Escape Room Review: Wonderland is a vibrant journey down the rabbit hole

The Attractions Magazine Team was invited out to the newly opened Edge Escape in Kissimmee to try one of their rooms: Wonderland. It surprised us with its puzzles, props, and technology.

Normally at this part I would say what the players are tasked with doing in the room as part of its basic premise, but Wonderland actually takes a different route. Instead of being given a direct goal, the players are essentially told they have fallen asleep and Wonderland lies before them, now go explore. Some cryptic facts about Wonderland in general are given and eventually a victory condition does become apparent, but for us, it was very unique to enter a game without specifically knowing what we were trying to accomplish.

The lack of immediate focus wasn’t necessarily a problem (in most rooms you don’t typically start to tackle the real “goal” until near the end anyway) and our escape room instincts kicked in quickly and we began searching everywhere for clues and challenges.

Scenically, Wonderland draws heavily from the Lewis Carroll books, as one might imagine, with bright vivid colors and whimsical sets and designs. Slanted bookcases, grassy floors, playing cards and chess motifs all add to the ambiance and fans of the books will find a lot to appreciate. The room contains tons of little props and things to pick up and use, adding a nice physical element to the gameplay. While not necessarily delicate, even the sturdiest of props will eventually fall victim to the repeated handling of players, so we hope that these elements are maintained well over time. 

The experience also utilized a good amount of technology to subtly enhance the experience. When we asked after the fact, we were assured that all gameplay elements were triggered by our actions, and not by an unseen human watching and flipping a switch, meaning the tech behind several of the moments and reveals in the room was very well done and cleverly integrated. We did have some issues with volume balance in a few places which we mentioned to the owners and were told they would address.

The puzzles in Wonderland were a healthy mix of logic puzzles, physical challenges, riddles, and more than one that utilized specific and unique elements of the room – such that they would be hard to replicate in a room with a different theme. Thematically and stylistically the puzzles worked very well and at no point did the theme of “Wonderland” feel tacked on or unnecessary.

We also found the puzzles flowed well from clues to solution without having to take many leaps that felt like guesses. To the contrary, a few times that we were stuck, it was because we underestimated the aforementioned technology and assumed a logical solution wouldn’t work because we didn’t realize the technology was there to make it work. Explaining further would give away spoilers for a few puzzles, but for over-thinkers or highly experienced escapers, just know that a child could solve some of these puzzles because they will do what would be obvious to them and you shouldn’t assume it won’t work.

Our team of four experienced players escaped the hour-long room with around 15 to 20 minutes to spare, although it’s actually a little difficult to tell. None of the Edge Escape games have a clock in the room and while we did get a canned, in-character announcement letting us know when we had 30 minutes left, “beating” the room was much less important than the full experience. The mentality of the owners and the staff seems to be bent toward making sure everyone has the best time and a full experience. This is far from a criticism, but it does mean hardcore players and those concerned with escape times should convey this to the operators beforehand.

Minor spoiler, but there was at least moment which required crawling, which is fun for those capable and willing, but we were also assured that anyone unable or unwilling to crawl can still experience the full room through other easily accessible ADA compliant doors.

All told, Wonderland is a “wonderful” room with vibrant scenic design and clever use of technology. Edge Escape considers Wonderland their medium difficulty room and we would agree there were some tricky puzzles in the room, though nothing too difficult. Our team had a wonderful time and experienced several of the “Ah ha!” moments that makes escape rooms great.

With the Wonderland theme and family friendly environment, this room may appeal to children more, but as with all escape rooms, parents should gauge their child’s enjoyment and ability at puzzles before bringing them along. For more information or to book tickets visit EdgeEscapeRoom.com.

• We like to use the Morty app to track and rate all of our escape room experiences. You can find our reviews featured in the editorial section of any room we’ve done. And of course you can follow us on Morty at @Attractions!