A Field Trip to Disney World By Sarah West

The last four days of my life have consisted of excitement, laughs, exhaustion and many many happy memories. Our school orchestra and marching band took a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida. It was one of the best experiences of my life. We got to perform three pieces in Disney Springs, record a song for Beauty and the Beast, and of course get to experience four Disney parks in eighty-degree weather.

The sight-reading workshop in which we played the music for Beauty and the Beast was an experience that really stood out to me. The whole orchestra learned valuable skills and not to mention a cool dvd of the dancing scene from the animated movie with us playing the music. But we also got an inside look at what being a professional musician is like. The recording, the personal stories from our instructor, advice on how to become a professional; all invaluable. Being a musician mostly likely is not something I would do as a career, but it is also one I had never even considered before this experience and I am thankful to have been able to.

The parks also did not disappoint. There were so many fun interactive and immersive rides. One ride, Mission Space, simulated the actual feeling of flying a rocket, G force and everything! I spent an entire ride through the world of The Pirates of the Caribbean questioning how it was possible that we weren't outside (the set was so well done for half of the ride I thought I really was outside). I also had the chance to try out my skills from french class for real in Epcot, plus the opportunity to fulfill childhood dreams by meeting classic characters. Not to mention some pretty funny pictures from the roller coasters and The Tower of Terror and some great firework shows.

While trip may have ended with being stuck at the airport with a four hour delay, not returning home until 5:00 am (at least I got another day off of school), aching feet, a sunburned nose, and the knowledge of how much school work I need to make up, it was all worth it. I got once in a lifetime experiences, made new friends, happy memories, and funny stories to tell. This has definitely been the best school trip I have ever been on.  

Birthday Wishes Come True by Carly Piniaha

16th birthdays are literally, once in a lifetime. They are celebrated immensely with sweet sixteen parties or other big events. I recently turned sixteen and it had become my time, as many others before me, to decide what I wanted to do for my sweet sixteen. Now, I'm not much of a party thrower myself so those ideas were not in my future. Without any ideas, I decided to just celebrate with my family and friends. My parents on the other hand had other ideas. They set up an amazing 3 day weekend where I got to go to Disney with one of my best friends, Mikayla.

Disney had always been one of my favorite places. I mean it's a place to go on fun rides and meet princesses, and what little girl wouldn't love that? Though I’ve grown out of meeting princesses, (sorry Rapunzel), it still holds a special place in my heart for all the fun things to do there. It’s much nicer to spend the majority of our time riding on the various rides there are than waiting online to get an autograph and picture. Throughout the whole trip we were able to ride all the roller coasters in the park, which is an added bonus.

Disney, holds true to its slogan as happiest place on earth. The people who work in Disney are some of the nicest people you will ever meet in your life. Even though they deal with thousands of people every workday of their lives. Everywhere I went they would wish me happy birthday or just strike up any random conversation. The employees made my Disney trip ten times more enjoyable just from their kindness.

On the first day, we went to both Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We started off in Hollywood Studios and ended the day in Animal Kingdom. I’ve always loved the Star Wars rides in Hollywood Studios, even though in all honesty I haven’t seen all of them. Animal Kingdom was one of the most interesting parks with cast members putting on shows in the middle of streets almost every twenty minutes.

The second day was the day we went to Epcot. I had been most excited to go to this park because of the Japan section. I have been studying Japanese for a little over two months, and I was trying to push myself to speak Japanese while I was there. It’s very nerve racking to do this, for me at least. So when I was able to speak to the employees from Japan in Japanese it was a big accomplishment for me.

The final day we went to the Magic Kingdom. At seven o’clock they closed down the park and opened up for a Christmas festival. We were able to stay for this and rides that usually were 130 minutes or more went down to ten. The castle was lit up with hundreds of Christmas lights and was one of the prettiest sights in the park. At nine o’clock they even had a parade where the whole main street had “snow” coming from the tops of the buildings.

I am so thankful for my sweet sixteen I ended up going to Disney. It was an all round great experience that outweighs any party I would have had. My parents and Mikayla were able to make my 16th birthday one that will be unforgettable.