Day 2 - Wednesday 3/19/14- Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

 “Good morning – this is your wake up call. It is now 6 am and the high for today is going to be 80 degrees”. Yes!! Another wonderful day in Florida, another wonderful day at Disney and another wonderful day with our amazing group of students. This group has been super so far. They are nice and polite, they are timely and this morning EVERYONE was waiting in the lobby even before it was time to board the bus. We actually ended up having to wait for the bus (it got stuck in traffic close to the train station). NO worries because our group was ready and we still made it to Magic Kingdom in time for our Magical Day to begin. The Y.E.S. educators (Youth Education Series) met us as soon as we arrived and quickly had us divided into three groups for the morning’s physics program on the “Properties of Motion”. The lesson got off to a slow start with a simple demonstration and hands on activity to review the Scientific Method and Newton’s Law’s of motion. Gradually everyone’s brain began to wake up and by the time we finished our monorail ride to the Magic Kingdom Park entrance it all had come back to each and every one of us. At 7:30 am the park is not yet open to the general public. This gave us a chance to experience Main Street USA fairly empty and many of the cast members preparing the park for the day. We decided against a group picture in front of the castle because of the maintenance that was being done.

 No one liked the big crane towering over the spirals and taking away the magic. Our first stop took us to Tomorrow land and Space Mountain where we had a chance to ride the rollercoaster first with the lights on and then again with the lights of. This gave us a chance to make a hypothesis and compare the differences of the ride.  We learned that the top speed is 27mile/hour, the ride takes 150 seconds, the highest point is 70.5 feet and the biggest drop is 23 feet and with the lights off it makes the ride feel so much faster and bigger. Outside we continued our discussion about roller coasters testing the amount of potential and kinetic energy it takes for a marble to complete one of three miniature coasters. Buzz Light Year and Pirates of the Caribbean taught us about Disney’s Animatronics through hydraulic and pneumonic movement. Riding Big Thunder Mountain Rail road – another one of Disney’s steel tubular coasters – we experienced centripetal force and g-force in person. Some of us even had some airtime. We also managed to squeeze in a visit to the Haunted Mansion before it was time for lunch. Lunch and free time were combined. Again a large group of our boys decided to splurge and spend $232 on lunch at this Italian place. After their meal cards they still had a $80 bill to pay. We also managed to get a few laughs in with the Monster Inc. Laugh floor. Some of us did some shopping, watched Mickey and Minnie and their friends put on a show at the Castle and watched the mini celebration parade. All of our first time Disney visitors received a special 1st time visitor button and Tristan was given a Happy Birthday button since today was his 14th birthday.

 In the afternoon we went to Hollywood Studios and the “real rides”. With Disney’s new fast pass system those who wanted to ride the Tower of Terror and the Aerosmith Rocking Roller Coaster ended up having to wait 1-2 hrs in line to get their thrill gene satisfied. Others decided to experience the stunt shows Indiana Jones and Lights, Motors, Action, and learn about the set and props used during movies and TV shows. Our evening ended with another spectacular show in the dark – Fantastic. The lights, the characters and the story were super and again we were all in awe. Going to bed this evening – in about 5 minutes – should not be a problem after two packed and fun filled days. Goodnight!