Trip Reports

April 13-18, 1998

Well, I’ve just got back from WDW with my band, and we had a great time! :-) I thought I’d write a trip report (some of it sounds like a soap opera)... so here goes!

TRIP SUMMARY

Who: The Boyle County High School Marching Band from Danville, KY
What: Annual Spring Break Performance and Trip
Where: Walt Disney World: Orlando, Florida
When: April 13-18, 1998
Why: To perform in the Magic Music Days Festival and to have a good time! :-)
WORD OF WARNING: This isn’t a summary or play-by-play trip report, it’s a book! ;-) I’ll be posting two parts at a time as I write instead of posting all at once. If you don’t want to spend forever learning about the adventures of a high school band hitting the Orlando area, I wouldn’t read it. If you do, continue! :-)
CAST OF CHARACTERS

Danielle: That’s me! The tour guide of the group who told everyone what rides were good and which rides weren’t worth their time. Fluent in Pig Latin and talented with the gift of walking around WDW with a blindfold on. Plays the Alto Saxophone.
Nana: THE Nana that you’ve all heard about, a chaperone for the trip.
Elizabeth: The lucky one who got to sit on the bus with me, also fluent in Pig Latin. Tries to see everything and loves to collect autographs. Plays the Clarinet.
Sarah: Another one of my buddies, the one who taught me Pig Latin so she could talk to me about "Ethsa." She’s the one who told me to walk from Tower of Terror to the Backstage Studio Tour with a blindfold on to see if I could *really* do it. Plays the Flute.
Seth: The topic of most of Sarah’s conversation... Need I say more? Plays the French Horn.
Nicole: Another friend of mine that always winds up getting lost! An avid collector of souvenirs of all types! Plays the Trumpet.
Emi: An exchange student from Japan... She’s really sweet! Didn’t understand why there was no walk-through tour of the castle. I guess Tokyo Disneyland spoiled her! Plays the bells.
Mr. Blevins: Our band director, the wonderful guy who put up with 50 high-schoolers for a week! ;-) LOVES McDonald’s...
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part 0: Introduction

Part 1: We’re off!

Part 2: Arrival, Magic Kingdom

Part 3: Epcot, the Concert

Part 4: Cocoa Beach, MGM

Part 5: Wet n’ Wild

Part 6: The trip home and Final Thoughts

INTRODUCTION

We have practiced for this trip for 2 months. We practiced every Monday and Tuesday afternoon for an hour so we’d be perfect for our 15 (more like 30) minutes of fame. Before we knew it, the morning of April 13 had arrived, and every note had been practiced, every uniform re-fitted. I posted my farewell message to RADP, and then I was off to WDW!

WE'RE OFF!

As soon as the car was packed, Nana and I drove to McDonald’s for our last meal at home. One of my fellow band members, Stephanie, works there and couldn’t get off work to go on the trip. She was working whenever I was there, so I felt guilty. After eating our meal and saying farewell to Stephanie, Nana and I drove to Boyle County High School, bouncing in our seats with excitement. Of course, we were the first two there! We waited in the parking lot until Sylvia and Jamie, my roommates, arrived. We walked to the band room and I put my saxophone together.

Soon, Sarah, Nicole, and Elizabeth walked in the door. Sarah told all of us that if she needed to talk about her crush Seth, we would talk in Pig Latin, so we’d call Seth "Ethsa". Sarah loves Seth, and tends to get on our nerves talking about him! ;-)

About 15 minutes later, everyone had arrived and put together their instruments. We were ready to practice one last time! The practice went well, even though everyone was almost too excited to play! After the practice, I went out to Nana’s car to get my luggage. I drug my luggage to the band room, where we awaited further instruction. I walked around wearing my "Official Florida Outfit," which consisted of large sunglasses and a hat. That got a laugh out of everyone, and helped pass the time. Soon, we caught word that the bus had arrived! My friends and I drug our stuff to the door of the band room so we’d be one of the first people out to the bus. Our strategy worked, and we were soon loading all of our stuff onto the super-huge Greyhound. My carry-ons were a backpack, a pillow, a quilt, and Pluto, my dear stuffed animal.

We had to walk back to the band room once again to get our uniforms. Mr. Blevins *always* lets the seniors go first, and the 7th graders have to go last. All of my friends and I were upset because we knew we’d get near the back... and have to smell the wonderful scent of the bathroom all the way down and all the way back! :-S Mr. Blevins finally called the 7th graders, and we ran like a pack of wild animals to the uniform room to grab our uniforms and *go!* We ran up to the bus, and climbed on, expecting the worst. But wait! Nana was saving our seat! Elizabeth and I were sitting in the 6th row, and Nicole and Sarah were sitting in the 8th. We all weren’t together, but at least we didn’t have to sit by the potty! A word of advice: Whenever you are riding on a bus with a bathroom, *never* sit near the bathroom! If you do, you’ll regret it!

Seth was sitting right in front of Elizabeth and I, so Sarah was envious. I really didn’t care, so I told Sarah I’d trade seats with her. This was much to the dismay of Elizabeth, because she didn’t want to hear Sarah’s mouth running about Seth constantly! Needless to say, we stayed put. Everyone put their uniforms in the overhead compartments, and then we were ready to go!!!

After we got on the road, everyone decided that we should watch "Liar Liar" first. The bus had many televisions, so watching movies really helped pass the time. When the movie was over, we were in the Knoxville area, so Mr. Blevins had to stop at McDonald’s. After eating, everyone invaded the playground and had to be shooed away by McDonald’s employees! Mr. Blevins banned us from the playgrounds from the rest of the trip, pointing out that we exceeded the 4-foot height limit by far!

There’s nothing much more I can say about the bus ride. We watched "Happy Gilmore" and "Twister." We changed drivers in Dalton, Georgia, and drove all night long. We went through Atlanta at about 1:00 AM, and I was so sick of driving I was tempted to jump off of the bus and run to the airport! ;-) Most people stayed up all night talking about what they’d do in the Magic Kingdom the next day. We all wanted to watch "The Lion King," but Mr. Blevins said that it was too late, and that we needed to sleep. I think I got 30 minutes of sleep the whole trip down! ;-)

After the long drive, we finally arrived in Orlando at 7:00 AM. Mr. Blevins said that we could go to Shoney’s because McDonald’s didn’t have bus parking! ;-) We ate at the Shoney’s on International Drive. There were a lot of park brochures there, so my friends and I had something to read while we ate. Sarah was mad because Ethsa was asleep on the bus and she couldn’t drool over him. She was also mad because he was sitting by Kristina. You see, Kristina and Seth used to go out, and Sarah gets afraid every time she sees the two together. Eventually, she got interested in planning our day at the Magic Kingdom and for once forgot about Ethsa! :-) The food was good, but I didn’t get my drink until I was finished eating! I eat fast when I’m really excited! Eventually, it was time to get back on the bus and head for the travel agency!

I am not too happy with American Tours and Travel, our travel agency. You have to stop by their office to pick up park tickets on the first day. Their office doesn’t open until 9:00 AM, the time the parks open! We only had to do this the first day, but it’s no fun arriving 45 minutes after the scheduled mad dash to Splash Mountain! :-(

Anyway, let me back up here. American Tours *finally* opened and we were on our way! Each band member got a 10-minute phone card, which I later used to make Priority Seating for my trip in June. Mr. Blevins asked for some tips on the Magic Kingdom, and I gave him the general stuff. "Do the mountains early, ride popular rides during the parade, if your feet are tired, use the train, etc."

ARRIVAL, MAGIC KINGDOM

There was a big celebration whenever we drove under the Walt Disney World gate. We were finally there! Yes, we had arrived in the World of super-sized golf balls and purple road signs, speeding monorails and a tower with a bad elevator. We were in the WORLD! :-) Things were getting very suspenseful as we approached the Magic Kingdom. Sarah was getting her own little bit of suspense - Kristina had to lean over Seth’s lap to grab her backpack off of the floor. This sent Sarah into a conniption which lasted until the bus stopped in the bus parking lot.

Elizabeth and I sprung out of our seats and ran to the front of the bus. Nicole followed action while Sarah waited for Seth. We ran with Mr. Blevins to the express monorail, where we had about a 5 minute wait. Took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and everyone went "whee!" When we went through the Contemporary, Mr. Blevins said that if he ever becomes rich he’d stay at the Contemporary. I said that if *I* ever become rich, I’ll be staying across the way at the Grand Floridian! ;-)

Everyone filed out of the monorail and flew down the ramp to the entrance. Mrs. Arth and Mrs. Miller, two chaperones, went through the gates first. Mr. Blevins told us that we needed to meet in front of the castle at 4:00 to check in, and then meet again at 10:00 that night to watch fireworks and go back to the motel. Then he handed everyone their ticket and we went through the gate. Once we were in the park, we gave our ticket back to Mrs. Arth or Mrs. Miller so we wouldn’t lose them! Sarah was nowhere in sight, and Nicole wasn’t fond of water rides, so Elizabeth and I headed for Splash Mountain by ourselves. On the jog over, I noticed that the crane is *still* not gone from the castle! Boo! Hiss!

