Spring Break! (Part Two)

Last post I started to retell my trip to Disneyland, but I only got through the first day. There is so much that happened in such a short period of time that I don’t know how to shorten my story without leaving out leaving out a lot of details, but I’ll try my best.

PCD REPRESENT! Pardon my face

That Saturday was one of the busiest days of my life. The PCD dancers had to be at the Disneyland hotel at about 10:00 for the rehearsal and pictures. We, along with five or six other studios, ran the dance many times before pictures. The Dance the Magic workers told us that we had some of the best energy and we were all together. I think the fact that we went from an elevation of 7,000 feet to sea level in a matter of a day help a lot. We were also able to practice in a street by the studio, when it wasn’t snowing. After that, all sixty-one of us filed into a small room to take pictures. It took a pretty long time to get it all done because there was so many of us, but it was still fun. We were given t-shirts, Disneyland Performing Arts Mickey ears, and VIP dancer lanyards. Needless to say, we looked like total tourists.

Lucie and I then went back to the hotel room to eat lunch and rest up for the parade that afternoon. After touching up our makeup and hair, we made our way over to the studio meet place at Smallworld. Lu and I met up with Val, Sami, Sophie, and Quinn in the line to get in to Disneyland, but we were running a little late. We ended up running through the entire park to get to Smallworld. We made it just as we were about to leave to go backstage. After changing into our costumes, we had to wait in the hot California heat until the Dance the Magic employees told us where to go. They explained to us that because our energy was so amazing and they wanted the parade to start and finish strong, PCD will be the last studio in the parade. Then, they lead the entire parade to the other side of the park. Being in the back, I was able to see how massive this really was. Six hundred dancers from all over the US and from Australia and Japan all came to Disneyland to dance together. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I had the amazing opportunity to be apart of. 

From right: Lucie, Val, Sami, and I in front
 of Sleeping Beauty's castle

The parade, itself, was a blur. As soon as we stepped out on to the street, the energy level in the park skyrocketed. Everyone was cheering and clapping to Hairspray’s “You Can’t Stop The Beat”. The afternoon heat suddenly didn’t matter anymore as I began to dance. One thought just kept circling through my head, “Your dancing at Disneyland! People dream about this and you are actually doing it!” In the crowds of people lining the streets, I could see little girls and boys staring up at me and the other dancers in the parade. The expressions on their faces reminded my of my own face years ago when I watched people dance for the first time. 

After the short twenty minutes, we all walked back to the dressing rooms and change back in to street clothes. The next day we performed a couple dances at the Dance the Magic showcase. We were then free from our crazy dance schedules to just enjoy Disneyland. I finally got over my fear of rollercoasters and finally rode California Screamin’. Lucie and I stayed at the park with Val and Sami, while my family went to a hockey game. We rode a couple rides then ate dinner. Sami had to go, but Val, Lu, and I stayed out longer. We got in line for Space Mountain, which broke down for a while, but we still got to ride it. My family and Lucie spent two days in Santa Monica, then we all went home. All in all, it was an amazing Spring Break that I’ll never forget because what’s cooler than being able to tell your grandkids that you danced at the Happiest Place on Earth?

~Rachael

Spring Break! (Part One)

I know that it's been a couple weeks since Spring Break, but I still want to write about my first visit to the Happiest Place on Earth. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my studio got to participate in a parade in Disneyland. I have to say that this was one of the best experiences of my life. I accomplished so many once-in-a-lifetime things that weekend, not to mention get over my fear of rollercoasters. But for you, my readers, to get the full effect of my time in the happiest place on earth, I have to start from the very beginning…

My studio started rehearsals for the Dance the Magic parade in January. It was optional, yet sixty-one girls from my studio went, including my entire dance group. Rehearsals were fast and furious. we learned half the parade in an hour, then learned each section of our production piece the next hour. For all of you at home that don’t know what a production piece is, it is a dance with a wide range of levels that all get stage time. This piece was choreographed for the entire one hundred-six person academy, so it took quite a long time to adjust. We had to learn the rest of the parade dance at home and have it ready to clean by the next rehearsal.

Lucie, Mikelle, and I at the back of the plane

Before I knew what had happened, it was time to leave for Disneyland. I was hyped because I’ve never been to Disneyland before that day. I know it seems like neglectful parenting to not allow your children to go to Disneyland until they’re fifteen and seventeen, but my dad has a major fear of rollercoasters, so it’s okay. I flew to Anaheim with Lucie and the Volmrichs because my mother and father couldn’t take off work. It was really fun, but Lu and I were in the very last row of the plane, but we got to sit with Mikelle. The Volmrichs are super fancy, so we were picked up from the airport by a limo.

When we got to Disneyland, we went straight to the hotel to change. We had a dance workshop that night, so we had to be ready. The Volmrichs (Taylor and Savannah), Lucie, and I went to California Adventure because that was were the meet place was for the workshop. We had several hours to spare, so we went to go ride some rides. Luckily, Lucie got the app that lists the wait times for all of the rides in both parks. 

The first ride that we went on was the Tower of Terror. I forgot to mention that even though I consider myself an “adrenaline junky”, I don’t do well with rollercoasters. But I forced myself to go on it. Savannah and I were freaked out, and you can tell from our picture that we’d rather be anywhere than on that ride. But the Tower of Terror was so much fun and it was a great start to the trip.

Bottom left row: Savannah, me, Lucie, and Taylor on the Tower of Terror

The second ride of the day was the Grizzly Peak raft ride. This one had a really long wait time, but it ended up being fine. It was fine until we got off the ride, soaked, with about an hour until we had to meet for the workshop. We went to the Pier, but California Screamin’ had too long of a wait time. We walked around the Pier a little bit, finding rides with the shortest wait times, until it was time to go to the workshop.

The workshop was amazing! We got to see a ton of back stage Disneyland along with learn from two incredible performers. Afterwards, Taylor and Savannah’s mom tried to force me to go on California Screamin’ but I was exhausted and I just wanted to eat food, so I chickened out and waited for them at the end. All in all, it was a pretty great first day, but the rest of my trip was even more unforgettable.

To Be Continued…