Iron Man 3 Exhibit at Disneyland

Please welcome guest author Zoë Periale with this report from the new Iron Man 3 exhibit at Disneyland:

With the third movie in the Iron Man series up for release at midnight tonight, a new exhibit has cropped up in Disneyland. Iron Man Tech Presented by Stark Industries is located on the top floor of Innoventions, a small low capacity building in the back of Tomorrowland but fitting nonetheless. After doing a round about of the top floor to reduce traffic flow problems, you’ll be greeted by the sight of what the over head speakers is dubbing the Mark XLII, or Mark 42 of the Iron Man suit. Red and shiny it stands on a recreation of Tony Stark’s circular pedestal that fans of the series will recognize as the location where he preforms many a suit up in his Malibu Beachside home.

If one listens closely, they will also recognize that the overhead speakers is in fact the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S.; the artificial intelligence system that runs everything in Tony’s home, from the Iron Man project to the coffee pot in the morning.

Lined up along the wall are a few samplings of the Hall of Armor, with many iconic suits from the previous two movies. Including shrapnel left over from the Mark I, to the sleek and compact Briefcase edition seen in Iron Man 2, even a bullet riddled suit from one of Tony’s less than successful escapades in the first movie. If you make your way behind the Hall of Armor, you’ll find yourself in a small tunnel with promotional paraphernalia from many of the Iron Man movies, including the yet to be released Iron Man 3. Posters and photographs line the walls that disguise the queue for the Iron Man Virtual Reality Experience.

As you finish your tour of posters, you’ll find yourself faced with two decent size television screens, and two play mats that are meant to resemble the aforementioned Suit Up Pedestal. Standing on these play mats, you will begin your Virtual Reality Adventure. A three minute presentation reveals that it’s little more than fancy Xbox Kinect tricks, which can be found throughout the whole of Innoventions. A camera recognizes your form, and overlays an Iron Man suit over your body before switching screens to a demonstration of how technology can now recognize your movement. Be it from tossing frisbees with Kinectimals downstairs in the Dream Home, or simply using your skills to make Iron Man break dance.

Once you go through the required motions of waving your arms to fire lasers from Iron Man’s hands, dancing, and waddling like a penguin to get the suit to fly, you exit the Virtual Reality area to find yourself back in the Hall of Armor. A glass case on the wall showcases a few individual pieces of armor such as a an Iron Man boot, finishing your Tour of Stark Industries.

While many aspects of the Exhibit can be considered cool or neat, as seeing the Iron Man suit models are indeed interesting; you however are left mildly underwhelmed as you realize how small the Exhibit actually is, and the fact that J.A.R.S.V.I.S. can repeat his entire spiel ten times in a five minute time frame. For any Iron Man fan it is definitely something you should at least make a point to pop in on, perhaps snag a photo with. If Marvel and it’s Heroes however aren’t your thing, you can see all the same suits in any of the three Iron Man movies; the difference being the movie comes with a bonus Robert Downey Jr. for your convenience.