Following is my op-ed piece that was published this morning in the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Sandra Dutton

Does anyone remember the Disneyland ride “Adventure through Inner Space”?  It was featured in Tomorrowland from 1967-1985.  Presented by Monsanto, it was my favorite theme park ride ever, better than the Matter Horn, Pirates of the Caribbean, or the Haunted Mansion.  We boarded small cars called Atom-Mobiles and rode through the end of a microscope into darkness, until we saw snowflakes whirling. A narrator informed us that we were going on a journey in which we would be “shrinking beyond the smallness of a tiny snowflake crystal.” The snowflakes became larger until it was obvious they were not solid, but lattice-like structures.  And we shrunk down to the size of a water molecule, with fuzzy spheres whirling around us—atoms.  Eventually we saw the large, pulsating ball of the nucleus and were told we had pierced the wall of the oxygen atom. 

 The ride was astonishing, exhilarating, awe-inspiring, everything a good science story should be.  It had the magic of science fiction, yet was pure science.   

 When I heard the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, was planning a theme park, I thought of this ride, and how technology could be used to illustrate the Big Bang.  Of course that’s not going to happen, since Answers in Genesis believes a six-day creation, 6000 years ago, and is planning on featuring Noah’s Ark.  But how exciting it would be to visit a creation theme park based on science.  Here are some rides I would love to take:

 The Big Bang Particle-Mobile—We would board a small, round car that would whirl us through space at the speed of light, particles becoming atoms, atoms becoming molecules, molecules becoming stars.  We would pass through an incredible light show seeing galaxies form, some stars exploding into supernovas, all the while a narrator telling us what’s going on and how many millions of years are passing.  (Sort of the reverse of the atom-mobile.)

Trilobite

Armored Fish Submarine—the submarine itself would be a Dunkleosteus, an armored fish from the Devonian period.  We would float among the sealife—mollusks, trilobites, brachiopods, corals, sponges, eventually seeing an early fish, the Tiktaalik, crawl out on land.

 Tunnel of Pterodactyls—a scary, spookhouse sort of ride where early birds would come shrieking out of the darkness.

 The Quantum Fun House—This would be a “walk-through” filled with lights, mirrors, and clever construction, where you could be two places at once, a particle and a wave, and end in a gravity-free room where you could bounce off the walls.

 Jurassic Monorail—(sort of like the movie) From the comfort of your seat you could see the Dilophosaurus and the Ceratosaurus cavort.

 Australop