretty it was too. Highlights included a soaring journey over continents and the ocean, a four dinosaur grudge match including a full-size T-Rex, and the (almost literally) blinding meteorite finale.
A palaeontologist narrator guided us through the whole show. It was very well staged, with proper drama, some clever misdirection and genuine surprises. Unless you were specifically looking, the mechanics and human performers were barely noticeable. Disbelief was well and truly suspended.
After the final bows were taken we had no small amount of RAH!-ing outside before jumping on a heaving tram home.
I think we all agreed that (as well as making us regress to being about eight years old) the show was well worth the entry price and thoroughly recommended to anyone :oD
Photos
(You may just have noticed I was going to this from previous posts of mine.)
I met up beforehand with soul_rider, longhairedhippy, Evie, neil_h, clarestar and bez_loves_pie for food at Prezzo. The service wasn't desperately quick, but that was okay as we had plenty of time and they did give us some damn fine pizza.
Then we collected grok_mctanys and longrat + family and wandered into the Arena. We found our entire row of seats. An announcement warned us that dinosaurs objected to flash photography and the consequences would be bad...for us. And also there would be no mobile phone signal for 100 million years :o)
The show was absolutely fantastic, featuring shifting continents, little hatchlings, battles with an Allosaur, inflatable trees, a pair of Brachiosaurs that practically filled the Arena, a forest fire accomplished through lighting and sound effects - and that was just the first act!
I was sat next to Evie, explaining some of what was going on. She seemed to enjoy herself immensely, despite being a bit fidgety. I popped out in the interval (to go to the loo and to buy dino tat) and was practically bowled over by B and Roozle as they jumped up to thank me for getting tickets, so I guess they were both having fun too!
Act 2 was devoted to the Cretaceous period, and very pretty it was too. Highlights included a soaring journey over continents and the ocean, a four dinosaur grudge match including a full-size T-Rex, and the (almost literally) blinding meteorite finale.
A palaeontologist narrator guided us through the whole show. It was very well staged, with proper drama, some clever misdirection and genuine surprises. Unless you were specifically looking, the mechanics and human performers were barely noticeable. Disbelief was well and truly suspended.
After the final bows were taken we had no small amount of RAH!-ing outside before jumping on a heaving tram home.
I think we all agreed that (as well as making us regress to being about eight years old) the show was well worth the entry price and thoroughly recommended to anyone :oD
Photos