Band Trip Report To Walt Disney World Orlando

[Braves0511]

This week was Spring Break at my school, and I went with our marching band to Disney World down in florida. To be honest, the park itself didn't really impress me. The theming was rediculously awesome but other than that, i wasn't completely thrilled. Probably because of the multitudes of people. But yeah. We stayed in the all star music resort, which was pretty cool, just an old hotel with a music theme, but it was home for a few days. Now on to the parks. The first day we were there we went to Typhoon Lagoon...I'm not much of a water person so i got in the wave pool which was awesome, and watched my friends on the rest of the rides they seemed to like them. The next day we went to MGM first. We got on Tower of Terror. Greatest drop ride ever. period. The theming was awesome, the ride was incredible. The best part was my friend had his bookbag with him, and didn't know what to do with it, so my quick thinking came up with him putting the seat belt through the straps. It worked until we dropped and it flew up and hit him in the face, then on the way back up, put a lot of uncomfortable pressure on his lap (all you guys out there know what im talking about). I loved the holigraphic ghosts, that was a neat effect. We didnt get to do Rockin Roller coaster because we got our fast passes for tower of terror, and by the time we could get another one the passes on RRC were past the time we were leaving. So we wandered around MGM and took in the sights, and annoyed one of the street performers that was extremely entertaining. Right at the main entrance there was a guy "Otto Von Bon Bon" just doing ads for the park, telling people to go to shows and stuff, he was funny. But all of us just plopped down right in the middle of the street in front of him. He was talking about "lights motors action" and he did a little part where he was like "Fast cars!" and we would cheer, "pretty girls!" and we all cheered louder...then he said "and men in tight coveralls!" and one kid in our group yelled without thinking, and we all looked at him and the guy called him gay, it was humorous. Then we went to EPCOT. This was park that there wasn't alot there but what was there was interesting and entertaining, again good theming. I liked the GM Test track, as lame as it is, it was a lot of fun. Mission Space was a lot of fun too but not worth the two hours i spent in line by myself. The best part there was the laser/pyrotechnics show at the end, that was really neat. The next day was Animal Kingdom, probably my favorite of all the parks we went to. Everest is awesome. I managed three rides on it, one in the very front seat, one right in the middle and one in the very back seat. It's definitely a back seat ride. And out of the thousands of people that go through that ride a day, i managed to ride with the same random guy two out of the three times two hours apart. What are the odds of that? I loved the backwards portion, and the head chopper at the end with the broken track and the yeti together made me duck all three times . The river rapids ride was a lot of fun too, didn't get me uncomfortably wet, but cooled me down, i liked it. That night we did what we went down there to do, play music. We got to go in the EPCOT backlot, it was really really cool. We drove under the speed loops on Test track. They were really picky about us being back there...we had to be within twenty feet of the main group at all times, no cell phones, cameras or anything was allowed off the bus. And I'm almost afraid to tell everyone about being back there there wasn't a lot to see as it was dark at the time. The next day we got up and went to Magic Kingdom, where we did a mini parade down Mainstreet USA, which also meant going backstage there too, another neat yet strict experience. Then the rest of the day was spent there, with the bazillion people we didn't get to ride any real major rides, but we had fun none the less. The kid that ran our boat on jungle cruise was hilarious, and the animitronic Jack sparrow's on Pirates were extremely realistic. As were most of the other animitronics elsewhere, it was creepy. There was a ride at MGM about some of their movies, with different animitronic scenes from some of them. ONe of them being Casablanca with Humphry Bogart (i can't spell his name right) but after he talks he looks over at you and tips his hat, you'd swear it was real. After the Magic Kingdom it was a twenty hour trip north back to the cold real world of Indianapolis.

[Gordon Bombay]

Nice trip report. I bet it wasn't too much fun coming back here and seeing that it was snowing today.

[Braves0511]

Yeah, that wasn't the greatest thing ever. The day it stormed really bad up here it was sunny and 90 degrees down there. The hardest part was leaving the green trees. Everything down there was leafy and green and alive. Then we came back here and it's still dead and brown everywhere.

[Avatar]

Braves0511; I went to Disney with a group in my school days and still to this day I still tell about some of the funny stories that from that trip. I’m glad you got to go and it sounded like you had a great time, I’m from Indy too and was wondering what H.S. Band you play with? I really enjoyed reading your report as it allowed me to see Disney World again through an energetic teenager.

I haft to admit though I was stunned when I read that you said some of the parks really didn’t have that much too offer. My family can never get any of the Disney parks done in just one day and we have never waited more than 10 minutes for any rides or attractions. Your typical teenage response, is the exact reason why Disney World should build that 5th rumored Thrill Them Park. Could you imagine how cool the theming and atmosphere would be at Disney high thrill amusement/theme park.

Well any way glad you had such a great memorable time!

Avatar

[The Interpreter]

Yes...I can imagine such a thing...and it is one of my all-time favorite parks.

It is called....Disney's California Adventure...

And I just adore the place.

[Cory Butcher]

Well too bad Eisner is gone, or Disney Vilains Theme Park could be opening as soon as 2012 But who knows, perhaps Iger will see this to fruition?

[Avatar]

Yes they will since now they are convincing more and more families to stay on site for their whole trip, without the need to leave the Disney property, I mean they pick you up and drop you off at the airport at no charge to their guests. Disney is seeing major increases in it’s attendance figures. So I really think it’s just a matter of time for them to expand on both their California & Florida Parks.

[Braves0511]

I haft to admit though I was stunned when I read that you said some of the parks really didn’t have that much too offer. My family can never get any of the Disney parks done in just one day and we have never waited more than 10 minutes for any rides or attractions.

There was plenty to do, but being Spring Break time, there were just way too many people and extremely long lines. If the lines weren't so long, and I were to have a bit more time, I could have stayed there for days.

The theming was absolutely incredible, I was constantly catching myself comparing to KI but really there is no way to compare the two, it's like apples and oranges.

It's definitely a place I could eenjoy if we'd gone sometime when it wasn't so busy.

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

We took a band trip and did the parade thing back in 1994 when I was a freshman in HS. I was a quad player then. I remember they had a walk-through display of the actual figures and full sets from their new movie "A Nightmare Before Christmas". And I did the Great Movie Ride probably 4 times while I was there. You're right, they have sweet animatronics. I remember the Alien part was cool. I loved the Indiana Jones stunt show. I'm a huge Indy fan. I can't wait to go back there some day.