I am usually so plugged into the theme parks, that I completely miss a lot of the little events in Orlando, like Science Night Live. I’m sure somewhere in the back of my head I knew Orlando had a science museum, but I was generally unaware that the Orlando Science Center existed until my friends told me about it. They’d gone to this event that was twenty-one and up and was sort of an adults’ night out at the Science Center. It sounded awesome, but they only have it every few months. I learned of its existence about a week before the next one and I was already working that night, and the one a few months away we had out of town company visiting, so when I saw the June 2nd date, I was determined to make it.
That is, after I checked with my mom to make sure she wouldn’t be upset I went to something fun on her birthday without her.(She wanted us to go.) I would have taken her, but she was in Tennessee.
It was a good thing I bought our tickets well in advance, because it sold out quickly. Since Science Night Live was a twenty-one and up event, I didn’t think it would be appropriate for Duffy, so we took Tuffy instead. He’s Jay’s bear that looks like Duffy, but has a leather jacket and an eye patch.
We arrived at the Science Center around 7:30 pm, which gave us plenty of time to find parking and walk over. We hit the door around 7:45 pm, and they let us walk right in. They gave us wrist bands that seemed somewhat pointless since you couldn’t get in without a ticket, but maybe there were different colored ones. I didn’t see how that meant something, because Science Center Members had a separate entrance.
The program listed all the different happenings on each level, and the timed events. There were a few different presentations and Science Trivia.
We wandered into the first exhibit we came to, which was the traveling “Hall of Heroes”, an exhibit about the history of comic books and the science behind superhero powers. They had statues of a couple characters, a full-size TARDIS from Doctor Who, and a display of one of the old Batmobiles. You could test your super speed, super hearing, or super jumps. There were all sorts of little hands on things, but there were so many people it was hard to get near any of them.
The next exhibit was the Kinetic Zone, an interactive hands-on area about things in motion. I was excited because I found a display that didn’t have anyone, but then I discovered it was because it was missing the pieces you needed to play with it. We also encountered our first bar area, and boy did it have a long line! I looked at the drink menu, and the prices were pretty reasonable, seeing as the bar was sponsored by the Hard Rock Café.
We went back out to the central hub with the staircase, and I stared at the program. Downstairs listed live animals, so we made our way down. Our first stop was the restroom, and then I found two giant edible works of arts called “Show Cakes”. The trivia was getting ready to start in the cafeteria, and we eavesdropped on it for a minute to see what the topics were. Trivia is not my strong suit unless it’s Disney related, but Jay has worked with animals and animal research all over the world.
That’s a cake.
The first question we heard was: “How tall was the tallest man who ever lived?” We turned around and went to look for the animals. In the center of the Science Center is a single tree in a pond with turtles, baby alligators, and fish. Once we walked past that, there were all sorts of small reptiles and amphibians in tanks. Jay was super excited, but I was too afraid of running into a frog, to look too closely. They also had displays of how Florida’s water table works, and how sink holes happen, and all sorts of stuff about naturally occurring things in Florida. My absolute favorite thing in this area, and possibly for the whole night, was the hedgehog named Stanley they had out on display. He’s ten months old and still getting used to people, so I couldn’t pet him, but he sure did smile for the camera!
It was almost 8:30 pm at this point, so we wandered towards the Doctor Phillips CineDome for the first presentation: Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs. Jay asked how long the movie was, and they said half an hour, so we made our way in. We sat near the front, thinking if we got bored, it would be easy to duck out. This was a terrible mistake. The theater is a dome, and rather than a 360-degree view like you find at Epcot’s theaters, the screen curves over top of you and does a partial wrap around. It gave me vertigo at first, and my neck hurt half way through the movie from how far back I had to tilt my head. It would have been much better if we’d sat higher up, but we had no clue. Jay found the movie interesting, but I would have been happier if it was half the length. I wish we’d waited for the later one about the ocean instead.
The CineDome exited onto the third floor, which worked great since we hadn’t been there yet. We wandered through the Fusion: A STEAM Gallery area, which was a bunch of art made from recycled pieces. It was really pretty and cool, but I don’t really see how it’s science and not art? Everyone in that area was dressed super nice too, and it had an art scene vibe to the whole floor.
The next section of the third floor was the Hive: a Makerspace, which I was much more excited about. There were different tables with supplies and instructions on how to make little things. There was a paper curling table, an origami table, and an embroidery table. We sat down at the origami table since it was the only one that had room for both of us. I made a heart, and Jay made a bat with the instructions on the table.
They also had some demos of 3D printers in action, and I was super excited to see those. I’ve never seen how they work, but it’s fascinating! I already wanted one, but now it’s moving a little higher on the list of “stuff I’m eventually going to buy”. I got a kick out of what they were printing: a X-Wing from Star Wars, a Bulbasaur, and an Epcot coaster.
The 3D printing in progress of a Bulbasaur.
We made our way up to the fourth floor, which had the most stuff packed into a single space. We started in the DinoDigs area, which had several full-size dinosaur skeletons on display, music, and a photo backdrop! The skeletons were really cool, and we took our time to look at all of them, since we’re used to theme parks that usually only have one or two. My favorite was the T-Rex that had a sign for Science Night Live in his jaws.
We stopped for a photo with the backdrop, and I picked up a flyer for a fossil event happening later this year. Then I noticed the kids’ fossil dig area, and before Jay could blink, I was over there looking for a fossil to dig up.
Outside on the balcony was a telescope, and the doorway to the observatory. Both had really long lines, and the air was thick with smoke so we didn’t stay long. We could see SeaWorld’s fireworks way off in the distance, so that was cool.
Back inside, the next area held both the Dr. Dare’s Lab that had a long line, and the Our Planet hands on exhibits, which like the “Hall of Heroes” area, had all sorts of interactive stuff. There was one where you tried to create enough of a wave to strand rubber ducks on the land part. Everything was really too crowded to get close to anything to try it.
It was after 10:00 pm already, and we both worked in the morning, so we made a quick stop to check out the gift shop and headed out.
Science Night Live was certainly interesting. Some people were dressed in jeans and t-shirts like us, and some people were clearly dressed up for a social outing. I overheard a few different groups and got the general impression that this is a regular outing for some people. Since it was a sold-out event, it was too crowded to do anything without waiting in a long line, and that included the alcohol. Ironically, I think Jay and I would have had more fun coming in the day, and tolerating whatever screaming children might have been around. An adults only event sounded really fun, but I sort of forgot that we’re both basically kids. We plan to go back, once summer break is over!
Cost: The tickets were $15.95 plus tax. It is free for Science Center members.
Duration: The event ran from 8:00 pm to 11:30 pm. We were there about two hours. In our defense, we’d both gotten up for work around 5:30 that morning and would be doing the same the next day.
Value: If you’re looking for more of a social outing with drinking and food, or like science trivia and guest speakers, it’s fantastic. If you want to actually try all the exhibits and hands on stuff, I think you would be better off going during a weekday.
Add Ons: You can apply the value of your tickets towards a Science Center Membership, up to 30 days after the event, and members get in free to future Science Night Live events. The food and drinks were all pretty reasonably priced, but we just didn’t want to wait in the lines.
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