Band Trip to Florida

After my freshman year of high school, our marching band took a trip to Florida. The first part was the worst part of the trip: the bus ride both to Florida and home. It was at least a 24-hour long ride on a coach bus packed with people.

It was cramped and crowded. No one could find a comfortable way to sleep, which meant that no one got much sleep. We were all tired when we got there, but that didn’t matter — first stop Cocoa Beach. We spent a couple of hours at Cocoa Beach, playing in the waves and swimming out so deep that our band director had to yell at us to come in closer to shore.

None of us thought it was that big of a deal. There were four of us out there and we all were members of the swim team. Besides that my friend and I were lifeguards, but he still called us in. The waves were huge, and we just kind of floated, up and down, up and down on the waves.

After Cocoa Beach, we headed to Epcot. While at Epcot, my group of friends got split up. Two wanted to go on Mission Space and the rest of us didn’t. The rest of us waited in a shop. Twenty minutes later we waited for them at the end of the ride, but couldn’t find them anywhere. We waited for them, but decided they had already left the ride.

We knew they had a walkie-talkie and attempted to contact them, but had no luck. We walked through the whole park trying to find them. While looking for them, we took a whirlwind tour of all the different cultures. Finally, at the end of the night, when we were all supposed to meet, there they came walking down the road like nothing was wrong.

The next day, we went to Magic Kingdom and hung out the entire day. We went on the classics — Space Mountain, Small World, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and more. By the end of the day, we were hot and tired, but we still had time before we had to report for the big performance. So we rode the Pirates of the Caribbean ride six times in a row. It was air conditioned and close to where we had to meet our band.

After we met up with our band, we went to get ready for our performance in the parade. We were going to lead the whole parade; it was exciting.

Time for the parade! We lined up and they started to announce our band. Standing behind the big, wooden doors, everyone was getting excited and nervous. They opened the doors and we were off, headed down Main Street USA. It was so bright, even though it was nighttime.

There were so many people as we marched through the park, and we must have played our song twenty times. By the time we were done, everyone was exhausted. Performing and leading the parade was definitely the highlight of our trip! Afterwards, we got to watch the fireworks, and then it was back to the hotel for the night.

The next morning we went to MGM Studios. We rode the Tower of Terror, during which my friend and I clung to each other waiting for the drop. We screamed our heads off until about halfway through when we decided, ‘Hey this isn’t so bad.’

Later that night we went to Medieval Times for dinner and tournament show that takes you back to the medieval times (duh). When you arrive you are given a colored crown that signifies where you sit and which knight you cheer on. We were given blue, so that was the knight that we cheered for. Throughout the night as you eat dinner (without silverware), the knights, king, and princess put on a show. All six knights compete in different ‘challenges’ that improve their battle skills. Finally, they joust and once one knight has been knocked from his horse, the battle continues on foot until one knight remained.

After the show, we were able to take pictures with ‘our’ blue knight. The following day, our band marched at Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure. Then, we had the whole day to hang out before it was time to head home. It was a great trip; we all have many fond memories of the time we spent with our friends and leading the parade down Main Street USA.