Innoventions East and West

Innoventions East and West Review

Innoventions East is loaded with activities designed to entertain and inspire kids and adults. Take Sum of All Thrills, by technology company Raytheon, for instance. This is not your typical "design a coaster" ride. Here, you get your own multi-touch-screen table with math- and engineering-based tools (and simple instructions) to design and customize your bobsled, jet, or roller-coaster ride with corkscrews, inversions, and steep hills. Along the way, you'll apply math and engineering principles to measure the energy you need to make it over a hill. Then you and a partner get to climb aboard a robotic simulator for the high-def immersion ride that's as mild or as wild as you design it. At Habit Heroes presented by Florida Blue and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, you and your team tackle three interactive experiences designed to help you create a happier, healthier world through hydration, nutrition, and physical activity. Wish you had a "green" home? Check out VISION House by Green Builder Media, a model of sustainable living with themes of energy efficiency, indoor-environment quality, and multigenerational design.

StormStruck, presented by the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, serves up severe weather that'll make you jump and duck in a 4-D theater. You have your own electronic buttons for voting on how you'd protect your property from future storms before the "big reveal" tells you whether you're right or wrong. At the Test the Limits Lab, you can be product testers for Underwriters Laboratories by trying to break TV screens, slam doors, crush helmets, and putting other home products through their paces.

At Innoventions West, Liberty Mutual's Where's the Fire? interactive experience is a terrific way to review fire safety and prevention. Your family can enjoy the game house, where you'll team up with other guests to find and extinguish as many fire hazards as possible and learn best ways to stay safe in a fire. The Firefighter Photo station lets you send a photo postcard to family and friends. At THINK, you embark upon an interactive quest using touchscreen activities to draw on stories of progress and make the world a safer, more efficient, and sustainable place.

You can even watch your cash reserves grow at the Great Piggy Bank Adventure by T. Rowe Price. Children love the real piggy bank they get to move from one interactive station to another; adults enjoy the fast-paced teamwork involved in choosing a "dream" goal, learning strategies to save, staying ahead of inflation, and diversifying funds.

For people with disabilities: This attraction is completely wheelchair accessible—some exhibits inside this always-evolving attraction may require transferring from a wheelchair. Sign-language interpretation is available some days. Guests with service animals should check with an attractions host when entering. Come before 11 am or after 2 pm. Sum of All Thrills, StormStruck, Habit Heroes, and the Great Piggy Bank Adventure have some of the largest crowds.