| Review: |
 One
of the most visually striking elements of I-Drive, Wonderworks is a
museum housed in an arresting building. The mythos here is that this
building was a top-secret test facility in the Bermuda Triangle, deposited
here courtesy of a tornado. The exhibits inside are those "experiments."
The hokey backstory
aside, what garners attention is the gimmick of an upside-down building.
The theme inside is far less impressive, despite the occasional lip
service to this supposedly being an upside-down facility. What you'll
find inside are the same kinds of interactive exhibits you'll see in
any science and technology museum. Examples include visual illusions,
lying on a bed of nails, green-screen technology, oversized piano keyboards
to run over, and 3-D binaural sound booths. There are over 100 "interactive"
exhibits, but some really are as simple as posters on the wall.
The whole thing
is crammed onto two stories, mostly the second floor. That alone would
make the experience cramped and claustrophobic, a situation made infinitely
worse by the nonstop stream of people. Apparently, the outside facade's
gimmick works quite well, for the crowds are uniform and large. The
mixture of small space and large numbers is predictably uncomfortable,
not only in terms of space and bottlenecks (there are those too), but
also in terms of peer pressure. There's almost always a line for every
single exhibit, and someone is always waiting for you to finish. It
makes for a too-hurried pace of exploration and discovery.
Here's the rub:
Wonderworks is extraordinarily expensive for what it offers. An adult
ticket costs more than twice what you'd pay for a full-priced movie
ticket, and yet your Wonderworks experience may be over in as short
a time as one hour. It's possible to spend more time here, but that
would mean waiting in lines such as the interminable one for the roller-coaster
simulator. Save your money, save some time, and definitely save the
aggrevation by going somewhere else. It's not like Orlando is hurting
for entertainment opportunities.
|
