it was $19+1.50 per ticket, but truthfully, it was worth it.
you have to buy tickets for a certain time slot--they let a new group in every fifteen minutes, and i guess they figure that enough people will have left in the previous 15 minutes that it won't be a total crush.
there's a big exhibit hall full of the costumes, weapons (omg), prototypes, design drawings, and props (resin models of BARAD-DUR and shit!) which are really amazing...you turn the corner and shit, there's Vilya! and there's Anduril! and there's Nenya!
the highlight is the triad of computer exhibits. one of them was only okay, but cool to watch little kids do...they took a foam sword and foam shield and stood in front of a blue screen, and then you could watch on a monitor as their movements were translated into the movements of an orc warrior, elf archer, or human soldier.
the second one was based around the sizing techniques Jackson used. you sit on one-half of a bench, and a friend sits on a giant-sized half of a bench across the room, and two cameras film you from different distances. you look at the monitor and one of you looks huge and the other tiny as the computer marries the images (like when Elijah Wood and Ian McKellan were sitting side-by-side on the cart rolling into the Shire).
the third one was the best. you stood in line to put your face in this machine, and kept your eyes closed and your face still while it scanned your face with cameras. then you walked to some screens and watched as the computer built your face into a STONE SCULPTURE and, dammit, it looks exactly like you! they move around it from various angles and it's kind of creepy!
there was also a "sizing chart" on one wall which had silhouettes of the various races--hobbits, elves, dwarves, orcs, humans, wizards, cave trolls, etc.--with one blank spot with a green light coming in from above. you went and stood there briefly and a female voice would assess your height and weight and say something like "You must be a dwarf! Don't get tangled in your beard!" Aysha was "Hey, it's a little elf! I hope you have good elf-esteem!" it was funny to watch those 5'10" type guys who tell everyone they're 6 feet tall swagger up and be like "Watch, I'm going to be a wizard!" and get "You're a runty orc!" or something. There were a lot of different lines even within the same race, for variety.
i tried it out and it was like "You seem to be a tall wizard! Saruman, is that you? Did you change your hair?" SARUMAN!
finally, you could go into this dark doorway, and in there was a small dark circular room lit by a hellish red glow, with swirling elvish letters illuminating the walls and deep, echoey chanting in a Gandalf-ish voice, and there, in a column of lucite, was THE ONE RING. the only exhibit in the room.
really neat! really worth it! the souvenier shop kind of sucked, but oh well.
you have to buy tickets for a certain time slot--they let a new group in every fifteen minutes, and i guess they figure that enough people will have left in the previous 15 minutes that it won't be a total crush.
there's a big exhibit hall full of the costumes, weapons (omg), prototypes, design drawings, and props (resin models of BARAD-DUR and shit!) which are really amazing...you turn the corner and shit, there's Vilya! and there's Anduril! and there's Nenya!
the highlight is the triad of computer exhibits. one of them was only okay, but cool to watch little kids do...they took a foam sword and foam shield and stood in front of a blue screen, and then you could watch on a monitor as their movements were translated into the movements of an orc warrior, elf archer, or human soldier.
the second one was based around the sizing techniques Jackson used. you sit on one-half of a bench, and a friend sits on a giant-sized half of a bench across the room, and two cameras film you from different distances. you look at the monitor and one of you looks huge and the other tiny as the computer marries the images (like when Elijah Wood and Ian McKellan were sitting side-by-side on the cart rolling into the Shire).
the third one was the best. you stood in line to put your face in this machine, and kept your eyes closed and your face still while it scanned your face with cameras. then you walked to some screens and watched as the computer built your face into a STONE SCULPTURE and, dammit, it looks exactly like you! they move around it from various angles and it's kind of creepy!
there was also a "sizing chart" on one wall which had silhouettes of the various races--hobbits, elves, dwarves, orcs, humans, wizards, cave trolls, etc.--with one blank spot with a green light coming in from above. you went and stood there briefly and a female voice would assess your height and weight and say something like "You must be a dwarf! Don't get tangled in your beard!" Aysha was "Hey, it's a little elf! I hope you have good elf-esteem!" it was funny to watch those 5'10" type guys who tell everyone they're 6 feet tall swagger up and be like "Watch, I'm going to be a wizard!" and get "You're a runty orc!" or something. There were a lot of different lines even within the same race, for variety.
i tried it out and it was like "You seem to be a tall wizard! Saruman, is that you? Did you change your hair?" SARUMAN!
finally, you could go into this dark doorway, and in there was a small dark circular room lit by a hellish red glow, with swirling elvish letters illuminating the walls and deep, echoey chanting in a Gandalf-ish voice, and there, in a column of lucite, was THE ONE RING. the only exhibit in the room.
really neat! really worth it! the souvenier shop kind of sucked, but oh well.
