Full Disney Performance

Hello!
We are all getting back into the swing of school again, although the snow on Monday made many of us wish we were back in Florida! I had some time so I uploaded the video of our full performances at Disney. The video is too long to put up as one, so I had to put them on here one song at a time. I am going to continue to try and post some other pictures in the coming days as well. Hope you enjoy.

Celebrate Music

Music Lead the Way

Get On Your Feet

I've Got the Music in Me

We Got the Beat/ You Can't Stop the Beat

Triumphant Fanfare

Lake Daniel Overture

And the Nations Rejoice

Some Nights

Coast Guard March 

My Favorite Part of the trip was.....

I asked the students and the chaperones what their favorite part of the trip was......

• Epcot and meeting the princesses - Maddie D
• The beach- Anna, Jess, and Bethany
• Universal was cool there were lots of rides -Maddie V, John, Ian, and Patrick 
• HARRY POTTER- Rachel, Katie, Reagan, Annie, Cordell
• Everything because I have never been to Florida - Ashley 
• Riding roller coasters for the first time - Cristian 
• Roller coasters and turkey legs - Keith 
• Seeing the ocean for the first time - Sophie 
• Hugging Spider-Man and everything - Yulisa 
• Meeting the Marvel Heroes and villains - Hope 
• Magic Kingdom - Christina 
• Universal Studios- Owen, Trevor, Nathan, Sam, Cheyenne Hewitt, Emily, and Cheyenne Haugen
• Swimming at the Beach- Kaitlyn 
• My Yoda backpack- Cameron 
• The Pirate Adventure Show- Cody and Tim 
• Watching Katie, Reagan, and Annie play with their Harry Potter Wands- Brenna

The Chaperones said:

• Visit Hogsmeade and eat at the Three Broomsticks- Lora 
• The Pirate Adventure and Universal Studio- Kirk 
• Watching the Performances at Epcot - Stef and Suzie 
• Harry Potter and our performances at Epcot were great. - Kim 
• The rides at Universal Mainly dispicqble Me and spider man - Terri
• Harry Potter World especially the Butterbeer- Tyler 

We had a great time. We have great students and chaperones who made this a very enjoyable experience. Check back in the next few days as I am going to try and gain some pictures from the students and chaperones to post, along with some more of our performances. Thanks for following our blog for the last week. 

Next Stop......

One last rest stop..... Next stop Ackley

Day 6 the beach

This will be a pretty short update but I thought I will put one up. Today we got to sleep in, something everyone appreciated. We packed up the bus, which is quite a bit fuller now due to souvenirs and finally headed to CoCo Beach. We were really glad that we had the flexibility to switch days because today was beautiful. It was sunny and warm and with a good ocean breeze quite comfortable.  The kids played football, swam in some big waves, collected seashells, visited Ron Jon Serf Shop and enjoyed the sunshine. Even with lots of sunscreen we are all a little pink tonight. We finished our evening with dinner at Pizza Hut. It is amazing how fast 16 pizzas go. Then we waved goodbye to Florida and hit the road. We are currently in Georgia and with that it is time for bed... Look tomorrow for some more of the students reflections of the trip.

Fun in the sun!

We finally found the beach.

Day 4 and 5

Sorry for the delay in updates. I had one started last night but spent the last part of the day at the pool, so I didn't get it finished. Therefore I will update BOTH yesterday and today now.

Day 4
Yesterday was Epcot day. We spent most of the day there. The students had a good time trying out the Test Track ride. In fact I think some of the boys rode it three or four times. They had a lot of fun with that ride. Students also got to check out the California country side during the ride Soaring. Some of the girls spent the morning taking pictures with the princesses. They even took one of the boys along as a photographer. The students also got to check out a number of different countries in the World Tour. We got to see some authentic music acts while were there, which was really cool.