Elizabeth and I ran all the way to Splash Mountain, and were huffing and puffing by the time we finally arrived! We saw Nicole with Andrea and Lindsey, two other friends of mine, heading for Big Thunder Mountain. The line already looked long, so Elizabeth and I said we would ride the ride later on that night when some of the crowds had left. The sign said we had a 30-minute wait, so we got in. Usually, I ride Splash Mountain when the park opens, not an hour and a half afterward (ahem), so I never had the time to look at all of the detail. I love the little houses with Chip and Dale inside! When we went up the first set of stairs, we noticed Sarah, Seth, Kristina, Dora, and Joan get in line. The line was now backed up 60 minutes, so we got their attention and laughed at them for not running ahead with us!

A few minutes later Elizabeth and I finally walked up to the loading dock. The CM told us to get in the third row, but I asked if we could wait and sit in the front row of the next boat. This didn’t present a problem (*never* be afraid to ask in Disney!), so we waited the extra 30 seconds and sat in the front row! Woo-hoo! :-)

This was Elizabeth’s first trip on Splash Mountain (duh, she’d never been there before), so it was fun to see her react to everything! Every time we would go up a hill, she’d say "Is this it? Is this the big drop?" I just smiled and let suspense get the best of her! By the time we reached the *real* hill, we were both totally soaked from the other 3 drops, and Elizabeth was clutching the safety bar so tightly her hands were white! "Is this it?" Elizabeth asked.
"No... this is just another outside drop. The big drop is after this!" Ha-Ha! Scared the heck out of her! What I did wasn’t mean, because I knew that Elizabeth loved to be scared. When we pulled into the loading/unloading platform, Sarah, Seth, Kristina, Dora, and Joan were getting on their boats. We tried to get their attention, but they didn’t hear us. Oh, well. The picture was priceless (Elizabeth chimes in: "Wasn’t it $12.95 ??"), but it was kinda blurred, so we both passed.

We walked back through Liberty Square, and I bought some popcorn. I’m sad to say that the popcorn didn’t taste as well as it usually does. The butter tasted like it had been made from a powder instead of real butter. Back in June, they served "real butter popcorn." I hope they haven’t started using that nasty powder stuff! :-S We continued on to the Main Street Ice Cream Parlor. Surprise, surprise, Nana was there! The Ice Cream Parlor is Nana’s favorite place in WDW (Nana: "No, actually it’s the top of Spaceship Earth...), so I knew she’d probably be there.

I gave the infamous line all teenagers give... "Money! I need MONEY! WANT MONEY NOW!" Nana, being a generous grandmother, gave me a fair share of Disney Dollars, and we were off to Tomorrowland!

We checked the wait times, and everything had a wait. I looked to the left and saw Dana, Katie, Jenna, Jamie, and Sylvia get into the Alien Encounter line. They invited us to join them, but the 2-hour wait didn’t seem to appealing, so we passed. I found the cutest Skippy stuffed animal, but the $30 price tag was a bit much for something not over a foot tall. Grrr... We walked to the Tomorrowland Transit Authority while I told Elizabeth with expert knowledge that this ride *never* has a line. We walk up to the entrance, and there’s a sign that reads "10 minute wait." "WHAT? Man, this park must be crowded!" I exclaimed. We decided to get in line anyway, and had a pleasant ride. We gave our "glamour wave" to the tired folks waiting in line at Space Mountain, so if you saw two girls acting like fools, that was us! :-) (Side Note: Our glamour wave will never be as perfected as Gardenia’s wavel!!)

After the ride, Elizabeth went to a stand to buy and autograph book while I tried to find any Disney beanies that I didn’t have. The woman working the stand recommended Tinker Bell’s Treasures, so we headed for Fantasyland. A wasp invaded me because of my powdery popcorn, so I ran for the nearest trash can and dropped the stuff in there. We left as the wasp desperately tried to open the trash can door and kill himself in the process. Yuck! :-S

We walked into Tink’s Treasure where I bought a Dumbo beanie (Woo-hoo!) and a Magic Kingdom passport. I never did get that passport stamped... I guess I’ll have to next time! We couldn’t walk back through the castle to get to Nana because the "Every Day’s a Holiday" show was going on, so we walked through the rose garden and down by the old Swan Boat dock. We dropped off all of our bags with Nana (she said it was too hot and crowded to explore the park, she just wanted to people-watch), and then walked to Frontierland to do Tom Sawyer’s Island. We had a small wait for the rafts, but when I boarded the boat, I asked the CM if the boat ran on tracks! ;-) Because of this, he rammed the raft into another raft, which was quite fun! I wish they had the Explorer Canoes here... I tried them at DL and they were a lot of fun!

When we got off of the boat at Tom Sawyer’s Island, we just explored for awhile. We got lost quite a few times (they need a separate guide map for this place!), but still had a lot of fun! We never found the See-Saw rock... Does it still exist? If so, where? Up in the fort, we shot at the Big Thunder Mountain passengers, three of them happened to be Sarah, Seth, and Kristina. We shot them extra hard! :-) Elizabeth checked the map, and it was 15 minutes until the next Adventureland Challenge, so we took the boat back to the mainland. On board the raft, the captain reminded us that on that day in 1912, the Titanic sank. "I wonder if the Becky Thatcher will follow suit?" he wondered. After this statement, he yelled at the top of his lungs "The dock! The dock! Straight ahead!" He used a small stick to "try" to steer us away from the dock, but of course, we hit it. We pulled into the dock. "Okay, folks," the CM said. "This here ship’s got only 1 hour, maybe two, so you best get off!" Then, he held on to the side of the boat and said, "I’ll never let go, Becky! I’ll never let go!" Elizabeth thought the whole "Titanic" spiel was tacky, but I thought it was quite funny! Oh, well.

We headed over to Adventureland and browsed in some of the shops. Then, we walked over to the Tiki Room, which was where we were supposed to meet for the challenge. I thought we’d be able to win easily, because I had participated and won in the challenge once before, and we were both fast runners. I was obviously wrong. There was a group of about seven women who were a team, and they had *walkie talkies.* Each of them searched a certain portion of Adventureland, and whenever they found a clue or the idol in their area, they’d report it over the walkie-talkies. When all of the clues were found, they hid their walkie-talkies and came back with everything. Elizabeth and I were piping mad, but we didn’t want to create a stir. We decided that if they wanted to win so bad that they did that, let them win. Plus, we were HUNGRY! We walked by the Adventureland Verandah (I thought it had closed a looong time ago!), but the line was forever and moving slowly, so we decided to go to Cosmic Ray’s.

I’d say Cosmic Ray’s is my favorite place to eat in the Magic Kingdom. It has everything you could possibly be craving! We both went to Blastoff Burgers and waited only a minute or two. I had never eaten in the main part of the restaurant, so I didn’t know about the animatronic guy. You learn something new every time! We walked back to the Ice Cream Parlor so Nana could get some lunch. She went over to Casey’s Corner and was back in no time. Elizabeth and I decided that we were going to go do Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain during the parade. We walked through Adventureland without any troubles, but as soon as we hit Frontierland, it was a riot! The parade was passing through. Oh, darn! We couldn’t get to Splash Mountain at all! I asked a CM if there was any way to get to Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, and he rudely told me "NO! You’ll just have to WAIT!" He was the only rude CM I encountered on my trip. WDW needs to learn that all the world doesn’t stop when a parade comes through, and not all 100,000 people in a park will stop and watch a parade. Hmph. The end of the parade finally passed, but by that time everyone in front of us was in line for Splash and Big Thunder. Double hmph.

We decided to make the best of the situation and ride the train to Main Street in hopes of beating the beginning of the parade there so we could watch it from beginning to end. I knew it would never work, but I needed to get off of my feet. Surprisingly, it did! As we got off of the train, the parade had just reached Town Square! Woo-hoo! Once we finished watching the parade, we had about 30 minutes to get from the Railroad Station to the Castle. We walked up the right side of the street through all of the shops until we reached Nana at the Ice Cream Parlor. Nana walked with us to the Castle, where we met up with everyone. Mr. Blevins reminded us that we’d meet in the same place at 10:00 that night, and we were off! Elizabeth and I decided to hang out with Sarah, Seth, Kristina, Dora, and Joan. Sarah Campbell thought she’d stay with us, too. Mr. Blevins, Mrs. Arth, and Mrs. Miller came along, too! We all decided that we wanted to do Alien Encounter. I knew that the ride didn’t move, so Nana wouldn’t have a problem, so we invited Nana to come along. Our huge group moved toward Tomorrowland, while Nana confirmed with every adult in sight that Alien Encounter *was not* a ride. The wait time was posted as 45 minutes, but we only waited 30! Woo-hoo!

