Seats are allocated for the Wonderworks Outta Control Magic Comedy dinner show on a first come first served basis. To get seats near the stage and out of the crowd for my son I was advised to start queueing at 5pm. When we arrived there were already two people in the queue and by 5.10 the queue was full.
I sent everyone else off to look around The Wonderworks upstairs for an hour and prepared myself to stand in a crowded queue on my own.
Eventually at 6pm the doors opened and we were let in one group at a time. The queueing paid off and my son was sat at the end of a table near to the stage.
The audience are seated on long tables from the stage to the back of the room.
On the table were plastic plates and forks each and a big bowl of salad, some garlic mayo, parmesan, salt and pepper.
We sat for ten minutes as people were seated and then we were welcomed and drinks orders taken.
We helped ourselves to the salad.
Pizzas were brought out and put in the middle of tables for everyone to share. The pizzas were all the same – half pepperoni and half plain cheese and tomato. If the pizza ran out then new ones were brought out until everyone had eaten enough.
The show itself started at 6.34. It is a fast paced magic and comedy show by Tony Brent, who kept the kids attention well with his silliness and clever tricks. He combined magic, impersonations, and improvisational comedy.
Most of the tricks involved audience participation and volunteers were chosen from all over the room. Most of the show was on the stage but he did go around the audience a few times. There is a big screen on the wall incase you can’t see the stage so well.
If you are an adult and go up on stage then prepare to be embarrassed to the amusement of the audience. Probably the funniest act was when a member of the audience was turned into a ventriloquist dummy and had to sing a duet with the magician!
Dessert was brought out during the show (a small slice of something chocolatey) and drinks were constantly refilled.
The show finished at 7:17 and at the end there was an opportunity to get a signed flyer from Tony Brent or buy a DVD of how to do magic tricks.
We left and went to play in the Wonderworks for another hour.
Taking a child with an ASD to The Wonderworks Outta Control Magic Comedy dinner show?
If there is more than one adult in your group then leave one in the queue at five and the other take the children away to wait.
You want to be near front of queue to get seats near the stage and out of the crowd.
Take into account the time it takes to queue for your tickets at the main wonderworks entrance.
We were seated first but had to wait ten mins before being welcomed and drink orders taken.
You will have to sit with other parties.
Some of the show may go over your child’s head but the tricks are impressive to watch.
Try not to volunteer your child if they don’t like being looked at or laughed at.
Instructions to child volunteers on the stage were sometimes subtle non verbal instructions and sometimes shouted but not complex.
If your child uses ear defenders it may be a good idea to take them incase.
It might be worth upgrading to Priority Access tickets to avoid the long queue to get in.
The Wonderworks Outta Control Magic Comedy dinner show website is https://www.wonderworksonline.com/orlando/the-experience/the-outta-control-magic-comedy-dinner-show/ It is located on the bottom floor of The Wonderworks on International Drive, Orlando.
