A lot of students in band and choir have been waiting for this trip since they first joined the activity. Junior Addison Kuonen is a member of choir and has been using the annual Butter Braid sale to save up for the trip. Kuonen says she is been looking forward to this week for years.

The journey begins March 10th. The students will enter the two charter buses that are available and begin their 20-hour ride to Florida. The bus will only be stopping for meal breaks and students are expected to sleep on the bus the night of their drive. They will arrive around 4:00 p.m. on March 11th at their place of rest for the next 5 nights. They are expected to room with 3 other people, but some people got lucky. “Most rooms have four people in it. We had to find friends to room with, but I have a room with only one other person, Addison Kuonen,” Caitlyn Nemechek, the junior, shared. 

On Sunday, the choir works at Hollywood Studios to record a song of them performing a Disney song. After this, the whole group will visit a resort to swim and relax before the rest of the busy week.

The group will visit Magic Kingdom on Monday and later in the day, the band will begin their clinic. At the clinic, the Disney employees will give the band two Lion King pieces to sight read and based on which one they play best, they will record the song. Then, the producers will play their newly recorded song over the live speakers while the credits roll on a large screen. The band has been preparing for this for months. At the beginning of the school year, the band director Russell Braun gave them music that he expected would be played in the studio. They have also been perfecting their sight reading skills throughout the year. Nemechek, a flutist in the band, said she is thrilled to play in a professional studio and see what it feels like to be a Disney musician.

That Tuesday is the time for the group to relax. This is done because the students and chaperones can get pretty worn out after so much park hopping. They will visit a beach on this day, eat at a buffet and go souvenir shopping.

Wednesday is the day Nemechek has been looking forward to the most. That is the day the group will visit Universal Studios. “I’m most excited for the Forbidden Journey ride in Universal,” Caitlyn told. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a ride located in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter part of Universal. This ride takes you through the hidden part of the Hogwarts building and shows you its characters throughout the way. 

On the last true day of their trip, they will visit Animal Kingdom. At the end of the day, the trip planners have arranged for the students to have a private viewing place for a fireworks show. When this is done, they will immediately load the buses and head home.

The next day, they will spend the whole day riding their charter buses, crossing many state lines on the way. They will arrive back at the school very late on Friday the 17th, likely overjoyed from their trip, but no dought exhausted from their long excursion and jam-packed schedule.

Every four years the band and choir students have the opportunity to travel to Orlando, Florida, and visit Disney parks and Universal Studios, along with each group participating in a workshop. It is a week-long trip spent hanging out with friends and packs a lot of action into each day. Below is a collection of pictures providing a glimpse into the magical moments from this year’s trip to Florida.

Friday, March 10

The band and choir loaded the buses in front of the high school at noon on Friday and headed south.

Saturday, March 11

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As the sun starts to come up, students settle back into their seats after a bathroom break. Friday night into Saturday morning, the students on Bus 2 buried into their blankets on the chilly bus. However, by Saturday afternoon, it had become uncomfortably warm. The air conditioning on "Betty" had crashed. Fortunately, Tom, the bus driver, brought Betty to be fixed when the group reached Orlando, Florida, and the ride back to Iowa was much less eventful.

Sunday, March 12

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Photo by Dewey Dalen

Sitting on the curb, students wait near Hollywood Studios' entrance for choir students to meet and go to the choir clinic. Students who are not in choir could continue enjoying the parks. The next day when the band had their workshop, students not in band had the same opportunity to experience more of Disney. The choir sang and recorded the Lion King songs, "The Circle of Life" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," which were then put to the movie scenes for them to watch. Back row: Evelyn Horgen, Taylor Braun, Soila Winter, Patrick Lee, and Balin Hysell. Front row: Noelani Winter, Ella Greer, Ryland Moss, Jocelyn Strunk, Braedon Anderson, and Tate Truitt.

Monday, March 13

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While the sun is still only thinking about rising, Lee, Breadon Anderson, Balin Hysell, and Truitt wait in line to take a bus to Magic Kingdom. Visitors staying on Disney property like ADM's group could get into the parks early. This resulted in early mornings for the students as they tried to be the first people on the rides.

Tuesday, March 14

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Ray and Elizabeth Dirksen take a picture on Cocoa Beach. Although there were riptides and sunburn-producing sunlight, students had a great time at the beach. Students were also given the opportunity to visit the Ron Jon Surf Shop just down the road. This day was planned to be a day of relaxation before the last two days of the trip.

Wednesday, March 15

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Standing in line for the VelociCoaster, Olivia Gehring (facing front) talks with Yanacheak, Addison Herrick, and Reynolds to pass the time. There were smiles on everyone's faces after going 70 mph on this ride.

Thursday, March 16

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In line for Avatar Flight of Passage, Caleb Oelberg, Abigail Maffin, Emily Piepmeier, Lily Kruse, and Sam Peters move forward, getting closer to where the line goes inside the mountain. A large number of ADM's students hurried through Animal Kingdom for their first ride of the day to be Avatar before the line became hours long. Staying on Disney property allowed them to have early access to the parks, avoiding the throngs of people by getting on the favorite rides before the park opened for everyone else.

Friday, March 17

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Leaving the palm trees behind, rolling hills start to look more like the midwest landscape the students are used to on the drive back to Iowa. Stops were about every three hours, with an hour for the food stops. Friday was a day of sleeping and doing quiet, relaxing activities to combat the exhaustion of a busy week.

Saturday, March 18

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As sleepy Bus 1 students file off their bus, band students head over to collect their instruments. Finally returning to Adel after 12:00 Saturday morning, the students and chaperones felt a shock of below-freezing air after being in warm weather. Although this was later than they were hoping to arrive, Bus 2 got to celebrate one more birthday this way. As the clock turned March 17th into the 18th, Bus 2 wished "Happy Birthday" one more time to Gabler.