View-Master Experience Pack: Destinations

This Destinations pkg is like a vacation without the expense, along with fascinating history facts. You can hear voices off in the distance, and everyday sounds as if you were there. Everything is shown in 3D, you can interact with different things, and see how these places used to look. This disk pkg. is my favorite! Once you get the app on your phone from the app store or Google play downloaded, you place your phone into the Virtual Reality View Master, then you are well on your way to some amazing sights! I thought it would be like a hologram where you see it standing on top of the disk, or something to that affect, but its way more cooler then that! Disk #1 takes you on a tour of Ellis island, you can go inside the registration building, walk right up to the statue of liberty, see the names on the wall of honor, the sights are amazing! On disk #2 you can visit places like Chichen Itza, and see the El Castillo pyramid, the tomb of warriors, and ancient sculptures up close. Also what is called the Red roof residence. Disk #3 Remember the children's song “London bridge is falling down“? Well it still stands today! And it's a must see sight through the virtual reality view master. You will also see the Martin towers it still holds crown jewels today, and is heavily guarded by the army, you will also see the Lathorns tower, and the green tower (a vacation without the expense). Every history buff will appreciate this disk! We found the best way to view the disk is by sitting in a desk chair that turns 360 degrees that way no one can fall or bump into anything, The more you turn the more you see, look up, down, and all around to see all the sights. If not using a chair be sure to watch the little ones they have a tendency to move around the room as they turn to see everything, and can bump into something and fall.

This set includes 3 diskettes which allow you to explore the New York, London, and Chichen Itza. The user can go around and click on things and learn about them. This is definitely a great and interactive way for kids to learn. Videos are a great feature that was added on top of the text that you can read. I thought the best one was the Chichen Itza because it is one of those places that you might not get a chance to visit. The London and New York doesn’t feel as special because it is so common. I would say the best part of the virtual reality is being able to go and experience somewhere that you could not go otherwise. So the best experience from this set was definitely the Chichen Itza. I think it is a lot more fun for kids than it is for adults. Especially with a set like this one which contains two very common places like London and New York. You can definitely exhaust the number of things to do in each of the virtual reality worlds. Currently this more of a child’s education device rather than a true virtual reality experience because the virtual reality is still lacking realism to it. The virtual reality that we’re in is really only as good as a 3D video game. The virtual reality doesn’t pop out as much as I would like and sometimes could feel like we’re starring very close at the screen on a playstation video game. Overall a decent set for people with kids who are looking to have a new interactive way to learn. Great first time experience with virtual reality but doesn’t come close to feeling like you’re actually in a real safari.

I will start off by saying, this is a fantastic product, IF, you can get it to download! And that's a big IF!! The virtual reality is amazing. It will take over 30 minutes to download the app onto your smartphone device and will take a huge amount of memory. Thought it would be a great gift for my grandsons, but afraid it's just not worth it. You must insert your phone into the Viewmaster every time they want to watch one of the experience packs, which are all sold separately. This particular pack, Destinations, gives you 3d views of some of the most spectacular destinations in the world! Although the views are amazing and look like you can reach out and touch them, I just cannot endorse this product, due to the difficulty of setting the whole thing up.

View Master has stepped up its game since I was a child, and brought a whole new experience to the older viewing reels, with a virtual one. You will have to purchase the View Master Starter Pack to be able to view the virtual reels though(sold separately). You'll need to first download the app to a smart phone to begin the journey into a virtual reality. I had a slight issue with the pass card that comes with the reels. It wouldn't recognize it. What I had to do to fix the problem was to slide the pass card onto the phone, instead of just placing it on top of the phone. This seems to work better. If you're having this issue as well, don't give up, just slide it a few times until it is recognized and you'll be in business. Once this happens, you then place your smartphone into the Viewer. It comes with an adapter, so that many phones will fit nicely. It is suggested that a phone with a five or six inch screen be used. After this is done, you will then pick a reel. There are three reels with this set that include New York, Chichen Itza, and London. You'll point the viewer at your reel of choice to start your journey. Make sure the room is well lit or it won't pick up. Set foot on Liberty Island and look up at the Statue of Liberty in New York. Travel to the Yucatan Peninsula and explore the ancient Mayan City of Chichen Itza. Step inside the walls of the Tower of London and across Tower Bridge. I don't want to give too much away and ruin the experience. With each reel, you are able to read about each place while viewing. You can also use the lever on the Viewer to transport into other areas of the reel you are viewing. It's a complete 360 degree experience. This reel is my favorite one. It looks more realistic than the other packs. I can see these being a hit with children. It was with mine. I do hope that View Master makes more packs to view though, because how may times can you look at the same one before getting bored? A word of caution, your phone will get hot while it is in the viewer. Be aware to keep an eye on the temperature, so that it doesn't overheat.

I was super excited to get this pack for my View Master. I home school and thought this would be the perfect addition our curriculum. We could use it when studying about the continents with my kindergarten child. We could use it when studying ancient history with my second grader. We could use it when studying American History with my 5th grader. Of course, I thought it would be fun to use as virtual field trip as well. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make it work. After a lot of trial and error, I was able to download the app and make it work. I get to the point of it asking for the pass card to access the three destinations. And then nothing. I get the passcard that came with this pack and swipe it but it doesn't register it at all or just says scan failed. I've tried going in circles, up and down, left to right and right to left. I've tried flipping the card upside down and holding it from the left. Nothing has seemed to work. There is an option to activate it online, but it means to be the pack again. I've gone through the website troubleshooting section, but nothing there addresses my issue. It tells me to remove the screen film, but I don't have one on. I haven't found a contact us section to ask them for help directly or to request a replacement card. Out of the three packs they have, this is the only one I can't access. It's hard to give it a good or bad review if I haven't been able to access it. But for now, I would not recommend it until I get a solution to my issue.