Syracuse’s only indoor amusement park, located in Destiny USA, features a winding ropes course and laser tag that takes up more than 40,000 feet of the mall’s surface.

WonderWorks’ fun and games incorporate education with entertainment, something the company refers to as “edu-tainment.” The park’s educational aspect makes it a popular spot for learning events such as field trips and birthday parties.

WonderWorks will host its fifth anniversary birthday party on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. VIP tickets are $10 and general admission tickets are $5. VIP tickets or WonderWorks tickets purchased before Saturday come with a free ticket to the anniversary party.

“93Q” hosts Ted and Jack will be outside of WonderWorks all day handing out prizes and playing games, said Nicole Montgomery, director of operations at the Syracuse WonderWorks.

“There will be special crafts and experiments for the kids to get involved with,” Montgomery said. “It will be a day of fun and games, all sorts of things you would expect at a birthday party. Oh, and cake. There will be cake.”

The amusement park is filled with exhibits in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, encouraging children to learn about different areas of science. Current exhibits focus on the weather, space and natural disasters.

“WonderWorks believes that when you make education more fun for the kids and more interactive for the kids, it holds their attention better and makes learning more fun for them. We like to celebrate learning,” said Lisa Whitmore, the sales manager at the Syracuse WonderWorks.

The Syracuse WonderWorks has developed its park since its beginning five years ago. Montgomery said they cycle through exhibits frequently because they want their customers to have a new experience each time. In this past year, WonderWorks has added a “Titanic” exhibit, as well as some smaller educational exhibits.

Susan Frese, the corporate sales and marketing director of the WonderWorks franchise, also highlighted the developments the Syracuse location has made.

“For Syracuse especially, we offer, and have been adding, more educational programs,” Frese said. “We have science week during February winter break because February winter break is specific to Syracuse schools, and over the summer we offer science camp. None of the other WonderWorks properties offer this.”

And the development doesn’t stop there. The Syracuse WonderWorks has plans for more improvements in the future. Montgomery said they are expecting a Google Moon and Google Mars exhibit to be coming soon, along with other STEM exhibits.

“Right now we are working on awareness and expanding to the surrounding cities of Syracuse that might not know about us,” Whitmore said. “We want people to know why we’re here and what we are all about.”

Published on November 12, 2017 at 8:48 pm

Contact Clare: cltoner@syr.edu