We left the hotel promptly at 7 am in order to meet up with our two Y.E.S. (Youth Educator Services) instructors (Ben and Megan)at the bus drop off at The Magic Kingdom. To make things simple we decided to split up in to the same two groups that we had yesterday at Sea World. The "lesson" for the day - physics lesson about kinetic and potential energy, Newton's first law of Inertia, speed, acceleration, velocity, momentum, and centripetal force began while we rode the Monorail to The Magic Kingdom. The next three hours were spent with Ben and Megan learning and reviewing all about physical science, specifically those concepts relating to amusement park rides.
Since the park did not open until 9 am we got to walk down Main Street US all by ourselves and then had our group picture taken in front of Cinderella's Castle. Then it was off to Tomorrow land and Space Mountain. Before we actually got to ride the roller coaster we did a hands on activity testing which type of roller coaster - loop, hill, or turn - required the most and the least potential energy. What do you think? The loop takes more potential energy than either of the other two. After the experiment it was time to actually ride the roller coaster. First we rode it with the lights on and then in complete darkness. Wow what a difference. It felt much faster and "scarier" than with the lights on.
Our second ride for the day was Buzz Lightyears's Space Ranger Spin. While playing this fun filled video inspired game we also observed the differences between hydraulic and pneumatic movement of the attraction characters such as Buzz Lightyear and the Evil Emperor Zurg. Our top scorer of the day reached well above 130 000 points - go Madison - while slighly challenged Mrs. Nicholas (who was trying to take pictures instead of saving Buzz and friends) only scored 3100 points.
Next Ben and Megan took us clear across the park to Frontier Land where we had the opportunity to experience centripetal force, G-force and lateral G's while riding The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was so much fun!!. Kristin got us fast passes for this roller coaster, so we got to ride it twice.
Other rides enjoyed in the Magic Kingdom were Pirates of the Carabean and The Haunted Mansion. We did these as a group and then had lunch. It was nice to sit down and rest some and come in from the cold - 50 degrees and very windy.
We then met up again around 12:45 pm and headed out of the park to take the bus to Hollywood Studios. Once we had passed through security, received maps, show schedules and dinner meal cards everyone took off in a different directions to ride different rides ( Aero Smith Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror and Star Wars Flight simulator), watch live shows (Beauty and the Beast. Parade) or one of the other shows (Muppets 3D). The stunt show Lights, motors, action was a show that quite a few of us decided to watch. The cold weather and pure exhaustion many of us were experiencing by dinner time kept us inside some of the restaurants and shops instead of go from show to show and standing in sometimes 1-2 hour long lines. For some 7:45pm did not come fast enough.
Our bus picked us up at 8 pm. During our 75 min. ride to Tampa we recapped the day at The Magic Kingdom and were informed of what Wed. and swimming with the manatees would entail. Many of us managed to get in a few Zzzzzz as well.
Tomorrow we will again have to get up very early in order to get to the Manatee location on time - 4:30am.
Good night.
I have so enjoyed this blog todat it will not let me watcg videos hopefully it will later.
ReplyDeleteIf you get this tell Tristan hi.
Looks like you are having a great time'
Barbara