I have a few friends that live in Orlando and an attraction I constantly see them visiting is Crayola Experience Orlando, located at The Florida Mall. I was excited to visit during our trip and little did I know that we'd spend over 4 hours exploring and creating (and that we could have easily spent a few hours more!). A Bluetiful Day at Crayola Experience Orlando
I have a few friends that live in Orlando and an attraction I constantly see them visiting is Crayola Experience Orlando, located at The Florida Mall. I was excited to visit during our trip and little did I know that we'd spend over 4 hours exploring and creating (and that we could have easily spent a few hours more!). The first floor has a ticket queue and mega-sized Crayola Store (that you'll exit through). While I collected our tickets my kids had fun exploring the Cool Moves attraction where a crayon character on a giant screen mirrored their every move. This was a fun, surprising start to let the kids get a little energy out instead of waiting in line. After getting our tickets we picked up plastic bags (for our art!) and 2 tokens per person and headed upstairs to the main attractions. The arrangement of the second floor has the majority of attractions set against a rectangle of four walls with additional attractions down a center aisle. Most attractions are not self-contained, allowing kids to freely and quickly move around.
The two tokens we received were valid for specific attractions - Wrap It Up! and Modeling Madness. We headed straight to Wrap It Up! where everyone picked out their favorite color of crayon, came up with a witty name for the label, printed it out and wrapped it ourselves to take home. The other token was valid for Modeling Madness where kids can select a small pack of modeling clay from a vending machine to play with at one of the many tables that had cookie cutters and cutting tools (but not enough rolling pins). Additional tokens were available for $.50.
The short lines we experienced were for two experiences that allow you to creatively melt crayons - one that turns wax into splattered Drip Art and the other that lets you Melt & Mold wax into various shapes like cars and rings. My kids loved making different shapes with the crayon wax and we did this attraction a few times. Both of these experiences could have used maybe one additional employee each to speed things along and utilize all available machines, but as a whole we found all of the employees very friendly, helpful and available.
My kids were exposed to art technology in a whole new way at Crayola Experience Orlando. The You Design attraction let them color a car to race or a fashion model to send down a runway, first on paper and then animated in 3D on a large screen. With Color Magic they were able to see their coloring page come to life in augmented reality with different backgrounds. My oldest son had quite a bit of fun with the computers as he was properly able to manipulate his art. My twins required a lot of assistance on this one. In Art Alive! our kids were able to finger draw on a tablet and see their art flash on a large screen with special effects. We spent a ton of time here! We missed a handful of attractions due to time and what our kids found engaged them, which shows how this could easily be a full day experience.
We were surprised for a Sunday afternoon how manageable the crowds seemed. We did not have any long waits, crowding or fighting over supplies at the various attractions. For a break from art, my kids enjoyed the Color Playground multi-level play structure to burn off a little energy. There was a separate Toddler Town cross the space for smaller kids.
There were two live shows during our time at Crayola Experience Orlando and we were able to catch the hourly Crayola Factory Show. During this live demonstration on how crayons were made we learned that crayons are the 18th most recognized smell and that of over 120 Crayola crayon colors, Crayola features just 13 label colors. It was a neat little show that engaged our kids well.
What I loved most about Crayola Experience Orlando is that my kids were encouraged to get a little messy and to explore art and technology, like doodling in the dark or animating their art. My 5 year old son was a perfect age to operate the tablets and computer designs with little assistance. Based on my experience, the sweet spot age would be 5-8 years old as kids are old enough to understand and operate the technology and create neat enough art to animate. Not to say you cant animate scribble-scrabble, but more neatly drawn designs tend to look a little cooler! Crayola Experience Orlando can be found at 8001 S. Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando, around 25 minutes from the Disney resorts. Daily tickets are $22.99 or $19.99 purchased online. Children under the age of 3 are free. Annual individual passes are $29.99 (promotional pricing for families is available) and include all Crayola Experience locations (including the upcoming Plano location).
My family was provided complimentary tickets to Crayola Experience Orlando for this review. View our full FTC Disclosure Statement here.
