Thanks for getting back with the explanations!
1) Yeah, I can imagine that. Awesome roaring animation btw, and I really liked the raptor talking in the beginning! =D
2) Oops, my bad!
3) Yup, I would go for an empty gameobject as well.
In any case, you did an amazing programming and putting-all-pieces-together job! With all those challenges you've managed to get a complete and quite polished game in the end. I know how hard it gets :)