3 Thrilling Experiences for Your Next Family Vacation to Orlando, FL

I'm Kevin Lowe, and this, of course, is the Lowdown on Life and Travel.

In today's episode, episode number three, we are going to go to Orlando, Florida.

And before you get too excited for all you Disney enthusiasts, I'm sorry, we're not going to Disney World.

We're not going to Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure either.

No theme parts are in this family vacation to Orlando.

But before you get too upset and start crying, you better buckle up your seat and get ready, because this is going to be a high flying, adrenaline-pumping, exciting time.

If you're ready, let's go.

There's a destination in Orlando, Florida, that I feel oftentimes gets overlooked when people start planning their vacation.

That's iDrive, short for International Drive.

It's a city street that I would like to compare it to the Las Vegas strip of Orlando.

It has restaurants, putt-putt golf courses, go-kart tracks, bars, nightclubs, and even amusement park rides.

And that's where we're going to focus our attention today.

So if you're ready, let's dive in because I've narrowed it down to my top three attractions on iDrive that you and your family can't afford to miss.

The first on my list is something that some may like to call a Ferris wheel, but I don't dare put it in the same category as something you used to ride on at the county fair.

This thing is a work of modern architecture and design.

It's called the Orlando Eye.

Have you heard of it?

It's pretty popular.

I know it's been on a lot of news stations, the Orlando Eye, or now they call it the Wheel.

Each pod is comprised of the latest in technology with different iPads, different lighting elements, and amazing audio.

You have actually a person who guides you along your ride pointing out different sites that you can see.

From the top of the wheel, you can see all the way to Cape Canaveral.

You can see all the major theme parks, including Disney World and Universal Studios.

It's quite the amazing experience.

And that's why I chose it as number one.

And what's awesome about it is it's perfect for the whole family because grandma and grandpa, they can enjoy it just as much as the grandchildren in the family.

It's a perfect thing for the whole family to enjoy.

And if you want to make it really special, be sure to time it so that you are up on the wheel during sunset.

Talk about amazing.

Next on my list is definitely not for the faint of heart.

We're going to up the excitement level by a lot.

We are heading to the Starflyer, the world's tallest swing.

I know all about this because I experienced it firsthand.

What is the world's tallest swing?

Well, it's definitely not what I thought it was when I signed up to go on it.

So I'm going to tell you about it from my perspective.

I get a call from my cousin Brooke one day, I think it was on a Tuesday.

I was in the middle of working, nothing too pressing, and she let me know that her and her boyfriend Jonathan were headed to Orlando to take a ride on the world's tallest swing and wanted to see if I would like to go.

Always up for an adventure.

I of course said, yeah, sure, I'd love to.

And then, of course, you start thinking, though.

I know you can't see me, but I'm a big guy.

And when I start thinking of swings, I start thinking of, well, what is the weight limit on that swing and how big is the seat?

And so I, of course, call my cousin back up and tell her, hey, Brooke, you might want to check out what kind of restrictions they have, you know, because I am a big guy.

So I get a call from her and she lets me know, hey, I just went online.

I couldn't find anything online about it.

So I went ahead and called them.

And they told me, oh no, there is no weight limit.

Well, of course, I realized, okay, somebody is just wanting to get people on this swing because everything has a weight limit.

But I was like, you know what?

Let's go ahead and do it.

Let's make this day exciting.

So we drive all the way over to Orlando, which from where I live is about an hour's drive headed west on I-4.

We get over to the Starflyer.

Now, at this point, I'm still thinking it's the world's tallest swing.

I'm picturing one of those swings that I used to ride on at the county fair, where they're suspended to a cable and you just go up and you swing around and around, and it's just lots of fun.

Well, it's definitely that plus more.

What they didn't tell me is that the world's tallest swing also travels up to 60 miles per hour.

So here I am, big guy I am.

We sign up, we pay for our tickets, and we go out there to get into the seat.

And it's exactly kind of like those seats were at the county fair, but you have two of these little tiny bucket seats connected together so two people can sit side by side, and those are connected to long cables.

Well, the bucket seat is definitely not big enough for anybody over the age of 13.

And but he's like, oh no, no, no, everybody rides.

And so I'm like, okay.

