Jurassic Park Discovery Center

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 Juarssic-Park themed playground, and houses a dining area and a gift-shop on the second floor.

The main floor contains several facilities meant to entertain and teach. There is a wall in which fossils are buried; running the viewer mechanism over the wall shows one what fossils are from where and from what species they originated. This area also houses several child-oriented, dinosaur-shaped kiosks where children can press buttons and hear dinosaur calls. Next, there is a "Mr. DNA" attraction where one's DNA is seemingly infused with that of prehistoric DNA, creating a human/dinosaur hybrid which is shown via the screens; one merely places one's face over a 3D mesh of one's choice (based upon the answers to a short questionnaire), creating the effect (at the end, however, the DNA mixture becomes too unstable and is "abandoned").

Next to that is the main hatchery: One can view the "scientists" at work filling out forms and examining "eggs" (actually animatronically-rigged models), or one can examine "eggs" with the help of several devices which use many scanning techniques to examine the egg and allow one to guess what sort of "dinosaur" is housed in the egg. A short description of the animal is then given, followed by the location on the island. Randomly throughout the day (at least once per hour), one can view a dinosaur hatching: a pre-emptive warning is given over the intercom that a "hatching" is about to begin and one of the "technicians" comes over and guides one through the hatching. the Velociraptor "hatchling" handled by an actor playing a paleo-biologist is then given a name by the children present. The Velociraptor is, of course, a complex animatronic model, similar to the actual hatchling animatronics used during the filming of the movies. There are no show times, and catching a hatching baby dinosaur is purely based upon luck.

The next facility is a sort of gameshow-styled alcove where contestants test their dinosaur knowledge against that of other guests. Lastly, there are three fullscale but 1940-esque dinosaur animatronic figures. Here, children can look through a device behind the dinosaur and move its head.

Scientists constantly roam the halls, and the areas outside of the Discovery Center with assortments of gadgets, and at a random times on select days, a scientisit in a green jacket brings out a baby triceratops named Savannah. The trike's movements are lifelike and it responds to being touched, but touching the face can result in it snapping at or even biting one. It also makes gurgling noises and cries.