Amygdalia's Blog

Home from Disney!

Dhoc-li Llama and I just got back from Orlando, and her band's trip to the Festival Disney competition.

Well, I worried and I stressed and I nearly drove myself over the edge, but the trip ended up being SO INCREDIBLY fantastic!!!  Despite 107 LOUD teenagers!  

We left Wednesday at 1 PM, and drove straight through to Orlando.  Made a few stops, fast food for snack and dinner (yuck - I ended up buying some snacks from the convenience store next to the Arby's), but a Golden Corral breakfast buffet in the AM.  I managed to get about 4 hours sleep on the way down - not too bad, considering!  I did take a Lunesta, but it wasn't particularly comfortable on the bus.   We arrived in Orlando around 8ish, had breakfast, got our tickets, basically changed clothes on the bus (first the boys got off, while the girls changed, and then the girls got off so the boys could change.  Oy!  We got to Disneyworld around 10 AM.  There were 6 girls in the group I was chaperoning - 3 of Dhoc-li Llama 's friends I already knew, but the other 2 I'd not met before.  1 of the girls I didn't know ended up being very . . . assertive, shall we say?    I'd pretty much decided I would let the girls set the schedule, and just be along for the ride, so B pretty much controlled the show.  The one thing I definitely wanted to do at Disneyworld was to ride It's a Small World . . . It was AWESOME!!  It's been a lot of years since I've seen it, but I think they've added a lot.  We walked along Main Street, and there were some cast members with jump ropes, offering everyone a turn to jump . . . so I did! *giggles*  13 jumps, baby!   Mumsy's still got it!  I'm trying to remember everything we did, now.  Perhaps I should get my maps.    Anyway, we were there until nearly 10.  We stayed for the parade, and went back to the buses just before the fireworks.  Oooh!!  Oh!  We got to sit in the FRONT of the monorail on the way into the park in the morning!   With the conductor - we got co-pilot's licenses from the conductor when the ride was over!   Sarah got the side of her face painted, at it was pretty awesome - she had to wash it off before the performance the following day, though.  ** Image ID #1422729 Unavailable **

We didn't get to the hotel until after 10:30 . . . and then the band conductor had to go in and check us in, get all of the room keys, get them organized by who was going into each room . . . I was so exhausted when I got to my room (I was sharing with Sarah's old elementary school band teacher, who had also come on the trip) . . . but I HAD HAD HAD to take a shower!!  Hadn't had one since Wednesday 11 AMish . . . it was now Thursday 11:30 PM, after a night on a bus, 12 hours at Disneyworld . . . in the sun.  I was about to crawl out of my skin!  Another Lunesta, and I slept very well. 

We had a breakfast buffet at the hotel, and then were able to relax for a bit.  We didn't have to leave until around 11 AM, to head to Sarasota Springs for the Chorale's performance.  They did a great job, and the soloist was wonderful.  Daren - it was the same girl who solo'd at the concert we went to.  After the performance, the judges did a 10 minute clinic - basically gave the group some ideas to help improve their overall performance . . . it was FABULOUS!  The way it was done was very helpful, interesting, and not just something to use for that particular performance.  Then it was back on the bus, to backstage Epcot for the band's performance.  They also did an awesome job, and the clinic afterwards was terrific as well.  We didn't get to Epcot until after 4 PM, so had to strategize fairly well as to what we were going to hit.  I wanted to see Figment (remembered him from when I was a kid! ) and then when I saw that they had Morocco, I had to see that, as well!  We did a lot of hustling back and forth across the park *giggles* . . . but we had an AWESOME time in Morocco!!  There were a few shops there . . . Dhoc-li Llama had hoped to have her hand henna'd, so when we found someone in one of the shops who was doing it, I treated her to a henna.  It looks AWESOME!   Had falafel for dinner (yummy!) and went over to Japan for dinner for a few of the other girls. Ran back to Imaginationland for Figment (which everyone LOVED! ) and back to the bridge between France and UK, where we were supposed to meet the whole group by 8:30, for the light show.  There were crowds of people gathering in one area, and on our way back we were accosted by a few other girls from the group, who had met some celebrities (guess that's what the crowds were for! )  One girl was shrieking so loud and high pitched we had no idea what she was saying.  Apparently the Jonas Brothers (?) signed the girl's sweatshirt.    We arrived at 8, so Dr B and a few of the other girls in our group went to France to buy dessert.  I gave her a $20 and said bring me back something yummy.  And a water.  And some change.  She came back with 4 desserts . . . no water!   By then many many other kids from the group had gathered, so there was a little communal dessert-fest (I had a few bites of my SINFULLY good Napoleon, and offered it up to the group).  The light show was pretty amazing, over the water, there were little "islands" in the water that were basically fireworks machines.  Oh, there was a bunch of shopping in there, somewhere!   Back to the hotel around 10ish . . . but apparently a few kids on one of the other buses had decided to go off on their own, away from their chaperones, and then gave a bunch of attitude . . . so the ENTIRE group was punished, unable to visit between rooms before lights out.  Chaperones organized the t-shirts that had been printed up . . . lime green with blue printing . . . for everyone to wear the following day.  Basically . . . boxes of t-shirts in different sizes, in the hotel hallway.  Lists of who was in each room, and what size they'd ordered . . . chaperones grabbing shirts, and dumping them in front of hotel room doors.  The band director gave them to the students when he did room checks before bed.  Chaperones got shirts, too. 

