Got a lot of stiff necks

Research programs can be filled with monotonous work for years upon years waiting for a break-through. While every person involved with these programs deserves credit when a discovery is made, day-in and day-out the backbone of these studies are the lowly interns and graduate students and their droning work. It is no wonder that they need to let off some steam every once in a while. The graduate students of Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s The Dino Institute are no different.In Dinoland U.S.A. the grad students air their dirty laundry in public (that’s in the literal sense, not their public disagreements), improve the vernacular of the area by introducing the suffix –osaurus to every printed word they can find, and create their own games to help pass the time. The site with the greatest number of these grad student touches is Restaurantosaurus, reasonable considering that it is the commissary and dorm for the students.Guests dining at Restaurantosaurus may miss the students’ crowning achievement, Lawn Chair Archery, if they forget the geek mantra to look up, down, and all around. Perched upon the roof of the former fishing lodge are a set of lawn chairs, a boom box, camera, cooler, colored plunger arrows (complete with the addition of fletching), and large bows. Running across the courtyard to the EATosaurus water tower is a pulley system for retrieving the used plungers with a bucket. Presumably one graduate student would have to be station at the water tower to replenish the plungers in the bucket.





















There’s no bones about it, this archery game the grad students have created, a cross between Super Mario Brothers and Robin Hood, is definitely the game to be played if you can ever find your way onto the Restaurantosaurus roof. For those wishing to keep their feet on the ground, or for the more ordinary graduate students, there is always the alternative of basketball. In keeping with the fossil theme, however, the backboard includes a wooden bone that is used for mounting the rim. All-in-all, these students have created some great ways to keep themselves going, no matter what bones have been breaking their backs all day.