‘Highlight of their day’: Megasaurus appearance delights bored BC Ferries passengers

Waiting in a BC Ferries lineup can be boring, especially on a long weekend.

But passengers who were caught up in a two-sailing wait at Nanaimo’s Departure Bay on Monday were treated to a huge surprise.

The team behind Megasaurus, a car-eating, fire-breathing robotic dinosaur, was also caught up in the ferry traffic and decided to entertain the other passengers.

Bill Payne, who owns Megasaurus, said a five-year-old boy was asking them what monster trucks the team was transporting and then he turned to them and said, “Hey, where’s Megasaurus?”

“Then the kids and all of my guys came out, you know, they were like, ‘Oh, we should bust out Megasaurus, you know, it’d be so fun’,” Payne said. “And I was the one trying to be the adult saying, ‘No, you know, we’ll get in trouble. No, no, no’.

“And I don’t know if it was the peer pressure from all the guys around me or if it was the kid in me, it was like, ‘All right, you guys got two minutes, make it happen.”

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So the team got to work, letting Megasaurus poke his head out and roar to the delight of the passengers waiting in line.

Just as they were putting Megasaurus away, Payne said an employee came over the loudspeaker to tell them to stop shooting fire. Another employee also came up to him, Payne said, saying his boss had told him to come down there but he secretly thought the show was awesome.

“People were cheering and people were supporting it,” he said.

1:31 Monster Trucks roar through Mother’s Day Weekend

Megasaurus and its brother Transaurus are both robotic dinosaurs, standing at about 30 feet tall, with the ability to move their arms, claws and jaws and breathe fire from their mouths. They are often seen at monster truck rallies where they destroy and ‘eat’ cars.

This time they were travelling from Saratoga Speedway in Black Creek and are now heading to an event in Regina.

“I’m glad we did it,” Payne said.

“People kept thanking us. People offered some of our guys meals, you know, just said that was the highlight of their day.”

Payne said hearing that people loved seeing the monster trucks and Megasaurus and getting to make people smile is why they do this job.

“I keep saying that’s what we do is memories and happiness.”