Disney-mania

Well, since everyone seems to be just dying to hear about it, I should just go ahead and type this up, shouldn't I?

For those of you who don't know, my school music department went on a trip to DisneyWorld for a competition. We'd spent plenty of time preparing and practicing our songs. And before you know it, it was time for the trip itself!

We all met up outside the bandroom on the day of our departure. We said "hi" to our friends and a sad "goodbye" to our parents as we awaited the buses.
The buses came at last. They weren't regular school buses, thank goodness...rather, we had the big ol' fancy charter buses...which from the inside look like airplanes on wheels.
After we got settled in the bus, we took off for Florida...on a twelve-hour drive! The buses had TVs down the isles. After we watched 2-3 movies, Mrs. Moyer announced that it was lights-out time and that we had to go to bed now. So we did...but it's hard to fall asleep in one little seat. Laura Provenzani, who was sitting next to me, and I had a difficult time getting in a comfortable position. But in the end, we fell asleep.

The next day, we stopped for breakfast and then hit the parks. That day we went to Universal Studios. My friend Caroline and I officially got over our fear of roller coasters and went on all sorts of them, even the ones that went upside-down! It was really fun. Poor Mia, on the other hand, is still uncomfortable with them. She was brave enough to go on one with us, but that was it. She came off crying.

At the end of the first long day, we retreated to out hotel. I was rooming with Caroline, Mia and Laura. After looking around the hotel room, unpacking a bit, and claiming our beds, we fell asleep fast.

On Friday, we all wore our orange music shirts to Magic Kingdom. Nothing interesting happened then, though we did have a band rehearsal in the morning. Unfortunately, we did not bring a bellkit, so I couldn't practice...or could I? Using the nearest writing utensil (a worn-down red crayon) I quickly sketched out a bellkit...and used that.
Oh, and we met a talking trash can. Its name was Push and it was epic.

Saturday was the day. We all dressed up in our uniforms and went off to Diseny's Hollywood Studios for our performance. We got through our songs ok and the judges said we did pretty good. Speaking of the judges, one of them turned out to be Mrs. Rakoff's former band directors. How ironic!
After our performance, we watched the choir...nothing interesting there...and then headed to Epcot. It all started out well and good until somehow, Laura, Caroline, Mia and I got separated from our group. Thinking our group had gone to a ride that we'd been waiting for us and accidentally left us, we hurried in that direction. Unfortunately, when we got there, they were no where to be seen. A group of other girls stopped by and gave us four FastPass tickets that they had decided they didn't want. Four...one for each of us.
Laura wanted to stay and ride. I told her, "No, we have to find our group, they're probably worried sick about us!" Laura said that nooo, they're supposed to find us, but I didn't think so. We argued about that for a long time before we finally just called out chaperon. In the end, we were the ones who ended up finding them...and our chaperone told us that was the right thing to do. Ha, in your face, Laura! (I didn't actually say that, of course, but I sure as heck was thinking it!) We were kinda iffy with each other the rest of the week.

Sunday was really nothing to report. That, or I'm plain sick of writing. Or my dad really wants me to get off.

On the way home Sunday night, Laura and I sat in different spots rather than next to each other like on the way there. It's not that we were still mad at each other, but we both knew it would be easier to fall asleep if we sat alone in separate rows this time.

At last, we made it home. It had been a fun trip...not to mention we received a superior rating as well as a silver trophy from the competition!...but we were glad to be back.
Our groups had been pretty big...7th, 8th and 9th graders included...but we all managed to stay together...for the most part. Overall, we had a pretty good time.