Is a Disney trip educational?

[Gumbo4x4]

Anywhere you go and any experiences you have you can always learn something new. Any travel usually means some new discoveries.

Particularly if you DRIVE. Lots of history & nature between home & pretty much any destination

 

[cloudswinger]

If you want some science ideas - all the rides demonstrate some form of physics, like gravity, inertia, centrifugal force. Architecture & design - how the buildings are foreshortened to make them look just as large without actually being that large. But you don't have to make them learn about it then, just the experience can be related to back at home. "Remember when you were in the teacups and couldn't pull yourself back to the center..."
And there's a lot of technology, robots, animatronics, etc.

One of my college classes(Queuing Theory) was based on the lines for the rides, how to determine how quickly someone would be served based on service times and various other parameters.

 

[Planogirl]

There are some educational aspects but a lot of it is awfully glossy and sanitized particularly in World Showcase. Epcot used to be more interesting in that regard than it is now but there are still some things a person can learn here and there.

I think that Animal Kingdom can be used to teach about animals and our world.

 

[flyergrad09]

To me, the best kind of learning happens when it isn't obvious that learning is going on. Yes, Epcot and AK are more welcome to learning, but isn't learning about how stunt cars work and the history of film just as valuable? The Hall of Presidents is probably one of the most educational exhibits in MK, and while some of what it talks about is newer history, for anyone under the age of 13, it's things that weren't in their lifetime or things that happened when they were too young to know what was going on. It's certainly no replacement for traditional school, but I believe that anytime you see or do something new or different, you're learning something, even if it's something about yourself.

 

[Tarffri]

I took DD age 9 out of school for our early March trip. It was her birthday. I made it clear to her that we were going to seize educational opportunities, and she was open to this because she was going to WDW. We went to the Hall of Presidents at MK and saw the American Adventure movie at Epcot. DD feels that she got the most education from those experiences. We had many discussions about American history since then. We used those experiences as a springboard for some interesting conversations. I told her that much of this information will be covered in depth when she gets to high school. I find that if we have chats and I don't lecture too much, DD is more receptive to the information.

Just the logistics of planning a trip, making reservations with airlines, hotels, and transportation can be educational to children, especially if you include them in the process (I had DD watch while I went on the Delta website to check flights). There is a lot of planning involved in making a WDW trip happen. Even navigating the airport (Atlanta for our connection), making the connection flight. I didn't do anything like this when I was a kid. DD feels like a seasoned traveller now. I think this instills confidence in a kid.

A WDW trip is a life enriching experience. There are many intangibles that children can glean from it. We met interesting people, we learned lots of facts about Walt Disney and trivia about a variety of topics. DH thought I was mean, but when we came home from our trip, I made DD write a paper about what she learned from our Disney vacation. But the paper came out great, and it will go in our scrapbook. DD didn't suffer from writing the paper IMO. And the process of writing it cemented her memories of her experiences.

 

[catra121]

I definitely think that Disney CAN be very educational and (more importantly in my opinion) very inspiring. And I think this is true of all the parks...not just Epcot and Animal Kingdom as some people have mentioned. But I think the educational opportunities are really what you choose to make of them and unless guided a little by the parents that many things will go right over kids' heads. I remember riding Spaceship earth when I was there on a trip with my high school music department and I was stunned that the ride went over everything I had been learning in my media communications class that semester.

So...at Epcot I think you have opportunities to learn about other cultures around the world of course in the World Showcase. You also can learn about energy, space travel, communication, imagination and the 5 senses, fish, the environment...the list goes on. I think that innovations can be a really neat, educational experience depending on what you do in there. There are lots of opportunities to learn more too as you exit the various rides and explore the different pavillions. True...I think many people bypass these areas and skip them but the point being that the opportunities are THERE.

Animal Kingdom is also fairly straight forward I think. You can learn about the different continents, animals, dinosaurs, and the environment. Sure there are lots of fun rides but if you take them there are lots of educational opportunities here.

Magic Kingdom I think is also very important in terms of education. While Epcot and AK focus more on science, the environment and animals I think that Magic Kingdom presents some wonderful opportunities to learn about history and literature. I mean...where do you think those rides from fantasyland come from? Sure...yeah...Disney movies...but many of those movies are based on books and literature. What a great opportunity to get your children interested in reading. Then you have the different areas themselves that I think offer great opportunities to learn about US history, the old west, the changing of the country over the decades, jungles, pirates, etc. I think the rides here in this park themselves may be less educational by themselves for the most part...but they DO present some marvelous opportunites to inspire kids to learn more about these things especially if they have parents or adults there with them to help guide them and their interests.