We entered the pre-show, and everyone "oohed" and "aahed" about how cute Skippy was, while I yearned for the $30 stuffed animal. Our group was the first to enter the "demonstration area," so we got the prime choice of seats. Everyone plopped into first-row seats, except for Nana... she checked to make sure the seats had no wheels before taking a seat. Finally, the show began! I pushed my hair to the side so I could feel the great breathing effects on my neck.

Then, something unexpected happened. Do you remember when we had a discussion wondering if the thing shining a flashlight was an actual person, an audio-animatronic character, or a machine? Well, I know for sure that it’s a person! When the CM came walking with the flashlight, he tripped and fell *flat of his face!* Instead of his usual spiel, he just asked in a pained voice if we were OK, we said we were, and asked him if he was OK! He got back up, and before he could answer the show got louder again! I wonder if that has ever happened before! I feel sorry for the poor CM...

After the ride, everyone, including Nana, said that they enjoyed it! :-) Nana said that she wanted to go do some shopping and see the flag-lowering ceremony, so she departed for Main Street while we headed towards Space Mountain. The line stretched all the way to Astro Orbiter, but nobody seemed to mind, so we hopped in! When Joan, Dora, and Sarah Campbell noticed the 1-hour wait sign, they hopped out and headed for Fantasyland. "We’d rather ride Dumbo!" Joan said.

They really need to make an outside line area here, even if it is just a zigzag thing. Anything would be better than the outside line they have now! It gets in the way of other guests, and it is way too easy for meanies to cut line! Grrr...

We saw a few other members of the band standing about 30 people in front of us. We would have joined them, but I doubt that those 30 people behind them would have been too pleased with an additional 10 people in front of them! Finally we stepped inside the building and into the Air Conditioning! Woo-hoo! Everyone puzzled over the gray balls on the floor... have you ever noticed those? What in the *heck* are they there for? Look over the railing and about 7 feet under you there are these plastic-looking gray balls on the floor. Nobody could figure out what they represented. Seth had a few ideas, but Seth has a rather sick mind. Ahem. Oh, well. Before I could tell Seth to shut up, we had entered the long corridor where the line divides in two, but you have to take the right side because of the white gate. Seth was assured that the left line was another line, but because of the gate nobody paid attention to it. I tried to tell him that was not so, but he had to prove himself. Hmph. Sarah was the only one who went with him, surprise, surprise. They came back about 30 seconds later and were greeted with an "I told you so!" ;-)

Everyone continued through the line and tried to grab the 3-D holograms. I love those things! When it came time to split into two lines, we took the right side because the line was a bit shorter. From the time we entered the zigzag room until we boarded the cars, the chocolate chip cookie-thingie flew by 132 times. You would say I must have been very bored, well, to tell you the truth, I was! ;-) I insisted on being in the back (you get more of the hills that way), and Mr. Blevins insisted on being in the front (he wanted to see the track!) Our car was much different than anyone else’s. Instead of the hard plastic blue seats, we had cushy gray ones, like first-class seats on an airplane! We also had a skimpy little lap bar instead of the thicker ones. This car was much more comfortable than the other cars! Woo-hoo! To make thing short and sweet, we took off, we went up the hill, we screamed "We’re all gonna die!" We went "whoosh," we went "whee!" We went "whoosh," we went "whee!" Mr. Blevins went "I’m gonna barf!" That is all. BTW... Mr. Blevins was OK! ;-)

I decided that I *had* to have some ice cream, so I told everyone I’d be off to the Parlor. They said to meet them at Big Thunder as soon as I got my ice cream, so we separated. I met up with Nana at her usual spot, and I decided I wanted Chocolate Chip. Yum! About 10 minutes later, when I was taking my order, Mr. Blevins and the gang walked in. It turned out they walked all the way over to Big Thunder, but then decided they wanted ice cream, too! So they ran back in hopes of not missing me! It’s a good thing the line was so long, because I would have missed them if it was shorter! Mrs. Arth and Mrs. Miller had went shopping, so now the group was just Mr. Blevins, Nana, Sarah, Seth, Kristina, Elizabeth, and I. We all ate our ice cream (Yum!), and then we were off to Big Thunder! Nana, hater of rides, went back to shop some more.

On the way to Big Thunder, I checked out the Tip Board to see how long the line was. 30 minutes. Not bad! We continued on by Splash Mountain, where the line was an hour and a half. Darnit! In the "non-covered" line area of the park, Sarah used a whole role of film taking pictures of the scenery. (At least that’s what she says... Seth surprisingly turned up in every single picture!) ;-) I hate the "covered" part of the Big Thunder Mountain line. They need to have *something* to keep you busy there! We slithered and snaked through the line, even though we found it difficult to breathe. Someone had taken a *bath* in cologne! :-S It smelled up the whole place! Everyone was coughing and trying to stake out the offender, but it was too hard in all of the mess! Someone must have reported it to the CM, because just as we were about to board our train, some Cast Members were lugging in portable fans to circulate the air! Anyway, I was lucky and got the back seat!!! Woo-hoo! Sarah, Elizabeth, and I all crammed into the seat. The CM reminded us that we had the best seat in the house, and asked us if we wanted some "air time," or "flying out of the seat." Of course, we all said yes, so the lap bar was about 4 or 5 inches above us! :-)

I usually think that this ride is the tamest of the mountain ranges, but this time proved me wrong! If you sit in the back seat, the ride is more of a thrill than Space Mountain! I LOVE this ride in the back! You FLY over those hills and around those curves! It’s great! Elizabeth, Sarah, and I were bucked, bounced, and thrown around in our seats, but we had a great time! This ride gets me every time in the fact that I think the ride is over, but it starts up again! I love that! Go Big Thunder!!!! :-)

Mr. Blevins said that he needed to do some shopping, so he headed towards Main Street while Elizabeth, Sarah, Seth, Kristina, and I decided what to do. I *really* needed Pooh’s autograph for a friend who’s moving away, and Sarah and Elizabeth needed any autograph they could get, so we decided to go to Toontown Fair. Seth whined about his feet being tired, and how he couldn’t walk across the park. This stopped when I reminded him about the train. Kristina and Seth had more interest in their tired feet than autographs, so they decided that after we got off at Toontown, they’d ride all the way around again and meet us in front of Donald’s boat. Sarah was a bit disgusted, but Elizabeth and I agreed, so we walked to the Train Station.

The ride was pleasant, and we soon bid farewell to Kristina and Seth. We walked to the Fair Tent where we entered the "100 Acre Friends" line. Each of us would take turns standing in line while the other two looked around in County Bounty. I didn’t find anything I liked (there is something about that store... I *never* find what I want there, even though it’s huge)! After everyone had had their time to shop, the line had moved out of the County Bounty area. Since we didn’t want to cause any problems with trying to find each other, we decided to stand in line together the rest of the way. This is where I got *very* upset. When we reached the very last room, we just stood. And stood... and stood... and stood. The Mickey & Friends line had moved tremendously about 6 times, and we stayed in place. There was a mother with a fussy baby behind us, who was angry at the line also. We stayed in the same spot for 30 minutes! Eventually, I got fed up and walked to the front of the line, trying to find a CM. Nobody was there! Now everyone in the Pooh line was red with anger, but we stayed put. About 10 minutes later, Sarah, Elizabeth, and I decided to get out of line. We were sick of it! The *second* we got out of line, it moved! Thank goodness the mother with the baby let us get back in line! :-)

After all of that time, Eeyore wasn’t even there! So Elizabeth and Sarah waited in line for an hour to meet just 2 characters! Boo-hoo! At least I got Pooh’s autograph for Emily, one of my best friends who loves Pooh. After we left the building, Sarah found Seth and Kristina at the boat. Both of them were soaking wet. Kristina had a white shirt on, so needless to say Sarah wasn’t happy! ;-)

