The two hours he was lost in Midtown on Saturday were horrific for the distraught parents of 9-year-old Chris Villavicencio — but the boy was having the time of his life.
Chris got separated from his parents at the Central Park Zoo and wandered the streets until cops found him — more than a mile away — at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, authorities said.
“This was the greatest day of my life, because this was the first day I was at the police station!” the overjoyed boy told the Daily News — the yogurt the cops gave him still smeared on his smiling face.
Chris, his parents and his younger sister were by the Delacorte Music Clock when they got separated at 4:30 p.m.
“I tried to find my parents, but I couldn’t,” the Union City, N.J., child said.
Chris, who is mildly autistic according to law enforcement sources, went out searching for his parents — a solo adventure that took him out of the park near E. 64th St. and through Times Square, where he said he hunted for familiar-looking buildings and tried to get to elevated areas so he could pinpoint his parents.
Meanwhile, the child’s panicked mom and dad, Peruvian natives who do not speak English, went to police in the park at about 5:20 p.m. and reported their child missing.
Within the hour, Chris wandered into the bus terminal near W. 40th St.
Two Port Authority cops spotted Chris by himself and brought him to the terminal’s youth services office, where they learned he had been reported missing, Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo said.
Cops took Chris’ mom, Ivonne Benito, 43, and sister to the bus terminal to claim the child.
Chris was then brought back to Central Park.
When he got out of the police cruiser, his father, Freddy Villavicencio, clutched him tightly and wept.
The child then hugged his little sister.
“Remember,” he told her. “Don’t wander off.”
