On May 17, 2018 to May 22, 2018, I went to Anaheim/Disneyland for an orchestra festival. We went for 5 days and got judged by adjudicators at a festival called Music in the Parks. In our school, our amazing director Mr. Conway decided to take the Advanced Orchestra (and some band groups) to perform in this festival… and so the journey starts.
Day 1: May 17, 2018
I got up early in the morning around 5:15 am to get ready for the long bus ride. We had to reach school at 6:15 am and I couldn’t be a single second late otherwise I would have to serve bench time in Disneyland. I left the house at 5:45 am even though I knew we would reach long before 6:15. When we reached the school, I checked in with my chaperone, dropped my suitcase of, dropped my instrument of, and received my name tag. The name tag we received was to be worn at all times except while sleeping (and the shower of course). At around 7:00 am, we departed the school and headed for Disneyland. I thought the ride was going to be way longer than I expected but it wasn’t actually that long. We had frequent rest stops along the way.
Before heading straight to our hotel in Arcadia, we went to meet a famous composer who I played atleast 6 pieces by. I meet Richard Meyer!!! Richard Meyer creates many pieces and they all sound really good. My favorite piece by him is called Minotaur, half man half bull. Anyways, we had a clinic with Richard Meyer and he helped us work on Minotaur for our upcoming festival the next day. Meyer helped us fix some dynamics and bowing.
After the clinic with Richard Meyer we went to the food court to eat dinner. I couldn’t find anything to eat so I decided to eat tacos from Chipotle. As I was eating Chipotle I needed to get a napkin and when I turned my head, guess what I saw… milk tea!!! I love milk tea so right before we left the mall, I decided to get myself some tea.
Once we left the food court, it was about 8:30 and we then drove to the Embassy Suits Hotel in Arcadia. At the hotel, we changed into our P.Js and went to bed.
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Day 2: May 18, 2018
I got up in the morning around 8:00 and went down to eat breakfast in the hotel. Lots of my other friends were there and we combined 3 tables together so all of us could fit. For breakfast, I ate toast and a glass of milk. My friends and I ate breakfast till 9 am and then went back to our room to get ready. Today was the big day and main reason we went to Disneyland. Today was the day were we get to perform in front of judges and get a rating. Anyways we changed into our concert dress which was a black shirt and black dress pants. I then packed my suitcase up because after dinner, we were going to a hotel right next to Disneyland.
At 11 am, we checked out of the first hotel, loaded the buses, and were off to eat lunch at the shopping mall again. Sanjana and I found this restaurant called Sbarro and it was pretty good.
Caption: This is me eating my Spaghetti from Sbarro.
Before leaving the mall I bought myself another milk tea. We departed the mall at 1pm and then headed to the location to where we were performing. Before performing, we warmed up, tuned and then headed on stage. We performed 2 pieces, one slow one and a fast one. We performed Water Reflection by Yukiko Nishimura and Minotaur by Richard Meyer. Overall our pieces were good but could have been a little better.
Once the performance was over, we loaded the buses and headed for dinner. Once again we went to the food court and I ate some salad from Sbarro. I wan’t really hungry so the salad filled me up. We ate dinner by 8:30 and then headed to a new hotel in Anaheim that was close to Disneyland. By 9:00 we checked into our rooms and went to bed.
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Day 3: May 19, 2018
Ding ding ding… ding ding ding. Our alarms rang at 5:00 am because we had to be downstairs all ready for the day by 6:30. I couldn’t even open my eyes because it was still pitch black outside. I got up really slowly and went to take a shower. Once my friends and I were all ready, we went downstairs to eat breakfast. Again I ate a toast and a glass of milk. Around 7:15 we loaded the buses and today we were going to go to California Adventures. At 4pm we were going to go to Disneyland and then going to attend the awards ceremony.
The bus ride to California Adventures was only 2 minutes long and before I knew it we were in the park. I had never been to California Adventures so my friends took me on many rides. They told me that drop tower was the best ride and dragged me along with them. The ride was the worst thing ever. I thought the drop wouldn’t be so bad but they took us so high and dropped us all the way down. In the drop down, I clinged onto my friends jacket so tightly. At the last drop of drop tower, they took us all the way at the top of the building, opened the window so we could see all of Disneyland, and then dropped us 300 feet down. After the ride was over we went to Grizzly River. This ride was really fun except that I got soaked. There were only small drops but at the bottom of the drops half of us used to get wet. I got wet many times and by the time we got of the ride I was drenched. After that, we decided to go the Cars ride.
Caption: This is the Cars Ride we went on.
The Cars Ride was basically a race between 2 cars at high speeds. It was really fun and I wanted to go again. After a couple more rides we ate lunch. For lunch, Sanjana and I shared a bowl of rice and edamame.
At 4pm, we met up with our chaperones and moved to Disneyland. At Disneyland, we went to the gift shop and looked at all the overpriced things. I wanted to get a matching sweatshirt with my friends but it was way overpriced ($60). Eventually Sanjana and I decided to get matching bracelets with our names engraved on them. By then it was 5:30 and we had to be at the award ceremony by 6:30. We looked for some places to eat dinner at but couldn’t find any. It was almost 6:15 so we just decided to eat corn on the cob. After finishing our meal, we headed to the award ceremony with our entire orchestra.
