The FFA seniors took a trip to Disney World this week to honor their hard work throughout the past four years, as well as celebrate them earning their State FFA Degrees in June this year. A State Degree is the second highest degree an FFA member can earn and is usually given to seniors. To earn this degree a member must attend chapter events, compete in state-level activities, and complete a certain number of hours involved with their SAE. This year Bourbon County has 12 seniors earning their state degree, all of which have been heavily involved in FFA since their freshman year. With the stress of finishing up senior year strong and ending their FFA career, it makes sense why the students chose to visit the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’.
The trip lasted just under a week but they were able to cram a lot in. Every day was busy from sunrise to sunset, with behind the scenes tours of all four parks, along with eating breakfast with the characters and trying out all the new rides. The students were lucky enough to stay in the park, which gave them many opportunities to explore Disney and see everything that goes into keeping it running.
Students arrived in Orlando on Saturday morning and began their adventure at Disney Springs. We couldn’t stop talking about how much nicer the weather was as compared to back home. Sunday morning started off bright and early at Animal Kingdom. We had the opportunity to have a sit down breakfast with Mickey, Minnie, Donald & Daisy Duck, and Goofy! After breakfast, students had all day to ride rides and visit the animals. There were a lot of dare devils on the trip, so a lot of us were seen on Expedition Everest throughout the day!
To start the week off just right we traveled to Hollywood Studios to get a taste of music, old movies, and thrilling rides. This park has quite a few different attractions; the Tower of Tower and Star Wars were most favored by the group. As the day was ending, the park began their popular firework and light show, “Fantasmic”. During this show we watched Sorcerer Mickey take on Disney villains, and saw characters from more than 25 Disney movies appear throughout the amphitheater!
We spent our Tuesday at Epcot, which was many people’s favorite park. Our first stop was a tour of the greenhouse that they call Living With the Land. As we floated through the greenhouse on a boat, we saw the magic that goes into growing 30 tons of produce every year. The produce goes to restaurants throughout the parks and is also fed to the animals at Animal Kingdom. The Land is beneficial to everyone at Disney which was very fascinating to learn about.
Epcot includes eleven pavilions that surround the World Showcase Lagoon. Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada can all be found there. Each country has rides, stores, and restaurants that fit what it would actually be like to visit the country. It felt as if we were actually there which was really cool. Some different foods our group tried were red wine braised beef (France), bratwurst (Germany), and dumplings (China). The Guardians of the Galaxy ride was a fan favorite for our group. It’s a reverse-launch roller coaster that takes you on a journey with the characters from the movie. It also plays a song during the ride which we liked. The seven songs you have a chance of hearing are, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, “Conga”, “I ran (so far away)”, “Disco Inferno”, “One Way or Another”, and “September”. Epcot also has a light show that they call “Luminous The Symphony of Us”. It includes fountains, fireworks, and music that are designed to bring us all together.
To conclude our trip we went to the biggest, most- known park, Magic Kingdom. We spent the day on rides, shopped, and took plenty of pictures in front of Cinderella’s castle. For dinner we went to Tony’s, the restaurant from the Disney movie, Lady and the Tramp. From inside the restaurant we were able to watch the fireworks at the end of the night. It was a very magical way to end our fantastic trip.
The week spent at Disney was a great experience for our seniors. The twelve that went on the trip who will be earning their State Degrees are:
Annabella Bengie, Carollynn Tucker, Diego Del Rio, Isabella Sears, Linzi Bromagen, Mackenzie McCarty, Morgan Turpin, Reagan Kovach, Savannah Mccullough, Sarah Shirazi, Taylor Koch, and Tj Wilcox.
Thank you to our advisors Mahala Morgan, Tara Poe, and Andrew Fritsch for organizing the trip and everything you all do for us!
