My heart was leaping in the sun

I thought I'd never been to Florida before, and upon my arrival in Orlando, I remarked this to my mother.

"No, you've been there before."

"Really? Was this the big road trip we had when I was 6 months old?"

"3 months. You slept in the dresser drawer."

As memorable as you think that might be, I certainly didn't remember. This trip, however, I will.

Last week, I helped chaperone a high school music trip to Orlando, FL. This is the same high school I've been choreographing at this school year. Free trip to FL? Okay! All I had to do was dispense meds to the chorus kids, which wasn't terribly hard. We also traveled with the band and orchestra from the school. All groups did really well in the festival they were competing in, all the choirs earning straight Superior ratings. I'm so proud!

The fun part of the trip was not the 16 hour bus trip either way, or the music festival, but visiting Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and Disneyworld. On average, 11 chaperones schlepped around the parks together, which isn't the most effective number for decision making. We still managed to have a great time. Sadly, due to a series of unfortunate events, the camera we were using to take pictures was stolen (another chaperone's, not mine), so I'll only be able to provide highlights and you'll have to imagine the events.

Universal Studios Islands of Adventure - Favorite rides: The Hulk and Spiderman. So awesome. I love a good thrill ride. The second time we rode The Hulk, Ellen Degeneres rode just before us and we saw her disembark. We had dinner at Mythos, which is highly rated by some travel website, and I had the best blueberry pistachio porkchops. Who knew those went together so well?

Disneyworld Hollywood Studios/Magic Kingdom - The RocknRoller Coaster (an Aerosmith themed ride) was pretty nifty, but not as thrilling as Space Mountain (the other inside roller coaster). The best part of the Disney experience was being part of the year of a million dreams, not once, but twice. First, several of us got march in a parade down Main Street, waving pom-poms. Second, some of us got VIP access onto Pirates of the Caribbean and bypassed the entire line. We were just talking to one of the dream crew members, a music education major, and my friend just asked if she could do something like get us to the front of the line of anything. Sure enough! So awesome.

While the trip wasn't perfect, and I was ready to be home about 15 hours before we were, it was still a good time. The weather was perfect, the company fun, and the break from work divine.