I live in a small town, and did mine for 75 bucks of spray paint. Within a month another guy a couple blocks up the road does his explorer just like mine. It's all the rage!
I'm a yuuuge JP fan, but in some ways, I have to agree. The original film is fantastic, but TLW didn't compare, and JP3 was garbage. JW was probably as good a sequel as you can get, but I don't think they'll ever reach the awesomeness they did the first time around. The sequels are largely just filmmakers looking for an excuse to put people on an island with dinosaurs, and some of the movies have shown a low standard for how credible they want the plot to be. It doesn't matter, though. None of it will every diminish my love for the original.