Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina
Life is short. Live it well.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2008
As IDrive 360 began to take shape, and the massive Orlando Eye came together piece by piece, I kept a watchful eye on the complex as a whole and made mental note of the shops, restaurants and attractions that planned to round out that section of International Drive (besides, of course, the aquarium and wax museum). One of the non-Merlin attractions that somewhat quietly took root was a museum called Skeletons: Animals Unveiled!
It piqued my interest. The premise….a whole museum devoted to the skeletons of a variety of animals….was kind of creepy, but oddly intriguing. I monitored the progress of the museum on Facebook and grew a little more interested with every post and photo. Their grand opening was delayed from late March/early April to coincide with the opening of the Eye, and then…..
THEY RELEASED A GROUPON OFFER
. How could I pass that up? 
So it was that we tacked Skeletons: Animals Unveiled onto our itinerary, a nice accompaniment to our flight on the Eye.
Immediately entering the museum, you’re actually inside the gift shop. There were several staff members on hand, still putting the finishing touches on various displays, who all greeted us warmly upon arrival. They happily took our Groupon, provided us with hard tickets in exchange, and showed us into the museum itself. They gave us a brief explanation of the layout, encouraged us to take as many photos as we wanted, and urged us to reach out to any staff member if we had questions about any of their many displays. With that introduction, we were set free to tour at our own speed.
I have to say, we were VERY impressed by the exhibits at this attraction
…..it was better than we expected. With a few exceptions, every skeleton was clearly labelled and there were some helpful information boards at various locations throughout the attraction.
According to some of their Facebook and TripAdvisor replies, the few skeletons which were still lacking any form of identification were a result of running out of time before they opened the door to the public. I would guess (though I can’t confirm) that those labels have probably been put in place since our visit earlier in the month.
The animals represented in the attraction were vast, and covered a wide variety of species……even the human kind:
Various stations offered entertaining video segments which appealed to my inner science geek. Perhaps one of the most interesting (to me) was the one near the skeleton head which was currently being picked clean by a zillion flesh eating bugs. Gross
, I will agree, but gross in the most awesome way possible, if that makes sense .
About half way through our leisurely exploration, a staff member personally came out to say hello and ask us what we thought of the museum so far, and to see if any questions had popped up as we viewed the first half of the exhibits. We had a great chat with this personable young lady, and she was extremely knowledgeable about the museum features. I was happy to learn, through that little exchange, that virtually all of the skeletons featured within the attraction were all acquired through local zoos, from animals who had died a natural death. I must admit, that question had been eating at the back of my mind (hmmm…perhaps that’s not the best phraseology after the flesh eating bug reference?
).
We easily spent a full hour or more here, and probably because they were so extremely new, we literally had the place to ourselves for most of that time. It does look like business has picked up considerably since they opened, as there are many very favourable reviews popping up on TripAdvisor (note to self….I must add my own, as well
).
I loved some of the little touches that they added to make things all fit together nicely. The settings and backdrops for each grouping were tailored to each set of animals…..a barnyard for the farm animals, the forest for woodland creatures, etc. This guy was perhaps one of my favourite skeletons of all:
The attraction ended in the same place it began: in the gift shop (just at the other end of the room from where we entered). They had some interesting skeleton, fossil and animal-related gifts items, though I didn’t really check out the prices. The staff all took the time to ask us for our feedback, doubled checked to see if there were any other questions we might have had, etc., and genuinely seemed like they took a great deal of pride and ownership in their new attraction.
For anyone considering a visit, I would wholeheartedly recommend it.
Its very well done, and I much preferred it to Ripley's Believe it or Not (which disappointed me last summer).
It piqued my interest. The premise….a whole museum devoted to the skeletons of a variety of animals….was kind of creepy, but oddly intriguing. I monitored the progress of the museum on Facebook and grew a little more interested with every post and photo. Their grand opening was delayed from late March/early April to coincide with the opening of the Eye, and then…..
THEY RELEASED A GROUPON OFFER
. How could I pass that up? So it was that we tacked Skeletons: Animals Unveiled onto our itinerary, a nice accompaniment to our flight on the Eye.
Immediately entering the museum, you’re actually inside the gift shop. There were several staff members on hand, still putting the finishing touches on various displays, who all greeted us warmly upon arrival. They happily took our Groupon, provided us with hard tickets in exchange, and showed us into the museum itself. They gave us a brief explanation of the layout, encouraged us to take as many photos as we wanted, and urged us to reach out to any staff member if we had questions about any of their many displays. With that introduction, we were set free to tour at our own speed.
I have to say, we were VERY impressed by the exhibits at this attraction
…..it was better than we expected. With a few exceptions, every skeleton was clearly labelled and there were some helpful information boards at various locations throughout the attraction. 
According to some of their Facebook and TripAdvisor replies, the few skeletons which were still lacking any form of identification were a result of running out of time before they opened the door to the public. I would guess (though I can’t confirm) that those labels have probably been put in place since our visit earlier in the month.
The animals represented in the attraction were vast, and covered a wide variety of species……even the human kind:
Various stations offered entertaining video segments which appealed to my inner science geek. Perhaps one of the most interesting (to me) was the one near the skeleton head which was currently being picked clean by a zillion flesh eating bugs. Gross
, I will agree, but gross in the most awesome way possible, if that makes sense . 
About half way through our leisurely exploration, a staff member personally came out to say hello and ask us what we thought of the museum so far, and to see if any questions had popped up as we viewed the first half of the exhibits. We had a great chat with this personable young lady, and she was extremely knowledgeable about the museum features. I was happy to learn, through that little exchange, that virtually all of the skeletons featured within the attraction were all acquired through local zoos, from animals who had died a natural death. I must admit, that question had been eating at the back of my mind (hmmm…perhaps that’s not the best phraseology after the flesh eating bug reference?
).
We easily spent a full hour or more here, and probably because they were so extremely new, we literally had the place to ourselves for most of that time. It does look like business has picked up considerably since they opened, as there are many very favourable reviews popping up on TripAdvisor (note to self….I must add my own, as well
).
I loved some of the little touches that they added to make things all fit together nicely. The settings and backdrops for each grouping were tailored to each set of animals…..a barnyard for the farm animals, the forest for woodland creatures, etc. This guy was perhaps one of my favourite skeletons of all:
The attraction ended in the same place it began: in the gift shop (just at the other end of the room from where we entered). They had some interesting skeleton, fossil and animal-related gifts items, though I didn’t really check out the prices. The staff all took the time to ask us for our feedback, doubled checked to see if there were any other questions we might have had, etc., and genuinely seemed like they took a great deal of pride and ownership in their new attraction.
For anyone considering a visit, I would wholeheartedly recommend it
. Its very well done, and I much preferred it to Ripley's Believe it or Not (which disappointed me last summer).
