Wonderworks???Tell me all about it....also interested in their dinner show

[cruisnfamily]

Well, just discovered this as a possible attraction for next trip. From reading the description, it sounds a little like our hands on science museum with a little bit of Ripleys thrown in. Somebody give me the scoop on this place.

Also, I read where somebody really liked the dinner show there and I'm looking for some more feedback on that.

Lots of details would be welcomed!!!

Thanks!

 

[cruisnfamily]

Bump???

hasn't anybody been here that can give me a little scoop?

Please...Thanks!

 

[jdm]

We didn't spend any time in Wonderworks but we did go to their comedy/magic show and loved it. It was extremely funny family humor. Our girls were 10 & 12 at the time and it was the highlight of the week. We laughed and laughed and I'm not a big slapstick comedy kind of girl. It was a pretty good deal for short$$. The meal was pepperoni pizza and cheese pizza. Served hot and I thought, not half bad. Unlimited beer and wine and pop for the kiddos. I highly recommend it.

HTH
Jenn

 

[cruisnfamily]

Just trying again....can anybody give me a rundown on this place? Their website isn't very helpful and I'm trying to decide whether it's a worthwhile stop on our vacation.

 

[cruisnfamily]

OK, just back to look at the website again.

Has anybody played the laser tag? It says there's an arcade and prize redemption area.....I assume this costs extra?

How about the dinner show? I see that jdm gives it high marks, I was looking for some more opinions. Anyone?

 

[hilltopfamily]

cruzinfamily: We seem to be thinking along the same lines for our upcoming trips! 1st Cypress Point 2bedrooms vs. 3 bedrooms, and now this! When are you going?

Anyway, I just saw mention of Wonderworks on the ticketmania site (1st time I'd ever heard of it) and thought I'd come back here to see what has been written about it. My DS11 is really into humor right now, looking at the nuances involved in comedy, so it sounds like this could be a hit, but I need more info so I'm interested in the responses you get! thanks in advance.

(BTW cruzinfamily---I'm considering the Dixie Stampede, Disney quest, and Blizzard Beach also. Now, don't go and tell me you're thinking about those places, too! )

 

[cruisnfamily]

(BTW cruzinfamily---I'm considering the Dixie Stampede, Disney quest, and Blizzard Beach also. Now, don't go and tell me you're thinking about those places, too! )

Welll....actually, we're planning to stay at Cypress Pointe and planning a short visit 4-5 days and we may only go to WDW for 1 day. The other things we have planned are:
Disney QuestThis is a definite!
Typhoon LagoonAlso a definite(DD12 has been to Blizzard Beach w/Girl Scouts and didn't like it as compared to our local water park{adventure island}
Dinner Showprobably Dixie Stampede as we've already done Medieval Times and Arabian nights.
So, apparently we are planning the same vacation

anywhoooo, I'm still looking for other non-disney things to amuse us. Wonderworks gets bad reviews around the internet so we may skip it but go to the dinner show....I'm not sure though because it actually sounds like something the kids would like.

I was just getting ready to post a thread asking about Cypress Gardens....I just don't know though.

I'm considering Gatorland(gets mixed reviews), Boggy Creek Airboats(not sure if the family would like this) and frantically looking for some other quality Orlando stuff that's not Disney. We've already done Titanic or else we'd have that in there...that was wonderful.

We're going early June

 

[hilltopfamily]

Sure does sound like we're planning the same vacation!!! Except this will be our 1st time there, and it sounds like you guys are "veterans"!

I sure hope we're not disappointed with Blizzard Beach----we were looking at the Birnbaum book of WDW and the pictures & descriptions just "sold" my son on the place. As far as Wonderworks (back to your original posting!) I just went to tripadvisor and looked at the reviews there. They have 4 reviews and they're all positive. So, this place is still in the running for us! And Disney Quest will have to be a definate go for us also. It sounds like a perfect fit for our family. Don't you just love the planning? For me, this is just so much fun, researching and considering all our options.

 

[cruisnfamily]

And Disney Quest will have to be a definate go for us also. It sounds like a perfect fit for our family.

We've been to Disneyquest once before-we arrived at 11am(or noon, don't remember when it opened but whatever time it opened, that's when we showed up) and stayed 'til 8:30 and the only reason we left was that we had an illuminations cruise planned and we had to leave. This place is a perfect fit for us for sure....everyone really enjoyed it. Now, my SIL went there with her family and hated. Stayed a couple of hours and said it was a waste of time and money. I guess it depends on your crowd. We thought it was great! DD12 spent a large part of the day doing DDR, DS9 spent a large part of the day doing Aladin, DH and I kind of bopped around spent some time on the vintage arcade games and some time trying out the cool stuff. This was 2 years ago so one of us had to be with DS all the time. This time we'll make sure everybody has a watch and just have meeting times to check in.

As far as Wonderworks (back to your original posting!) I just went to tripadvisor and looked at the reviews there. They have 4 reviews and they're all positive

. Were the reviews for Wonderworks? Or just for the show. I found good reviews on the dinner show but the reviews for Wonderworks itself are not real great.....wish I could find someone on here to really give me the details.

 

[jeff968]

My kids have been here twice and I visited once. I played laser tag and it was a blast. The place is a little crowded, especially on a rainy day but fun. We may do the dinner show this year.

 

[cruisnfamily]

I played laser tag and it was a blast.

