Orlando: The Greatest Place on Earth, Pat Boyle [the read aloud family .TXT] 📗

I was ten years old when my family first went on a vacation to Disney in Orlando, Florida. And boy, it was a vacation I will never forget. First, we had to get on the plane so that we could actually get there. The airport was like a zoo! You saw people running around trying to get to the terminal they had to be in or just figuring out what terminal they had to be in. Lucky for my family, we didn’t have to deal with any of this because we got there nice and early so we could have a little lunch and relax. Once we got on the plane, my mom got really annoyed. All that my brother would ask her was “Are we there yet?” He finally shut up once the plane got in the air and he could listen to his I-Pod. I remember that the stewardesses gave both my little brother and I a pin that said “I made it through my first flight!” Everyone was so nice. But once are plane landed, I couldn’t wait to get hotel to get some rest. All I have done so far is go on the plane and even that was exciting. I just knew that this would be the best vacation ever.
It was the first day of our trip and it was jammed pack with things to do. We woke up early that morning so we could have some breakfast before we went to the Animal Kingdom. The first thing we did when we reached the park was go on the safari ride. We saw a ton of different animals like lions, rhinos, and zebras. My brother’s least favorite ride there is Dinosaur, which also happens to be one of my dad’s and mine favorite rides. Every time we are on this ride when the picture is about to be taken, my brother is always looking at his feet. It’s so funny. Right next to Dinosaur is the ride Primeval Whirl, which makes my brother feel much better after getting the crap scared out of him. But my favorite ride there is Expedition Everest. It’s like you are in a car driving through the mountains where the Yeti lives. But the final ride we go on is Kali River Rapids. It’s like you are going down a river in a forest and at the end, there is basically a vertical drop where no matter where you are in the raft, you are soaked when you walk off the ride. Now we are off to Blizzard Beach to swim.
Blizzard Beach is by far the coolest water park I have ever been to. They have one of the biggest water slides I have ever seen; Summit Plummet. It is 120 feet high and you can reach speeds from 50 to 60 miles per hour. It’s crazy! Right next to it is another crazy tall water slide called Slush Gusher, which is 90 feet tall. My favorite slide there was Runoff Rapids. It had three slides, two of which are for two people. But my favorite one is the solo one. It is enclosed and when you are about to hit a bump, you have no idea what is about to happen. One of the coolest things to do there is go into the cross country creek and not use a tube. You just let the current push you and you go twice as fast as you do with a tube. But to end the day there, I’d always race my brother in the Toboggan Races. I win each time, but he does get close sometimes. After that, we went home, changed, and went out to dinner at Chevy’s. It was my favorite restaurant back when I lived in New York, but since I moved to New Jersey, I can’t find any that are close. The best part was there ice cream. They had the absolute best cones, which made the ice cream taste even better. Now it’s back to the parks.
Epcot is probably my least favorite of the parks but has one of the coolest rides. Soarin is my dad’s favorite ride out pf every single amusement park that he has been to in the country. It is like you are hang gliding over the entire United States, looking at great scenery like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Grand Canyon. It is just amazing how real they are able to make it feel. I would have gone on Mission: Space, but my dad can’t because he is claustrophobic, so that small space makes him feel uncomfortable. Also, I’m not a huge fan of the area where they have all of the different country pavilions, but they do have really cool pins representing each of the countries. The only other ride there is Test Track, where you are in a racecar that is going at a constant speed of 60 miles per hour with a bunch of sharp turns. Now it is time to get to the hotel and get some rest for another big day tomorrow.
Now, it is time to go to my favorite park in Disney, Hollywood Studios. It has all of my favorite rides and a ton of different shows that are really cool. So that you can get into the show early, we immediately went to the line to get into the show Lights, Motors, Action!. It is by far the best show in all of Disney. You get to see all of the special effects that are in movies like cars blowing up and people falling off roves. But the Rockin Roller Coaster is the best roller coaster that I had ever been on. It is one of the fastest roller coasters I’ve ever heard of. I also enjoy going on the Star Tours simulation. It is so funny when the robot starts to make sounds when the ship is in trouble. But the ride that makes me laugh is the Tower of Terror. It is so scary that my brother won’t even go on it, but I don’t think it is that bad. It is so funny to see his reaction when he gets off the ride. To end the day here, we go under the big hat to get some pins, my favorite is my Lilo and Stitch one where Stitch is surfing. Now it’s time to go swimming.
I definitely prefer to go to Blizzard Beach than Typhoon Lagoon, but I just wanted to see how the park was. The coolest thing was the surf pool. There were six feet high waves that are insanely strong. Then there are the Storm Slides, which are ninety feet long and go really fast. But the best slide there really isn’t a slide; it’s a water roller coaster. It is called Crush ‘n’ Gusher and man it is awesome. It goes outrageously fast and has many sharp turns and a few big drops. Now I had to head out to dinner. Today, I got to go to my second favorite restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings. There, I always get the boneless buffalo wings with hot barbeque sauce and boy is it spicy. I order ten but the most I can finish is six because they are so spicy. Now I’m heading back to the parks so I can go on some more roller coasters before I have to leave tomorrow.
The Magic Kingdom has more of the rides for the younger kids, but there are still a couple of rides that I enjoy to go on. One of my favorite rides in the Magic Kingdom is the Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. You get to shoot all of Buzz’s enemies like Zurg. The best show in the Magic Kingdom is Mickey’s PhilharMagic, which is in 3D and has lots of great music. The best ride there is Splash Mountain, which has a 52 ½ feet drop where you get covered in water no matter where you are. And then there is the Speedway. It is styled exactly like the Indianapolis 500 racetrack and you actually get to drive a racecar. I guess that now it’s time to go back and get some rest for tomorrow.
Immediately when I woke up, I headed to Disney’s Wide World of Sports to see a spring training game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies. Now, I’m one of those wacky people who get to a spring training game five hours before hand to get autographs, and this time, it worked out very well for me. I got to meet some of their younger players like Tommy Hanson and Jason Heyward along with older guys like Chipper Jones and manager Bobby Cox. Inside, I was able to meet Phillies players Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins. The Phillies won the game seven to six on a walk off home run from second basemen Chase Utley. After the game, most of the Braves players were fine with signings autographs. I got baseballs autographed by Brian McCann, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine. This had to be the greatest vacation of my life, but it was only three days and now it is over.

Publication Date: 01-25-2010

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