Counting to the Magic: 26 Days

Magic Kingdom is my favorite park just because of the magic and all that is at that park.  After that though, in a very VERY close second place is Epcot with its beautiful buildings and views and the lovely walk around the world.  In fact walking around that World Showcase is what I am looking forward to doing today!

Here are some pictures of World Showcase, its one of my favorite photographing sites!

Counting to the Magic: 44 Days

I've been excited about this for a while, this was Chris' little surprise for me! He booked for us an unDISCOVERed Tour in Epcot!  On this Tour, we get to see some of the background of awesome Future World attractions and some backstage areas!  So excited to be touring my favorite park!!

Here is the picture that Chris sent me to tell me about the surprise:

Weekly DDL Post

This week on the Disney Driven Life, we find out where and when this summer's hot jams will be! The schedule for the Sounds Like Summer Concert Series in Epcot has been released and you can check it out right here!

Interactive Queue Ideas: Epcot

Here are my suggestions for attractions that could use the interactive queue boost in Epcot.

Ellen’s Energy Adventure – Granted, I have not bee on this attraction for a while, so I will have to check in July, but since this entire ride is in need of a serious update, I will assume that the queue does as well.

Test Track – This is a relatively boring queue. I know it has those GM tests to watch, but watching the tests can only be fun for so long. When you are waiting in one area of the queue, you can only watch the leg bend so many times before you get bored with it. An update would be good, even something that allows guests to touch and interact with different parts of a car.

Seas with Nemo and Friends – I do like this queue and I think it should stay the way it is, but I would like to see some characters added, images of animals floating around you as you walk through the underwater part of the queue, it would be cool!

Malestrom – The only good thing about this queue is the mural! This really could use some kind of interesting…..something! Trivia about the country, find the troll games, anything! And having something prior to the Norway movie for the waiting area would be good too.

Whether in a queue or not, I would love to see more facts about the World Showcase countries. Maybe a walking path through the pavilion with fact posters or trivia games in the queues of the pavilions attractions, something that is fun and will help educate about the countries. I don’t know maybe it’s the teacher in me. What do you think about these queue ideas? Leave me a comment and let me know and tell me if you have any other ideas too. Look for the final installment of this series soon on Animal Kingdom.

Weekly DDL Post

This Week on The Disney Driven Life, I look at two exciting events that happened in Epcot last week! To find out what they are, click here! (Hint: They both smell very good!)

Weekly DDL Post

This week on the Disney Driven Life, you can read about the new sponsor acquired for Epcot's International Flower and Garden Festival and the amazing additions because of this! Read about that and all of the amazing posts over at TheDisneyDrivenLife.com.

Weekly DDL Post

This week on The Disney Driven Life, I talk about a new cuddly friend that arrived in Epcot this past week and some interesting construction walls in the Magic Kingdom.  To read this article, just Click Here and visit www.TheDisneyDrivenLife.com to read all of the other great articles on the site!

Weekly DDL Post

This week on The Disney Driven Life, I look at the food and countries featured in this year's Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. Check out the bounty of food offered by clicking here. CAUTION: If hungry, do NOT read until you have eaten!!

The Disucator: Circle of Life

While we go to Walt Disney World for fun and entertainment, we may not always realize that we are learning as well.  One of the places that I am able to learn the most is at Epcot…maybe that’s why it is my second favorite park, only just behind Magic Kingdom.  A lot of places in Epcot can be used as a classroom; learning about energy and forces in Ellen’s Energy Adventure, the science behind car tests at Test Track, marine life at The Seas with Nemo and Friends and so much more! I have some lesson ideas for these, but those are for a later time, the lesson I have in mind for today actually comes from The Land pavilion.

I know, we all wish we could just take our classroom on a field trip to Disney to teach them things, and those of you who live in the Orlando area may be able to do just that.  For the rest of us though who are not so close, we have to find ways to bring aspect of the park that we want to share into the classrooms.  This has become so much easier with the invention of Youtube.  We are now able to bring attractions and movies straight to our classrooms and teach the meanings from there.  The lesson I have in mind today comes from just such a video, the Circle of Life film from The Land.

Subject: Science

Grade: Adaptable for any grade, but lets say 2^nd to 4^th for this specific lesson

Unit Title: Environment

Lesson: Human’s Impact and How to reduce it

Estimated time period: 45 minutes

By the end of this lesson, students should be familiar with the different impact humans have had on the Earth and different ways to solve them.

Materials: Youtube Video of The Circle of Life 

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAInVJja-yA&feature=related

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTS2igFMpIM&feature=related

Procedure:

1. Write the words pollution, extinct, and smog on the board.

2. Ask the children to write down what they know about these words.

3. Go over these words with them, what they mean and how they can affect them and the Earth.

4. Play The Circle of Life and let the movie further explain the concepts to the children.

5. After watching the film, ask the students what they learned from the video. Talk about the different ways humans are working towards making the Earth a better, healthier place to live.

6. Have the students write down ways that they can help their environment

Extension ideas:

- Grow a Garden with your class

- Plant some trees

- Begin a recycling program in your class or school

- Go on a nature hike

- Study ways your town is helping the environment and ways they could improve it, have them write letters to your town council about their ideas on helping the environment

Making our students conscious about the problems in our environment and ways that they can make a difference is important for our future.   If we are to continue to improve the Earth’s condition, we must make it an everyday part of our children’s lives now.

Until our next lesson, Class Dismissed!

Weekly DDL Post

This week on the Disney Driven Life, I talk about a sponsor that has left Disney, specifically Epcot, and what may happen because of this departure! Find out which sponsor and more by reading my article here!

Weekly DDL Post

This week on the Disney Drive Life, I look at some of the announcement made last week for the Disney property! Big stuff happening at Epcot and Hollywood Studios, so check it out here!

Update on my Disney Paper and Presentation

You may remember back a while when I was talking about my Honors paper and what to write about. Well, I am writing about the Original EPCOT, Walt's plan for the city of the future and if that city could exist today. Its a great topic and I am having tons of fun with the research! Its even given me the idea of what to write for my next paper! - More on that later

This coming Saturday is my official presentation at the SEPCHE Conference. SEPCHE is a group of Catholic Universities in the area who meet together for the conference. I will be presenting my paper on EPCOT, in a hopefully 13 minute speech. Being so excited about my topic, my speech has gone a bit long, I have it currently timed out at 14, so going to work in the next couple days to shave off a minute. I'll let you know how it goes after the conference along with some photos probably. I will also be posting my powerpoint and parts of my paper in the future, so keep checking here for all of my research info!

Weekly DDL Post

CAUTION: This Week's Post on the Disney Driven Life may make you hungry! Check it out at http://thedisneydrivenlife.com/archives/2453

Walt's Legacy: Disney World and EPCOT

One of my favorite parts, if not my favorite part, of Walt Disney's legacy would have to be his "Florida Project", known today as Walt Disney World! In honor of his birthday, I thought I would share with you all the Disneyland USA show that he did describing his visions and dreams for his Florida Project, including all of his ideas for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or EPCOT. This was his great dream! He used this video to show his ideas to the Florida legislature in order to get permission to start building and to receive the rights to self govern. How is the EPCOT that Walt visioned similar to today's Epcot? How is it different? Watch the videos and find out!