We told them about the terrible line, and then explored the boat. This place is sooooo fun for kids and adults alike! You get *soaked* here! Funny side note: There is a certain fountain in the ground out front that has a REALLY strong jet. Anyway, we intentionally got Seth to stand over this fountain (he hadn’t discovered it yet) so he could take our picture. Seth unknowingly straddled his legs over this fountain so he could focus the camera better. I could hardly contain myself from laughing! A few seconds later, the fountain blows with the most force I’ve ever seen, and Seth ends up walking around looking like he wet himself! ROTFL!!! Talk about a look of pure terror, shock, and surprise! I wish *I* had taken a picture of him! Sarah was laughing so hard that she didn’t notice Seth run away in embarrassment! Kristina ran off with him, too. When Sarah finally stopped laughing, she noticed that Seth was missing. After looking for him, she decided just to forget about it. (Actually, I saw him waiting for the Barnstormer. I would have told Sarah, but I didn’t want to wait in line a hour for a 30-second ride! ;-) )

We took the "secret" path to Tomorrowland, and decided to do the Skyway. We had about a 20 minute wait to get in our bucket. This ride is *such* a good photo opportunity! You can get great pics of Space Mountain, Rockettower Plaza, Cindy’s Castle, EVERYTHING! Elizabeth saw Mr. Blevins walking through Fantasyland down below, and almost fell out trying to wave! :-S I’d say I got about 10 great pictures of the MK at dusk on this ride. Elizabeth, Sarah, and I were sad whenever we approached the end of the ride. Boo-hoo! :-( Oh, well. I knew I could do it again in June! After this, for the first time in my life, I aimlessly wandered around the MK. There was nothing else that we wanted to do! Somehow, we ended up in Frontierland.

I knew making it back to the castle through the parade crowd would be impossible, so we decided to take the train to get to Main Street. This day had been the first day that I had used the train in the MK as a method of transportation. I learned that it *really* helps you get around all of the crowds, especially around parades! At Main Street, I lost Sarah and Elizabeth! :-( I later learned that all three of us had been separated by the crowds! I walked through the shops to avoid some of the crowds on the sidewalks. Eventually, I found a few fellow band members, and we walked to the castle. I don’t know how we found Mr. Blevins, but we did. During the fireworks, Tink got a bit stuck! :-S I’d love to do that job! As you might have noticed, my detail is waning. During the fireworks, all of the stored tiredness hit me like a ton of bricks. All the tiredness of being on a bus for 18 hours, and all the tiredness of being at the MK all day hit me at the same time. I can barely remember walking out of the MK. I can barely remember getting on the ferry to the TTC. (Funny factoid: Walking out of the MK, I headed for the Disney Resorts bus stops out of habit, and Sarah sadly had to remind me we were staying off site!) ;-) I can barely remember getting on the bus, and I can barely remember the trip to the hotel. I *do* remember plopping into bed! :-)

EPCOT, THE CONCERT

It was the day we had all been waiting for. Nope, not Tax Day, but the day of the concert! I heard the ring of the wake-up call at 6:30, and claimed the shower. The shower was really weird here... I couldn’t get the water pressure to adjust! After fiddling with the 4 (??) different knobs, I finally got the water in a halfway decent state. You should have heard me singing! "This shower really stiiiiinks! I wanna go to Port Orleeeeeeans! Get me outta here! Dum da dum da dum da..." Oh, well. You get the picture! ;-) After that joyous experience, I ran downstairs to the lobby. Nobody else was there. Hmph. I pulled out my phone card and searched down a pay phone. I got priority seating for Soundstage and 50’s Prime Time Cafe’ at the exact time I wanted! (Well, duh! I was the first caller of the day!)

After this, I decided to try to find my friends. I found Sarah, Nicole, and Elizabeth at my first stop, the dining room. We had a skimpy (but free!) breakfast of 4 sausage links and 2 pieces of toast. Yum. After eating, we invaded the vending machines and ate the rest of our "breakfast." Sarah noticed Seth eating his breakfast, so she bought some Dorritos and a Nestle Crunch to give him. (Side Note: That money could have been used for a souvenir. Seth eats enough already. Hmph!) ;-) After Thy Holy One (otherwise known as Seth) had finished his breakfast, we boarded the bus.

To sum the drive up, here’s what I thought... "Drive, drive, drive. I miss Disney transport. Oh, darnit. The park opened. So much for taking part in the HISTA dash. Oh, finally! We’re on WDW Property. It’s about time! Ag... I can’t believe this... We should have stayed at All Stars! Waaah... I’m going to cry... No, wait. I’m going to barf. Sarah’s looking at Seth all goo-goo. Yuck!" To say the least, I didn’t have a very pleasant drive! ;-) When we finally reached the park, I bounded out of the bus! Mr. Blevins told us to meet in Italy at 4:00 for the concert.

After sprinting to the entrance, we did the normal thing with the tickets, and we were in the park! Elizabeth, Seth and his attachment, Sarah C, Emi, Katie (another one of my friends), and Kristina headed for HISTA after gawking at Spaceship Earth. When we finally reached the entrance, the line was backed up reeeealy long, but we decided to hop in anyway. After about 20 minutes of waiting, Elizabeth and I ran off to the Leapfrog Fountains for refreshment. I LOVE the Leapfrog Fountains! No trip is complete without seeing them! A CM told us the best place to get wet, so we stood there. (It’s kinda hard to explain where it is... it’s where the water jumps across a walkway, and you have to get as close to the planter as possible). After we got completely drenched, Elizabeth and I walked back to the growing HISTA line. Disney had sent entertainment to help pass the time in the line, so after joining the gang once more, I engaged in singing and dancing to the "YMCA." By the time the song was over, we had finally entered the holding room! Woo-hoo!

In the large room, Sarah passed out gum as we awaited the show. Emi was balancing her WDW budget ("Oh, no! HOW did I spend that much money yesterday??"), and Sarah was taking pictures of the carpeting (with Seth’s feet standing on the carpeting, of course)! ;-) Everyone in the room applauded when we entered the "True Colors" room. I think I was the only one that had seen the show in the room, because I obviously wasn’t excited about the upcoming pre-show. During the commercial, everyone decided that we would go play in the fountains and see the rest of Journey Into Imagination after the show. Just as I was about to calculate how much this commercial would cost if it was aired during the Super Bowl, the doors opened! Finally!

As per usual, I got behind a really tall person! (Word of advice: NEVER sit behind someone that is taller than you. If their head blocks the screen, the 3-D images won’t show up correctly for you.) Thankfully, I was able to crane my neck around the tall person’s head, and the show began! Even though all of the 3-D effects were partially blocked by the person of high altitude in front of me, I still enjoyed the show! The mice effect worked really well! Elizabeth, who has a fear of mice, flew out of her seat and landed in Seth’s lap! I’m surprised that smoke didn’t come out of Sarah’s ears... she was flaming mad! Elizabeth made her way back to her seat, and we watched the rest of the show. Everyone in the group gave it an "A+" and said that it was well worth the wait!

Emi and Katie separated from the group to see World Showcase, while everyone else headed for the fountains! I got a picture of the "Falling Up" fountains, where we noticed a tiny frog swimming around. (We later saw him floating on top of the water on the other side of the fountain. The poor thing had been shot up through the fountain!) :-(

We first went to the Leapfrog Fountains. A CM standing nearby noticed our desire to get wet, so he let us stand on the planter. We got SOAKED! Being the idiot that I am, I stuck my head right in front of the jet. The water came before I expected it to, and it hit me right in the eye! YEOW!!!!! I guess it served me right, though... it’s naughty to stick your head in front of a fountain jet! :-S

Elizabeth had the idea of sticking her head in the large pool of water where the falling-up fountains are. Since it was hot and humid, everyone else followed suit! ;-) Next, we went to the Jellyfish Fountains. Those are the ones that shoot up little balls of water. We had a blast trying to "catch" the balls. When passing by this fountain, look at the patterns of water they make! Sometimes they will shoot up all at the same time, other times they will shoot up one after another. It’s really cool! :-) Right beside these fountains, I noticed Dreamfinder and Figment! Woo-hoo! :-) Everyone ran over and got their autograph and picture. Dreamfinder was very surprised that I could recite "One Little Spark" word for word! :-)

After meeting Dreamfinder and Figment, it was logical to ride Journey Into Imagination! Like most high school bands do, we sang "One Little Spark" all the way through the ride! The people in the cars beside us didn’t seem annoyed... In fact, they sang along, too! :-) The ride stopped for about two minutes while we were in the room with Figment in the middle, where all the TV screens are. I got to watch all of the monitors show different scenes of Figment and blooming flowers. This is good, because usually the ride doesn’t give you enough time to see everything. Everyone thought that this ride would be a cool setting for a roller coaster! After getting off, everyone went to stock up on Figment merchandise. They had a Figment plush that was the same size as me, and I fell in love with it! The only problem is that it cost $500. No thanks! :-(

We headed up the infamous staircase to the Image Works, where we did *everything.* The only problem I had was at "Making Faces." Here, you have to center your face on this outline and have your picture taken. Well, I don’t see how *anyone’s* face could actually fit this outline! Maybe an alien’s, but not a human face! Oh, well. The picture was funny anyway! They should have a printer so you can print the funny faces! :-) We walked over to the Symphony-Director-thingie and I made the woodwind section play as loud as it could (go saxophones)! :-)

We then decided that it was time to eat, so I drug everyone to (where else?) Pasta Piazza Ristorante! Woo-Hoo! :-) Since I had last eaten here, they had changed the shape of their pizzas from a regular circle to the shape of Mickey! Cool! All of the seats were filled, so a CM directed us to the Espresso Cafe’ to eat. I ate every bit of my yummy pizza!

