If you have visited Orlando you may have seen the “upside-down house”. It is quite the spectacle. I’ve seen it several times and often wondered what it is. My first thought was just what an ingenious architectural feat. The wonderous facade is an advertisement of it inside. The building belongs to an amazing world called WonderWorks Orlando.
WonderWorks Orlando is Huge
WonderWorks Orlando opens its doors at 9 AM 365 days a year, and we were exited to be visiting. We arrived at 9:05, and due to the early morning hour we didn’t have to wait to enjoy any of the exhibits. We had the entire house to ourselves. WonderWorks Orlando consists of several floors of over 100 exhibits. One of the newer exhibits was Google Earth. The kids had a blast starting with a map of the United States and zooming all the way down to our street.
Living in Florida hurricanes are just something we deal with. Of course, when they do hit we are in our homes surrounded by hurricane shutters. At WonderWorks you can experience the winds of a hurricane in a safe environment.
Experience Hurricane Force Winds
I sent a postcard to myself that I should be receiving in 2013, which should be interesting if it makes it my way. The kids posed in front of the “green screen” like they do in the movies.
Green Screen at WonderWorks
Too Many Exhibits to count
We moved up to the next level and found more fun and exciting exhibits. You could jump and see how high you could get, and view yourself in silly fun house mirrors. My husband and son both took runs trying to strike out famous baseball players to see how fast they could pitch. My daughter’s favorite was the bubble room where she could make bubbles three times as big as herself.
I played a game of mind ball (I think it was called) where you have to clear your mind and when you do you push the ball to your opponent (I beat everyone). We played a game of shadow air hockey. Try switching from using your actual hand to using your shadow it is tough. I also played a game of Catch the Lights to see how many lights you could push in a certain amount of time. This floor was pretty fun.
My son got to lay on a bed of nails, we rode a dirt bike (with a really uncomfortable seat), and you could sit in a chair and pull on a rope lifting your body weight into the air. There were three of these chairs with each one containing different percentages of your body weight from 25% to 100%. We spent a lot of time on this level and being the only ones there it was pretty cool.
Several Levels of Fun
We eventually moved on to the next level which consisted of another level of fun. One of the exhibits my oldest son wanted to visit was the “Find the Bead” This is simply an exhibit of odds. A large tube with millions of orange and yellow beads, a few red and green ones through in the object is to find the purple one. The exhibit explains the odds, but amazingly we FOUND the purple bead. One bead among millions.
The biggest attraction on this third level, which is geared towards playing the odds, space, and technology is the 360 virtual roller coaster. This is my husband’s kind of roller coaster one where you don’t actually go into the air but stay in a vehicle that just flips about 6 feet off the ground. My daughter was a little scared but wanted to give it a try. She thought it was fun. I would have loved to have gotten a photo of her upside down with her hair hanging down. I did not partake as these types of motion sensory with screens give me motion sickness.
WonderWorks Laser Tag and Arcade
Our last stop was the level that contained the large attractions and the arcade. This is definitely a favorite level for the kids. They LOVE the arcade! Before we let them loose the guys played a game of laser tag. My daughter and I were allowed to go in and walk around and watch. I think of the three my husband had the most fun. I think because they were the only three in the game it was a little uneventful. I could definitely see where a room full of people would be a blast.
We then went into the 4D theater to experience a wooden roller coaster on the loose. This again was my husband’s kind of roller coaster and I think his laugh was just as infectious. Before the kids (and adults) partook in the arcade the boys and I decided to do the rope climb. Now I’ve done the ziplining thing and loved it so I thought this would be no problem. BOY was I wrong! I was not happy at all to be walking around this course suspended in the air with only a rope tethered to me. Thankfully for me my youngest son, after getting across one obstacle, felt the same way. So being the caring mother I am I agreed to get off the course with him so he wouldn’t be the only one leaving. What moms will do for their kids 😉 My oldest son had no problems navigating the course and made it through all the obstacles with ease literally leaping from board to board.
Scary Rops Course – Not for The Weak!
After our brave attempt at the rope course, it was time to get our feet on the ground and enjoy a little gaming action. We purchased some tokens, split them up, and proceeded to earn some tickets. My daughter’s favorite arcade game is ski ball and she spent most of her time there. I have no idea what the boys played but they were constantly coming back for more tokens. After about 1/2 hour we traded in our tickets and the kids each got some candy and small plastic toys and we headed for the gift shop.
We spent about 3 and 1/2 hours and had a wonderful time. I highly suggest you visit WonderWorks Orlando early in the morning to have the time to really enjoy the exhibits without a crowd of people. If you decide to do the laser tag I suggest you leave that for the very end when there are more people to really enjoy the game. There is so much to do that our 3 1/2 hours is probably getting through it pretty quickly. In addition to the exhibits and games, there is also an Outta Control Magic Comedy Dinner show.
Expect to be impressed at this interactive, entertaining and hilariously funny dinner show. Entertaining audiences for over fifteen years, Tony Brent combines a mixture of amazing magic, impersonations and high-energy improvisational comedy to thoroughly entertain audiences of all ages. Minds will be read, predictions will come true, and audience members’ personal items will vanish and re-appear.
The Outta Control Dinner Show provides a one-of-a-kind entertainment experience for Orlando Florida attractions with non-stop audience participation. The crowds don’t just watch the show, they become part of it. Visitors to the show receive table side service with unlimited fresh hand-tossed cheese and pepperoni pizza, salad, popcorn and unlimited beer, wine, soda and dessert. The 90-minute experience will keep you on the edge of your seat and tickle your funny bone every 8 seconds.
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