Titanic: Ship of Dreams Experience is Almost Real in Orlando

One of the most interesting exhibits I've had the pleasure of seeing recently was the Titanic Experience at the Science Center Orlando and in Miami. One I went to with a friend of mine last year here in Miami the other with my hubby this year. Both were very much the same just the venue was a bit different.

Upon entering you are presented with a card which has the name of a ship passenger on that fateful journey.

When the tour is over they have a list displayed which tells you about what happened to that passenger. It turned out that my passenger survived but not my hubbies.

The exhibition is remarkable as you really get a feel of what happened that night as well as what the ship looked like, how it was designed and what the departure was like from the shores of Southampton in England and its other departure city, Cherbourg France where other passengers had been picked up, then it was on to Ireland for more passengers

All in all there were 2225 passengers and crewman aboard, with 1517 who perished that fateful night. Left behind was an incredible amount of relics on the floor of the ocean where the ship sank.

All these items or replicas are what are on display in these exhibits

What I was most impressed with were the big posters on those walls where the items are displayed in chronological order, telling the tale of this tragedy at sea, the explanations are very easy to comprehend and understand what occurred that fateful night.

There is a thick door made of metal which leads to the interior of the ship, very heavy looking. Once "inside" was a huge picture of what had been the "Grand stairway", built in the Edwardian style. You could just imagine all the dressed up first class folks going up and down on their way to their staterooms and the grand dining room. Then there is replica of one of those first class splendid and luxurious rooms...what sheer opulence!

I visualized the movie Titanic almost the entire journey through the exhibition, even when I saw the tiny 3^rd class rooms, which had four very narrow bunk beds, two on each side, with a toilet in the middle between the beds...a nearby poster informed us that these toilets had automatic flushing since some of the steerage passengers were unfamiliar with these new fangled toilets.

In another area there were glass cases displaying some of the fine china which had been found on the ocean floor along with some shoes and other leather items which had survived all these years. Hundreds of items had been salvaged, more than 12,500 feet below the waters surface, many of them were on display in this exhibit

What I found most fascinating were all the posters which explained so many details along with personal stories about some of the passengers and why they had been on the ship, many who were supposed to be sailing on another sister ship which had been delayed so they ended up on the Titanic.

There were so many compelling stories and some were told by the survivors themselves on these posters.

In the last rooms we entered there was a display of a large iceberg which you could touch while reading about how the ship just couldn't steer its way around the unexpected ice when it had been spotted too late.

The most important lesson I learned after seeing both these exhibits was that this was more of human story, a tragic and terrible disaster that made history when it sank just 6 days after leaving its last port. Thanks to these most interesting exhibits we have a chance to see into history as we look at these fragile items left in the sea to retell this most important and moving story of this "Unsinkable ship".

This Exhibition is Located at the Orlando Science Center

Price of admission:
Adults-$23
Children-$18
Seniors-$21

Exhibit hours:
Sunday - Thursday: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Friday - Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.