Sometimes, the most memorable moments on vacation occur when you least expect them to. During my recent media trip to experience Kissimmee, Florida, that moment certainly happened at Fun Spot USA. What was meant to be a one or two hour pit stop before heading off to dinner at Columbia Restaurant, ended up being one of the highlight moments of the trip, bringing everyone in our group closer together and providing hilarious pictures and exciting stories to tell for years to come.
Located just two miles from The Walt Disney World Resort, Fun Spot USA is a great locally run amusement park that offers a lot of fun thrills at an affordable price. With free parking, free admission, and free Wi-Fi, Fun Spot USA is definitely worth checking out, if not for the great deals, than certainly for the extreme types of adrenaline pumping thrill rides, and go-kart tracks they offer.
Upon arriving, it was hard to not to miss the 300-foot SkyCoaster, which part skydiving, part hang gliding, is the world’s tallest, and is Fun Spot USA’s main attraction. With white beams that raise slightly above 30 stories in the air, this attraction was intimidating! Any other day, I would have walked right past the SkyCoaster, perhaps stopping only temporarily to watch brave souls trek their way up to the top, before free falling down much too quickly. But for this trip, I had made an agreement with myself to say ‘yes’ to all opportunities and I was ready to keep to my word.
The SkyCoaster process begins by guests putting on their own harnesses and properly fastening everything in place. Attendants double check your work, but this part was definitely nerve racking, as I found myself getting nervous about putting a safety harness on incorrectly. Once properly situated however, my friends and I posed for pictures, partly in disbelief of what we were about to do, and partly because we thought it was so awesome what we were about to do! Before letting the nerves set in any further, we made our way across the bridge to the loading area where we prepared for our climb to the top. Guests can either go alone, with a partner, or in groups of three, but we found that groups of three worked best if you’re nervous.
Ready to go, the attendants have guests fall face forward towards the metal floor to double check that the harnesses are properly secure. This way, if something is incorrect, they can know before hand without risking guests’ safety. With the first ‘phew’ out of the way, we were ready to begin making our way to the top!
The way up was terrifying! I’m extremely scared of heights and the idea of not having anything to hold onto except each other was severely gut-wrenching. The climb goes up 30 stories in 70 seconds, which is fast enough to stop your mind from comprehending what you’re about to do, yet long enough to question your decision to free fall from such a high point. Once at the top, the attendant’s over the loud speaker countdown, “3….2…..1….” before you’re meant to pull your own cord and release the free fall. The first time, I had my friend Kristy pull the cord after giving me notice (apparently I thought I needed more time to prepare?) and the drop began before I even realized what happened.
The fall was the most incredible experience, and that’s saying something since I’m terribly scared of heights. Not once did my stomach go out during the fall (unlike on roller coasters) and the decent is more of a glide than anything else. It’s extremely smooth, and quickly turned into screaming fun! I liked it so much, that I ended up riding twice, and the second time around decided to be the one to pull the cord to release us!
A bonus to riding is that employees are on hand to videotape your ‘SkyCoaster’ experience. It was such an awesome souvenir to have and I definitely looked forward to going home and showing all my friends and family what I took on!
In addition to the World’s tallest SkyCoaster, Fun Spot USA is also home to four go-kart tracks with two that are muti-level! Almost everyone in our group decided to try this out, and wow, was it fun! This was my first time driving a go-kart and I absolutely loved the experience. One of the tracks that I tested out (pictured), you start off going up a spiral incline, before going over a four-story decline complete with a super thrilling turn. There was about 10 of us racing, and while you were able to pass other go-kart drivers (as long as you didn’t hit vehicles), no one passed me and I was able to come in first place which made it all the more exciting. When you have a day or annual pass, I’m sure it would be so much fun to test out all four of the go-kart tracks in addition to the 10 family/thrill rides and 8 attractions made for kids!
With unlimited day passes starting at $26.95, and annual passes with no black-out dates available for $89.95, Fun Spot USA is an amazing theme park with huge thrills and endless hours of potential fun.
Fun Spot USA provided me with complimentary ride access for two hours, however no compensation was received and all opinions remain my own.
Awesome!! That looks like crazy fun:)
That looks so, well, FUN! You are very brave. I’m surprised that the drop didn’t turn your stomach like a roller coaster would. Just reading this makes mine do all sorts of flips :-) I’ll make sure to stop by the next time I am in the area!
I did this when I was a preteen. No way I’d do it now!