And Hollywood Studios again offers another sort of educational opportunity. This one is focused more on the arts...but I don't think it should be under valued because of that. The musicals, the animation, movie making, stunt shows, etc are all great opportunites for kids to learn how these things work and to inspire them. You can teach kids so much FUN stuff here...and even without a lot of direction they can just soak up so much from the atmosphere.

So...yeah...I think the parks are VERY educational. How much of that education a child soaks up depends largely on how the parents approach the vacation I think. But then...I don't think that it needs to be a boring trip either or approached in a dry, suck the fun out of Disney sort of way either. You can guide kids by encouraging them to do some of the other activites that are offered beyond just the rides, or encourage them to read books, or ask them questions about their favorite parts of rides, etc to just help take things to the next level and encourage them to THINK about what they are experiencing.

Or...you can just go and have a blast and if the kids learn something other than about spending time with family and having fun then that's just a bonus. No right or wrong way to do things when it comes to Disney (unless I suppose if you go there with no intention of having fun...that might be wrong).

 

[alex9179]

Shoot, I can make the short walk to the mailbox educational! Botony, zoology, entomology. Fancy words for observing plants, animals and insects. My blooming Easter Lily started a pollination conversation with my daughter when she asked me about the parts of the plant, yesterday.

That said, I'm not fooling myself that our trip is all about enlightenment. They will learn things. They are even attending a class at AK, but not because I'm trying to make up for missing school. I save money on tickets and they are really interested in nature.

Our trip is for selfish pleasure and a reward for getting through some very tough years.

 

[PersonalizedMouse]

You know, I didn't really think about this question until after our second trip.
The more I saw my kids talking about the trip, the more I realized they learned a lot!

Epcot...
-Ellens Universe Of Energy..I know it's a bit of a snoozer but the kids talked about it a lot afterwards
-World Showcase...They learned a lot about the countries
-The land...they want to take the tour next year much to my ride addicted husbands chagrin
-Innoventions...They loved the educational exhibits
-Spaceship Earth....crash course in world history (my sixth grader had a test this year about ancient history...all he kept saying was "thank the Phonecians they invented it".

Animal Kingdom
-Conservation station
-Safari
-A bug's life
-nature trail
-too many more to name

Hollywood Studios
-Probably not so educational but the whole old time hollywood american theme is interesting
-the animation studios

Magic Kingdom
-Hall of Presidents, my 11, 9 and 8 year olds liked it
-Small World

I think the previous poster is right...it's what you make of it and what your kid's personality are like.

 

[ssleblanc]

On a certain level it can be. But the reality is those that claim it's educational are just doing it as an excuse to rationalize pulling their kids out of school. Nobody actually goes to Disney for the education.

I'm not using it as an excuse to pull kids out of school - I'm using a school holiday for our trip. However, I fully see it as educational. But I see educational opportunities EVERYWHERE. That is just how my family works. Cooking dinner is educational - I teach my toddler measurements and about heat/cold. We talk about why sugar dissolves faster in hot water than cold water when I make iced tea. While cooking we even talk about gardening and natural sciences - my three year old knows about decomposition and minerals in soil because we discuss them while cooking (and why we save the onion peels/potato & carrot peels for the compost bin instead of putting them in the trash). My kids ask a LOT of questions, and answer them, in depth.

My husband is a professor and I truly believe that kids learn better by doing/seeing/touching/feeling than sitting in a hard chair. Yes, my kids go to school, and have a lot of paperwork - both are in honors and one is at an advanced magnet school (which uses a LOT of field trips/external experiences/hands on opportunities for learning).

At WDW we don't skip Hall of Presidents (both of my boys have actually asked if we can go again because there is a new president to see that we didn't see in 2006 - I didn't mention it, they did), Carousel of Progress, Entergy, The Land (one of my favorite rides), World Showcase, etc. A lot of the attractions that I see some people complain are boring. After we experience an attraction, we talk about it, in depth. They ask questions. A lot of questions. Hell, even Test Track involves physics (mom, why is the track at an angle?) I'm not the kind of person that ever blows off a question, and I love that my kids constantly ask questions about the world around them. WDW is an excellent opportunity for them to see and experience things that we don't run into every day at home - things that peak their interest and have them asking questions.

