Tuesday, October 19, 2010

#138: iFly Hollywood



My favorite dreams are the ones in which I am flying, so when I saw that Groupon was having a sale on iFly tickets, I jumped on the deal. $35 for two 1-minute flights, a DVD and free valet parking is a small price to pay to recreate my Peter Pan flying dreams. (btw, the package usually costs around $85. Yay Groupon!)


iFly is a vertical wind tunnel located on Universal Studios City Walk next door to the Hard Rock Cafe. Imagine a towering clear tunnel that blasts winds upward in a vertical column that you can float on. It's an unforgettable experience that reminds me of Willy Wonka's fizzy lifty drink chamber minus the scary fan up top.

We got there about 30 minutes before our flight time and were shown a brief video that taught us proper body positioning and hand signs that our instructor used to communicate with us in the tunnel (it's loud in there, so talking is useless). Then our class of 12 was taken to the suiting chamber where we were given zip up body suits, ear plugs, safety glasses and helmets. In our group there was a kid who looked like he was 4 and a gentleman who looked like he was in his 60's. Apparently, anyone over the age of 3 can iFly!



The tunnel was loud and the wind was strong enough to make our cheeks wobble. Even when we were waiting our turn outside the tunnel, we could feel the wind blasting our face. Once we got inside, our instructor wrestled to position us. Balancing on the wind is harder than you think! Our second time in the tunnel, our instructor grabbed onto us and we went really high in the tunnel and did all sorts of tricks.

I loved my iFly experience and would definitely do it again if there's another discount. (Btw, this would be a great place to have a birthday party!) Equally fun was watching the DVD of our flight when we got home. The cheesy music and seeing ourselves looking incredibly clumsy in mid air was enough to make Brad and I laugh so hard we were crying. The first two flights are awesomely terrible, and the last two are better. Toward the end, you can see the instructor taking us for a ride! Check it out below.



Have you experienced iFly? What did you think of it? Leave me a comment below!

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