By Simon Benca, Grade 12
Every year, the Our Lady of Lourdes senior class has a one week vacation to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Students were able to go to all four theme parks: Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. From thrilling rides, spectacular shows, and delicious dining, there was always a new experience waiting at every corner. This trip was a lot of fun and an amazing experience with my friends.
Flight to Orlando
The flight to Disney World had some difficulties. Group 3 barely made it to the flight due to long TSA lines. Thankfully, we were helped by one of the workers at the airport and made it to the plane on time. Two hours later, my group got checked into the Ranchos rooms at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. I spent some time with my friends at the smaller pool near the Ranchos, ate dinner at the Rix Sports Bar and Grill, and rested for the next day.
Coronado Springs and Disney Springs
On my first full day in Disney World, I spent the morning at the pools around the resort. Coronado Springs has a large pool, a water slide, volleyball courts, and table tennis courts. Around noon, my friends and I went shopping and had lunch at Disney Springs. Disney Springs is a large plaza that has amazing dining, shopping, and entertainment. We then took the bus to the Contemporary Resort to ride on the Monorail that travels from the Contemporary to the Polynesian and Grand Floridian Resorts, as well as Magic Kingdom. We then went to the Port Orleans Resort to eat beignets in the shape of Mickey Mouse, then finished the day by taking the boat from Port Orleans to Disney Springs and getting onto the bus back to Coronado Springs.
Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios
Our second full day in Disney World was when the tickets for the parks were activated. My friends and I spent the morning in Animal Kingdom. We first went to the Pandora area inspired by the Avatar films, flying through the land in the Flight of Passage. Then, we went to the Africa area. We saw all kinds of animals in the safari, and saw our first show, the Festival of the Lion King. After that, we went to the Asia area, getting wet on the Kali River Rapids and riding Expedition Everest, a roller coaster that goes backwards midway into the ride. Finally, we watched the Finding Nemo musical and the new Zootopia show and took the train to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Once our bus stopped at Hollywood Studios, we went straight to Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge to get lunch at the Docking Bay. After lunch, we controlled the weapons and engineering of the Millennium Falcon in Smuggler’s Run, and travelled through a Star Destroyer in Rise of the Resistance. We then took a trip down to Toy Story Land to ride the Slinky Dog Dash, a roller coaster themed around Slinky Dog and the various toys in Andy’s house. When the sun had set, we went up and down the Hollywood Tower of Terror, saw a show that showcased Disney’s Villains, and made it to Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway right before the rides had all closed.We finished the day by watching Fantasmic, a show that uses fireworks, water projections, and amazing music. This has been my favorite show out of all of the Disney shows that run at the end of the day. The melody that plays at the start and end of the show has been one that has stayed in my memory for over a decade.
EPCOT
Our third day was spent at EPCOT, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. We started our time at the park in Spaceship Earth, the ride in the center of the park that educates people about the history of invention and innovation. After that, The Coca Cola Club Cool store opened at this time, so we were able to try different Coca Cola flavors from around the world. The infamous Beverly (a discontinued Italian beverage with a negative reputation regarding its flavor) was available. It tasted quite bitter, similar to the flavor of a grapefruit rind, and out of the three of us, only one person liked it. We then walked halfway through the World Showcase to get French crêpes and went on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
Afterwards, we travelled back to the Land and Sea pavilions to fly above many landmarks in Soarin’ Around the World and saw all kinds of aquatic creatures. We moved to the innovation pavilions, launching back to the Big Bang in Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, travelling on a spacecraft to Mars in Spaceship Earth, and experiencing the new Test Track 3.0.
We spent the rest of the day travelling through the rest of the World Showcase Pavilions, eating food and seeing iconic architecture from Italy, Norway, Mexico, and China as we walked. We had dinner in the Japanese area, where we ate some amazing sushi and talked to our server about the time we went to Japan last year.After spending a lot of time in the department store below the restaurant, we finished off the day watching Luminous: the Symphony of Us. The most iconic moment from this show was the start, in which each World Showcase pavilion launches a firework out to the central lake, saying welcome in the language spoken in that nation.
Magic Kingdom
We started our final day at Disney World at Magic Kingdom, the first Disney theme park in Orlando. We started out in Fantasyland, going on It’s a Small World and Peter Pan’s Flight before having breakfast at Gaston’s Tavern. We then watched Fantasmic and went to Liberty Square to go into the Haunted MansionAfter that, we went to Frontierland and went on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, as no other rides were open in that area. We back-tracked to Fantasyland to ride the Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train and Dumbo, the Flying Elephant. At noon, we had lunch at Be Our Guest, a restaurant themed after the Beast’s Castle from Beauty and the Beast.
After lunch, we relaxed by sitting in the Hall of Presidents. We then went to Adventureland to sail through the Pirates of the Caribbean, go on the Jungle Cruise, and fly on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. At sunset, we returned to Cinderella’s Castle to take photos during the golden hour. We finally made it to Tomorrowland at sundown, riding on Space Mountain and TRON: Lightcycle Run at night. After going on all of these rides, we met up with a ton of our friends to watch Happily Ever After, the giant fireworks show in the center of the park. It was a magical experience, and I am glad I was able to spend it with so many amazing people.
Returning Home
On the last morning, we packed our suitcases and went back to the Orlando Airport to fly back to JFK Airport. I am glad I was able to spend this vacation with my friends. We were able to relax and have fun together before everyone splits to different paths in life. This trip was an amazing experience, and I can’t wait to return in the future.
