Anyway, the movie was filmed on location very, very near to where my mom lives. So, we thought it would be a great family treat to go see the actual dolphin at the Aquarium. And visit the actual movie set.
It was hot and it was busy but it was so worth the trip!
The kids in front of the houseboat that Hazel and her dad lived on in the movie.
The nest where Hazel would hang out. She was homeschooled in the movie so that was cool.
Boop has a thing for sharks and all kinds of swimming ocean creatures. So, this whole trip was really cool for him.
They took the kids' picture in front of a green screen. We never did find time to go look at the pictures to see what exactly was on the green screen. It was fun trying to explain to them what a green screen was though.
There were a lot of tanks to look in and see various types of sea life. The first one had sting rays, a couple nurse sharks and a few different types of fish.
They had touch tanks and on display they had all different types of coral and crabs etc.
They had different areas with sea turtles and otters. The Aquarium, inside, looked just like the movie. Except with way more people!
Winter! and her trainer/physical therapist. She was in a tank all by herself and would come up on the shelf so people could see her. While we were there she did not swim around much.
They gave about a 10 minute talk on the real Winter. Her real story isn't like the movie. She was found as a very young dolphin on the West Coast. She was rescued, but not by a boy. A prosthesis was made by a company that had heard about the dolphin. It is true about her spine and the way she compensated for swimming etc. Still a great story about a miracle dolphin!
Picture of Winter and her friend from under the water.
The Aquarium was not very fancy. In fact, it looked like it was not ready at all for the popularity of Winter, that I am sure came on with out much notice.
There was a really funny bird in the movie named Rufus. Little Mama took a picture of this bird at the Aquarium. We were not sure whether or not this was the bird from the movie but it looked a lot like him.
Winter's face. So sweet. There were three other rescued dolphins at the Aquarium, Hope, Nicholas, and Panama. Christa was in the movie and from the Aquarium, but she recovered so they released her back to her home.
Winter only wears her prosthesis about 5-10 minutes a day. She has "physical therapy." This is her trainer and the prosthesis. Dolphins' skin is so delicate that it sheds quite often so as to keep it slick so the prosthesis can not stay on long.
Touch tank with sting rays.
Nicholas doing tricks for us.
One of the neat things about our field trip is that it included the entrance fee to the place where they actually filmed some of the movie. As we walked in they had all the directors chairs from the actors in the movie. I thought that was cool. The chair where Harry Connick Jr. sat and Ashley Judd.
The kids are in front of the garage scene where Sawyer fell asleep at the computer while researching dolphins. It was filmed on that exact location. I thought that was really cool.
The doctor's office/lab.
The indoor nest where some of the scenes were shot in front of a green screen. There were at least a half dozen real scenes from the movie that we could see and various props such as Hazel's clothes and the chair and fishing pole that the old man was sitting in in the beginning of the movie.
One of the cool things they just added was a thing called The Hurricane Experience. We walked into what looked like Sawyer's living room and it had sound effects, physical effects and scenes like we were in a real hurricane. It wasn't for the faint of heart. It had 20 mile an hour winds (which are really minor) and cracking noises of live electrical wires, things hanging from the ceiling like flying through the air, "wild animals" loose like snakes and alligators. It was totally cool!
We had a really good weekend. Walking on the beach and finding shells, swimming in Grandma's pool, visiting with friends and a little shopping. A great weekend get away . . . .
1 comment:
Looks like the kids loved it!
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