Jurassic Fiasco

The blistering hot summer of '93 (weren't all summers in Orlando blistering hot?) was dinosaur summer. Moments after the movie Jurassic Park was released, Al Caputo had a sculptor in to carve movie-styled spitters, pterodactyls, veloceraptors, a sixteen foot tall brachiosaur and a twelve foot tall tyrannosaurus rex. Eddie and I were there to help with fiberglassing and assembling. We were even empowered to make and install teeth, claws and other minor pieces parts.


I realize now that I've never explained the medium we used for sculptures - be they alligator, Phantom angels and such, X-wing fighter bodies, moray eel heads or dinosaurs. All of these were carved out of big blocks (4' x 8' x 2') of urethane foam, a dense, fragile, grainy foam that can be carved with saws, knives, sandpaper, whatever. One can also use the two liquid parts (called "A" and "B") mixed together to pour into a mold (careful, it grows to about five times the volume of liquid!) or to glue together the carved pieces. This foam has no strength once it is reduced in volume, so we clad it in fiberglass to protect it and make the surface right for painting. Being covered in urethane foam dust, fiberglass resin and sanded fiberglass fibers is the absolute best way to spend a blistering hot summer.

By the end of August we had a shop full of dinosaurs. The first time out for them was a big Jurassic Adventure party in a soundstage out at - you guessed it - Universal Studios, Florida. This included a huge thirty foot high waterfall set up on scaffolding using all of our rocks, all of our plants, all of our erosion cloth, and a truckload of other plants rented for the occasion. A truckload of union stagehands did most of the work on this party.

Now, if one did not know the true cluelessness of Alexander Caputo, with his "I've got forty million dollars so I don't have to follow the rules" attitude, one might think that Image would have gotten proper licensure before the first big party, since the party was happening at the Florida home of the studio that produced the movie from which our dinosaur designs were stolen. As it happened, however, the day after the party, a letter came by certified Special Delivery. Its return address proudly proclaimed that it was from Amblin Entertainment - Spielberg's company. It warned of dire legal consequences for the continued use of these props or the word "Jurassic" in any future marketing.

Sea World's Hallowe'en Spooktacular was the next time out, dispersed here and there along the trails through the park. They were painted so they did not so completely resemble the movie critters. There was no advertising about dinosaurs at Sea World, and a splendid time was had by all. There were no lawsuits filed that I know of.

A month or so later, one of our guys took the tyrannosaurus rex to a function in New York City. Now the rex was in two parts, the six foot tall leg assembly and the body, about twenty four feet long from its head to the end of the tail. It fit fine on the truck, but the freight elevator in the destination building - not so much. Our guy ended up borrowing a hand saw and sawing off the tail. When it came back, Eddie and I made the removable tail work well and look better.

Next trip out was a Dinosaur Happy New Year at the Buena Vista Palace. We made a section of tall chain link fence with a "10,000 VOLTS" sign on it being trashed by T-Rex, hung pterodactyls from the ceiling as usual, built a bamboo gazebo from scratch, and on New Year's Day there were three parties to strike.

The spring of 1994 was the beginning of the end of Image International, which in any case was now called Noro Orlando Associates Destination Management. The scuttlebutt was that Al's five year contract with Noro was coming to an end, and he was being squeezed out. There were other convention services companies going out of business or at least cutting loose their themed party accoutrements. Al saw these companies having auctions to sell off their stuff. He wanted to have an auction too! He did.

The last I saw or heard of the dinosaurs, they were decorating the miniature golf course out back behind the Mystery Fun House on International Drive in Orlando. This was in '95. I'm sure they're long gone.