WonderWorks: Amusing the Mind
Hospitality Solutions
Tuesday, 01 September 2009
WonerWorks: Amusing the Mind
This education-based attraction may be built upside down, but its mission and vision are right on point.
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At first glance, WonderWorks looks like someone seriously misread the architectural blueprints. But since opening its first location in Florida in 1998, this upside down attraction has proven that its appeal—and business plan—is most certainly pointed in the right direction.

With locations currently in Orlando and Pigeon Forge, Tenn., WonderWorks was conceived in part by Robin Turner, the founder of Attraction Concepts. Turner grew up in Orlando, cutting his teeth in the attraction and tourism industry with Disney as a mascot. Turner owns Orlando’s Magic Midwayamusement park, the state and local fair management company Fair Management, and the temporary trailer restroom provider Specialty Events Support Services. Turner has also branched out in other areas, launching real estate investments in Florida and North Carolina, helping to found Community Bank of the South, and founding Estates at Norton Creek, a private community next to Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee.

Turner’s partner and co-owner in the WonderWorks endeavor is John Morgan, a longtime friend and business partner. Morgan, like Turner, donned a Disney mascot suit in his younger days. He heads Morgan & Morgan, a law firm with offices in Florida, Atlanta, Memphis, and Los Angeles, and he opened The National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington, DC in May 2008.

WonderWorks: Amusing the MindEducation first
The WonderWorks theme is that of an upside down science laboratory that comes complete with a fictional back story. It was supposedly a secret science lab in the Bermuda Triangle, carried away by a massive tornado. Somehow, its experiments remained intact.  These “experiments” make up the more than 100 interactive exhibits people can find at WonderWorks.

Exhibits at both locations are similar, although they do change frequently. Visitors can experience what it is like to land a space shuttle, pilot fighter jets, go inside replicas of space suits and a Mercury capsule, play virtual sports through blue screen technology, feel a 5.3-magnitude earthquake, ride a virtual roller coaster, and more.

In addition, WonderWorks offers laser tag for those who aren’t in the mood for scientific thinking. The Orlando WonderWorks also features the Outta Control Magic Comedy Dinner Show, which was voted Best Dinner Show as part of local TV station WESH-2/ CW18’s A-List 2008, while in Tennessee, visitors can take in the Hoot N’ Holler dinner show.

All of its exhibits are designed to be simultaneously fun and educational. Part of WonderWorks marketing strategy is to reach out to groups of educators and their students by touting the benefits of its education-centric theme. Both locations offer field trip packages that allow students to have a unique learning opportunity, one that can create a connection in young minds between education, learning, and fun because of the hands-on nature of exhibits.

In fact, the Orlando WonderWorks provides educators with an educational guide that includes lesson plans in line with Florida’s state education standards and helps ensure the field trip suits the needs of the class, be it a Kindergarten group or a group of eighth graders. The Tennessee WonderWorks also provides grade level lesson plans and activities aligned with Tennessee Blue Book Curriculum Standards, on request.

Value proposition
However, WonderWorks group outings go beyond strictly education-related trips. Birthday parties, corporate outings, reunions, and more are all encouraged to book trips at both WonderWorks locations. Birthday parties require a minimum of eight children. Other group outings, according to the WonderWorks Web site, require at least 20 people to receive the group discount in Tennessee, while Orlando has the capacity to suit various size groups from 15 to 1000 people.

With basic park tickets costing roughly $20 for adults, WonderWorks is much cheaper than the cost of the average theme park. In 2008, the Orlando location had 420,000 visitors. The economic impact on tourism is affecting WonderWorks, however, as Tennessee’s numbers are off by about 9% so far in 2009.  

Be that as it may, the WonderWorks franchise is still in a growth mode. After opening the Tennessee building in 2006, the company began looking for other places to establish a presence in the market. By next year, WonderWorks anticipates opening three new locations. With $13 million price tags on stand-alone facilities in Panama City, Fla. and Myrtle Beach, SC, as well as a smaller, roughly $6 million facility in a New Jersey Meadowlands mall, WonderWorks is gambling that its imaginative, educational approach will bear fruit with these attractions as it has in Orlando and Tennessee.

One can be forgiven for wondering if the midst of an economic downturn and a slump in tourism revenue makes this an unwise time to expand. But the reality is lower real estate and construction costs make this an excellent time to leverage the company’s strength.

In essence, WonderWorks is looking at the current economy as rife with opportunity for deals on land and construction, deals that it never would have seen before the economy began to fall. Industry data also suggests that value attractions like WonderWorks have been less affected than higher priced theme parks during the economy’s slide.

With an exterior that is more than certain to catch the eye and an interior full of exhibits that are sure to excite the brain, WonderWorks has found an underserved niche in the attraction and tourist industry. The attraction is well suited for travelers on a budget and for local day-trippers, especially those who are more concerned with stimulating the mind over the adrenal gland. Thanks to the vision of Turner and Morgan and their willingness to
invest in expansion, it may not be too long before a massive tornado drops an upside down science lab in a city near you.
 
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