Tebbe Chronicles Tipton Band Trip

Flights, food and rollercoasters, the Tipton HS (IN) Band marched their way through several theme parks while in Orlando. Learn more about the Tipton Band Trip as told by MTC Trip Journalist Alex Tebbe.

Flight
Hello everyone! I’m writing somewhere in the air between Indianapolis and Orlando Florida. Today is the Tipton HS (IN) Band’s first day of our four-day trip to Orlando. We arrived at the airport at 3 am and left on our flight at about 5:30 am. This was several members first experience flying in an airplane. Everyone passed through security and made it on the plane all well.

Today we are visiting Magic Kingdom in Disney World. Everyone on the plane seems to still be waking up from the early morning commute. Hopefully, we’ll be awake and ready for adventure by the time we get to the park in a couple of hours. I’m looking forward to a fun day with the band!

Day 1
Good evening everybody! I’m writing this at about 10 pm on our way back from a very exciting day at Magic Kingdom. The first ride that I and my group decided to tackle was Space Mountain. We were worried about how long we would have to wait, but thankfully we weren’t standing around for long. We climbed into our rockets and were flying through the dark on a tight and twisty rollercoaster. (Space Mountain wasn’t made for big people like me). We were excited as ever after the rollercoaster so we met up with another group and raced go-karts around the Tomorrowland Speedway.

Given that we were a group of teenage boys, we were starting to get hungry pretty quickly. We stopped at an excellent chicken and burger restaurant across from the track. After lunch, our group had grown pretty large, so I and two others decided that instead of waiting in line for an hour at the Haunted Mansion, we wanted to see the Hall of Presidents. Ooh! Aah! I know that sounds quite nerdy, but The Hall is an extremely impressive and unique exhibit. Not only do they have quite a collection of historic presidential artifacts, but the animatronics for all 45 presidents is something of wonder.

After all the excitement, we finished off our day with a classic Disney World fireworks show. The most unique aspect of the show is how the pyro-technicians incorporate Cinderella’s Castle. They use relatively flat spots on the castle to project patterns or colors or videos onto the castle and make it line up with the lights and sounds of the fireworks.

I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring (mostly because I haven’t read the itinerary) but I do know that we are going to Universal Studios and that we are performing sometime in the morning. I look forward to writing about me and the band’s adventures again this time tomorrow evening.

Day 2
Hello again from beautiful Orlando, Florida! This morning we threw on our uniforms and arrived at Universal Studios to parade around the park. There were several other bands who were there as well. Every couple of minutes they would send a new band out to do the parade route and then come back. About halfway through our route, it started to rain. Never a good sign! Thankfully, we were able to persevere through the weather as it never rained hard enough to cause an issue for our instruments.

We came back to the hotel to change out of our uniforms and head to the park. My group and I decided to eat first thing. We went to a restaurant called Cowfish. They’re known for their burgers, sushi and award-winning sushi burger. As a self-proclaimed burger expert, I must say that that was one of the best, most disgustingly juicy burgers I have ever had!

After lunch, my group convinced me to ride the most terrifying rollercoaster in the park. I’ve never been one for heights (the plane ride was pushing it). This coaster was scary and unique for a couple of reasons. The first was that the climb to the first big drop was completely vertical! When you climb, the only thing that you can see in the sky. The other unique aspect of the roller coaster is that it is music themed. Before you get on you choose what music you want to listen to while you scream for your life. I picked Country Roads by John Denver. I can’t imagine what everyone else on the ride was thinking when we came off the first drop and I was screaming the lyrics!

“You were screaming the lyrics? I thought you were just screaming gibberish!”
– Xzavier Chismar

After a little more sightseeing we decided to head back to the hotel early because we’ll have a big day tomorrow at Hollywood Studios. A couple of us decided to float in the pool and let our legs relax from all the walking we’d done this weekend. Unfortunately, there was some weather that came in so now we’re back in the hotel. I figured I could use this time to write my blog for today. I look forward to writing about our fun tomorrow!

Day 3/4
Sadly today is the band’s final day in Orlando. Unfortunately, I didn’t write anything after day three. We had a full day at Hollywood Studios from 9 am to 10:30 pm, and we didn’t get back till about 11. Hollywood Studios is my favorite park at Disney. I really enjoy exhilarating rides but sometimes the nerves get to me. My group pressured me to ride the Tower of Terror Hotel. I’m going to be honest. It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. I had always thought that the ride took you to the top and just drop you once, but it actually just jerks you up and down several times.

Since the last time I was at Hollywood Studios, Disney added Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. And several of my friends are huge Star Wars fans. The way in which they have put together the new area of the park is really incredible. My jaw dropped at the life-sized Millennium Falcon. They also have some very interesting souvenirs, like the blue milk from A New Hope, or decks of the card game Sabacc. Sabacc is featured in Solo, a movie about the back story of Han Solo. I bought a deck and my friends and I taught ourselves how to play. It’s fairly easy and is similar to other gambling games like poker or blackjack. (After reading that paragraph back, I realized that that paragraph sounds extremely nerdy).

After a good night’s sleep, we woke up early and packed our bags for the final day of our trip at Universal Studios. At Universal, it is very easy to go between parks. We were given two days at Universal and got to choose which park we went. Today I went to Adventure Land, which has many more roller coasters and water rides than the other parks. We had early access to the park because we are staying at a Universal hotel, so we spent the morning going through all of the rollercoasters while the lines were short.

In the afternoon, we went to the other side of the park to do the water rides. For whatever reason, my nerve level for rollercoasters is a lot worse than it used to be, but water rides don’t seem to bother me. However, I learned today that you should never visit a water park in blue jeans, which was a big mistake.

A change of clothes later, I am writing this on the bus heading for the Orlando airport. We all have had a blast visiting Florida, but I think it is safe to say that we are all very excited to sleep in our own beds tonight. I think that there is a difference between having a fun vacation and a relaxing vacation, and this was definitely the latter. Thank you so much to Mr. Skiba and Music Travel Consultants for giving us the opportunity to come on this trip and making it possible for us!

– Alex #THSBandTrip2023

Music Travel Consultants offers journalistic opportunities for students in performing ensembles who have interests in both writing and music. For more information on our Trip Journalist program, click here.