And meanwhile, I'm feeling the chains that are connected to my chair, thinking, these things definitely do not feel strong enough to be carrying my weight.

But whatever, went ahead and did it.

And my cousin Brooke, being that nice person she is, she decided she would sit in the seat next to me rather than in another seat with her boyfriend Jonathan.

So we went ahead and they tell us the ride's going to start.

Again, I have no idea what to expect.

I think it's just a swing.

OMG.

That thing takes off like a roller coaster.

Much to my surprise, this world's tallest swing, yep, it's over 450 feet tall.

You go at 60 miles per hour, spiraling your way up this massive tower.

I don't know how fast the actual takeoff speed was, but I felt we did zero to 60 in like 2.2 seconds.

It was crazy.

But here's where it gets really insane.

The weight differential between me and my cousin, it caused us to rotate doing 360-degree rotations while we are flying in a spiral up this massive tower.

We were going crazy.

Of course, I'm holding on for dear life, thinking how skinny these chains are in my hands.

My cousin Brooke, she's not making it any easier because she's over screaming her head off.

Oh my god, we are going to die, Kevin.

We are going to die.

And the whole time I'm thinking, my mom was right.

She told me, Kevin, I don't think you should go on this ride.

But I did it.

And I cannot tell you how dizzy I was when that thing got over.

Of course, me, I mean, some people may think, oh, well, it's great.

You can see the sights once you get to the top.

Oh no.

I think even if I could see, who cares about the sights?

At that moment, I'm just trying to survive.

Finally, once you made it to the very top, it did slow down a little.

We quit spinning quite so fast.

And the dizziness did get a little bit better, thank goodness.

Once we landed at the bottom, back down on Earth.

I have never been so dizzy before.

Of course, we went inside the nice little bar that they have downstairs, enjoyed a drink or two, and when asked by my cousin and her boyfriend if I wanted to go again, I eagerly denied that second ride.

So my cousin, she went with her boyfriend Jonathan for round two, and she was excited to tell me when she got back.

Yep, Kevin, that was like a piece of cake.

The weight differential between the two of them was not as great as it was with me and her.

So they did as you were supposed to.

They did not spin in 360 degrees the whole time spiraling up and down this tower.

She said that was nothing.

So that, if you are still brave enough, that's the experience I had with the world's tallest swing right there on iDrive.

Hopefully, for you and your family, the experience might be a little less memorable.

In case you and the family still haven't had enough after all of that crazy adventure, I do have one more thing on my list.

That's iFly Orlando.

Have you ever wanted to go skydiving?

I know I have, but have you been a little too scared to actually go into a plane that you know you're going to jump out of thousands of feet in the sky?

Yeah, me too.

I totally get it.

So iFly Orlando, they've solved that problem.

Indoor skydiving is what this is.

Have you ever done it?

Ever heard of it?

It's pretty amazing.

At iFly Orlando, they have these two massive tunnels.

We'll call them a tunnel.

And at the bottom are different types of technology, different propellers that are pushing massive amounts of air upwards.

What you do is in your skydiving gear, just as if you were really skydiving, a door opens up on the side of this tunnel and you lean into the air.

Next thing you know, you're flying, just like you're free-falling in skydiving.

It's amazing.

The sensation is just as intense, so don't get me wrong.

But it's actually pretty cool because it's something that the entire family can do.

On their website, they even say, what ages are allowed?

They say three to 103.

So when grandma tells you that she's too old to do it, you tell her nonsense.

This is going to be awesome.

And what's really cool about this particular indoor skydiving center is that they have two tunnels.

A lot of them only have one, so lines can get a little bit long as you wait on your turn to fly.

But here they have two tunnels, so double the pleasure, double the fun.

So that's number three on the list.

So what do you think?

Do you think iDrive might be in your vacation plans when you go to Orlando next?

There's a lot to do on iDrive, and I just listed out three of my top picks on your next family vacation.

I hope you'll consider at least trying one of them.

And I know I said no Disney, but if you have to do a theme park, which I totally get, maybe just consider taking one day away from the park and giving iDrive a try.

Hope you enjoyed today's episode.

I hope you learned a little bit more about parts of Orlando maybe you haven't heard of before.

And I would encourage you to hear more from me if you haven't already heard enough.

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Thank you so much for tuning in, and I hope you have an awesome week.

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