LM Music takes Disney: and inside look

On February 28, at 4 AM, almost 150 groggy LM students woke up, dragged themselves out of bed, bundled up in layers, and dealt with harried parents making sure everything was packed. They drove over icy dark roads to find teachers clustered around buses and students and parents rushing around, with music teacher Aaron Datsko wearing a portable microphone system and directing the chaos. This was the morning of the LM Music Department’s four-day trip to the Disney World Parks in Orlando, Florida. The trip was possible due to the months of planning, and for a couple kids, like senior Hanna Edelson, the wait had been even longer.

“The music department went on this trip when I was a freshman, but they only take sophomores or older. I waited 4 years for this trip, and the amazing memories I made with my friends were definitely worth the wait,” she reflected. Somehow, the giant group was bussed to the airport and cleared through security in time to catch its early flight (a nightmare for other travelers). The excitement was palpable as everyone boarded the planes, but exhaustion quickly took over. That day, I personally rode in a car, a bus, an airplane, a train, a monorail, and finally a boat.

The trip was organized so that students would get to spend a day at each of the four parks: Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom. The first day at Epcot was exhausting, since we didn’t get to go to the hotel for the first time until roughly 11 PM, and it was raining torrentially all day. Yet, compared to the tiring daily school routine, none of us took an exhausting Disney day too badly.

Like sophomore Sarah Carstens expressed, “In Disney, I could feel like a kid again, and the best part was that I didn’t even have one thought about obligations or homework that I had to do…. However, there’s no question that I should’ve worn comfier shoes.”

The next few days were a whirlwind blur of excitement and fun. We were greeted in the morning by loud wake-up calls by a chaperone and a rushed breakfast in the hopes of being the first ones to reach the park. Many of us were surprised to find that, during the day, we had free reign.

Sophomore Brien Coghlan’s favorite part about the trip was “the freedom to plan your own day and experience in the parks and hotel.”

The choral group, as well as a mixture of the band and the full orchestra, performed Monday morning. Although there was a small audience, the concerts were a successful show in the Downtown Disney park area, with a lake, a fountain, and a man-made volcano in the background. These performances were the true reason for the trip, but many students, even though they enjoyed singing or playing, were happy to get out of their long, black concert dress and back to the rides. Everyone had their own favorite rides—such as the Magic Kingdom Peter Pan ride and the Animal Kingdom roller coasters—and their own least favorites as well with the most hated definitely being the infamous “It’s a Small World.”

Besides the rides, the experience, in the words of junior Angela Zhao, “was a bonding experience and a great way to make new friends.”

Whether it was your fiftieth time in the “most magical place on earth” or your first, the trip was a blast for everyone that I’ve spoken to. Leaving the park on the final day was bittersweet, so many of us were thrilled with the possibility of a delayed or canceled flight. However, even though we didn’t want to leave Disney, we knew that it was better to arrive home safely on time. Back at LM, we got to hear how much everyone hated our Snapchat stories, and we gradually acclimated to PowerSchool and non-87° temperatures.

As sophomore Erin Swisher states perfectly, “post-Disney depression is a serious disease.”

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