Tell me about laser tag....it would be for the 12yos not me but I want to understand the process. They've never done anything like that before.

 

[jeff968]

Tell me about laser tag....it would be for the 12yos not me but I want to understand the process. They've never done anything like that before.

Basically there is a large dark black room with lots of fluorescent paint, black lights, dry ice smoke, and polls and things to hide behind. They play spooky si-fi sounds in the back ground. You put on a vest that has a device that serves as your target and you also have a gun that hangs off of it. You get set up on teams and go into the room. The start the game and you basically run around and shoot the other team. If you get hit your gun stops working for a few seconds. You can also go back to your base and recharge. The game lasts for 10 minutes or so. It is a lot of fun. I'm 40 and came in second out of 25 "kids" with my high score. Too bad I can't make a living doing this.

 

[cruisnfamily]

Thanks Jeff!

Sounds like this would be fun for the kids. I'm guessing they put you on teams with strangers right? Just whoever else is there waiting to play? Were most of the players boys/men? Or were there girls/women?

 

[jeff968]

Thanks Jeff!

Sounds like this would be fun for the kids. I'm guessing they put you on teams with strangers right? Just whoever else is there waiting to play? Were most of the players boys/men? Or were there girls/women?

yes, but you can have other family members on your team or the other team if you prefer. Most of the players were between 9-16, except me.

 

[hilltopfamily]

Darn, for some reason I haven't been getting instant email notifications of postings to this thread, so I haven't looked here since I last posted. Sorry!

Here is a link to the page with the reviews on tripadvisor (hope it works). Looks like they primarily are about wonderworks, and in fact "wonderworks" is what I searched for, not the outta control magic show. Described it to my DH and unless I hear any negatives, I think it is a "go" for us. My DS11 absolutely loves laser tag here in Nebraska. And it is fairly costly to go to!!! So, if we go to wonderworks I'm sure we'll get the whole sha-bang (exhibit area, dinner, magic/comedy show, and laser tag) because it seems reasonably priced for all you get.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g34515-d318323-r3002510-Wonderworks-Orlando_Florida.html

 

[hilltopfamily]

hmmmmm....now I just left a yahoo travel page with a few reviews of wonderworks and they were not as positive as the ones I had found on tripadvisor. Seemed to be several posts describing poor visual quality on the simulated roller coaster event, and many non-functioning exhibits (broken down!). Sure would be great to "hear" from more people on the disboards who have gone to this. Maybe we should consider just the magic/comedy dinner show, since we'll be doing an entire day at disney quest and can get some good virtual reality/video game type activities there. We have a really good local children's museum here, in case that is what the Wonderworks area is like. Any more thoughts on this place?

 

[cruisnfamily]

Hi Hilltopfamily!

Thanks for bumping this up again....I told you I had found some icky reviews of the place but I couldn't remember where.....wish we could get a first hand report with lots of details...

Come on DISers...don't fail us now!

 

[Thmacs1]

We went to Wonderworks and the dinner show back in Christmas of 2003. We had a very good time. My boys at the time were 8 and 12. Make sure to look in the coupon books you can find all over town, I know we saved a few bucks using them. We did an all inclusive package; admission to Wonderworks, laser tag, and the dinner show. I think it was aorund $25-$30 dollars each. (It was a while ago, and I never remember those kinds of details). It only took about an hour to do all of the Wonderwork attractions, but they were fun, very much like you find in most childrens museums. Laser Tag was the same as anywhere else in the US. The kids think it's a blast though and we had fun doining it. The dinner show was great. The food was just pizza,(think Little Ceasers) I don't even remember slalad or anything. There was unlimited soft drinks and beer though, I don't remember if there was wine or not. The magician-comedians were great. The show was very family friendly but a little edgier than Disney. Just some double-meaning jokes, that sort of thing, but all four of us thought it was hillarious. Having done it once, I don't think I would rush back to do it again, but it was a great late afternoon- evening out. We did it the first night of our vacation before checking into OKW on a Sunday. It was fun to stay over on I-drive for an evening, especially since once we get over to WDW we don't venture far. Have a great trip, hope this helps.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

We went to Wonderworks in 2001 (I think). My nieces were 14 & 11. We went there as part of an easy day. When I don't have an AP for Disney or Universal things are divided up into Easy days and Hard days. We enjoyed it a lot...did not play laser tag, did not do the dinner show. We were done in a couple of hours.

PS. Editted to add...yes its like a children's museum...less elaborate than a not for profit museum but pretty good otherwise. I figure that over time things will break and if you happen to hit it at a point where things are broken you'll have a bad impression. I'll probably go back again some day.

 

[hilltopfamily]

thanks guys for the input! The idea of doing this on our 1st day there might be a good one! I don't want to waste a park admission on a day that we can't get to the parks 1st thing in the AM---- We're driving all the way from Nebraska to Florida and I figured the 1st day we wouldn't even get there until late morning, then we'd check out our villa, stretch our legs, take in their volcano pool, stretch our legs, get supplies at the Winn Dixie, and then, just for fun, stretch our legs again!!!! Maybe this could be a decent activity, and include the dinner show in it for us. Then we'd be ready to hit the parks the next day! hmmmmm....still wondering though if my 2 older kids (who no longer like to go to the children's museum with my youngest) will find it enjoyable. They're 11 & 14. My youngest will be 8 and she loves our children's museum.