Caption: The festival we competed in was called Music in the Parks.
Soon enough they started the awards ceremony. They first gave the awards to choir and then started with the orchestra. I nervously sat in my chair hoping that our group would get first place.
“Middle School Orchestra in 1st place. With a rating of Superior,” continued the judge, “double A, with a rating of Superior HOPKINS JUNIOR HIGH!!!” Yes I yelled. We got 1st place. All the kids from Hopkins went crazy and were jumping up and down. Eventually all the trophies were given out and our school got 6 trophies all for 1st place. There was a 1st place Advanced Orchestra (the group I perform in), 1st place Symphonic Band trophy, 1st place Jazz Ensemble trophy, 1st place Wind Ensemble trophy, 1st place solo trophy for orchestra, and lastly 1st place trophy for the Jazz solo. We couldn’t have gotten all these awards if we didn’t have our conductor Mr. Conway. After the award ceremony, we went got 2 more hours in Disneyland till 10:30. My friends and I really didn’t want to go on any rides mainly because it was pitch black and half of us were still wet from the Grizzly ride in the morning. We all found a table near the Coca Cola shop, sat down, and just talked.
At 10:30 we checked in with our chaperone, departed Disneyland and headed for the hotel. In the hotel, my friends and I stayed up until the room check and then went to sleep. Everyday before we slept, the chaperones would come around the rooms and check to make sure all the members of the room are present. Once we shut the door, they would put a strip of tape across the door and the wall. In the morning the chaperones would come to collect the tape and if the tape on your door was ripped that would tell the chaperones that you went outside of your room in the night. If Mr. Conway found out that you went outside of your room in the night, lets just say that won’t end well.
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Day 4: May 20, 2018
Today we had to be out of our bed by 6:30 and downstairs for breakfast. Well…there was a slight problem. My friends and I set 7 alarms and we slept through all of them. Every single one of them. We were so tired from the previous nights that we could barely get up in time. At 6:26 am Diya went to get her phone to check what time it was and immediately woke us up. We jumped out of bed, changed really fast, and ran downstairs. I don’t think I even combed my hair. I ate breakfast and then headed to the busses with my friends. Today was a really fun day. We were going to spend the whole day in Disneyland from 7:30 am to 12:00 am. Thats about 15 hours!!!
When we reached Disneyland, I got my ticket from my chaperone and then went of with my group of friends. We first went on the rides my friends said was really good. We went on Matter horn which was really good and Space Mountain.
Caption: This is the Matterhorn Mountain ride. There are no drops but the roller coaster goes at high speeds and is amazing. I would highly recommend this ride.
When I went to Space Mountain, I was really scared in the begining. I got on the ride and they took us uphill 3 times. I was waiting for a tremendous drop every time the roller coaster went up but instead there were no drops. There were only small drops and and you couldn’t see what was ahead. It was pitch black and all you see are these tiny lights. I loved Space Mountain.
After a while, we went on Splash Mountain. I know, lots of mountains! In Splash Mountain, you sit in a log without any seat belts or lapbars. Along the journey, there is a fifty-foot drop and if you sit near the front (that’s where I sat), you get drenched. After going on many rides, we ate lunch. My friends and I went to this place where we ate a kids meal. The meal came with cheese pizza, yogurt, fruit, and juice. The lunch was ok and after that we went on many more rides. I don’t remember the names of all the rides but all I know was that we went on a lot of them.
At 7 pm, we ate corn on the cob again for dinner. My friends and I had to eat a fast dinner because we had a fast pass for Indiana Jones that was at 7:30. My friends told me that in Indiana Jones there was going to be a big drop so I was kinda nervous at first. When we got into the cart for Indiana Jones, I sat in the middle of my 9 friends. At the end there of the ride there was this huge ball coming toward you and then we dropped. I held on the lap bar so tight. I was so ready for the big drop. The cart tilted downward and we dropped 5 feet. I thought the drop was going to be atleast 50 feet and it wasn’t even half that amount. Indiana Jones was meh but they could have made it more exciting by adding a bigger drop.
Once it got dark, Disneyland had a fireworks show. It was pretty cool and I actually like it. After that show we took a break and sat down. At 11pm we decided to go back to Matterhorn since the line was only 30 min long. We were about to get into the cart when I got a phone call from a chaperone. She said it was time to head out of Disney and get back to the hotel. I got kinda bummed because I was just about the get on the ride when I got the call. My friends and I headed for the exit and all of the kids from our school departed Disney and headed for the hotel.
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Day 5: May 22, 2018
My friends and I got up at 7 am. We all got dressed and went down for breakfast. Today was the worst day of the whole trip because we were heading back home. After eating breakfast, I packed my suitcase and went to my friends room to relax. We had till 10 am to be packed and downstairs and it was only 9 am. At 10 am, all of my friends headed downstairs in the elevator and soon enough we loaded the busses. Within the next hour or so we were on the road.
Caption: This is all of us heading back on the bus at one of the rest stops.
At lunch time, I ate at taco bell with Claris, Chantale, and Sanjana. Sanjana and I both ate some nachos. By 6pm that evening we were back at the school. I was really sad to be back home but I know I’ll get to go again on this trip next year!