Everyday Is A Winding Road: Love, Forgive, and Be a Blessing... at Disney

When I was in high school, every year a teacher, Mr. Atkinson, took a group of students to Disney World. I always wanted to go, but was never in any of his classes nor were any of my close friends, therefore I never got the invite to tag along. However, as fate would have it, two of my friends now teach at AHS, both of which were going on this trip. When I found that out, I immediately told them that if there was any additional room on the bus and an extra "chaperone" was needed, I would gladly volunteer. Luckily there was a seat that needed me to fill it!

So a little back ground info on this trip/teacher. Mickey Atkinson (Yes, that's his real name), loves many things, a few of which include: God, teenagers and Walt Disney World. His family takes a vacation every year to DW, and Mickey brings around 50 students along with him. He is now currently retired, but with the help of my friend Amber, is still taking students to Disney. Not only is he taking students to Disney, but he also uses it as a means to spread the word about God's never ending love for them. This trip truly was a blessing to be apart of. Mickey's saying, and it was incorporated on the t-shirts we got made is: "Love, Forgive, and Be a Blessing." He has no idea how many lives he's probably impacted throughout the years.

The kids had off Monday for Veteran's Day, so that gave us a whole three day weekend for Disney, without them missing any school. We left on a tour bus Friday night and drove all thru the night on Friday, arriving in Orlando bright and early Saturday, just in time to get freshened up and make the opening of Magic Kingdom. Then we had ALL day Saturday (and when I say ALL day, I mean since we had extra "magic hours" from staying at a hotel inside the park, the park didn't close til 3am!), all day Sunday (again, with extra magic hours til 1am) and until 6pm on Monday to play. Then Monday evening we packed back up and drove all through the night, arriving back in Asheboro around 5am, just in time for all the kids and teachers to go to school, and for me to go to bed!

It was a short but sweet trip. We got so much out of those three days, minus very much sleep. And since we were all bigger (though I definitely didn't act like it), we didn't have to worry about little kids and the "family" aspect that attracts most people to Disney. Roller coasters and rides, meeting different characters (the princesses especially), trying different foods at Epcot, shows such as Fantasmic, fireworks, the castle with it's Christmas lights, and hanging out with a Prince himself- it was definitely a very magical time and I was such a kid! I can't believe it took me twenty four years to experience that!

Above I mentioned hanging out with a prince, let me go into detail a bit about that:
A guy I graduated with actually works at Disney. He's a prince- more specifically, he plays Eric from The Little Mermaid, The "Snow Prince" from Snow White, and Flynn from Tangled. I got up with him and told him I'd be down there and on Monday he came and hung out with us for a few hours and it was really good getting to see him and catch up while also learning many things about Disney. We went and saw a show on Saturday night and he was in it. It was soo neat to know someone who was a prince at Disney. How many people can say that?

Unfortuantely on this trip, my battery died on my camera by the end of the first day and stupid me forgot to bring the cord to charge it, therefore I'm kinda lacking on my pictures. Luckily some people had iPhones which I've never been more thankful for. Here's a look at our weekend.