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I heard that the Jurassic Park helipad was destroyed by a hurricane. Is this true?

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  • Well, presuming you're talking about the first film, they take off from the helipad at the end of the movie, so no it wasn't.
    – Radhil
    Commented Mar 29, 2018 at 12:13
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    I’m just curious about the background to this question. “The helipad was destroyed!” “Nuh uh!” I mean, how did that even come up?
    – Broklynite
    Commented Mar 29, 2018 at 13:24
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    @Radhil - He means out-of-universe. It was indeed destroyed by a hurricane.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 29, 2018 at 14:46
  • Related: According to Samuel L. Jackson, the same hurricane prevented him from filming his death scene, per this A.V. Club Interview.
    – raisinghellyer
    Commented Mar 29, 2018 at 15:28
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    If you are referring to Manawaiopuna Falls in Hawaii, then you need to clarify the timeframe of your question. The helipad was constructed just for the movie and was removed soon after. There was a hurricane during filming, but no mention of damage to that set. Currently the land is privately owned and there are helicopter tours of the falls. Even a tour that lands at the foot, like in the movie: islandhelicopters.com/falls.html . The production company restored the falls back to their original condition, so tours land on compacted land, not a concrete helipad.
    – GeorgeN
    Commented Mar 30, 2018 at 12:32

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There are confirmations from various local guides that the helipad was damaged by Hurricane Iniki shortly after filming completed.

Some of the stone supports can still be seen on the wall that abuts the path and waterfall mouth, and some of the (painted) pieces of the pad can found in and near the waterfall plunge pool.

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    I'm not saying that the production crew altered the pool or outflow, that was done over a hundred years ago by sugar plantations, I'm saying that at the original outflow of the pool is a wall with a drop off. That drop off is nowhere to be seen in the photo with the helipad. Thus, the helipad either had to have been built on a platform with all those rock added for effect, or the land below the wall had to be filled in temporarily. Neither is really a viable solution, certainly not filling in the land...maybe a very well constructed platform, but I'm pretty sure it was a composite.
    – Quasi_Stomach
    Commented Mar 29, 2018 at 17:41
  • @Quasi_Stomach - I don't think video tech was sufficiently advanced to do the kind of fmv compositing you're thinking of.
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 29, 2018 at 17:42
  • @Quasi_Stomach Perhaps being on a temporary platform was why it was so easily destroyed by a hurricane.
    – Z. Cochrane
    Commented Mar 29, 2018 at 17:44
  • You can also see more pictures of Manawaiopuna Falls and what's left of the pad here. shadeone.com/jurassicpark It also shows that the pad was attached to the dam wall.
    – John Ray
    Commented Mar 29, 2018 at 20:06
  • @JohnRay - And some pieces of the actual pad (broken up on the right in this picture)
    – Valorum
    Commented Mar 29, 2018 at 20:12

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