SANTA ANA – Packed like a sardine onto a stage that sagged under the weight of all 151 of us, I did as I was told. I clasped my hands behind my back and plastered a big grin across my face.
Fan Yang, the famous bubble artist from Canada, was ready to work.
Yang pulled a rope, raising a frame soaked in a bubble solution, the formula for which he wouldn't fully reveal because it is a trade secret.
Morgan Wilber, an adjudicator with Guinness World Records, watched closely.
For one long second, we were enclosed in a double-hulled, triple-chambered, roofless bubble. Then it broke into smaller bubbles, which floated away. I felt a splash on my cheek as one burst.
Just like that, we had set a world record Monday for most people inside a soap bubble. Of the 151 of us, only 118 met the five-foot height requirement mandated by Guinness, but we were enough to top the previous record of 94 set by Hammou Bensalah, aka "Mac Donaldi King of Bubbles," in Germany in 2009.
Actually, there was a dispute over the old record. Yang claims to have put 100 people inside a bubble on Oprah Winfrey's show in 2008. But never mind.
"It was awesome," said Tawny Tamas, an 18-year-old high school student from Orange who was next to me inside the bubble.
The record-setting event, certified by Wilber, helped kick-off "Bubblefest," a three-week bubble spectacular at Discovery Science Center. The idea is to stimulate kids' interest in science by working in a medium that is familiar to them.
Bubbles can be used to teach about subjects like surface tension and chemical mixing, said Joe Adams, president of the science center.
As for his own mixture, Yang disclosed only three of the seven ingredients: corn syrup, baking soda and glycerin. The rest must be kept under wraps, lest Mac Donaldi or some other competitor gain an unfair advantage in the never-ending race for the world's biggest bubble.
