The Other Side Of Fear
After we got off the plane, Dad and Josh (who had driven down) picked us up, and we went to my cousin Paige’s house to celebrate my Grandma’s birthday. At that party, we met her second child, Piper. After that, we drove down to Cocoa Beach for a week. During that week, we spent a lot of time swimming in the ocean and visited a tiki bar on the pier a few times. One night while walking back from that pier, Dad and I saw a lady sitting in the ocean, but it was pitch black… she was either a mermaid or a demon… not sure which.
When our week was up, we returned to Orlando and stayed in a hotel there. Paige and I only stayed for two days because I had to return to get ready for school. On our second-to-last day, after Mass, my family dropped us off at a Starbucks. Paige attended middle school with a boy named Jack. Jack moved down to Orlando some time ago to work at Disney World as a roller coaster engineer. Because he works for the company, he’s able to get up to three people in for free. After Jack picked us up from the Starbucks, we went to Hollywood Studios. One of the first rides we did was the Tower of Terror.
Now, I'm not a big roller coaster guy. One of my biggest fears, in fact, is heights. However, Jack explained how that coaster works explicitly, and that there is some forced perspective that makes it appear taller than it actually is. Despite that, the ride in and of itself was terrifying. We spent a few more hours at Hollywood Studios before park-hopping to Epcot. Upon entering the park, Jack said, “We need to go on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride.”
Paige and I were both excited about that, but we kept pushing it back. For those who are unfamiliar with Epcot, the concept is that it is an educational theme park. One of its main attractions is the World Showcase featuring 11 countries. While each is relatively realistic, parts of each country have connections to Disney. We ended up “drinking around the world,” and around 7:30, we finally got in line for the Guardians of the Galaxy ride.
We were only in line for about 20 minutes before the ride shut down. Some people in the front of the line started to leave, but at Jack’s suggestion, we decided to wait. The park closed at 9, and by 8:45, the ride was still not back up. None of us communicated this, but we were all obviously thinking, if it doesn’t open in another minute or so, we should just call it a day. Almost as soon as we collectively had that thought, the ride reopened. And let me tell you, it was the best ride of the day! The best way to describe it is like surfing through space with 80s music!
Will Smith has a quote, “The best things in life are on the other side of fear.” The context of that quote is that he went skydiving, and it was the most “blissful experience” once he was out of the plane (even though he was terrified up until that point). As Paige, Jack, and I exited the park, I said, “I think I got over my fear of roller coasters today.”
“I mean,” Jack said, “these are Disney coasters. They aren’t the most intense.” He’s not wrong. But roller coasters are not something I would usually spend a day doing (even if they are at Disney). I'm not saying that I’m going to start riding all these really intense roller coasters. Still, if I hadn’t gotten over my fear and gone on the Tower of Terror, I wouldn’t have been able to experience all the other fun roller coasters that day, especially the Guardians one at the end.
Have A Greattastic Day and Be Safe
J. Mitchie Ulibarri
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