Sarah, Seth, Elizabeth, and I decided that we wanted to do Innoventions, while Sarah C. and Kristina wanted to do Spaceship Earth, so we split up. First, I headed for the airplane-flying thingie that I enjoy. I didn’t get to take-off or land, which is the best part! :-( Oh, well. Next, we did the thing that puts you on TV shows via Blue Screen Technology, like Superstar TV at MGM. I was a sportscaster, which was fun! We wandered around for awhile, trying to find that thingie that takes your picture and sends it to someone on a virtual post card. Is that how it works? Where is this exhibit? Does it cost anything? I want to do this on my trip in June!

We all decided that it was time to get a little shopping done, so we headed for the Centorium. I got all kinds of stuff, including a mouse pad with the four theme park logos and Goofy, Mickey, Donald, and Pluto on it! It’s really cool! I also got the neatest T-shirt ever! It’s white with 12 Mickey heads on it, one for each country in World Showcase. Each country’s flag is filling the outline of Mickey’s head. The one extra head is solid blue with Mickey standing in front. It has "Epcot" written under the 12 Mickey’s. I love it! :-) I also got a ‘98 (Year to be Here!) shirt. After filling our bags and emptying our wallets, we walked outside to the familiar war call of "BREAK TIME!" Woo-hoo! It was the Jammitors! :-) :-) :-) We sat down and watched the show. They were really good! They make our percussion section look like babies! ;-)

After this, we came up with a mission statement: To get as wet as we possibly could. It was 1:00 in the afternoon, and we were burning up! We went to the Leapfrog fountains again, and needless to say, our mission was successful! ;-) I knew that I HAD to see the manatees, so everyone headed towards the Living Seas. On the way, we ran into Ms. Williamson, the student teacher who came along on the trip. She warned us to stay away from Mr. Blevins, because if he caught us soaking wet, we would be in trouble! :-S We continued on to the Living Seas, praying that we wouldn’t get stuck in Sea Base Alpha with a mad Mr. Blevins! :-S

As usual, we slept through the Pre-Show and boarded the Hydrolaters. I explained to my friends that the "elevators" only moved a few inches, and everyone in the thing looked at me like I was nutty! Oh, well. We got off and plopped into the Seacabs. On the way to Sea Base Alpha, we noticed sharks, eels, and a diver! Cool! I went to the manatees first thing and watched them in awe for about 10 minutes. Manatees are my favorite animal! (BTW... if you’re interested in manatees, go to this link: http://www.objectlinks.com/manatee) The air conditioning was on full-blast, and since we were soaking wet, Elizabeth and I turned to leave. Elizabeth and I then noticed that Sarah and Seth were gone. We knowingly looked at each other, and we were on our way! ;-)

We headed for World Showcase, still very wet. I noticed the boat coming towards the left dock, so we ran the rest of the way. We reached the boat dock just in time to board the boat to Germany. Woo-hoo! :-) After a relaxing ride, Elizabeth and I looked around Germany. I wanted to buy the cookie and candy store up, but everything was waaaay too expensive, so we headed for the USA.

While walking through Italy, we found Nana sitting on a bench. She ran up to us with a large shopping bag. It turned out that she had bought both of the shirts I had purchased at the Centorium! Oops! Nana said that she would return them for other shirts later on that night. I noticed a stand selling Pinnocchio merchandise, so of course I had to dash to it! You see, I have a Miniature Schnauzer named Pinnochio Thomas von Doggie (yes, that’s his real name! We call him Penny for short)! I got a stuffed Pinnocchio to sit on top of his cage. Penny loves it! :-) Elizabeth and I were hungry, so we decided to head for Liberty Inn.

It was only 3:30, so for once this place was not crowded! I had a yummy burger and fries, and shared some cotton candy for dessert. Before we knew it, it was 3:50, time to head for Italy! The concert was approaching fast...

Elizabeth and I noticed that quite a few band members were sitting near the large tower, so we joined them. In the middle of the crowd was Sarah and Seth. Elizabeth and I asked them where they had ran away to, and they asked us why *we* ran away from *them!* Eventually, Elizabeth and I decided to drop the argument... All four of us knew exactly what had happened! ;-)

About five minutes later, Mr. Blevins walked up with the American Tours and Travel rep in tow. I wanted to give her some strategies on how to improve her company (have the offices open *before* the parks open, for one thing), but Elizabeth and Sarah held me back! Nicole had a large bag full of souvenirs that she was trying to make room for...Hard telling how much all of it cost!

Eventually, the ATAT Rep led us through a CM exit to the backstage area of Italy. There were two dressing trailers, one for boys and one for girls. We entered them accordingly, and Mrs. Arth handed out uniforms. Because my friends and I (except for Nicole) hadn’t marched in the band before, we had to wear the uniform of another member who wasn’t going. My uniform was terrible... The pants were WAY to long and got twisted every couple of steps. If you attended the concert, I’m sure I looked hilarious! ;-) Nana told us all that we wouldn’t be coming back to the trailers, so not to leave any of our belongings behind. By the time the last person had boarded the bus and the last bag had been packed in the overhead bins, it was 6:00. The performance was at 7:00. ACK! :-S

We arrived at the Marketplace at about 6:20, where a Cast Member was waiting for us. This Cast Member was hilarious... She tried to act stylish and refined, but she ended up making an idiot out of herself! When I *tried* to tune my saxophone, she looked at me and said in a fake English accent, "Please quit producing racket on that dreadful trumpet!" He-He! ;-)

Once everyone put their instruments together, Mr. Blevins took us on the five-minute walk to the Dockside Stage. By the time we reached the waterfront, I thought I would pass out from the heat! It was at least 90 degrees, and I was in full uniform! To make things worse, I had to lug around my 13-pound saxophone and my troublesome sheet music! Once we made it to the walkway behind the stage, though, we were able to catch a light breeze off of the lake. This cooled us off a bit. Woo-hoo!

Before I knew it, the announcer was introducing our band, and we walked on the stage. This was when things began to go wrong. Somehow, while I took my seat, I broke the reed of my saxophone. A reed is a small, thin piece of wood that you put on the mouthpiece of any woodwind instrument. A reed is what makes the instrument play. Reeds are very easy to break, and if you break them, you have a high chance of making a squealing sound, which is not good! :-S

The thought of my many hours of practice ruined for a broken reed really made me mad, so I angrily motioned for Nana to get me a new one. After I got her attention, I pointed in the direction of where my saxophone case was. Looking back on the experience, I find this idea pointless because there was no way she could get on the stage to give the reed to me! For those of you guys that watched us perform, the little red-faced, angry girl with the saxophone you were watching... Was me! Mr. Blevins had forgotten to buy clothespins to keep the music from flying about, so we hurriedly passed out paper clips instead. After everyone’s music had been paper clipped to the stands, we were ready to go!

The first three songs ("Far East Fantasy," "Hymnsong of Philip Bliss," and "Trombone King") really went well. My favorite song out of the whole concert was "Trombone King," because it was really fun to play. I think it was the audience’s favorite, too. The disaster began when we started to play our final and most difficult song, "Gathering of the Ranks at Hebron." Everyone in the band despised the song in the first place... It was long, difficult, and *stupid.*

Once all four sheets of music were paper clipped to the stands, we were ready to go. We hadn’t played five measures of music when the wind began to pick up. I don’t know how all of this looked from the audience... maybe a RADP audience member could tell me, but I do know that it was chaos on the stage. Emi had a big solo on the bells that was supposed to take place near the beginning of the song. When the time for her solo to begin came and went, I looked back to see a look of pure bewilderment on her face. All of her music was gone! The wind had carried it away! :-S Then, some of Seth’s music flew into my lap, along with the last two sheets of my music. To make a long story short, some of the trumpet music blew into my lap, and Seth’s music blew into my lap about 5 times throughout the rest of the song. Eventually, I just had to play the song from memory and pass out the windblown music to it’s rightful owners... All at the same time! :-S The rest of the song went fair, most of the band had memorized the song, but we were all downcast when the performance was over. Nana took many pictures of the escapade, and the looks on our faces are hilarious! ;-) There’s one of Emi who is frozen in fright when the music flies away, and there’s one of me trying to play my saxophone with one hand while passing out music with the other! Ha-Ha! ;-)

When the concert was *finally* over, Mr. Blevins quickly escorted us to the bus. The prissy little CM led our poor, downcast band to the changing rooms. Mrs. Miller took a picture of Sarah, Elizabeth, Nicole, and I in our uniforms (It didn’t turn out very well... We were all hot, sweaty, and tired). :-( We gladly hopped out of the heavy uniforms (Side note from Sarah: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I’m free at last!"), and walked back to the bus.