After Epcot we headed to the Pirate Dinner Theater. The show had some incredible performers and Andre the orange pirate, who also happened to be our pirate, was really cool. Some of the students got to be part of the show, raising flags, and trying to help Andre win the position of First Mate. A number of the boys got really into the idea of being a pirate. They were VERY enthusiastic. We also all took the Pirate oath so watch out Ackley we are bringing back a bus load of pirates!

Many of the students finished the night with a swim in the pool. Check out a few pictures from Day 3 below.

Day 5
Today was the second of our two performances. We entertained people as they headed into Universal Studios by singing and playing at the Nascar Grill. The choir performed three of their pieces, while the Jazz Band performed five. We finished out our performance time by having our saxophone quartet and our mini rock band play. A number of people stopped to listen, including some of the security guards and a couple little girls who enjoyed dancing to the music.

The student got to spend the rest of the day exploring both Universal Parks. Most of the students hit up The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, so not only are we bringing them home as pirates but as Wizards too. They really liked the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. A number of the students also took advantage of the warm temperatures and rode the water rides. They got REALLY wet. They also road the Hulk roller coaster, the Rip Roaring Roller Coaster, and a number of other rides.

We then got to have a sit down meal together at the Nascar Grill. We had really good pasta and we got caught up on March Madness. The kids also got a free play on an arcade game, so there were a couple rounds of Guitar Hero, and Air Hockey.

After one last hour in the parks, everyone headed back to the hotel to swim and start getting packed up. Check below for pictures from today.

Tomorrow we head to the beach, then home!

I think we are a little tired....

Performance Video

Here is the video of a portion of our performances. The files were to large to post them all tonight, but I will get them fixed when we get home.

Day 3- A magical performance

Well, we all slept really well in an actual bed last night. We headed to Magic Kingdom for a few hours. A few of the students checked out The Haunted Mansion, a couple took on Big Thunder Mountain, and a few conquered Space Mountain. We then headed to Epcot to perform. It was a great stage and had a great audience. The choir kids even got to quiz our Disney guide about how to be an employee. I think Disney could recruit a number of princesses from our group. We had a good time talking to our guide about her experiences in the arts. Both of our performances went fantastically. The only hiccup was when Mr. Winkey's music flew off the stand. It was ok though because he just kept conducting. After the performance we headed back to Magic Kingdom. We spent the afternoon riding rides and got to see the fireworks display and the Nighttime Electric Parade. I am going to finish this here because it is 12:53 pm eastern time now. Here are some pics of the day and I will post some of the video in a few minutes. Good Night. 

Day 2 recap

Today has been a long but good day. It started with breakfast at McDonalds and a decision to go to Disney instead of the beach. We got to Disney's Hollywood Studio around noon and set out to check out the park. Some of the students' favorites included the Tower of Terror, Star Flight (a Star Wars simulator), the Beauty and the Beast show, and the Rock and Rollin' Roller Coaster. It rained off and on all day, but we made it through. It seemed appropriate since we had already had snow, sleet, fog, and wind. Other then that we saw lots of funny St Patricks Day outfits, and many of us had a giant St. Patrick's Day Cupcake for dessert. They were yummy. The night ended up at Hotel pool where the kids enjoyed the chance to swim in March. Some of the boys even entertained us with belly flops. I
t's time to go to bed, enjoy the pictures and check in late tomorrow night for clips of our performance.

We're here

Good morning

So it's raining...pouring actually, but we plan to have fun anyway. We are not going to the beach because that would not be fun so we are heading to Hollywood studios. Hopefully today will be the only day for rain. We'll keep you posted.

Goodnight

We are getting ready to call it a night. We are near Chattanooga and it is really foggy. It's been a long day of ridding and we are looking forward to a good day tomorrow. Check out some pictures from dinner and refueling.

Goodnight!

Look we are almost there.....

Not really just a road sign in Missouri. We have finally left the snow behind, but not the wind. We are also on our third movie.... Despicable Me 2. The bus is already starting to look like home. 

And we are off!!!!!

        

Getting packed and ready to go

Look.... We are almost ready to go!!!!!