I know she's hardly the first, but we're very excited that the defending Maryland state champion marching band will be marching in a parade in December with our daughter in the piccolo section.

Unfortunately my wife and I won't be able to chaperone, but my daughter is incredibly excited. Although I'm not sure if I'd want to go anyway: the bus (no doubt very noisy) is driving overnight on the way down and the way back and shut-eye will be hard to grab . And I know I would in general have difficulty trying to do WDW as I like to do it during the few short days there while still having to do my duty as a chaperone.

My daughter will be the WDW expert among her friends, and she has already started telling them the ins and outs of what they need to do there. Unfortunately for them I don't think the kids will be allowed to take park busses to the parks and will have to all load up on their school busses...which means waiting for about 100 kids to get up, go to the food court, etc. etc. Which means getting to the parks at 10ish, if they're lucky. Plus they have dining plans but no one is considering ADRs yet or anything! PLUS.... okay, okay...just let it go. :-)

My daughter realizes this won't be the ideal WDW trip, but she's okay with that. The thought of being part of the show and getting to play right on Main Street greatly outweighs that. Anyway, if you happen to be at MK on December 12 and feel like stopping to listen, cheer on the red-head with the piccolo in the red and black marching band!