orlando atttactions

[skip]

going to hifs in a couple of weeks and looking for an attraction to go to get our 5 year old and 8 year old out of the sun for an afternoon?was thinking maybe about ripley's?any other thoughts?

 

[deena]

Ripley's Believe It or Not is a fun place to break away while on vaction; very unusual artifacts and exhibits from around the world. We've done this several years and it has always been a neat time; also right next door is Guiness Book of Records Museum that may be interesting as well. Also, for ideas of other attractions you may want to visit I would definitely suggest picking up a couple of brochures as most hotels in the area store plenty right inside their lobbies. Hope this helps some!

 

[Lisa P.]

Our kids were only a bit older than that when they loved a visit to the Orlando Science Center. It's a hands-on science museum on par with the very best we've seen anywhere in the eastern US. If you have a family membership at any science center, zoo, nature center or aquarium, see if they on your membership's reciprocal list. We got in for free that way. But it would have been worthwhile, even paying full admission price.

 

[Eeyorestail]

Wonderworks, on the same stretch of I Drive as Ripley's and Guinness is also a good choice for the kids--lots of hands on stuff they can play with and do.

 

[BarryHom]

I think Guiness closed quietly in April.

Here's a trip report of the Orlando Science Center:

Note: for more information on the Orlando Science Center, go to: www.osc.org.

Every major city has a science museum. Orlando is no exception. The Orlando Science Center is located in downtown Orlando. The center has four floors of exhibit space, plus a huge Imax screen at their CineDome. I’ve visited several science centers in Florida and the Orlando Science Center is a standout. Unfortunately, the Orlando Science Center recently came up $1.6 million in the red, so its future may be in doubt. However, this should not stop you from visiting this extraordinary experience.

I drove to the Orlando Science Center from Universal Orlando. It was about 15 minutes from Universal. I pulled into the parking lot and parking was $3.50. I grumbled at paying parking, but it’s better than parking on the street and having your car baked by the sun!

The parking lot is linked to the Science Center by a walkway on the third floor. The walkway is pretty neat. It beats running across the street and dodging traffic!

The center was pretty quiet in the late afternoon. I bought my ticket for the exhibit hall and one CineDome (Imax) film, “Dolphins.” I had about two hours until the film began, so I decided to check out the exhibits. The center has four stories of exhibits dealing with high tech subjects to astronomy to power and physics.

My first stop was Science City. I stopped to look at the Power Station. In this area, I controlled a small city’s electrical power and tried to find the best combination of nuclear and coal power. I tried to go for a meltdown, but I couldn’t do it, although a kid was able to do it! His name was probably Homer Simpson.

I then moved onto Physics Park. The most interesting exhibit here was the VW Bug on a lever system. I pulled on three ropes. One rope was on the edge of the lever bar, a second one was in the middle, and the third one was near the Bug. If I pulled on the rope on the edge, it pulled the Bug up easily. The further in I got, the harder it was to pull up the Bug. The area also had a suspended bridge you can walk on (although kids were running across it) and I put blocks together to makes arches and bridges. The area had exhibits on electromagnetic fields and energy. Every science center seems to have a Jacob’s Ladder and a static electricity ball (you put your hands on this ball and your hair stands on end). The Orlando Science Center was no different. Science City had 123 Math Avenue, but this section was more for kids. I did play around with a binary digit machine, but it looked like it was made when the Atari 2600 came out!

Next up was the Cosmic Tourist section. This section had some short videos about astronauts describing their space experience. The area had models of all the planets and I spun them around to see how the clouds formed. A machine gave you the distance of the plants in relation to distances of U.S. cities. I also played with “The Planets” CD-ROM. At the end of this area, they were having a founder’s party in the back room. I saw two of the founders standing over a planet exhibit and just looking at it. I know a kid would be spinning those things around! The founders looked like they were in an art museum!

Body Zone was next. In this area, I walked through a big model of a mouth, a heart, lungs, and other body parts. The mouth sneezed every few minutes, although I did not feel any spit! In science museums, these body exhibits tend to be off-the-shelf. I found one that was off-the-shelf – it was a big wheel that matched off fast food combinations (burgers, fries, salads, etc.) and told how much fat and calories were in them. I was trying to find the fattiest and largest calorie combination. The other exhibits were pretty unique. In one, a health question was asked and I flipped it up to see the answer. There was also a lung that was ravaged by lung cancer on display. It was pretty gross! I will never smoke – I promise!

I then visited Showbiz Science. This area showed off some makeup effects and some latex heads from “Star Trek.” There were programs that showed how computer graphics were made. Green screen effects were shown, although the effect wasn’t very sharp. I also hung off the side of a tall building. The building was not real, but it was a demonstration of forced perspective.

