Orange Bird's Citrus Lab

Orange Bird, the heart and soul of Florida. In Citrusland, the emphasis is to explore the miniature world of Orangebird's home- and it's time to explore where he actually lives - The Big Orange, or specifically the Citrus Lab. As you walk on a winding grassy path dotted with giant fruits and plants, the familiar "Orange Bird" song begins to play. The fresh Citrus smell from the Big Orange is pumped out as you step closer to it. The empty area where an orange slice should have been in is now the entranceway to Orange Bird's Citrus Lab.

"Little Orange Bird in the Sunshine Tree
Won’t you think of something sunny just for me?
Think funny thoughts or sunny words
That will make me happy, little Orange Bird
He thinks beautiful orange pictures and beautiful orange words
Though his little feet can’t even make a squeak
All the thoughts he ever spoke appear in orange smoke
That’s what makes Orange Bird unique
When you’re just about green with envy
Or gonna be feeling blue
And you could use
An orange thought or two
When you start in blushing pink
Or your temper turns you red
That is when the Orange Bird
Can see you through
With his beautiful orange feathers
And beautiful leafy wings
He’s a fluffy little puffy sight to see
He can turn your frown around
When you see him looking down
The little Orange Bird up in the Sunshine Tree..."

Background

Orange Bird's Citrus Labs is an interactive exhibit/drinks experience that explores the process of the creation of orange juice. Due to it's winding nature from its circular structure (similar to the Epcot Ball), a giant orange moving conveyor belt moves guests to the very top of the Lab and back down, similar to the technology used for the Villian Con attraction at Universal Studios. Guests can step off the conveyor belt any time they want to explore each new exhibit at their own pace.

Introduction by the Orange Bird

As soon as you enter the building, Orange Bird amiably greets guests in the animatronic form of a giant version of an Orange Tree, with leaves dancing around, and oranges hanging from branches.. Though he is devoid of speech and song, a screen behind him puffs out his orange words. At points, you can learn more about Orange Bird's story and his rivals/companions, revealing an entire rabbit hole full of lore:

Tangerine Bird

Orange Bird's lovable best friend, Tangerine Bird is kind and compassionate. Rumors suggest that Orange Bird and she are in some kind of relationship.

Lemon Bird

This zesty bird is Orange Bird's ultra rival. While she may appear kind and friendly, beneath her yellow and bubbly appearance is a mask of pure evil. She holds the power to produce the best lemonade, which unfortunately ails its drinkers with stomach bugs.

Key Lime and Pink Grapefruit Bird

This prophetic duo speaks cryptic prophecies that are a danger to human ears. While they are generally neutral, beware of what they tell you - one tells lies and the other tells truths. Which is which you won't know.

Exhibit One - Cleaning and Sorting

The first exhibit is Cleaning and Sorting, the first step toward making orange juice. A large conveyor belt picks through good oranges and bad oranges- and guests are encouraged to help by taking out non-orange citruses like lemon, key lime, tangerine, and pink grapefruit, to make sure that the process is solely of oranges.

The cleaning process is shown in a waterworks factory, where kids can splash and play in an exhibt that "cleans" oranges/orange balls. It shows how oranges must become sparkling clean before being used.

Exhibit 2 - Juice Extraction

Of course, the major part of making orange juice is to squeeze it out of the oranges themselves. The next part of the Citrus Lab is a giant juice-pressing factory, where kids and adults alike can help spin different wheels and levers all around the room to press and squeeze real Floridian oranges. The collective orange juice moves through a network of tubes and valves that guests can play with by reconstructing their path, obstructing some tubes from letting orange juice go through and opening others. Guests are unable to and should not touch the orange juice.

Exhibit 3 - Filtering and More

This section of the attraction is non-interactive. It's a soundproofed room where real factory machines are at work filtering the orange juice to make sure it is safe to drink and looks/tastes correct. Guests can walk slowly behind glass panes to observe the factory at work.

Filtration - There are usually some suspended solids in extracted juice, which not only affect the appearance and taste of juice, but make it easier to go bad. Filtration is necessary to eliminate the coarse and suspended particles in cloudy juice and maintain its color and flavor as much as possible. In terms of transparent juices, they need refined filtration to remove the colloidal and precipitable particles.

Degassing - During orange juice processing, the gas contained in fruit cells gets into the juice or attached to the particles. At the same time, juice are inevitably exposed to the air. The oxygen contained in orange juice is destructive to the vitamin C and cause the flavor and color to go bad. For these reasons, degassing must be carried out before heating and sterilization.

Pasteurization - Pasteurization can not only eliminate the spoilage bacteria but also inactivate the enzymes that can cause chemical changes. Heating is the most prevalent way to kill bacteria, but it risks sacrificing the quality of citrus juice. Pasteurization means keeping the temperature between 91℃ and 95℃ for 15 to 30 seconds, or more than 120℃ for 3 to 10 seconds, which can achieve a sterilization effect without destroying the quality.

Exhibit 4 - The Juice Dispenser

The tubes coalescence into the Juice Dispenser, where orange juice is purchased and tasted. From here, you can buy Citrus drinks similar to the ones at Auntie Pomelo's, or get a sample of the completed orange juice from the large dispenser in the middle, which pours out orange juice into small cups for guests to try.

Going down and out

Once you finish your Citrus Lab experience, you can head on to visit the different "habitats" of the Orange Bird characters. There are four rooms featuring the Citrus characters - an Orange Bird Room, Tangerine Bird Room, Lemon Bird Room, and Lime Grapefruit Room, similar to that of a dark ride. These scenes, with animatronics and details like a dark ride, cannot be touched by guests, but they can step out of the conveyor belt to admire the scenes behind metal bars. The attraction soon pours guests out back into Citrusland.

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