Showing posts with label Disney World Educational Attractions. Show all posts
The American Heritage Gallery at Epcot
The America Heritage Gallery
Housed within the America Pavilion, The America Heritage Gallery is a mini museum filled with artifacts of a diverse collection of people who contributed greatly to American history. You will see displays representing famous American inventors, astronauts, authors, politicians, reformists, and actors.
The America Heritage Gallery is a walk through attraction that gets little publicity. You actually have to go through the entrance to the American Adventure Attraction in order to see the Gallery. You can walk through the American Heritage Gallery without viewing the attraction.
Inventor Thomas Edison is represented by 3 of his inventions on display. There is a Tinfoil Phonograph (pictured above) from 1878 - 1879. There is also an example of a Kinetophone and a Kinetoscope. The Kinetoscope was a way of watching moving pictures before modern motion pictures were invented. Inside a cabinet a strip of film passed rapidly by a lighted shutter giving the illusion of movement.
There are several authentic artifacts from American Astronauts: John Glenn, John Herrington, and the Apollo 16 mission.
John Glenn's Jacket from his Space Shuttle mission when he was 77 years old is on display as well as his helmet from his earlier days during his flight aboard Friendship 7 when he became the first American to orbit the earth.
John Herrington's flute that he played during his Space Shuttle mission aboard the Endeavor. Herrington, a member of the Chickasaw Nation, was the first Native American to fly in space.
A moon rock collected during the Apollo 16 mission from 1972 is shown here and dedicated to the memory of Virgil "Gus" Grissom as a tribute to our nation's brave pioneers of space exploration.
Writing from Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglas are also on display. Stowe was most well known for writing Uncle Tom's Cabin and an early copy of the classic novel is on display. There are several items penned by Frederick Douglas including a letter that he wrote to Abraham Lincoln.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of America is represented by a couple of different items. The first of which is the Queen Anne's Chair pictured above. This chair which was produced in 1748 by renowned cabinetmaker Solomon Russell. It was one of two matching chairs that Benjamin Franklin and his wife Deborah used in their Philadelphia home.
There is also a letter penned by Benjamin Franklin in 1783 while he was America's Ambassador to France. His mission at the time was to negotiate the Treaty Of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.
Actor and showman Will Rogers is represented by some of his famous cowboy tools: Boots, Chaps, Saddle, Hat, and Lasso. Known for his ability with the lasso, it was interesting to learn that as a boy on his family's ranch a freed slave taught him how to use a lasso to rope cattle.
Beyond The Expected
Throughout Epcot and especially in the World Showcase there are many examples of Galleries and displays that don't show up on anyone's list of must see attractions, but are worthwhile to explore nonetheless.
The American Heritage Gallery is an interesting look at some authentic American artifacts, whether you choose to browse them while waiting for the next showing of the American Adventure or you decide to escape the heat or rain and stumble upon it. Regardless the reason, take the time to visit and check out this educational display.
Think Green At Epcot Innoventions With "Don't Waste It"
"Don't Waste It" brought to you by Waste Management
I'll have to admit when I saw the full size garbage truck in the Innoventions Pavilion, I assumed that "Don't Waste It" was a Waste Management commercial disguised as an attraction. After experiencing "Don't Waste It" first hand, I came away very impressed and actually learned a few things about waste handling and how we can make a difference.
Make no mistake, this is still Disney World and the goal of the attraction is to entertain you first, and hopefully you learn something along the way.
"Don't Waste It" takes your team (family) through a series of stations to first learn about your current waste creating and handling habits and then learn how you can make a difference through Recycling, Using Waste As Fuel, and Finally Capturing a Renewable Energy Source (Methane Gas) from Landfills.
The learning happens through the use of fun, interactive, video games at each of the stations. You also get to take your own miniature Waste Management Garbage Truck from station to station encoded with your team's information.
Sort It Out - Recycling
The first challenge is called Sort It Out. Here we are introduced to the concept of Single Stream Recycling. This means that there is not a need to have separate collection containers for glass, metal, paper, & plastic. It can all go to the recycling center in a single stream.
The video game that your family plays has each member help sort the material to be recycled into its separate categories. The game is fun and you have to pay attention.
Here is a quick video explaining Single Stream Recycling:
Fuel The Burn
The next challenge is called "Fuel The Burn." Here you learn that often garbage can serve as fuel to power electrical turbines, thereby turning garbage into electricity. You family works together to bring garbage to the facility and then feeding the correct mix of wet and dry garbage to keep the incinerator burn at peak efficiency.
The better you are able to accomplish this task the more energy you can generate.
Land Fill Up
The last challenge is called Land Fill Up. Here we learn that Landfills can be tapped to collect the methane gas that is naturally generated by the garbage as it decomposes. Waste Management currently has 110 landfills designed to capture this renewable resource and uses it to power 400,000 homes daily.
Think Green!
By completing the games and challenges found at "Don't Waste It" we learn how there is much more to garbage than just throwing your items in the garbage cans and taking to the curb each week.
I also learned that Waste Management is not just a Waste Hauler, but also a company that is using state of the art technology and processes in order to lessen the impact to the environment for all of the garbage that we generate.
The best course of action is to not generate the waste in the first place, but it was great to learn that there is a lot of great technology being put to use to handle our garbage!
Innoventions Hit Attraction!
"Don't Waste It" should be considered an attraction that is definitely worth visiting. The interactive video challenges are fun, and the learning experiences are a bonus.
Innoventions attractions have come and gone over the years, with some being successful and others, no so. "Don't Waste It" fulfills the first requirement of being entertaining and it also fits right in at Epcot's Future World by providing a better look at the benefits that technology is providing to our world.
You can learn more about recycling and Waste Management's efforts to be at the forefront of using innovative ways to handle our waste at: Think Green. As you can tell from the sign that is proudly placed on the side of their Garbage Truck: "The Waste We Collect Helps Power Over One Million Homes," Waste Management is serious about Thinking Green!
