This year, 72 of the Gig Harbor band students took a trip to Disneyland from the third to the sixth of April for the Anaheim music festival in Los Angeles and stayed in a hotel located right next to the park. The band competed against students from all over the country at the festival with three songs they performed over the course of two days. They dedicated the last two days to having fun on rides. Whether hanging out with friends, performing, or going on rides, the band had an excellent time on their Disney excursion.

The trip started in the early morning before the sun was up, when the students arrived at the school for a long bus ride to the airport. When they arrived, they found that their flight was cancelled, so the students were separated into different flights that left at vastly different times. Half were able to attend the Universal Studios park upon arrival, while the others didn’t arrive in time.

The rides were a highlight for many students. “My favorite ride was the Grizzly River Rapids; it was really fun, and we went on it like eight times in a row,” said Raiden Nagata (9). Caleb Place (11) stated, “I really liked the Incredicoaster, and we got to pick where we sat, so I always sat in the front like four times in a row.” The band kids got special tickets that gave them certain privileges within the park. “Sometimes, we could scan the card and it would give us a wait time, and we could just come back after the wait time and skip the whole line,” said Place. Going on some rides for the first time was surprising and exciting for some people, including Camdyn McDowell (9), who said, “There were a lot of rides that I would not have gone on if I had known what they would be. Like the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. It was so scary but also really fun.”

While in California, they also performed songs in front of judges. “Performing was fun; a jazz band performed in a church, so the drummer was put into the gospel box. All the performances were outside the park this year,” said Place. He went on to explain how he was wearing headphones that allowed him to hear the rest of the band, and the whole band played really well, scoring a solid high silver rank. “My favorite thing we played was this piece called RocketShip; it’s very intense,” said Charlie Yando (9). The scoring was a little different than a traditional first, second, and third; instead, the schools were split up based on size and then performed against the other bands in their group. After they were done, the students were awarded a bronze, silver, or gold rank, depending on how well they did.

All together, the band trip was an absolute blast, with everything from music to roller coasters. The band kids got to hang out together and express their talents with other students from all across the country, truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Everyone who had this amazing opportunity had fun, and we can’t wait to see what they do next year.