Crayola Experience: Orlando’s Colorful Destination for Family Fun
If anyone in your family is an aspiring little artist, or you just have a bigger someone who loves to draw, paint, or color, then the Crayola Experience needs to be at the top of your Orlando bucket list. Located in The Florida Mall, just 12 miles from Disney World, this Crayola-themed attraction offers 70,000 square feet of family fun. With countless opportunities to play, create, and learn, your family is sure to have a colorful time!
Embrace Your Creativity
Crayola has been imbuing the world with color since 1903, beginning with a box of 28 colors, including celestial blue, golden ochre, and rose pink.
Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith invented the new tool for young artists by combining paraffin wax and non-toxic pigments. Binney’s wife, Alice, coined the name Crayola, creating the iconic name from “craie,” which is French for “chalk,” and “oleaginous” or “oily.”1
Over a century later, Crayola is still found in the hands of craft lovers, from age 4 to 104. And those little wax crayons may harbor more magic than you think – magic that can be unlocked at Orlando’s Crayola Experience!
With 27 attractions to choose from, the Crayola Experience provides the ultimate adventure in color, even for the most seasoned artist. From vibrant playgrounds to paint stations, digital art, interactive games, and everything in between, there’s something for everyone to enjoy! Check out a few of our favorite activities below:
- Be A Star: Create and star in your own coloring book story! Use a photo booth to snap your pictures alongside your family and friends and watch along as your coloring book is printed. You can even add in Crayola characters!
- Bluetiful: Snap a few photos of the world’s largest Crayola crayon, a 15.6-foot-long blue crayon, weighing in at 1,352 pounds. (Wow, that sure is a big one!)
- Cool Moves: Become a crayon and bust a move on the big screen! Large animated crayons will follow your every action in this magical musical activity. (Hey Mom, bust a move!)
- Crayon Factory Show: Learn about crayons from your animated crayon friends, Scarlet & Turk, in this live-action show! You can even watch along as the resident “Crayonologist” makes crayons right in front of you on the stage.
- Drip Art: Create spiral art! Choose crayons to melt and watch as they get spun into your very own work of art.
- Melt & Mold: Create your own unique characters out of wax! Simply pick your favorite color, select your mold, and watch your creations come to life.
- Rainbow Rain: Catch digital wax as it falls all around you! Control the wax with your movements and watch as it bounces across the room.
- Stomp & Play: Use your feet to play games in this interactive arena! Watch the screen as it responds to your movements.
- Toddler Town: A play area dedicated to the youngest color lovers. Toddlers can run, explore, climb, and play in this colorfully fun-filled space!
- Wrap It Up: Create your own Crayola! Come up with a new color name and print out the label to attach to your favorite color.
The Crayola Experience also offers a premium set of activities that you can access with an additional admissions ticket to the Trading Post. Here participants can create their own wax hands, mine for gems, explore the possibilities of sand art, and even play arcade games!
Grab a Bite to Eat
When you find yourself in need of a break from all the fun and maybe feeling a bit hungry, make sure to head over to the Snack Shack or Café Crayola. The Snack Shack, which is always open, provides light snacks and beverages. Café Crayola, on the other hand, is only open on the weekends but does provide a full menu complete with pizza, salads, hot dogs, and even gluten-free options.
There are also several restaurants and dining experiences in the nearby area. Check out Johnny Rockets in the mall for a great 50’s Dinner feel. (Burgers, anyone?) Or maybe go for a local’s favorite, Garibaldi Mexican cuisine, just one and a half miles from the mall for some yummy fajita’s. (Very yummy Fajita’s!)
Celebrate the Holidays with Crayola
For an extra special adventure, you can coordinate your visit with one of the many seasonal events the Crayola Experience offers. Stop by during Spring Break for specialty craft activities, slime classes, a drawing workshop, and St. Patrick’s Day-inspired entertainment. Don your best costume and visit during October for some spooky Halloween fun. During this Screamin’ Green Hauntoween event, you’ll be treated to activities such as pumpkin painting, a scavenger hunt, a slime show, and spooky drawing activities.
monarch butterfly with a scarlet crayon! (Photo Via Unsplash)
There’s also the Colorful Christmas event, a celebration that spans from Thanksgiving through New Year’s and includes a wide variety of cheerful holiday events. From light shows to an ornament workshop, holiday adventure hunts, and even daily visits from reindeer, there’s plenty of joyful fun to be had! Finally, if you happen to stop by on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, you’ll be able to partake in even more celebrations with Crayola Experience’s special Jazzberry Jammin’ New Year’s Eve event. This two-day event is full of festive New Year’s activities that your entire family is sure to love.
Plan a Colorful Birthday
If you’re looking for a creative celebration for your child’s next birthday party, look no further than the Crayola Experience. All you need to do is invite the guests, and Crayola will do the rest! Take advantage of your own private party room while the kids enjoy access to all the attractions. With unlimited drinks, party supplies, and even a special gift for the birthday kid, it’s sure to be the party of the year! For an extra fee, you can even add on pizza and party favors.
The Crayola Experience also offers events for school groups, summer camps, scouts, religious organizations, corporations (yes, even the adults get to play!), and more. There’s literally something for everyone!
Take the Crayola Experience Home
The fun doesn’t have to end when you leave Crayola Experience – you can bring it home with you! So stop by the Crayola Store before you head out at the end of the day to pick up your must-have Crayola products, home goods, plush toys, and apparel.
Of special note is the Crayola Experience Home Adventures activity kits. These kits provide everything you need for a night of colorful, hands-on family fun that you can enjoy when you return home. Each kit contains a story that ties together all the activities. For example, you can join Granny Smith on a scavenger hunt as she tries to track down her missing top-secret blue recipe, or you can partake in a seasonal storyline (coming soon).
A video walkthrough provided by “Jazzy, the crayon hostess with the mostess” ensures that your family has all the information needed to enjoy each activity to the fullest. With seven different adventures to journey through, exclusive Crayola content, and special awards for a job well done, these Home Adventure Kits are sure to keep your family entertained for hours! So let’s get out there and make the world a more colorful place and let’s start with a fun trip to the Crayola Experience!
Have you ever been to the Crayola Experience in Orlando? Which activity was your favorite? Would you like to celebrate a holiday or special event at Crayola Experience? If so, what would you celebrate? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Photo: Discover Lehigh Valley via Flickr
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