Disney World Middle School Trip - May 2010 - Intro

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Both of my kids participated in an after school activity at the middle school they both attended called "Rock Ensemble". Organized by 2 young music teachers at the school - Matt and Mike - kids in the rock ensemble learned to play guitar, electric bass, drums keyboards and at times more eclectic instruments such as the "keytar". For that last few years Matt and Mike (both big WDW fans) have organized trips to Walt Disney World (WDW) for the eighth-graders in the group. They spend a few days enjoying the park and are given the opportunity to perform as well. (The first time they did this was the year after Nat - the older of my 2 daughters - left middle school - much to her chagrin.)


As an eighth grader and member of the rock ensemble Charlotte got the chance to go in May 2011. I was thrilled when Charlotte asked me to chaperon. That's right... my 13 year-old eighth grader actually asked me to chaperon her trip to Disney World. And some of her friends were party to this decision. When I asked her why she wanted me to chaperon she told me she had been talking up to her friends what a "Disney Pro" I am and that they would have a lot more fun and be able to do a lot more stuff with my help. I was flattered (and a bit intimidated to be honest...)


Travel: The travel day made it clear just how well organized Matt and Mike were for this trip. I'm sure many of you have dealt with the trials of traveling with kid - imagine traveling with about 35 teen-agers, a dozen chaperons and a mas of drums, guitars and all the other luggage. This was an amazingly well organized trip. All the chaperons met beforehand to get our packages which included flight info, "Mickey's Magical Express" tickets,  trip itinerary and a packet for a "scavenger hunt" (more on that later). Also Matt (I had the sense that Matt was the main organizer) set up a group text application so he could send out one text that would go to all the chaperons. Very handy.


We got to the Middle School on Tuesday morning, got organized and packed everything away and boarded buses to Newark Airport. Our flight left at 3:45 and we arrived in Orlando about 6:30. We made our way to the All Star Music and had dinner at the hotel's food court. The trip, as well as their performance, was arranged as part of Disney's "Ears for the Arts" program. As part of that program we got food vouchers which we could use at various counter service restaurants throughout the property, so we used vouchers for dinner. After dinner the kids had some study time and we all turned in.