After the short drive to Epcot, we soon found ourselves back in Italy. Sarah, Seth, and I were the only three who didn’t want to eat, so we sprinted to the boat dock in Germany. We were the last three on the boat, and all had to sit in different locations, but I didn’t care. We were headed for Wonders of Life! :-)

We disembarked the boat, and made our way to Wonders of Life, Body Wars being our attraction of choice. I was tempted to run through the fountains that are kinda in between Horizons and Wonders of Life, but Sarah reminded me that Mr. Blevins would be mad when I boarded the bus all wet. Sadly, we walked past the fountains and on to Body Wars.

Body Wars was a walk-on (Woo-hoo!), and we even got the back row (Double Woo-hoo)! We had a pleasant ride, although Seth said he got a little queasy after viewing the body parts. We walked out to the Fitness Fairgrounds, where I got an idea. "Sarah!" I exclaimed. "Let’s see that thing over there... People are going in right now!"

"What is it?" Sarah quizzed.

"I don’t know... Let’s check it out!" I replied. Now, of course I knew what it was... It was the infamous Making of Me. Was I going to watch it? Not a chance! Why not wait behind Sarah and Seth, and after they’ve entered the theater, run away! ;-) Sarah and Seth trapped together in the Making of Me! ;-) ;-) ;-) LOL!!! (Insert evil laugh)!

Everything went according to plan until Seth had to check his stupid little watch and notice that it was 8:30. "Hey! It’s only 30 minutes before Illuminations! Let’s go!" Awwww... MAN! That would have been soooo funny! :-( I decided that I would skip Illuminations and ride Spaceship Earth. A trip to WDW is not complete without Spaceship Earth! So we exited Wonders of Life, Sarah and Seth heading one direction, I heading the other.

Once again, like the day before, all of the tiredness of the day hit me. I could barely drag myself to Spaceship Earth, and once I got on the ride, I fell asleep! :-( One second I was boarding my car, and the next, that dumb "Please remain seated, your vehicle is rotating backwards for your return to Earth" message was blasting in my ears. I slowly exited the ride, and met the band under the "Big Golf Ball" at 9:00. We boarded the bus, and drove back to the hotel. Good night, everyone! |-O {{{{YAWN}}}}

COCOA BEACH, MGM

I awoke to the usual ring of the phone, at the normal time, 6:30. That day would be different, though, because that day would be the first day I had ever vacationed in Florida and hadn’t gone anywhere besides WDW. For that day was the day that the Boyle County High School Marching Band would hit Cocoa Beach. I made the dash to the shower (and easily won... Jamie and Sylvia weren’t out of bed yet), and used my allotted 15 minutes (Sylvia and Jamie needed their shower time, too)! I hopped into my bathing suit, and put my clothes on over them so I wouldn’t have to change once we reached Cocoa Beach.

I soon exited the room and went down to the lobby, where I found Nicole, Sarah, and Elizabeth playing with the talkative parrots. After a few minutes, Elizabeth went to call her parents. Nicole, Sarah, and I followed her to the pay phones. I would have called my mom, but I had used all of my 10 minutes making Priority Seatings! Oh, well.

Soon afterwards, Mr. Blevins arrived in the lobby, a sign that it was time to board the bus. We would make a stop for breakfast at Planet Hollywood before heading on to Cocoa Beach. Yes, I know that Planet Hollywood doesn’t usually serve breakfast, but they were serving free breakfast for Magic Music Days bands. Once we got off of the bus at Planet Hollywood, the gang and I were the first people up the stairs and to the door. We found out that our table was at the very top floor... Woo-hoo! Once we took the elevators up, I found out that the breakfast was buffet style. After being led to our tables, I decided to check out the buffet. The only things there were scrambled eggs, bacon, and french toast. Joy. Not a thing I liked. I decided to go through the line anyway, and tried to stomach some of the bacon. It wasn’t too greasy, and I knew I’d have to eat *something,* or starve. While waiting for my friends to finish, I walked around the top floor. I got a good picture of the giant Woody that is hanging from the ceiling... Woo-hoo!

When all of my friends had finished their breakfasts, we headed down the staircase to look around. As we reached the second floor, what should we find other than Rose’s dress and Jack’s suit from "Titanic!" YEAH! After staring and gawking for a few minutes, we headed down to the main floor. Nothing was really to our interests down there, so we headed outside to look at all of the hand prints. When all of the band had finished eating, we went into the Planet Hollywood shop, where I got lots of cool stuff. I picked up this really neat water bottle with a big Planet Hollywood globe on top and a cute little plush gorilla with a Planet Hollywood Orlando shirt on. Of course, everyone had to get the Planet Hollywood gorilla and alligator beanie babies! :-)

After shopping, we all assembled onto the bus, and were off to Cocoa Beach! During the drive, I got some much needed rest. I finally woke up when we were about 2 miles outside of Cocoa Beach. Woo-hoo! Mr. Blevins found a bus parking lot, so we all got off. Mr. Blevins told us all to meet back at the bus at 3:00. The parking lot was centrally located in between the beach and Ron Jon’s, so some of the band went one direction and some went the other. Most of the people I’ve mentioned in this trip report went to the beach first.

I found a good spot on the beach and set all of my stuff down. After everyone else followed suit, we all decided what we were going to do. Elizabeth and Nicole aren’t too fond of water, so they headed for Ron Jon’s. Sarah was yearning to bury Seth in the sand. This didn’t seem too appealing to me, so I headed for the ocean. The water wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t freezing cold either, so I decided to stay in. At the particular location we were at in Cocoa Beach, there were two points where the waves broke, one near the shore and the other where the water was about five feet deep. Of course, I went to the second point. After having a ton of fun (No, really!) having waves break over my head, my throat started to hurt. (My throat starts to hurt every time I swim in the ocean or a wave pool! No, I don’t drink the water, so I don’t know what causes it! Hmmm...) Anyway, I went back to our little "campsite" and found Sarah finishing her "Masterpiece" (whatever) of Seth buried in sand. Then, I had an idea. "Sarah!" I whispered. "I’m getting hungry! Why don’t we go to the 711 and get some candy or something!"

"But what about Seth?" Sarah asked.

"Awww... Seth will be fine! Let’s eat!" I laughed. "Hey, Seth! We’re hungry. See you in a few!" I said in a sing-songy voice, and we were off! Sarah and I grabbed our money, and walked the block to the 711. I got a Snicker and a huge brownie (what a wonderful lunch) and Sarah got some pizza. After eating, we headed back to the beach.

When we finally made it back, we noticed something was going around where the Boyle County people were sitting, so we decided to check it out. Once we got there, Elizabeth explained that Joey Frankel, a fellow band member, was out swimming when a huge wave knocked him over and carried his swimming trunks out to sea!! LOL!!!! I thought she was joking, but she wasn’t! I looked out in the ocean, and saw a very bewildered Joey, swimming in place. "Well, what is he going to do?" I asked.

"Mr. Blevins ran to Ron Jon’s to get him some new shorts!" Just after she said that, Mr. Blevins came huffing and puffing towards us.

"Where’s Joey?" He asked, panting for air. We pointed to him, and Mr. Blevins swam out to give him is shorts. Well, if I were Joey, I would be thankful that he was swimming in the bluish-black water of Cocoa Beach, and not the clear water of a wave pool! LOL! ;-)

After the Joey escapade, I headed for the showers to get all of the sand off of my body (I *HATE* sand in between my toes when I’m not on the beach)! Once I was back in my regular clothes, I headed for Ron Jon’s Surf Shop, the largest surf shop on Earth. Time was running short, so I only bought a manatee magnet with "Cocoa Beach, FL" painted on it. I then sprinted back to the bus, and we were off to surprise, surprise, McDonald’s! After a quick meal there, we drove off to MGM Studios.

