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| “Driving” at Ford Exhibit |
Yesterday we visited the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center in Detroit. The show is open from 9a-10p through January 21 and 9a-7p on January 22. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for Children (7-12) and Seniors (65+). Children 6 and under are free.
They have a coat check ($3/coat) which is great for winter so you don’t have to wear or carry your coat with you. You will definitely need a coat since the Cobo garages, including the roof, were either closed or permit only. The NAIAS website does list the Cobo roof as an available parking location, so it may have been a temporary closure the day we were there. We parked in a lot at First and Fort for $10 and it not a long walk, but definitely not something you could do without a coat.
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| Building Station at Ford Exhibit |
We entered the Auto Show by Ford, which was perfect since we really wanted to learn more about the Ford Fusion. I was kind of disappointed in the level of information available and some of the technical aspects of the display (more in another post). The Ford exhibit had a number of things for the kids to do. They had a video game for the kids to drive the car, cars for them to build, and crayons and paper for coloring. But, the most interesting thing they had was a “ride” that took passengers to the ceiling for a video. My daughter really wanted to do this but it had a 4’8″ minimum height (and a 45 minute wait). It did look like some shorter children were riding, but I wasn’t going to wait that long and have her be told she was too short (I don’t think she is even 4′). Finally, they had a video shoot where you could stand in the center of a circle and they would create a video of a car circling around you. My daughter loved doing this.
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| Creating her Video |
Another fun activity that my daughter really liked was the 4D video by Michelin. It was a 3D movie with some physical effects (like being spritzer with water). In the other sections that we visited, we did not see a lot of activities for the kids and my daughter quickly got bored.
I am also wondering how much of a profit Apple made from the auto makers. Ford had a number of iMacs to register your Ford card, all the Toyota and Lincoln reps had iPads. Other manufacturers were using iPads as displays
We definitely enjoyed visiting the auto show and recommend visiting, especially if it has been a few years since your last visit.
