On the Tuesday of the week following Thanksgiving my wife and I headed for Epcot expecting to find it reasonably quiet. It was quite a cool morning and so when we saw crowds of holidaymakers heading into Epcot we just thought it was down to timing – people just happened to be arriving at a similar time, maybe having decided that a trip to the water parks was definitely off the agenda for the day. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at the tip board at about 9. 45 to see that there was already a 30 minute wait to get on Soarin’ and a similar wait for Test Track. Nevertheless I headed to ‘The Land’, with park tickets in my hand in order to get Fast Passes for us both. Well I got them – but for 11. 50! So with a two hour wait, and World Showcase not yet open, we decided to have a look round the Innoventions pavilions.
The first new attraction we came across was an interactive game show called ‘What’s your Problem’. The main show was preceded by a short introduction to ‘hook and loop’ fasteners (better known by the trade name Velcro – who indeed were the sponsors). The show featured two co-hosts; Liza Loopy (who had provided the intro) and Hannah Hook, who, between them, supervised three contests between members of the audience, while also vying (good naturedly) for top spot – is it hook and loop or loop and hook? !
The first contest was between two teams of two children and their challenge was to build, in 60 seconds, the tallest construction using odd shaped, sponge filled blocks which had one side made of hooked fabric and one side of a looped fabric. Needless to say, this being Disney, even the ‘losers’ received a badge.
Next it was the turn of two pairs of adults who had to solve the problem of packing for their holidays by taking a variety of items as ‘carry-on luggage’, although they had to carry the items on their own bodies. This was achieved by putting articles into small bags which, using hook and loop technology, were then attached to a specially provided poncho.
The final game matched two male members of the audience whose wives had gone out for the day leaving them literally ‘holding the babies’. Cloth babies were put on a conveyer belt and the ‘stay at home’ fathers had to grab a child, apply a diaper (nappy) using Velcro ties, stick a bottle to the baby and then stick the baby to their apron.
Our next discovery was ‘Stormstruck’ which promised an interactive 3-D Hurricane experience. But that’s another story!
The first new attraction we came across was an interactive game show called ‘What’s your Problem’. The main show was preceded by a short introduction to ‘hook and loop’ fasteners (better known by the trade name Velcro – who indeed were the sponsors). The show featured two co-hosts; Liza Loopy (who had provided the intro) and Hannah Hook, who, between them, supervised three contests between members of the audience, while also vying (good naturedly) for top spot – is it hook and loop or loop and hook? !
The first contest was between two teams of two children and their challenge was to build, in 60 seconds, the tallest construction using odd shaped, sponge filled blocks which had one side made of hooked fabric and one side of a looped fabric. Needless to say, this being Disney, even the ‘losers’ received a badge.
Next it was the turn of two pairs of adults who had to solve the problem of packing for their holidays by taking a variety of items as ‘carry-on luggage’, although they had to carry the items on their own bodies. This was achieved by putting articles into small bags which, using hook and loop technology, were then attached to a specially provided poncho.
The final game matched two male members of the audience whose wives had gone out for the day leaving them literally ‘holding the babies’. Cloth babies were put on a conveyer belt and the ‘stay at home’ fathers had to grab a child, apply a diaper (nappy) using Velcro ties, stick a bottle to the baby and then stick the baby to their apron.
Our next discovery was ‘Stormstruck’ which promised an interactive 3-D Hurricane experience. But that’s another story!