It was the big night. We were so nervous and giddy, but we meet in Japan, where we were told to come. We were met by an Epcot employee who enthusiastically took us into the depths of the best known place in the world. Laughing and skipping, we followed her past the Japanese architecture, through the gate, past the parade floats, and found our bus waiting for us with our equipment and uniforms. Getting more and more excited, we rushed to the bus and grabbed our uniforms, running into the huge bathrooms that were backstage. We all milled around outside until everyone was there, and sat in middle of the two bathrooms, trying to listen to the pep talk, but too excited and nervous to put a lot of effort into it. Finally, the director allowed us to get the equipment, and we rushed to the bus again, looking for our instrument.
The drumline got together and warmed up, doing our Mission Impossible energy booster before we joined the marching formation. "Are you ready?" the woman who worked at Disney asked loudly. We screamed as she walked towards the gate and opened it for us, letting us out to join the parade.
The snares marked time as we left the gate, and the drum major counted us off to start "Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah."
The drumline was the last to leave the gate. We turned the corner and were met with the lights of Epcot at night and the giggles and enthusiasm of vacationing families. It was overwhelming. We marched past mothers bent close to their toddler's ear singing along to the music and fathers with their children on their shoulders, dancing to our beat. It was the most magical moment of my life. We marched around the world of Epcot, through Japan and China and Morocco and the United Kingdom. Through the United States and Canada and the other countries showcased at the theme park. Although the bass drum should have been hurting me by this time, the pure adrenaline rushing though my veins allowed me to ignore that and completely enjoy the experience.
It seemed to end all too soon. We marched back through the gate and heard the joyful cries of the children fade away. We were allowed to break our lines and ran around, whooping and hollering, letting out our excitement. I took off my drum and began to fell the effects of carrying it around the world. And it felt like I had carried it around the world...
We were given t-shirts and water and were let out to watch Epcot's fireworks, a perfect ending to the most memorable night of my life.
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