November 26, 2025, Disney Springs, Lake Buena Vista, Florida: “Disney’s Imagination Campus is proud to present the Marcellus High School Marching Band from Marcellus, Michigan, under the direction of Kathryn Essex. Please welcome to the Advent Health Waterside Stage, the Marcellus High School Marching Band.”
– News Photo
by Kay Schten McAdam, Editor
Five time MHS Band Disney Chaperone
Little can compare to changing your clothes – all of them – in the bathroom of a Love’s Truck Stop.
However, when you’ve been in most of the same clothes for almost 24 hours, there is no room to complain (and not much room to change either).
That, my friends, is the life of a MHS band chaperone. As is truck stop “food,” bus seat “bed,” and teenage flatulence. Sorry, but occasionally you’d hear from the back of the bus, “you farted!” “No, I didn’t!”
I wanted to turn around and say, “oh, yes, you did!” But, as one of the “adults in the room,” I refrained as to not extend the conversation.
33 band members, four chaperones, and one band director made the final trip to Disney for Marcellus High School, November 24 – November 30. Over 40 of those hours were spent on a charter bus giving new meaning to bonding.
The decision to seek alternate educational destinations (oh, yes, it is not all fun and games) for band students has been coming for some time. Probably the greatest factor in deep-sixing Disney (it’s not difficult to get jaded by Disney’s gluttonous appetite for cash) is cost. This year students and chaperones each had to raise between $1700 and $1800 apiece to cover the costs of the trip. (I remember the good ole days when I had to raise just under $900.) Although the support from the community has been incredibly generous, folks can only donate so much. And for families with multiple band members, the cost can be a struggle if not prohibitive. If the band were to go in 2029, the cost per student would likely be well over $2000 each.
The other factor is student participation. It is common – make that regular occurrence – for students to drop band once they’ve gotten to go to Disney. It happens every time. This is my fifth trip to Disney as a band chaperone (2003, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2025), therefore, I speak from experience. This Disney Departure is not helpful in sustaining consistency in the program. Numbers go up, then post-Disney, they go down. Up and down, up and down, up and down. It’s not only unfortunate but somewhat unfair to the students who start band in sixth grade and retain their dedication throughout high school. Chances are the journey will become a senior trip rather than an all-band adventure; however, a definite decision has not yet been made.
As I See It, this year’s trip was exceptional because Marcellus has exceptional students. I truly mean this (despite the flatulence in an enclosed space). As always, they rose to the occasion. . . even when sweltering under the sun in black clothes to play a mini-concert at Disney Springs the day before Thanksgiving. It wasn’t quite as bad as the Lakeshore Marching Band Festival where they roasted in full uniform, but they did start to wilt a bit near the end of the show.
It’s a goosebump moment when the band is warmed up, tuned up, and on the stage, and a booming voice says, “Disney’s Imagination Campus is proud to present the Marcellus High School Marching Band from Marcellus, Michigan, under the direction of Kathryn Essex (who was dressed to the nines in beautiful black dress and sparkly silver shoes – very Disney Princess-esque!). Please welcome to the Advent Health Waterside Stage, the Marcellus High School Marching Band.”
Their show was even punctuated by the flames from an erupting volcano behind them which Miss Essex thought initially was some sort of trickery coming from the percussion section.
Why a mini-concert and not marching in the Magic Kingdom? Disney hath declared that if a marching band program has fewer than fifty members, they will not march-eth.
The reward for the concert was an afternoon and evening at Hollywood Studios where we introduced senior percussionist Cat Shelton to the joy of roller coasters. We started her initiation on the Tower of Terror then moved on to Aerosmith’s Rock ‘n Roller Coaster. She was beaming. . .which is better than disgorging one’s lunch.
Introducing kids to roller coasters and thrill rides is just one of the joys of the trip. Maybe we just love to hear them scream in terror. . .and then smile afterwards.
Larson Cardella was totally jazzed after riding the Jurassic World VelociCoaster at Islands of Adventure, where your bottom actually loses contact with the seat. The VelociCoaster is “the fastest and tallest launch coaster in Florida.” At the very start of the ride, you’re “launched 70mph in just 2.4 seconds.” It’s “equipped with four inversions, with only a lap bar restraint, a 155ft tall ‘Top Hat’ which gives you the illusion of flying over Islands of Adventure for a moment before dropping 140 feet down at 80 degrees. The track also crosses over and under itself 40 times.” The ride is all about “speed, airtime, and direction changes.” It accelerates twice, once at the beginning and then right before the 155 ft tall Top Hat. There are not enough superlatives to describe this ride. If I were a teenager, I would “it’s fire.”
It was back to work on Friday, November 29, when the band participated in Disney’s Imagination Campus Soundtrack Session with clinician Jon Territo, who is the Director of Bands, Strings, and Music Professor at Valencia College. His other credits include directing the Orlando Concert Band, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Disney’s Christmas Candlelight Orchestra and Choir, the Garden Theatre and for many years as the Producer and Instrumental Director of the Singing Christmas Trees, in Orlando.
MHS Director of Bands with Disney Clinician Jon Territo with MHS Director Katy Essex in Disney’s Imagination Campus Studio A. -News Photo
The goal of the session is sight-reading a specific piece of music which the students then record as the soundtrack of a video clip of an animated Disney film. The piece was a medley of Moana music set to a scene from the movie. The engineer added strings to the band’s performance and voila, we’re in the movies! They did an amazing job! The video clip is phenomenal. . .
Seniors Aubree Kruger and Ariah Evans getting ready for the band’s Soundtrack Session,
November 28. – News Photo
Disney Clinician Jon Territo covers the five priorities of professional musicians during the MHS Band’s Soundtrack Session -News Photo
Leading up to the final recording, Territo led the band through sight-reading four selections, one of which was “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” that was sung by Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews in . . . do I have to say? Miss Essex and I were unsure if the kids knew the origin of the song, but percussionist Clayton First was dancing a jig to it. It is refreshing to hear a happy tune. . . Clayton was another student to whom we introduced the thrill of the coaster. His initiation came on Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom. At the time of its construction, 2003 – 2006, “it was the most expensive roller coaster in the world, with an estimated cost of $100 million.” It has “a height of 112 feet, a top speed of 50 mph, and an 80-foot drop. The ride is 3,884.5 feet long and lasts 2 minutes and 50 seconds, with no inversions but with the unique feature of traveling both backward and forward.” He did great!
Anyway, on a personal note, it was an honor and a privilege to join the MHS Marching Band on this journey. Personal thanks to my fellow chaperones Jennifer Tooley, and Henry and Vicki Essex, Director Katy Essex, my group, Makayla McWilliams, Hannah Sharp, Sydney Crabtree, Tana Jordan, Akoyi Goodlow, Carlyn Deer, Aubree Kruger, Ariah Evans, Cat Shelton, and band members Skielynn Snodderly, Ally Wright, Annabell Bent, Lillian O’Connor, Rachael Drauch, Caleb Berger, Elin Essex, Nani Ferguson, Miranda Huyck, Coltyn Breseman, Elijah Weeks, Larson Cardella, Jayden Querfurth, Jamarion Robinson, Zack Harrison, Levi Johnson, Julian Ahonen, Cary Causey, Clayton First, Marvin Jones, Gabriel Ellison, Garret Sharp, Will Tooley, and Ashton Griner.
Of course, a big thank you to the Marcellus Community Schools for allowing me to hang out with your students. At the risk of repeating myself, they are exceptional!
If there were time and space, we would discuss the merits of Buc-ee’s bathrooms. But, alas, that will have to wait for another day. . .
Scenes from Disney 2025
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