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| Dragon Forest at the Detroit Zoo |
So I'm posting this on the blog a little earlier than I normally would, hoping that it'll give everyone a couple extra weeks to make it to the Dragon Forest event at the Detroit Zoo.
First off, the admission to the Dragon Forest is an additional cost, in my case it was $6 for a single adult. Well worth the experience for the price I paid. After going through the first time, I went to lunch, walked around the zoo to gather photo and video references, then paid to go through the Dragon Forest a second time before I left for the day.
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| The elusive owlbear. |
There were three separate types of displays: a couple were images posted on flat boards, solid statues (many of which accessible so that kids could climb on them), and full animatronic displays that could move (which were roped off so people wouldn't touch them).
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| The Griffin Made as a solid statue. |
From what I could tell, all the 3d statues (solid and animatronic) had motion sensors that would trip when you got close, then they would play soundtracks: animals roaring, a dragon talking, etc. There was also a flower telling stories that was on a timer--more on that later.
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| The Basilisk (with motion sensor) |
If you look at the photo above, you can see one of the motion sensors that would trigger the sound effects--it's the little black pole with the white sensor pointing towards the path (looks like an oddly shaped birdhouse).
They also camouflaged some of the speakers so they'd blend into the display, like the one pictured below that was molded into the shape of a rock.
The eleven year old kid in me was absolutely giddy as I walked through the display--fond memories of the time spent playing Dungeons and Dragons and daydreams of being the hero in Dragonslayer danced through my head.
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| The Wyvern |
In addition to the many dragons, they even had a wyvern. It wouldn't be until decades later that I encountered a plethora of nerds arguing that the "dragon", Vermithrax Pejorative, in Dragonslayer was actually a wyvern since it's wings were attached to its frontal arms.
Personally, I didn't care--back then or now--as I'm far more interested in the practical special effects used by Industrial Light and Magic to bring Disney's great wyrm to life. I love CGI and the many movies it's made possible, but there's just something special about practical effects be it the work of ILM or the films of Ray Harryhausen.
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| The Fairy Garden |
Halfway through the display, there was a "fairy garden" with little cat-sized faerie dragon statues, larger-than-life toadstools, and stumps where kids could sit down for a spell. Every five minutes, this large flower would light up and recite stories from Aesop's Fables to the visitors.
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| One of several Faerie Dragons that were out and about. |
They also didn't focus on one single region. There were fantasy creatures from Egypt, Borneo, and North America, among others.
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| The 'Western Dragon' was about as tall as a one-story house. |
The Dragon Forest event ends on Sunday, September 7th, so if you're interested, I'd head down to Detroit sooner rather than later. If I lived closer to Detroit, I'd go back and see this display again. Even if I wasn't studying animated installations and displays, this would still have been a fun and worthwhile experience to have. Since all the animatronics appeared to run off of the same motion sensors, there wasn't much to puzzle out, but it was still a good learning experience.
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