June 21, 2012

Typhoon Lagoon Gang Plank Falls

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Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach offer some similar water attractions. For instance, the basic ride concept for Typhoon Lagoon’s Gang Plank Falls is a lot like that of Blizzard Beach’s Teamboat Springs. However, Disney Imagineers have a knack for taking the familiar and making it totally unique!

Gang Plank Falls, like Teamboat Springs, is a whitewater raft ride down a swishy, sloshy, mountain torrent. This 4-person, family inner tube ride has a tropical setting, of course, whooshing past lush vegetation and careening through caverns before sending rafters down a 300-foot waterslide. Big kids, teens, and adults can really get carried away!

Thought the ride is rapid in areas, the view is spectacular. Look for special effects and rock formations on your way down Mount Mayday as you soak up the excitement.

Gang Plank Falls is located near Keelhaul Falls and Mayday Falls on the slopes of Mount Mayday.

Today’s Takeaway:
I love rivers. At the same time, they scare me to death! They are endlessly beautiful, life-supporting, mesmerizing…but they don’t stop. They just keep flowing and carrying whatever breaches their banks on and on down course. And that course sometimes includes falling off a cliff!

Waterfalls are spectacular. Even small ones can be quite breathtaking. Today, visit (if possible) one of the world’s largest, Niagara Falls, or do some research on this natural Wonder of the World. r

Niagara Falls is such a large and powerful force that in the late part of the 19th century to the early part of the 20th century, the mighty waters upstream of the Falls was harnessed to generate electricity for the surrounding area. View this Youtube clip from the History Channel that describes the innovation of that effort. (Niagara is discussed in the first part, if you don’t wish to view the whole video.)

Follow this Science Buddies experiment to get a better understaning of how water can generate electricity.

SCHOOL SUBJECT: Science
SKILL LEVEL: Upper Elementary / Middle Grades

About Jodi Whisenhunt

Jodi Whisenhunt has written 803 posts in this blog.

Jodi Whisenhunt is an award-winning freelance writer and editor who has visited Walt Disney World numerous times and has been homeschooling since 2000. She is the author of MAGICAL MOUSE SCHOOLHOUSE: Learn While You Play at Walt Disney World Resort, available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and CreateSpace. You can also find her work at Chip & Company, WDW FanZone, and various places on the web. Come, think outside the textbook and stretch the walls of your home classroom with Walt Disney entertainment!