They’re planning on making a big mess at Orlando Science Center this weekend, and they’re planning on making it educational.
The stage is set for the eighth edition of Mess Fest, two days of sloppy experiments. The event has been known for big foamy outdoor explosions and the smashing of watermelons, sort of nerdy Gallagher style. But there are fresh hands-on activities planned as well, said Zachary Mailhot, science programming specialist at the Loch Haven Park museum.
“It’s a great blend of our old favorites, tried and true activities, as well as a few new experiments,” he said.
Making its Mess Fest debut is wiggly paint, a digital 3-D painting simulation.
“You’re painting on three canvasses at once that are slightly undulating, so it creates like a little wiggly painting,” Mailhot said. “You can’t be pixel-perfect, so it kind of lets the artists be a little free. You’re able to take those gifs home as well.”
Also on the artistic side are scribble bots, which are – small robots with markers for legs. They are powered to wobble around on paper – constrained by box walls – to produce a piece of art.
More dramatic are events such as the splatpult (paint-covered balls plus slingshots), the giant pendulum painting, alka-rockets and Will It Shatter, where vegetables and plants are frozen with liquid nitrogen and given the giant hammer treatment.
A tall plume of foam is the result of a Mess Fest experiment that will be demonstrated multiple time during the 2-day event this weekend. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
A big crowd pleaser have been the foam explosions erupting on upper-level terrace of the science center.
“We are looking into the physics behind all of these different experiments. That one we’re learning about states of matter,” Mailhot said.
“Our nitrogen is very, very cold, so much so that it is condensed down into a liquid when it normally exists in our atmosphere as a gas,” he said. “And then we’re going to be able to rapidly boil it, changing that state of matter into a gas, and the bubbles are capturing that gas for you to see just how quickly it’s expanding.”
The dramatic end effect, aided by big trash barrels, is a tall flume, maybe 20 feet high, and a few seconds of suds showering down on a science center employee. This demonstration will happen three times on both days of the event.
Hey, it’s May! How Orlando attractions are gearing up for summer 2026
Visitors can opt to stay totally clean at Mess Fest, no ponchos required.
“If you show up to Mess Fest in your Sunday best, there are still some activities that are messy and things, but you can see it right up on the screen right there,” Mailhot said.
Universal Orlando’s Horror Make-Up Show closing for revisions
But maybe there’s something to be said about getting into the thick of it.
“I feel like allowing children to do the things that they’re typically told ‘no’ for really unleashes something,” Mailhot said.
Mess Fest is included with regular admission to the science center, all of which is available to visitors during the event. Hours of operation each day are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, go to OSC.org.