Next to Showbiz Science was Imaginary Landscapes. I directed lasers to their target with mirrors and there were other light effects shown. It was getting close to film time, so I took the elevator down to the first floor and checked out NatureWorks while I waited. The are was a re-creation of a Florida landscape, with trees, a pond with small alligators, and a re-creation of a sinkhole that was emerging by house. The sinkhole was complete with tables and chairs falling into it. The area had a small aquarium with fish. In the back of the exhibit was a small kid's area called Kid’s Town. The area was for kids 48 inches and smaller and their parents. Since I was too big to go into the area, I skipped it.

I had about 30 minutes before showtime, but I forgot to look at the traveling exhibit on birds of prey. I went up to the exhibit and really rushed through it. I spent more time looking at the birds rather than reading the text. Finally, it was time for the “Dolphins” film. I hadn’t heard of this film before, but their other film selections were “The Living Sea” (which I had seen before) and “Wildfire” (which didn’t look very good).

I’m glad I chose the “Dolphins” movie because it is one of the most gorgeous and romantic Imax films I’ve seen. Pierce Bronsan narrates the film and it investigates how dolphins communicate. The film showed dolphins performing tricks at Sea World. The next stop was at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida. The Mote rescue team was caring for a sick dolphin. His dolphin friend called for the sick one all during the time he was being care for, which was over an hour.

The film shows us JoJo, a dolphin in the West Indies who used to bite tourists that swam to him and tried to pet him. JoJo thought that the people were going to attack him and he was trying to defend himself. The owners of a resort were going to send him off to captivity when a naturalist was assigned to be his protector. The naturalist protected JoJo for over 15 years. Everyday, he would swim out and meet JoJo. They would swim around and have fun. The man had to leave for 4 months and he wished that he could somehow tell JoJo that everything would be OK. The man said that he would give everything he owned to speak with JoJo. He blew bubble rings to say, “It’s good to see you, JoJo,” but he has no idea if she even knows what they mean. He also has a plastic fish toy that JoJo plays with.

The film shows us a dolphin researcher named Kathleen who is studying dolphin communication in the Bahamas. She has a specialized recording and camera device to pick up dolphin sounds and to tape dolphin movements. She found out that dolphins will call out to each other if they are separated, but they will be quiet once they meet. She noted that the dolphins engage in a dance to communicate to each other. She even participated in the dance herself.

The film is absolutely beautiful and really makes you feel like you’re swimming with dolphins. If I never get to Discovery Cove to swim with dolphins, the “Dolphins” film will be the second best thing.

As the center was closing, I upgraded my ticket to a membership. I upgraded essentially to get into other science centers for free. The brochure said since the Orlando Science Center is an ASTC member, I could get into over 200 science centers around the world for free.

 

[BarryHom]

Here's one of Wonderworks:

One of the most recognizable buildings on International Drive is the upside-down building. If you have seen the building, you have seen WonderWorks. Although it is a well-known building, not too many people know what is inside.

Inside the building are over 75 interactive exhibits amaze, amuse, and even toss you around. One exhibit simulates an earthquake. Another is a hurricane simulator. A VR simulator lets you fight other guests in a computer-generated environment. WonderWorks has an electric chair simulator. You sit in the chair and you can feel what it’s like to be electrocuted (minus the annoyance of death). You can hang glide over simulated environments. You can play music on a big piano. Smaller exhibits are optical illusions. The building also has a roller coaster simulator ride. An upper floor is a huge laser tag arena. You can also eat pizza and other junk food in the snack bar below.

WonderWorks had a lot of exhibits that you can find at many science museums. Unlike science museums, WonderWorks doesn’t have scientific explanations on what causes these phenomenons. The attraction has the air of the cheesy tourist attraction.

As I toured the building, I thought “tourist trap!” many times. I think the Orlando Science Center or even Disney Quest would be a better value for the money. At the Orlando Science Center, you learn as you have fun with the exhibits. I always feel like my head is ten pounds heavier from all the things I’ve learned there. Disney Quest has a better set of exhibits. The best thing about WonderWorks is that is open until midnight daily. Other attractions around International Drive close much earlier. Still, WonderWorks is not a bad place to spend an hour or two.

Next door to WonderWorks is Pointe*Orlando, a collection of shops and restaurants. Notable shops are a huge FAO Schwartz and a large Disney Store.

For more information on WonderWorks, go to their website at www.wonderworksonline.com.

 

[CarolMN]

Barry - Those are great detailed reports! The Science Center report makes me want to visit on our next trip. Thanks for taking the time to post all of that!