Earthquake theater gives real jolt

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Susan and Jerry Wortley decided to visit the Alaska Experience Theatre for a tour of its earthquake simulation auditorium.

So when a magnitude 7.9 earthquake shook Alaska on Sunday, they simply marveled at how authentic it felt.

"We got our money's worth," Jerry Wortley said.

The theater has one auditorium with a 180-degree screen showing Alaska scenery and a smaller auditorium devoted to one of the state's defining events: a major earthquake in 1964.

Customers watch a 20-minute show during which a hydraulic system shakes the floor to give them a taste of sitting through an earthquake.

"Apparently there are two simulations," Wortley said. "We had three."

With summer over, business was slow, and Anchorage couple were the only visitors to the downtown tourist attraction at the time.

Even afterward, as they viewed displays in an adjoining gallery and aftershocks made the ground shake again, the Wortleys didn't catch on.

Susan Wortley thought her wobbly legs were a residual effect of the simulator -- something like a seaman getting his land legs back.

"We thought, 'This was really good,"' she said.