Monday, October 8, 2007
A Fun Day Trip to Mexico’s “Foxploration” Theme Park
By Steve Dryden
One of the more interesting
tour destinations in Baja California, located just an hour or less from San Diego, is Foxploration or Fox Studios Baja. This new movie theme park is three miles south of Rosarito Beach, and approximately
20 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
You can’t miss
seeing the large facility, with the tall crane and ship set props from the films Pearl Harbor, and Master and Commander, just
off the free road between the Mexico 1-D toll road and the ocean. This modern, high technology film studio was built for water
and ocean film productions, and more specifically to film the Twentieth Century-Fox Academy Award-winning blockbuster Titanic.
The self-contained studio and production facility is located on 35-40 oceanfront acres overlooking the natural and undeveloped
coast, with more than 2,000 feet of beachside frontage and unobstructed views.
An onsite food court
offers hungry visitors an opportunity for lunch or snacks, and the famous Puerto Nuevo lobster village is just five minutes
away.
The studios were built
in 1996, at this unique location that provides easy access to the dynamic technical and artistic expertise of both the United
States and Mexico, while providing a location convenient for tourists and visiting production companies alike. Several movies
have been filmed here, including part or the entirety of Deep Blue Sea, In Dreams, Weight of Water, Tomorrow Never Dies, Jackass
the Movie, Pearl Harbor, Master and Commander, as well as the TV series Tremors, and the 3-D IMAX film Titanic: Ghost of the
Abyss.
In May 2001, Fox Studios Baja opened Foxploration, a behind-the-scenes/moviemaking
park allowing the public an opportunity to experience a working movie studio and to learn about the production process in
an entertaining and interactive way. Another feature of the theme park is Fox/JVC Presents, a state-of-the-art video screening
room that allows guests to view footage of recent Fox films, review past productions, and to observe previews of upcoming
productions.
A guided tour allows
visitors to see up close and firsthand the water tanks and some of the original sets from well known films. I was impressed
with the water filming capabilities that include several water tanks and ponds, offering a combined tank volume of over 20
million gallons and a modern filtration plant capable of delivering 9,000 gallons of filtered sea-water per minute. One tank
alone provides an additional 350,000 square feet of exterior shooting space, flooded or dry.
The combined water facilities
and film sets provide one of the world's largest stages and filming tanks, plus there are the added offices, scenery shops,
dressing rooms and wardrobe facilities needed to accomplish most film making requirements. This innovative facility has over
9,000 square feet of permanent office space, 70,000 square feet of enclosed stage space, and more than 90,000 square feet
of construction workshops, storage areas, and physical plant facilities.
It was no surprise to
discover that Fox Studios Baja is the premier facility for water related film work of any kind in the world today.
Several exhibits allow
you to view and touch original sets from famous films. Titanic Expo features actual props and costumes from the original film
sets, and interpretive exhibits present the history of the ship and the making of the movie. Dolly Plaza is an entertaining
site featuring the original fountain from the film Hello Dolly. You can even take a stroll down Canal Street in New York City,
visit Cinemágico where you can interact with several exhibits, and get an opportunity to experience hands-on movie making,
or learn about special visual and sound effects, model making, set construction, art design, editing, animation, cameras,
lenses, lighting techniques and makeup.
The Teatro al aire libre Las Olas is a fine art exhibit area featuring different local and regional artists each month.
Foxploration tours make
for a fun and entertaining day, and this can be topped off with fresh lobster from Puerto Nuevo and/or a night’s stay
at the famous and nearby Rosarito Beach Hotel.
Foxploration is open
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Phone: (619)
661-7178 (direct); (866) 369-2252; or locally in Baja California (661) 614-9444. It is located on the free road (Carretera
Libre) to Ensenada at Km 32.5, south of Rosarito Beach about three miles. For details visit www.xploration.com.mx.
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Steve Dryden,
a MexiData.info guest columnist, is a wine, travel, Native Peoples and history writer for the Baja Times. Mr. Dryden also manages a new wine bar, Destino del Vino, at Km 88 on Highway 1 just south of Baja Mar. He can be reached at sbdryden@hotmail.com.