Once again, we had an uneventful drive (Even if something had happened, I wouldn’t have known... I was asleep!) ;-) I woke up to the sensation of Elizabeth tugging on my arm... She had just saw the Tower of Terror for the first time! We were at the Studios! Woo-hoo! We got our parking space, and Mr. Blevins told us to meet in front of the Chinese Theater at 9:00. This seemed fine to us, so we decided who was going to walk around with whom. I said that I would be going to the Tower of Terror, so Sarah, Seth, Elizabeth, Emi, and Nicole joined me. Nicole said that she wouldn’t ride it, so we dropped her off at the Planet Hollywood Superstore, where she was in heaven! :-)

We continued up Sunset Boulevard, and watched as the guests of the Hollywood Tower Hotel took their plunge. The view of the elevators falling almost caused Seth to chicken out, but Sarah dragged him on anyway. The wait was 45 minutes... Usually I would have waited for another time, but everyone else (being first-timers) said they wanted to wait anyway, so we did. Whenever we came to the spot in line where you can buy ice cream, of course I had to buy a Mickey bar! Elizabeth followed suit, but Sarah said she was running out of money, Seth was wasn’t hungry (for once), and Emi said her budget didn’t call for ice cream. By the time we got all of this figured out, we had almost passed up the ice cream stand! ;-)

When we got to the right line/left line split, the left line was so empty that I had everyone else save our spots while I made sure that it was open. After finding out that the left line was open but ignored, I motioned for everyone to come on up. We walked right up to the Pre-Show area! Woo-hoo! :-) Once we entered the room, I led everyone to the hidden door so we’d be the first ones out after the pre-show was over. I think this is the only pre-show in WDW that I like! I remember the first time I did the Tower, it really creeped me out when Rod said "the Twilight Zone" at the very end and it was done in surround sound! Eek! ;-) On we went through the line... By this time pretty much everyone else was scared to death, but we continued on! This time, the line that goes straight ahead instead of off to the right was totally ignored, so we walked right up to the elevators! Woo-hoo!

I think that the Tower of Terror was everyone’s favorite ride in WDW (Yeah, right! They should try Summit Plummet)! Everyone would keep asking me if the drop was coming soon. "Ha!" I would always reply in normal TZToT style. "Like I’d tell you!" Oddly enough, nobody out of our group expected the drop when we saw the infamous gray wall. They all thought that we would go crashing through it, and *then* drop! Everyone thought that after crashing through the gray wall, you would see the Studios, and drop! Nope! You see the Studios the next two times you go to the top, but not the first!

Afterwards, we went to the gift shop, in hopes of finding those cute sculptures of the Tower that open up to show Mickey and Goofy screaming in terror. They were all sold out. Darn! :-( When we walked outside, the line was only 20 minutes, and we wanted to get back in line, but we remembered poor Nicole waiting at the Planet Hollywood store, so we walked away from the Tower.

We picked up Nicole, who now had her fair share of bags. We then decided to head for the Backlot Tour. Everyone was burning up from the heat, so I decided to take the New York Street route so we could go to the "Singing in the Rain" umbrella. After our visit to this landmark, we all happily walked away soaking wet. Woo-hoo! :-) The Backlot Tour was uneventful... Elizabeth set by herself in the next row so she could sit on the left side and get wet. After the tour, we all got pictures of the sports car from "Flubber" and the wooden dolls used in an episode from "Home Improvement."

Emi wanted to go to the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground, so off we went! I had never got to really explore this playground before, but it sure is fun! :-) I think we did everything possible... including getting soaking wet! There is this wall (I think it’s near the huge ant) that has water pouring down it, and we all made good use of it. Woo-hoo!

Next, I wanted to see Muppet*Vision, so we all went over to the theater. The only gag in the pre-show that I got was "A Net full of Jello" (Annette Funichello) (sp?), but I had already learned about that on-line, so I guess that doesn’t count! ;-) This show was really fun, especially when the marching band came in the finale. Let’s see... "That drummer looks like Sean!" "Hey, look! There’s Seth! Oops... that’s a girl!" (Seth: Very funny...) Sadly, there were no saxophones in the band. Boo-hoo! We weren’t sitting close enough to view the penguin band... I’m sure we would have found some more resemblance’s (sp?) there! He-He! ;-)

It was getting late, so we decided to shop some more... Mickey’s of Hollywood would be the place! Don’t ask me what I got there... I just know that I got waaay too much! ;-) By this time, it was 8:30. There was a 10 minute wait for the Tower of Terror. I asked if anyone wanted to go, and Seth was the only one finished shopping, so off we went! Run, run, run down Sunset Boulevard, until we finally reached the Tower. This was where we met someone very interesting...

I got to talking to this guy and his little boy, who was very proud of his "Clean Plate Award" sticker he had received at the 50’s Prime Time Cafe’. Then, he asked us a seemingly odd question. "Are the Spice Girls popular where you live?" (Well, at the time, they were, but now that Geri left, they’re not anymore). That was when we learned that he was their Canadian manager! (I feel sorry for him now... With all of this Ginger Spice mess and everything... He was really nice)! :-( Anyway, they were staying at the Swan, and I talked of my off-site woes. After the predicted 10 minutes, we were finally riding the Tower! Woo-hoo! All of us were having a wonderful ride, until we looked out over the Studios and saw... Fireworks. Now usually this would be a happy sight, but I knew that if Sorcery in the Sky was going on, then it must be past 8:50! Oh, no!

After the ride, we bid farewell to the Canadian Manager and son and ran all the way to the Chinese Theater. Just in time! :-) Sarah, happily re-united with Seth, told me everything she had bought at Mickey’s of Hollywood (so much for running out of money)!

I wasn’t as tired as I had been the night before, but I was pretty sleepy by the time we reached the hotel. Then, another sad thought entered my mind: tomorrow was the last day.

WET N' WILD

For one final time, the wake-up call came at 6:30. I took my last quick shower of the trip, and got in my bathing suit for Wet n’ Wild. After my turn in the bathroom, I packed all of my bags, a chore that took at least 20 minutes. During this time, a piece of dust or something edged its way into my eye, and I had to call Nana to find out what to do about it. I’m really squeamish in my eye area (I refuse to touch my eyeballs, I refuse to turn my eyelids inside out, etc.), so I couldn’t just touch the dust with one of my fingers and get it out. When Nana came to the room, we decided the only way of getting the stupid piece of dust out was to fill the sink up with water, dump my head in it, and open my eyes. (You guessed it, I refuse to flush my eyes out with water)! After I did this, I was fine, and continue my morning activities. Woo-hoo! :-)

After I checked and re-checked the room for anything I could have left behind, I bid farewell to the room and went downstairs to the lobby, where Elizabeth and Sarah were waiting for me. Today would be another day that we would have breakfast at the hotel, so we made our way over to the restaurant. This time, we were offered four sausage links and some cereal, so we gladly ate our share. After breakfast, everyone else went back up to their rooms to finish packing their stuff, while I sat in the lobby guarding my suitcases. Eventually, all of the band had gathered in the lobby, so we went outside to put our suitcases in the compartments under the bus once more. After everything was packed, we were on our way to Wet n’ Wild!

The drive to Wet n’ Wild was much shorter than the drive to WDW, so I didn’t have much time to anticipate what would be there. As soon as we reached the park, the gleaming rocket atop Bomb Bay caught my eye. Mr. Blevins told us to meet at the picnic pavilion at 3:00, and we were off! Nicole, Sarah, Seth, Elizabeth, and I all decided to rent a locker, and in normal teenager fashion, ram all of our stuff into it. It took us about 15 minutes to cram our stuff in the locker in a fashion where the door came *close* to closing, so we were satisfied, and went off into the park. Seth and Sarah went to a family raft ride first, but I wanted to head to Bomb Bay, the big thrill ride of the park. After walking to the very back, we learned that Bomb Bay was experiencing technical difficulties, and would open in about an hour. Elizabeth and I decided to do Der Stuka (a big slide, similar but not as good as Summit Plummet). Nicole would wait at the bottom, because water and thrills, as I have mentioned before, aren’t her thing.

After climbing to the very top, Elizabeth caught view of the ground far, far below and headed back down the ramp. She told me that she and Nicole would ride the Lazy River, and meet me at the bottom of Dur Stuka. I rode Dur Stuka, and it was fun, but lacked the height, angle, and thrills of Summit Plummet. Nicole and Elizabeth hadn’t had time to do the Lazy River yet, so I rode Dur Stuka a few more times. When Nicole and Elizabeth had finally finished, we decided to go and ride the new ride, where four people go down a slide in a bobsled-like thing. On our way over, we met up with Sarah and Seth, who decided to come with us. After reaching the top of the slide, Sarah and Seth went down with two strangers, while Elizabeth, Nicole, and I went down in the next tube. Once again, this ride was fun, but it didn’t compare to anything at Blizzard Beach.

