Attractions and Things to Do Near Port Canaveral
One of the attractions and things to do near Port Canaveral is the Wizard of Oz Immersive Experience Museum. Immersive technology creates a realistic digital landscape that allows visitors to feel as if they are inside and interacting with that environment. The museum experience enhancing storytelling, with visuals provided through immersive technology, allows visitors to walk through the landscape described in the Wizard of Oz book.
Below are some images showing projections into four walls and the floor. Of course, during the immersive experience, all the images are moving and synchronized with music to enjoy and skip on the yellow brick road.
Tornado scene
The tornado scene in the museum is a unique Port Canaveral attraction. There are no tornados in the area, but visitors can experience tornadoes in Dorothy’s mansion. A tornado shows in the background first. Entering through the windows and all the parts of the mansion started to fly. Visitors will see flying tractors, cows, fences, and other debris inside the tornado. Mansion eventually lands in the munchkin land.
Munchkin Land scene
After the Tornado scene, visitors are in the munchkin land village. The Munchkins that live there do not look like the munchkins from the MGM movie. In the book, three munchkins meet Dorothy. They have bears and hats with bells, and this is how we presented them. One of the elements from the book that is omitted in the movie is Tinman’s love for the munchkin girl, which eventually causes him to lose his heart. We made a scene where Tinman proposes to the munchkin girl on the bridge and have scenes where munchkins are dancing and having a good time. We create a wonderful place full of flowers, mountains, and lakes around the village, which is divided by the yellow brick road. The yellow brick road is in moving mode and gives an impression to the visitors that they are walking on it.
The mouse saves the lion scene
You might think Aesop but think Lyman Frank Baum instead. His Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Chapter Nine titled “The Queen of the Field Mice.”
The Cowardly Lion, along with Dorothy and Toto, had fallen asleep in the bed of poppies, whose powerful aroma had cast a spell. The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow, not made of flesh, had been able to stay awake and carry Dorothy and her dog away from the soporific flowerbed.
But their feline friend was much too heavy; their only choice was to leave him behind. The Tin Woodman saves the Queen of the Field Mice from the jaws of a wildcat and gains the fealty of her followers. The mice ask the Tin Woodman how to repay him. He can’t think of anything, so the Scarecrow jumps in and tells them about their friend. A lion, the Queen cries, he will eat them up. The Scarecrow assures her, no, this lion is a coward. So, the Queen summons legions of mice to bring long pieces of string. They come from all directions, thousands of them, and they attach their strings to a cart of tree trunks that the Tin Woodman had fashioned together and managed to get the lion onto the cart. While the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow push the makeshift vehicle from behind, little by little the mice pull the lion out of the poppy field.
Witch's Castle (Jack Pumpkinhead came to life) scene
Traveling through the spooky dark forest, and visiting the witch castle, where the witch will use the powder to bring Jack to life with a few skeletons, flying monkeys, and other computer-generated effects.
Jack Pumpkinhead first appeared as the main character in the second Oz book by Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904). Jack’s incredibly tall and skinny figure is made from tree limbs and joined with wooden pegs.
A little boy named Tip built a Jack to scare his guardian, an old witch named Mombi. From Mombi’s chest, he took some old clothes for Jack; purple trousers, a red shirt, a pink vest with white polka dots, and stockings, to which he added a pair of his shoes. When Mombi saw Jack, she almost smashed him to pieces. Instead, she decided to test her new Powder of Life on him. The powder worked, and Jack came to life.
In 1929, the other Oz author Ruth Thompson wrote a whole book Jack Pumpkinhead, that gave inspiration to Tim Burton’s Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
As can be seen in the second image below, there is a telescope on the balcony. We decided to incorporate something unique to this scene. We made a witch to look at the telescope and see the universe.
We showing high-resolution images from the recent James Webb telescope of the Universe. Below you can see a sample of them.
Poppies Field with the Emerald City
After the Munchkin Land scene, surrounded by poppy flowers facing an Emerald city. Five million poppies on both sides of the yellow brick road greet the visitors. Few elements to immerse visitors are butterflies, rainbow, hot air balloons, and a house with poppies growing on the roof. Skip on the yellow brick road and take photos in front of Emerald city.
Dark Forest scene
In the Dark Forest scene followed by poppies field, visitors still follow the yellow brick road. Not to scare kids, there are no scared flying monkeys or witches to see in this scene. Going through the forest with various light effects utilization provides an immersive experience. A whole Emerald city is visible in the background with lighted hot air balloons in the sky.
Party in the Emerald City
In the Emerald City scene, most characters will be dancing surrounded by various animals used in the Oz books.
We used most of the characters from the Wizard of Oz book, plus some other Oz books. In this scene, there are horses of different colors, Toto, Patchwork Girl, Goose ( from Lost King of Oz book), a lion, a bear from ( ojo in Oz and Lost Princess of Oz), Moose ( Gump from Return to Oz), Tiger ( from Hungry Tiger book), wolf ( from the wizard of oz that witch send to capture main characters before sending flying monkeys), Flying pigs(pegasus from Wishing Horse of Oz), goose from the Lost King of Oz, Elephant from Kabumpo in Oz, etc.
Things to do near Port Canaveral -Visit the Wizard of Oz Museum