Another good night sleep, thanks to Lunesta.  The following morning, we were off to Downtown Disney for breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe.  The best meal of the trip (ok, the falafel was a pretty close second!).  Then shopping at the Rainforest Cafe shop and back on the buses for Hollywood Studios theme park.  This was probably my least favorite of the parks, but it was still fun.  We saw a Little Mermaid show, a 3-D Muppet show movie, went on a Star Wars simulation ride, went on a ride that took us through the history of some of the greatest films . . . did a bunch of shopping . . .   and met at the Indiana Jones theater for the Festival Disney awards ceremony.  There were  . . . maybe a few dozen middle and high school groups there.  Some just brought a band, or a chorale, some brought a few groups . . . some had 5 or 6 different groups!  It was great - the band received an Excellent rating, the chorale got a Good.  Each of the groups who won an award got SO excited . . a few of the schools won award after award.  At some point it started pouring sideways (good thing the theater was covered! ) but fortunately, it stopped before we had to leave.  We headed back to the buses after the award ceremony, around 9 PM and off we went . . . we didn't even stop anywhere to brush teeth, we didn't even have a chance to change into comfies . . . (I managed to change into exercise pants under the huge towel I'd bought that day to use as a blanket on the bus) . . . and we didn't stop until breakfast this morning!  But . . . there was a STARBUCKS at the place we stopped!    I got a white mocha (yay, Brandi! and a cinnamon chip scone, and then discovered the Subway next door had omelet sandwiches.  I decided to get one . . . so I got in line.  There was 1 girl working.  She'd make a sandwich, wait for it to toast, cook, whatever.  Wrap it, and ring up the customer . . . didn't even take the next order while she waited.  We were in line for over half an hour when we were told it was time to go back to the buses!  *sighs*  I HAD to pee before getting back on the bus . . . so no omelet sammich for me.   We didn't stop again.  The kids wanted to watch Juno, but it was vetoed by a few of the chaperones.  Touchy subject matter.  It was ok to watch Disturbia on the way down, though.  Horror films with blood and violence are fine.  Just don't let's get into a touchy subject . . .  Anyway, we ended up watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 . . . and then the first 1/3 of 13 Going on Thirty.  And that brought us home! 

All in all, it was an absolutely fabulous experience!  I think I enjoyed the parks as much as the kids did.  I loved watching Dhoc-li Llama having such fun, being with her friends, being happy, seeing how much they love her (because she's very concerned that she doesn't have any friends . . . ) . . . and I'm so glad I got to spend the time with her.  I spoiled her a little (the henna, and an awesome t-shirt from Hollywood Studios that says Judge me not by my size on the front, and Yoda standing next to a sign that says you must be this tall to ride the ride on the back.  *giggles*  I let her have pie for breakfast, more than 1 dessert . . . she was in HEAVEN!!   (just don't tell her siblings, ok? *giggles*)

I'm SO glad that I went!  I'm SO glad that I managed to work through my anxieties, come up with solutions, talked to my wonderful friends and got the support I needed to get TO this . . . and then continued to support me through it. 



In progress . . .

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