On Earth Day, April 22nd, a brand new exhibit opened in Epcot’s Innoventions called VISION house® !
Green Builder® Media, North America’s leading media company focused on sustainable living, has collaborated with Walt Disney Imagineering to create the VISION House®, an innovative green home exhibit.
says Green Builder® Media CEO Sara Gutterman.”
What is exciting about this exhibit (unlike its predecessor the House of the Innoventions) is that the products found inside VISION house are all available today! “That is really important to us because we want people to walk though and to be able to take anything they see back home with them!”, Sara Gutterman, Co-Founder and CEO of Green Builder Media. “We’re hoping that everyone who walks through walks away with one or two ideas for sustainable living.”
Standing at the front door of VISION house® , the Cast Member begins telling the story
of the Monteverde family that lives here.
Disney Imagineers took a cold sterile house and transformed it into an inviting home where mother, father and children live – just like many of the the guests who walk through. You’ll learn why the various products are important to different family members.
The house is bright and open – no more dividers to keep you away from everything. Here you are able to explore while the Cast Member continues explain the various products and features. You’ll find everything from water conservation fixtures (Kohler), energy efficient windows and doors (Pella), LED lighting solutions (Sylvania), even the dining room table placements are made from recycled paper!
Another product featured is the Bosch dishwasher. If you don’t have a full load, Bosch’s Half Load Option is perfect for small loads that use half or less of the dishwasher’s capacity. You can load in the top rack, bottom rack, or half and half, and it reduces energy and water consumption by about 30%.
These are just a few of the new energy saving and sustainable products you will find inside VISION house®.
John Eric, Disney Corporate Alliance Technology Manager
and Ron Jones, Founder and President Green Builder Media
“This is a great blend of the entertainment experience and more learning and more knowledge which is what Epcot and Innoventions is all about”, John Eric explained.
Ron Jones summed it all up, “We thought this [Epcot and Green Builder] was a perfect fit. Green Builder is all about questions, we’re about promoting the questions in the minds of people who are making decisions about how sustainable their lives are going to be today and tomorrow for future generations. Our partners are all about the answers. We want people to aspire to have a more sustainable life. We also want to demonstrate things that are available today, that they can incorporate in their lives. There is nothing in this exhibit they can’t have today.”
So what did I think? As I mentioned above, there are lots of new things to see and it is exciting knowing they are available to consumers today. In fact, I was especially delighted to see the Schlage combination lock on the front door of the VISION house®, as I have one on my own home. Also, I have recently been looking at Bosch dishwashers as a possible upgrade to my current one.
The tour provides a taste of ideas for you to consider after you leave. Make sure to pick up the small card on your way out, it lists all the companies whose products are found inside the home. Some are affordable today and others, well, you’ll have to save a bit.
The tour is geared towards adults and older children. The one component I feel is missing is an actual “take away idea/tip” at the end of the tour. One last word from the Cast Member about an simple/affordable way you can make your home more “green” right away would carry the message back home, long after the vacation concludes.
The other suggestion is to have a character like Recycle Randy giving demos out in front of VISION house®.
I was told he was just there for Earth Day. Have him (or a similar character) here on a regular basis. He definitely got the kids excited and engaged and would draw families into the space.
I highly recommend a tour on your next visit to Epcot. For more information check out http://greenbuildermag.com and the VISION® House website: http://visionhousegreen.com/
Once you check out VISION house®, leave a comment below with your thoughts!
Hi Deb!
We took the tour on the 25th, three days after the opening, and we feel about the same as you. It’s great that everything in the house is available now and it’s great to be able to walk around and see everything up close (I hated those barriers from the House of Innoventions.)
We were the last to leave thru the exit doors because we spent so much time talking to the tour guide and asking questions. We made sure to take one of the cards also.
Thanks for posting this blog and we hope to see you soon in the parks.
~ See ya’ real soon!
We saw it last weekend and while the idea is interesting, we were a bit turned off by the execution. Felt more like a 30 minute infomercial, a bit too much fluf without being really informative, we even asked to be let out early from the captive audience.
Thank you for the nice article. We will get to see this in May. One thing that I hope they considered when designing this is the ability to incorporate new ideas and items as they become available over the years. It will keep the House fresh and appealing for years to come.