Friday, January 11, 2008 9:44 PM CST
A 'wonder-full' break from reality
By DAWN SCHABBING, Features Writer
dschabbing@jg-tc.com
I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. There it was — a building situated upside down — along the Parkway in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
Our family had decided on a short, impromptu vacation between Christmas and New Year’s Day. We ventured to Tennessee for a few days, leaving home without much of a plan.
Giving our brains a few moments to absorb the unusually situated structure, we were determined we had to see what this was all about. WonderWorks, as it is called, made us do just that — wonder what was inside.
Pigeon Forge, nestled in the eastern part of Tennessee, is on the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. The trip was about 530 miles one way.
Even the winter scenery was pleasing and temperatures stayed steady in the 50- to 55-degree range when we visited.
When the warmer days didn’t allow us to snowboard this trip, we improvised and took things in stride, without a schedule to guide us.
There are plenty of dining, shopping and tourism opportunities in the area.
That building we analyzed from a distance was an indoor amusement park for the mind, with dozens and dozens of different things to see and do. My husband and I enjoyed it as much as our 13-year-old daughter did.
Described on the brochure, the upside down building came to Pigeon Forge after “a research laboratory from an uncharted island in the Bermuda Triangle was swept off the map by a giant tornado,” and it landed there.
Ticket prices were $19.95 for adults, $9.95 for children 4-12, and free for those 3 years and younger.
But, the exterior alone makes you want to look. Its roof lined the pavement. Palm trees extended upside down, as did pole lights. It was the most unusual and one of the most fun buildings we’ve ever encountered.
The lobby was about the same way, designed to show the building had been flipped, so just about everything was upside down.
After walking through the whirling tube of lights into the hands-on area, I had to ask, “Just what is going on around here?”
WonderWorks is another form of hands-on, brains-on activities for the whole family.
The museum is divided into several zones, including space, disaster, sound and lights, challenges and illusions. There was an arcade and a restaurant, as well. It also offered family Lazer Tag for an additional $4.95 per person.
Visitors are offered an experience of what WonderWorks described as a 5.3-magnitude earthquake in its Quake Cafe. We visited Hurricane Hole, where winds up to 65 mph were felt. Living in the Midwest, I suppose it is silly to want to feel those kinds of winds, just for fun.
Along the way, trivia about the zones we entered kept our brains in gear. For example, we learned that “if you could drive to the sun at 55 mph, it would take about 193 years.”
While I was the only one brave enough in my family to try it, the bed of nails proved to be popular among guests that day. The line was long for the brief stay on the “bed.” The operator pushed a button that caused the nails to rise up through clear heavy plastic, with a hole bored for each nail.
Reportedly there were 3,497 nails that raised up slowly beneath my hiney.
You bet, I asked first, “Has anyone ever been injured by this thing?” The lady didn’t seem terribly amused, and politely shook her head “no” before she pushed the button.
“It takes 2 kg of pressure to puncture your skin,” reads the sign. An example given was, “A person weighing 154 pounds will be supported by 1,500 nails. This results in an average pressure of .04 kg per nail, which is less than the pressure needed to damage the skin.”
Another first for us was a virtual roller coaster that you design yourself before entering. The encased car moves about as you’ve instructed it to at the computer, before entering the capsule and getting strapped in.
My 13-year-old daughter established the number of twists, turns and drops the coaster made with us secured inside.
There’s lots more. Young, brave people tried rock climbing, while older teens and adults pedaled their way in a two-seated ride into a 360-degree turn. There were several opportunities for virtual games — basketball, volleyball, air hockey. And in the space zone we could practice landing a space shuttle.
Also while in Pigeon Forge, we visited the Great Smoky Mountain Murder Mystery Dinner Show.
The play, “The Dark Side of December,” involved five characters played by four people. The play was about a company Christmas party and the audience was among the guests or employees. The boss, a womanizer and a boozer, was not very popular with the employees.
The playhouse provided an interactive mystery, with a few props and no true curtain drops. Scene changes occurred when the members in character would dash off the “stage.”
The southern-style dinner menu items included creamy vegetable soup, slaw, roasted chicken and pork loin.
The seating was at banquet tables and an area down the middle on which the actors performed. A few members of the audience took part in the plot that ends up with one person “dead.”
Also, we tried to veer away from the restaurants we have at home, and when we spotted the neon sign at a distance, we knew we had to try Mel’s Classic Diner.
Growing up in the ’70s, my husband and I knew right away about Mel’s Diner and found one very similar to the one on “Alice,” a sitcom.
While Alice’s workplace on TV was based in Phoenix, the Mel’s in Pigeon Forge appeared to be just as popular.
The diner seats about 100 people, as the narrow building is lined with booths. The fun ’50s and ’60s theme came complete with loud music from the jukebox that kept everyone’s spirits up.
“If the music is too loud, you are too old,” read one sign at Mel’s.
The restaurant offered mugs and T-shirts for sale with the famous words from the TV show, “Kiss My Grits.” The waitresses were friendly and relaxed, and the service was fast. The waiting line seemed to move swiftly as waitresses carrying food and desserts buzzed up and down the diner. And the food was tasty and at reasonable prices.
The Mel’s Classic Diner menu offered food items many of us can relate to, including reminders of another popular sitcom, “Happy Days.” The menu included Fonzarelli Cheese Sticks, Potsy’s Potato Skins, and Mrs. C’s Chicken Fingers.
And as the exit from Mel’s diner read, eventually we had to leave the southern hospitality, as jobs and school and a brand-new year were beckoning us.
How fitting those words were when we had to leave to come home.
“You are now leaving the good times, on your way back to reality.”
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