Florida Guide > Epcot
What’s New At Epcot’s Innoventions? (Part 2)
On a cool November morning we visited Epcot to find it surprisingly busy and although we had arrived at about 9. 45 we still had 2 hours to wait before our Fast Passes to Soarin’ could be used. So, in view of the temperature we decided to head indoors to Innoventions and discovered two new shows. The first was ‘What’s Your Problem’ (See What’s New At Epcot’s Innoventions? (Part 1))
Our next discovery was ‘Stormstruck’ which promised an interactive 3-D Hurricane experience. On our first visit to Orlando, some 10 years ago, we had experienced ‘Twister’ at Universal Studios, and I wondered if this new Disney show was going to be something similar. The answer was – no!
We were handed our 3-D spectacles as we entered the theatre and then took our seats which had voting buttons in front of each person. After a short introduction the hurricane was switched on gradually increasing in its intensity. We were treated to the 3-D experience of tiles hurtling of roofs, trees being uprooted and flying branches heading in our direction as well as shards of glass and other debris. We even experienced some of the rain as we were sprayed with water (the real stuff – not a 3-D trick! ). Once the hurricane had passed away we were able to survey the damage left in its wake.
Next came the interactive part of the show. We were to become the refurbishment team and part of our goal was to determine which alternatives would be more likely to withstand any future storms. The first structure we had to repair was the garage, whose roof and doors had been ripped off in the storm. What design should we use for the new roof – hipped or pitched, should we use nails or metal ties to fasten the roof to the garage walls, and what kind of covering should we apply, asphalt shingles or tiles, and finally should we replace the up-and-over doors with a one or two-door design. At each stage the audience was invited to vote for the option they felt would be most suited. As a break from designing we were asked to think about some practical aspects of being in a house during a hurricane; should we open our windows or leave them closed, and should we put tape across the panes of glass or not. We next had to help out neighbours decide whether their replacement French doors should be designed to open inwards or outwards and finally we had to decide on a replacement tree for our garden; should it be a Magnolia or a Sand Pine? After all the voting had been completed the audience scores were compared to those of experts and in each case the majority of the audience came up with the correct answer.
As for myself – well I got one wrong! Thinking that the shape of the Sand Pine would be more aerodynamic and thus less wind resistant than the Magnolia it got my vote. However the experts answer was that the Magnolia would have a wider spread root system and thus resist a hurricane better than a shallow rooted pine. Ah well, we live and learn and this is what the show as about after all.
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