Maybe in order for WDW to be educational, you have to have kids who are genuinely interested and pay attention/ask questions. But it absolutely can be educational and fun at the same time. As a matter of fact, the more fun learning is, the better the retention. My kids remember things they could touch/feel/experience while learning much better than something they read in a book.

 

[rgf207]

Kids can learn things at WDW but really, a WDW vacation is not educational. It won't substitute for class time no matter what reasons people might list.

 

[jason10mm]

Well, if they can learn somehting then it clearly IS educational, perhaps just not as educational on a per minute basis as a classroom. But unless secondary education has changed a LOT since I was in school any half intelligent kid can cram an entire days worth of lessons into about 1 hour of self study, minus the repetitive homework (which may add another few hours). That should still leave most of a day to explore and learn at WDW on top of what would have been learned in school.

At least it worked that way for me when I would go on vacation during the school year.

 

[Rhiannona]

True to the fact that people don't go to disney to learn. Unless, say your whole reasoning to go to disney is to do one of the behind the scene tours...

But any environment if presented in a fun way can be a learning environment without the dauntingness of textbooks. Fun fact: Things presented in weird.. wacky.. fonts that change often is more likely to be remembered then generic fonts.

 

[perdidochas]

I've seen posts that proclaim WDW as a very educational place, and others that say Disney is all about fun. I know most people don't go to Disney to learn, but it also doesn't seem the same as just a relaxing on the beach type of trip. So what do you think?

Epcot and World marketplace are educational. So is the Animal Kingdom. The rest, not really.

 

[alex9179]

Kids can learn things at WDW but really, a WDW vacation is not educational. It won't substitute for class time no matter what reasons people might list.

No, it's not a substitute but I don't agree that it's not educational. It just doesn't follow the lesson plan As ssleblanc stated, educational experiences abound in every day interactions and is not limited to the classroom. At home, the grocery store, on vacation...learning is continual.

I do agree that attendance is important.

 

[perdidochas]

I like to think Disney is educational….we research all the fun facts about spoting hidden mickey's, who the people are on doors and windows of Main Street MK, how rides were made/dreamt. But when my daughter was in Montessori Kindergarten and looking forward to her spring break trip to Disney (and talking it up I suppose at school) her teacher sent home an article about why Montessori teaching doesn't support Disney……We still took our trip

Bold teacher, although it does confirm my views of Montessori education (which aren't positive). It wouldn't have worked for me and mine, I know it works for some.

 

[perdidochas]

Kids can learn things at WDW but really, a WDW vacation is not educational. It won't substitute for class time no matter what reasons people might list.

Depends on the class time. I think too many teachers are ineffective, and a WDW vacation with me (and my wife (I'm a former teacher, she's a current principal)) would be more educational.

 

[TagsMissy]

My niece actually took an educational trip through school to WDW; she is in the sciences and while yes the kids had free time to explore the parks each day the goal of the trip was science/engineering/physics based on how rides work, etc etc.

Apparently the educational aspect of it was quite intensive ((and far beyond my non-scientific mind lol))

 

[rgf207]

Depends on the class time. I think too many teachers are ineffective, and a WDW vacation with me (and my wife (I'm a former teacher, she's a current principal)) would be more educational.

Yea, I'm gong to disagree with you on that one. I don't recall seeing frequent trips to WDW trump a HS diploma when applying for jobs or colleges

My niece actually took an educational trip through school to WDW; she is in the sciences and while yes the kids had free time to explore the parks each day the goal of the trip was science/engineering/physics based on how rides work, etc etc.

Apparently the educational aspect of it was quite intensive ((and far beyond my non-scientific mind lol))

Quite different than Mom and Dad taking their kids to WDW and trying to classify that as educational. And that's 99% of the scenarios we have on the DIS.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Sort of. Not really any more so than any other vacation can be. We certainly don't go out of our way to make it educational.

Things like the YES program do add to the educational aspect, as well as the workshops bands and choruses go through when they are at the park for one of the Performing Arts programs.

 

[perdidochas]

Yea, I'm gong to disagree with you on that one. I don't recall seeing frequent trips to WDW trump a HS diploma when applying for jobs or colleges

Just talking a few days, not a curriculum. The ed benefits of Disney would be exhausted in a few days, admittedly. That said, most kids don't get much education in a few days of class time, unfortunately.