Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
It was boring, had rushing water, moved slowly, and creaked with age. What
made it worse was that it had a high rating and this raised expectations.
Innoventions
What it is
Multifaceted attraction featuring static and hands-on exhibits relating to products
and technologies of the near future.
Scope and scale
Major diversion.
When to go
On your
second day or after you have seen all the major attractions.
Special comments
Most exhibits
demand time and participation to be rewarding; not much gained here by a quick walk-through;
very commercial but well presented.
DESCRIPTION AND COMMENTS
Modeled after a similar attraction at Epcot in Walt Disney
World, Innoventions was part of the 1996-2000 Tomorrowland renovation. In 2008 Dis-
ney scrapped the trade show-like collection of high-tech gizmos and games and borrowed
a page from the park's ancient past. One of the most beloved and often remembered at-
tractions of Disneyland's early years was the Monsanto House of the Future, a stand-alone
building with a curved spaceship-style exterior and rooms outfitted with furniture and ap-
pliances forecast to be in everyone's home before the millennium. This time around, sans
Monsanto,it'stheDreamHome,locatedinthemiddleofthegroundfloorofInnoventions.
Surrounding the Dream Home are rooms from equally futuristic “neighbors' ” homes,
complete with actors playing the neighbors. Between the neighbors and a member of the
Dream Home family, you are guided on a tour of the home's wondrous rooms and the
technology within them. A grand piano in the great room is networked to a music teacher
across the country. In the dining room, touch screens in the dinner table allow the family
to assemble a scrapbook. A 100-inch television dominates the family room. The kitchen,
which will remind you of the bridge of the Starship
Enterprise,
is of course the mother
lode: among its many amazements is a computer that reads RFID (radio-frequency identi-
fication) “smart” labels on food packages and warns you if you're about to chug a glass of
milkpastitsexpirationdate;thesamecomputerwillalertyouifyoudon'thaveaningredi-
ent on hand for a recipe you're making. A story line concerning the Dream Home family,
the Eliases, sort of ties everything together. On the second floor you'll find an entertaining
15-minute show demonstrating Honda's ASIMO, an impressive humanoid robot capable
ofwalkingautonomously,climbingstairs,andkickingsoccerballs.Alsoupstairsaresome
Xbox 360 Kinect video game consoles, Siemens's Project Tomorrow simulations (as also
seen at Epcot's Spaceship Earth), and St. Joseph Hospital's interactive health-living play
area.
In 2013 Disney temporarily turned a corner of Innoventions over to “Stark Indus-
tries” for interactive exhibitions of Iron Man's armored suits. The “advertraction” for the
superhero film franchise, which allowed guests to simulate using Tony Stark's explosive
outerwear, marked the first appearance of a Marvel Comics character (now owned by Dis-
ney) inside Disneyland.