After this, we all just roamed around the park for awhile and rode Dur Stuka a few more times (well, at least Sarah, Seth, and I did). Then, we came across this kiddie thing. You had to be 12 and under to do this, so Seth was definitely out (he’s going to be a freshman this year, while we’ll only be in 8th grade). Nicole didn’t want to go, but Elizabeth, Sarah, and I did. Now, this was back in April when I had just turned 13, so it wasn’t like I was *way* over the age limit... Sarah was still 12 at the time, and Elizabeth had be 13 since the beginning of February, but that was her problem! ;-) Anyway, there was the big gigantic bubble that you climbed up, pulling yourself up with a rope. Then, when you got to the top, there was this mushroom-looking thing (I think) that had water coming off of it, which rolled down the bubble (making it hard to climb up and fun to slide down). Then, you would run and slide down the bubble! Woo-hoo! Now this might not sound like much fun just typing it, but in person it beat Ski Patrol Training Camp (Pre-teen area at Blizzard Beach) with flying colors, and it was just the bubble alone! About 24 kids are in the pool at one time, and they get to stay in for about 5 minutes. Elizabeth, Sarah, and I did this like 5 times! It was sooooo much fun!

It was nearing 1:00, so we headed to the picnic pavilion where we would eat the lunch made up for Magic Music Days Performers. We went expecting the worst, like at Planet Hollywood, but this time, the food was *good!* We had the choice of hamburgers or hot dogs, plus chips, baked beans, a roll, and this yummy orange sherbet. I ditched the baked beans and roll and got a hot dog and a hamburger instead, along with pretty much everyone else! ;-) Mr. Blevins and a whole lot of the older guys said that they had done Bomb Bay, and that it was fun, but very scary. You see, Bomb Bay is about the size of Dur Stuka (not as tall as Summit Plummet), but it is different. Unlike normal water slides, you get in this capsule where you stand up and cross your legs and arms. You lean back against a wall with water falling down it to make your back wet. Then, all of a sudden, the floor drops out from under you, and down the slide you go! He told Sarah and I (the only two of my group that were even *considering* doing it) that we wouldn’t be able to handle it... That it went sooo fast and that it burns your back and legs really bad. Secretly, this caused me to want to do it even more! ;-)

After lunch, of course Sarah and I went directly to Bomb Bay. Emi went along just to see if we’d do it. Up the ramp we went (for Bomb Bay and Dur Stuka, you go up this ramp that goes around and around and around to get to the top of the slides). When we finally got to the top, we found that the line was short because not many people were stupid enough to do it! I decided that Sarah would go first, ;-) so she got in front of me. Standing in front of Sarah was this big, macho looking guy with half a billion tattoos. When we reached the front of the line, the big guy got in the capsule and was ejected down the slide. Out of his mouth came the most terrified scream I’ve ever heard! Sarah and I looked at each other, wanting to take the slow way down to the ground, but the guy working the slide told Sarah to get in the capsule. She reluctantly stepped in, and the capsule moved about 3 feet to position Sarah over the slide. Then, the Wet n’ Wild worker gave Sarah a wave, and pressed a button. Sarah let out a scream that lasted about a nanosecond, and then water filled her mouth. I knew then that I wanted to walk back down, but I realized that I’d never hear the end of it from Sarah if I did, so I climbed in the capsule.

Once the door was shut, water came rushing down the back wall of the capsule. The capsule moved forward for about 5 seconds and then stopped. The man working the controls said that he would count backwards from five, and then press the button. "5, 4, 3, BAM!" I heard a loud noise and laughing from the worker, and then I knew I had been tricked! :-S Down the slide I flew, until I reached the bottom about 3 seconds later.

"Wow!" I screamed when I got up. "That slide is great!" Now of course, it isn’t as good as Summit Plummet, because it’s not as tall. Now if Summit Plummet added that feature, it would definitely be the ultimate water slide! Sarah didn’t feel like doing it again... She wanted to go and find Seth, so I went back in line. There was now about a 30-minute wait, but I didn’t care. It was worth it. I felt like telling off the worker who pressed the button a bit early, but when I got to the top I found that his shift had ended at 2:00. Down I went again, and then my day at Wet n’ Wild was through. I went back to the picnic pavilion, where a lot of my friends were waiting. We went to the showers and changed back into our normal clothes. Then, at precisely 3:00, we met Mr. Blevins and left Wet n’ Wild. Our Florida adventures were over... Or were they?

THE TRIP HOME AND FINAL THOUGHTS

As soon as everyone filed on to the bus, Mr. Blevins said that he had an announcement to make. "Everyone! Quiet down! I have an announcement to make!" Everyone hushed, and he continued. "We have been invited to perform on the Disney Magic, one of Disney’s two cruise ships, on March 15, 1999. We’ll all be going on the cruise!"

Whoops! I’m dreaming! Fooled ya! LOL! ;-) Anyway, the cliffhanger, I’m sorry to say, isn’t *that* big... Sorry! Here, let me start the story once more.

We all sadly filed onto the bus, and drove to the McDonald’s in Orlando that has the World’s Largest Playground. After we ate, staring out the window at the Super-Sized playground was almost too much for the band. We all looked at Mr. Blevins with puppy-dog eyes, trying to convince him that for just one time, he should lift the ban of playgrounds. Eventually, he couldn’t stand it anymore, and we all flocked to the playground. After just 15 minutes (I didn’t come *close* to seeing it all), of sliding, crawling, and climbing, it was time to head back home.

On the bus, we watched "Men In Black." When the ending of the movie came near, Mr. Blevins put in a movie (I forgot the title of it). Usually, Elizabeth and I would have watched the whole movie to help time pass, but five minutes into it, we heard a noise. A kissing noise... very close by. Elizabeth and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes, sure that it was Sean and Ashley making out. Elizabeth’s eyes got large when she noticed that both Sean and Ashley were asleep, so it couldn’t be them! Instantly, we turned and looked for Sarah, but she was sitting with Nicole. Definitely not there! Elizabeth’s eyes filled with dread. We were both thinking the same thing. "No, it couldn’t be!" I reasoned. We both shook our heads, and then went back to watching the movie. About 30 seconds later, I changed my mind. "You check. I can’t look!"

"No, I can’t look by myself! Let’s both look!" Elizabeth pleaded.

"OK..." I replied warily. We raised out of our seats in unison, and dreadfully craned our necks over the seat backs in front of us, revealing a terrible sight. We both fell back to our seats. Elizabeth looked like she had seen a ghost.

"Who do you want to tell her... Me or you?" Elizabeth asked.

"I’ll do it," I sadly replied. I raised out of my seat, being careful not to look at the two seats ahead of me. I walked back to where Nicole and Sarah were sitting. Sarah was sitting by the window, so I asked Nicole if she’d trade Sarah seats for a second.

"What is it?" Sarah asked after seeing the grave look on my face. I whispered something in her ear, and she turned and looked at Elizabeth, who was sadly looking at the escapade from her seat two rows ahead. "I’m trading you seats," Sarah said coldly. Elizabeth slunk back in her seat, and I plopped down beside Nicole.

"What IS it?" Nicole asked. "Seth’s asleep, and Kristina’s up there kissing him! He’s either a really deep sleeper, or he’s just pretending." While Nicole sat in shock, I raised up out of my seat and saw Sarah pressing her face in the space in between the two seats. All I could see was her ears, and instead of their usual pink, sunburned color, they were a deep maroon with anger.

Eventually Sarah came back to us, and told us that she had stopped, but Seth never woke up. Nicole told me that she would help calm Sarah down if I wanted to go back to my seat. Sarah agreed, but she said to give her hourly reports on Kristina’s behavior.

And that, pretty much, is the bus ride home. We arrived back in Kentucky at about 7:00, and I slept all day. Till next year!

WAIT!!!!!!!!!

I have an update! Seth swears that he didn’t know Kristina was kissing him, and is very PO’d at her. As of July 12, 1998, Sarah and Seth are a couple! WOO-HOO!!! :-)

Danielle Thomas

Danielle@searnet.com

__________________
You just read a trip report that was originally published in our MousePlanet Trip Reports column.

Reader-submitted trip reports have always been an extremely popular feature here at MousePlanet. In order to improve the search functionality and shorten the time from when you submit a trip report and the report gets published, you can now post your trip reports directly to our Trip Report forums. The forums are moderated, but reports should become available for reading very quickly.