This weekend, part of the Orange County Convention Center will be transformed into a mythical, magical wonderland as Unicorn World lands in Central Florida.
The traveling attraction is the dream-turned-reality of a Knoxville-based couple who saw room to improve with other family events they visited.
“My wife and I have three children. We’ve been to children’s events around the country. We went to one event and thought that it could have been so much better; that it didn’t capture the magic of being a child,” said Patrick Mines, who co-founded the event with his wife, Lauren. “We started brainstorming and ended up landing on unicorns.”
The immersive experience puts children and families into an enchanted forest with animatronic unicorns before leading out into areas with arts and crafts, unicorn stables, a ball pit, a bounce house village and more.
In the last year, Unicorn World has traveled to 18 cities across the United States, and the reception has been greater than Mines had ever expected.
“There are so many people out there, children and adults alike, who love unicorns,” he said. “The response has been bigger than we thought. We stumbled upon this whole mythical, magical unicorn desire that was out there.”
While the event is targeted toward children ages 2-10 and their families, the event organizers have found broader appeal among some adults and seniors as well.
“I think this gives people a big break from their daily lives to come out and be a kid again,” Mines said. “It’s been cool to see people’s enthusiasm for it.”
Whether it’s indulging in arts and crafts, playing in the ball pit or meeting fairies and exploring myriad photo ops, the attraction aims to help visitors leave reality behind and find themselves inside another land.
“We want to make it an immersive experience where you are transported to another place and feel like you’re in a different realm,” Mines said. “We’re creating a story where people can leave the regular world and get lost in a fun world for a little bit.”
If you go
Unicorn World is open from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Nov. 18 and 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at 9860 Universal Blvd. in Orlando. Timed-entry tickets are available online for $39 per adult and children ages 2-17 (before taxes and fees). Children younger than 2 years old enter for free. Unlimited passes are available as an add-on, granting unlimited access to bounce houses and unicorn rides. For more information, visit theunicornworld.com.
Find me @PConnPie on Instagram or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com.
