Waukee at Disney’s Imagination Campus

Over the course of Winter Break, the Waukee Warrior Regiment took a trip to Orlando to perform in the Walt Disney World Imagination Campus. From December – through January – the band spent their days either marching in the parades at Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios, while also having breaks and exploring the parks themselves.

The band started getting ready for this right after the marching band season ended. Spending days in class working on improving their show and their musicality throughout, senior Beverly Zheng stated, “We only really rehearsed as a group one week before the trip.” Even though they only practiced once together before going to Disney, their show was amazing to listen to. During the winter season, Disney has one of its busiest times of all, so there were many, many people watching the band, clapping for them as they marched down Main Street. During the parade, the band had to be in perfect formation, have perfect form, and be unbothered by all of the people there supporting them and cheering for them.

After performing at the parades, the band would go back to the hotel and get ready to explore the parks, spending their days exploring all the rides around Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Universal. Sophomore Kaia Hart stated, “My favorite part from the whole trip was definitely going on all the rides and getting to wander around the parks.”The band spent New Year’s Eve at Hollywood Studios where they watched fireworks and went on rides over the course of the day. Towards the end of the day, everyone gathered together to bring in the New Year with their friends.

Finally, leading up to midnight there was a huge party to celebrate. Senior Beverly Zheng stated, “They had a HUGE DJ booth that was pretty cool.” Most students when asked what their favorite part of the trip was would be either going on all of the rides or hanging out with people who they mostly only see in class. Sophomore Kaia Hart explained, “There were fireworks and Mickey counting down to midnight.”

The Waukee Warrior Regiment had an amazing time spending not only winter break at Disney, but spending New Year’s with their friends. Students have not stopped talking about the fun and adventures they had while there. This was such a great opportunity for them to experience marching down Main Street with loads of people clapping and cheering for them.