Ripley's Mobile Challenge at Ripley's Believe It or Not! Orlando

I absolutely love going to Ripley’s Believe It or Not! attractions around the world and the Orlando attraction is magnificent. From oddities, shrunken heads, quirky pop art statues and rare items- you name it – they have it! You will usually need a few visits to really enjoy every story and nuance, because the selection is really wide. The Mobile Challenge mobile web experience is terrific in that it helps your experience become so much better: it lets you pick up things that you might have missed, challenges you with riddles and much more. It keeps you focused while you are visiting and prevents you from missing some of the most cool things.

To enjoy Ripley’s Mobile Challenge you don’t need to download anything to your phone, which I liked. You just open your browser, put your email and that’s it- you’re good to go. Each room has its own set of interactions with the mobile experience and they were all done very well and complemented the displays and subject of the room. For example – when you visit the optical illusions room, you get additional amusing optical illusions through the mobile experience. So you actually get additional related content.

The other mobile experiences are usually in the kind of:

Scavenger hunts – finding specific items/elements within the room: you see a set of portraits or items on the mobile experience and you have to track them and identify those items in the actual room. Now, I’ve been to Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Orlando and I have to say – I missed some really amazing items. The Mobile Challenge experience really changed that for me.

Riddles/Quizzes: you get questions through the mobile experience and the answers or clues to these riddles can be found in the specific room of which you are at. I found it very interesting and again, since there are so many stories being told – I discovered some really terrific new ones! The quiz for the pool table and the bear was especially challenging (you’ll know it when you’ll be there). The room itself is so much fun, btw- you put a ball on the table and because the whole room is tilted in a way, it looks like the ball is going up the table! I really liked that effect!

The other element of Ripley’s Mobile Challenge has to do with taking selfies (aka pictures of yourself). I tried that in the optical illusions room and it was so much fun (and the result was, ehhh – super funny). You can also share your photos online as far as I understood, but I haven’t tried it myself. Speaking of selfies- there’s a room that doesn’t seize to surprise me, but I won’t ruin the surprise for you…

Ripley’s Mobile challenge is unique to the Orlando and Gatlinburg locations. For me, it made a huge difference and I wish it would extend into more locations (I also like the one in San Francisco).

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Update: Ripley’s Mobile Challenge is now featured at the new Niagara Falls, Canada location