WonderWorks

Today, Sam's Club held their holiday party, and they chose WonderWorks as the venue.  Now, Mark and I have been curious about this upside building since it appeared in Myrtle Beach over a year ago, but we had not pushed ourselves to go.  Today, we finally went...for free.  Huzzah.

There are three floors of exhibits with one other floor that houses the party room.  The first floor offers some educational displays about the Titanic, as well as a shack that subjects you to hurricane force winds.  The Titanic exhibits are neat, showing you the angles the deck was at throughout the sinking, as well as having a resevoir of water that is the same temperature as the water that night.  The shack is set up neat, but all I could think of while watching the giant metal fans was some horrible scene out of a Saw movie.  

Also on the first floor, you can find the 360 bikes.  Each bike holds two people.  The harder you pedal, the more likely you are to go upside down.  We had to wait in line for this attraction, two cycles.  Unfortunately, when we reached the front, we were told we could not ride together.  They weigh you together to make sure you are under the weight limit, which is 250 pounds per person, 500 pounds per group.  Now, Mark and I may not be in very good shape, but I assure you we are not over 500 pounds together, nor 250 pounds each.  Either way, we had to wait one more cycle, so we could each have our own bikes.  The bikes were fun, with each of us going upside down multiple times, even backwards.  I didn't feel like eating afterwards, but maybe not eating will allow us to ride together next time.

The third floor houses the roller coaster simulators, the bubble station, and a few other educational exhibits, some space themed.  We haven't tried the simulators yet, as the line was long.  We'll be going back to try that later this evening.  Mark loved the bubble station; I think it was the most fun he had all day.  They have huge hoops to use, so you can essentially encase a person in the bubble, if you do it right.  There are small hoops to use if you are not feeling adventurous.  The best thing about the space exhibits was the music they were playing.  While waiting for Mark to finish playing on some chair thing that vibrated, I heard the Superman theme, the Star Trek theme, and the Star Wars theme.  At least, I think I did.

On the fourth floor, the space themed exhibits continue.  There are also games you can play with tokens and lazer tag, which is $3 a game, per person.  The big draw on the fourth floor has to be the ropes course.  Now, I am apparently afraid of heights.  I LOVE roller coasters, but I hate lift hills.  I don't mind airplanes, but I'm not a big fan of ferris wheels.  If I feel like I'm up in the air, with no real support, I begin panicking.  The ropes course is no different.  I knew this going in, as a couple years ago, we did the ropes course at the Hard Rock Park after it came to be known as the Freestyle Music Park.  Standing on the ground, I thought it looked awesome.  It didn't look that high, and I had never done one.  The minute I got up the ramp, I wanted to go right back down.  The nice man working wouldn't let me, and made me complete the course, which was only four sections, not inlcuding the ramps up or down.

Today, I decided I would try again, face that fear.  Yeah...that wasn't the best idea.  After you wait in line, (make sure you empty your pockets to a non-roper or into a free locker) they put you into a harness and attach you to a safety line.  They send you into the course with a twenty minute timer.  You can do whatever sections you want, as the course is not set up to be a one way street.  Scared of a particular section?  You can go around or even back the way you came.  I appreciated this particular choice, as I could avoid the sections I was too scared to do.  At the same time, it caused back ups and over-crowding on some platforms. 

Now, I really really liked the platforms.  They were between each section and had a big pillar going through them.  I spent a lot of time hugging those pillars.  When I wasn't hugging those, I was holding onto my safety line for dear life.  Facing my fear again today didn't make it any better.  The only want they could make the ropes course any scarier would be to add bees and a dentist. 

Mark, on the other hand, was bounding through the obstacles, often without using his hands.  He wasn't holding onto anything!  This may be a sign that no one should breed with him, as it is important to recognize that falling and dying is a bad thing.

All in all, if you can get into WonderWorks for less than the $25 admission price, I say go for it.  If you have kids, they will love it.  Mark and I frequently engage in activities that are aimed more at children, but WonderWorks would not be worth it at full price.  We were told that there will be local specials starting in February, so that may be an excellent time to check it out.  It was pretty crowded today, so I would choose a day where it is bright and shiny out.  Choose a day, during the week, that makes you want to be outside.  If you are going to be inside at WonderWorks, you want it to be as empty as possible.  If I go again, I hope to do it on a sunny, Tuesday morning at half price.  We'll see if that happens.

(Moved from FB - January 15, 2012)