Earth Day

The cast of the Walt Disney World® Resort has committed to minimizing their overall impact on the environment. Many operational changes have placed emphasis on effectively managing resource used through energy conservation and waste minimization, while also focusing on conserving the natural environment through science, education and leadership efforts.

Here is just a few of the many changes in day-to-day operations the Walt Disney World® Resort have implemented all in the name of conservation:

• Walt Disney World® Resort has deployed more than 1,500 alternatively fueled vehicles-ranging from golf carts to Monorail trains to help lower emissions. They also replaced the entire fleet of Security vehicles with hybrids and other fuel-efficient options. This effort has reduced fuel consumption by an average of 33% per vehicle.

• Walt Disney World® Resort installed energy-saving fixtures throughout the property. During an update at The Hall of Presidents, Cast Members replaced theatrical lighting with more efficient and longer-lasting LED fixtures. LEDs consuming only 3-to-13 watts can replace 75-to-100-watt incandescent bulbs with equivalent light output. LED fixtures are now used in 98 percent of the signs, decorations and Christmas trees at Walt Disney World Resort. Even Cinderella Castle glows “green” during the holidays with more than 170,000 LED white lights to glisten the Castle, using the equivalent energy of only 12 microwave ovens.
• All 24 resort hotels at the Walt Disney World® Resort maintain the state’s Green Lodging designation – representing the largest number of Green Lodging-certified hotels in the state.

• More than 92,000 tons of materials were recycled in 2010 at the Walt Disney World® Resort.

• The Walt Disney World® Resort uses more than two billion gallons of reclaimed water a year for irrigation of landscape, washing buses and cleaning streets at theme parks and resorts. This amount of water could fill Spaceship Earth roughly 129 times.

• Disney Harvest reduces food waste by gathering excess prepared food from Walt Disney World® Resort kitchens and distributing it through the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. More than 1,000 local children are fed weekly through this program. In 2010, Disney Harvest gave nearly 360,000 pounds of food to the hungry in Central Florida

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park provides some unique forms of “waste.” In 2010, more than 4,680 tons of manure was sent to the compost facility from Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the Tri-Circle D Ranch, producing more than 9,000 tons of compost throughout the year.

Approximately 50,000 female sea turtles come to lay their eggs in Florida each year, making its beaches one of the most important nesting areas in the world. In the US, as much as 90 percent of sea turtle nesting occurs in Florida, which serves as a primary nesting site for several species of endangered and threatened sea turtles. Among the oldest creatures on earth, sea turtles have remained essentially unchanged for 110 million years.

Disney’s Vero Beach Resort proudly hosts a program annually that was created by the Sea Turtle Conservancy, “Tour de Turtles.” It follows the marathon migration of 15 sea turtles representing four different species from their nesting beaches to their foraging grounds. The ultimate goal of “Tour de Turtles” is to inspire people to care about sea turtle conservation.

The turtles acts as an ambassador to raise awareness about a specific threat to sea turtles. One potential threat is light pollution on the beach. Since sea turtle hatchlings rely on moonlight to find their way to the ocean, many become disoriented and drawn off-course by artificial light sources. Another threat is of entanglement. Turtles can become tangled in trash and nets and drown.

Researchers from Disney’s Animal Programs and the Sea Turtle Conservancy track the sea turtles using satellite telemetry as they travel from their nesting beach to various feeding grounds. Using this technology, scientists learn about sea turtles’ habits at sea and the different migratory patterns of each species. This knowledge helps researchers, conservationists and governing agencies make more informed decisions about sea turtle conservation actions and policies. Guests at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park can find out about this research and follow the tracks of the turtles when they visit the Wildlife Tracking Center in Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

Enjoy this video of the 2011 Tour de Turtles:

A celebration is in order at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park on April 22nd. Not only is it Earth Day, but the park will celebrate its 14th birthday!

Since 1998, Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park has told its guests a story about conservation each and every day of its operation. During this years Party for the Planet celebration on Earth Day, guests will find out what they can do to make their backyards wildlife-friendly as well as discover other ways to conserve wildlife and protect nature.

Special Earth Day activities at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park include:

• In Asia at Maharajah Jungle Trek, families can play a supermarket game and learn how their purchases can make a big difference for wildlife and wild places.
• At Pangani Forest Exploration Trail in Africa, children can observe and identify chimpanzee tracks and clues left behind along trails as they move through the forest.
• At Rafiki’s Planet Watch, guests will discover fun ways to spend time in nature with their families as well as face painters and caricature artists. Families can also visit the Chimpanzee Research Station and participate in a variety of activities based on real conservation work.

Even if you don’t get to experience one of the special Earth Day activities, be sure to check out the sand sculpture outside of the park entrance celebrating the release of “Chimpanzee’, Disneynature’s newest True Life Adventure film!