The Happiest Place on Earth

From Fort Myers we headed to Orlando, were we spent some time downtown at City Hall with the mayor.  We also had some free time to walk around downtown and explore before we had our allocation meeting to meet our host families.

This was an exciting week because I got to be roomed with two of my close friends that I have been traveling with since last July- Grant from Colorado and Sean from Orlando.  I also roomed with Pedro from Cuba.  All four of us stayed with Sean’s family who sponsored Up with People and brought us to Orlando for the week. 

Tuesday was the first of our Community Impact days where I had the opportunity to facilitate workshops in high school classrooms.  Facilitating workshops with students is my favorite Community Impact activity because I have the opportunity to watch the students grow and change while I am in the classroom.  The class is usually talkative towards the beginning of the class, but by the end of the activity, the students are genuinely listening to one another and respecting the opinions of their classmates. 

I spent Wednesday working at a plant sanctuary where they preserved rare plant species from around the world.  Most of the day was spent picking weeds from around the plants, but it was a great day to get to know some of my cast mates a little better.

Thursday was a regional learning day where the cast had the opportunity to go to Daytona and watch a NASCAR race.  The cast had the whole day to experience the NASCAR lifestyle by walking around and looking at all the vendors, people, and watching a race.  I had never really watched a race before, but it was a fun experience with 120 of my friends.  Just as the final laps were approaching, we watched a car spin out of control, which got the crowd excited.  Fortunately, no one was hurt. 

Friday and Saturday were our show days.  Like any other show day, we spent the morning setting up the equipment on the stage and working on some of the dances in the show.  Although the crowds were small, the audiences were very good. 

My host family from Lakeland drove all the way to Orlando to see us again and it was a very special surprise.  I also had two dear friends from North Platte who are both UWP alumni come see the show.  They were in Orlando to run a half marathon at Disney and it worked out where they were able to come see the show. 

Sunday was our host family day and Grant, Sean, and I, along with another cast mate Katy from Wyoming spent the day at Universal Studios.  When we arrived at Universal we immediately headed to Harry Potter World.  I am a big fan of the Harry Potter series and I cannot even describe the excitement I had as I walked through Hogmeade on my way toward the castle.  It was like I stepped into the books and was a student at Hogwarts.  We went straight to the castle to ride the newest ride and we loved it so much that we got right back in line to do it again.  We explored some of the shops in Hogmeade and then sat down for lunch where I enjoyed a nice butter beer, which tasted like joy in a cup. 

After lunch, my friend Laura Lynn, who ran the half marathon, joined us at Universal.  We went on all the roller coasters we could until the one roller coaster I will never forget.  I sat down in my seat and off we went.  The coaster went straight up at a 90-degree angle.  As I looked up at the sky I was off of my seat.  We came to the top and then shot straight down at 90-degrees.  As we came back up to catch our breath, I felt something move in my pocket.  As soon as I realized it was my phone, I quickly tried to reach for it.  However, it flew out of my pocket before I could do anything.  By the end of the ride it hit me that I had actually lost my phone on a roller coaster.  While I was somewhat disappointed, I also thought it was a little comical.  But after such an awesome day, losing a phone was not going to stop the fun. 

We all headed back to Harry Potter World to ride the castle ride again and drink more butter beer.  We also went into Olivander’s wand shop to by our souvenir dueling wands.  It was a fantastic day with great friends!