The non-profit Give Kids The World Village in Kissimmee held a ribbon cutting ceremony on July 10 to open its new Mayor Clayton’s WonderLab, an immersive Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) activity center.
The Village provides children with critical illnesses and their families who visit week-long vacations at no cost.
The WonderLab features six unique spaces, starting with the Lab Access, the futuristic entrance featuring an animatronic robot dressed like Mayor Clayton, the village’s sixfoot bunny rabbit Mayor. Other spaces allow for 3D printing, stop motion video creation, spherical robot obstacle course, hydraulic machine building and printmaking. The Puzzle Portal allows for collaborative games and vertical puzzle building such as magnetic marble runs. The Volts & Bolts Studio is a hands-on exhibit showing how animatronics are built from the ground up using tools and tiki bird animatronics kits.
“The WonderLab is designed to spark new interests, excitement and hope for teen and tweens who visit Give Kids The World Village as part of our ongoing effort to create magical experiences and unforgettable memories for every member of the family,” said Give Kids the World Chief Innovative Officer Ian Cole. “Inside, you’re going to find an amazing blend of art and science and math and technology and all the pieces that come together.”
The WonderLab is the brainchild of Cole, Manager of Experiential Education Christie Miga, and Evan Miga, founder of MigaMe, the company responsible for the concept and design.
By the end of 2024 the Village will have reached it’s 200,000th visiting family, including families from all 50 states and 77 countries around the world.
“It sounds like an amazing statistic,” said Pamela Landwirth, President and CEO of Give Kids the World, “but we never want to forget that each one of those represents a family—a family with a child with a critical illness. It’s all about creating that happiness that inspires hope.”
Give Kids the World was founded in 1986 by Henri Landwirth, a holocaust survivor who came to America after World War II. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he used the G.I. Bill to study hotel management, eventually managing the Starlite Motel in Orlando, and then opening an area franchised Holiday Inn. In the 1980’s he began offering complimentary hotel rooms to children with life-threatening illnesses who wished to visit Walt Disney World. Recognizing the need for a dedicated place for such children and their families. Landwirth purchased property in Kissimmee to establish the Village, which has now grown to 89 acres and 166 private wish family villas, with an array of accessible rides, attractions and venues while also providing a base for the children and their families to visit the many theme parks in the area.
