1. Arrive in Florida at 3:15 A.M. (we had traveled all day) carrying in our luggage a huge coat rack (prop), a stool (which we carried on the plane everywhere we went and lots of luggage and costumes.
2. Catch a shuttle to our hotel and walk 1/2 mile with all our luggage & coat rack to our room.
3. I killed 3 beetles once in our room--without even alerting Danielle.
4. Slept late since we were so tired & then went to Disney World (We had come a day early so that we could go to Disney World before the competition started).
5. Stepped out into the sunshine to discover that Florida in the summer is like stepping into a sauna--truthfully--only you are wearing your clothes. It is beautifully lush and green but so hot and moist that the 1/2 mile back to the hotel for the competition and our hair and clothes were dripping. (I realized from then on that there was no point in doing my hair. It was wavy and
6. Took the bus to Disney World and got out. Woe, I'm thinking--how am I going to be able to stand in lines for rides in this weather. But we persevere. We went on 2 rides and it rains for a solid hour. We are soaked. I am wearing jeans weighing 40 pounds because they are soaking wet. We decide to call it a day. (There goes 1 day of our 4 day pass). frizzy the rest of the trip--made it easy though)
7. Competition starts. It is intense with very famous clinicians. (Many of the choreographers Danielle had were the ones from "So you Think You Can Dance" ---She has danced and taken classes from all of them at some time but one) Danielle did FABULOUS! I'm a proud Mama, that's for sure.
9. Danielle continues to do fantastic in spite of the fact that my snoring is keeping her awake each night. I try different remedies (going outside to sit in the sauna heat and talk on the phone 'till she falls asleep--she then calls me to make sure I'm okay (strike 1), read by the light of my flashlight till she falls asleep--but somehow I fall asleep first (strike 2), sit in the bathroom and read till she falls asleep--but unfortunately you can only sit there for so long and then at 2 or 3 in the morning you have to give it up (strike 3). Try to leave the fan in the bathroom on for background noise but it is on a timer and turns off after 60 minutes and when it turned off my loud snorting noises wake her up (strike 4). Needless to say, neither of us slept too well (especially Danielle). By morning she was hammered but bless her heart she kept going full strength. 
10. We attempt to go to the parks a few more times when classes are over. Danielle gets me on the "rockin rollercoaster"--touts to go from 1-60 mph in 1 second to the tunes of Aerosmith. I am so blown away I can't even speak--let alone scream. Danielle in the meantime is worried I have had a heart attack and died on the ride. She keeps yelling, "Mom, are you okay". I am just gripping and praying to live. We get off the ride and I am trying to pull myself out and walk without staggering when the ride guys say, "hey, you want to go again--follow me". I'm thinking "I'll meet you all afterward" but get thrown into the crowd and step right back on. This time we are in the 2nd to the front car just to make sure our ride experience is a little bit scarier than the first. I survived but then keep making suggestions like, "hey, we can't leave without going on It's A Small World" or "I'd love to see what all that fuss is about on the Peter Pan ride, etc." I did put my foot down on the Tower of Terror. Random falling on an elevator just doesn't do it for me.
11. Gala night. Danielle and the girls perform their 3 dances beautifully. Our team had never made it to the Gala before so just being a part of this fancy show was amazing but when they read off the $1,000 Senior winner "PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR" as Wilkomen by Danceworks it was a thrill like you can't imagine. It was so amazing we just about died. Dannis was "giddy" and the girls were so excited. It was just great. Made the whole trip worthwhile right then and there.
12. Last day at the park we sat in the air-conditioned buildings and saw the shows--we just couldn't hack the heat/moisture any more. That was really fun though. Before we left Danielle wanted to ride on the "rapids ride". Yes, you guessed it, the ride through the waterfalls get you soaked ride. We get in, and the little British girls say, "Oh my, you two are right in the spot you are going to get soaked"--and the little family from Ireland said, "oh yes, you are the ones going to ride backward into the storms--you may want to duck your head". Well I did duck my head but guess what--the water splashed so deep that our entire bodies were completely soaked. I made quite the sight after that in my white pants and sloshing tennis shoes. 
13. Our trip home was eventful. We get on the plane and I have my book in my hand. The flight attendant reads the cover, "Kill Me", and comments, "Woe, what is that about?" I casually answer, "Oh I don't know, I'm not really that far." Didn't even think anything of it. Later it hits me, "terrorism on planes--hello--of course he wondered why you were reading that". Possibly this explains the next part. Since we had to leave pretty early the last day & hadn't had time to eat, Danielle and I decided to get smoothies. We both ate them and got on the plane. I think we got food poisoning because we were both sick through the entire 4 hour first leg and 2 1/2 hr. second leg of the trip. It was awful. I kept having to step over everyone--I was in the window seat-- ever hour or so to hit the restroom--whether the seatbelt light was on or not. One time I ran to the restroom and the flight attendant told me I needed to sit back down because the seatbelt light was on. I informed her that wasn't an option. I get in the restroom and she announces over the loud speaker, "For the safety of all of our passengers--please do not get up or use the restrooms when the seatbelt light is on". I wanted to use that same loud speaker afterwards and announce, "for the safety of all of our passengers, I am using the restroom even with the seatbelt light on. . . " (So that's why they clapped when we got off the plane. . . )
14. We made it safely home to a great cooked meal by Nicole. AHHH, IT WAS FABULOUS AND I AM SO PROUD OF DANIELLE!!!!! IT IS ALSO GREAT TO BE HOME!!!!!
4 comments:
That was stinkin hilarious. I can just see mom giving that flight attendant the evil eye. What a trip!
Sounds like you two had a great time. Congratulations to Danielle and her team for an awesome job. I am sure you are so pround of her.
I have been to Florida two times - both in September. It was so humid!! In fact, the first time I went I also had some sort of food poisoning on the plane ride there. It was miserable!!!!!! I used that airplane bathroom in that one trip more times than in all my airplane trips combined.
WOW!!! I am so impressed with how well they did! Is the senior performance of the night for Danielle alone or her group? either way that is so amazing! How did she train with the "so you think you can dance" people? Are they all in arizona or did she go to california or how did that work? I need fabulous dance instructor for hillary so she can perform passably at miss utah but don't know where to start.
Your florida trip sounds like SO much fun. In case you don't know, I am a disneyworld fanatic. Its my favorite place in the world and i want to go again! I can't believe you went on the rockin roller coaster. You'd have to kill me to get me on that. However I DID go on tower of terror several times and it's the scariest ride EVER!! I have nightmares about it. Did you go to EPCOT and go on Test Track? That is the best ride for sure. Natalie and I scream our heads off.
About the weather, holy cow, the humidity this time of year is horrible! We are both spoiled with dry heat, wet heat is sickening. why even shower? you get sweaty and smelly in minutes and your mascara doesn't ever dry and your hair frizzes. horrible. can you imagine living there?
Again, congrats on the great job. If it's like cheer competition, florida is much tougher than california so you should be doubly proud!
Lisa, in answer to your questions, the choreographers that Danielle has taken classes from in "so you think you can dance" are from different conventions we go to. In fact, one of the ones in Florida she took from was on the show last week. They teach the classes and then judge the competitions. As far as contacting one of them, I would think you could go to their website and maybe e-mail them. The one we just went to was Co-Dance. I'll try to think of other conventions we have gone to and e-mail you. We were so nuts. We didn't even go to Epcot. It sounded boring to us but since everyone has told us it is awesome. Well, maybe next year. And NO--I CAN'T IMAGINE LIVING IN FLORIDA. WAY TO HOT AND HUMID FOR ME.
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