First I apologize for typos. I'm going with speed over accuracy today. (You'll understand why momentarily.)
Intros: Myself (GB) keeper of The Plan and guardian of the sacred FP+ repository. First Lady Biscuit – (Tracy) – The keeper of all other schedules in life which do not pertain to Disney. Daughters Tahlia (12) and Hailee (11.)
When: 3 STINKING DAYS FROM NOW!
The Backstory:
My oldest daughter is winding down her third year in competitive All Star cheer. (All Star is cheering through a private program rather than through a school. Don’t feel bad…I didn’t know either.) We spend several weekends a year trucking up and down I-35 for various cheer competitions. Without getting into far more detail that you really want or need to know, I’ll try to explain what happened just over 2 weeks ago.
All season long Tahlia’s team has done well, but not stellar. We were still happy with the program, and have seen a lot of progression, but they just were struggling in competitions. With the last two competitions of the season looming before us, we had pretty well accepted that this was just going to be a “learning year.”
Then came the first competition where they exploded onto the mat and won a national title. It was exciting. We were proud. They were ecstatic. It was a good day. Working even harder, they were determine to make their last competition count. Up for grabs was the final chance of the season to get a Summit Bid.
The Summit is the equivalent to Worlds for teams in levels 1-5. It is the grand poo-bah of the cheer world. EVERYONE wants to get a bid to The Summit. It is an invitation only competition that brings the best of the best from around the world to compete for bragging rights. Only the top 1% of teams get a chance to compete.
In short, in the cheer world, it’s a big deal.
Our final competition was two days long in San Antonio. Day one went amazingly well and I started to get nervous.
I wanted them to win a bid sumpin’ fierce, but in the back of my mind, there was a voice screaming “HOW IN THE NAME OF BARNABY H. JONES WOULD I PAY FOR THIS?”
On day two of the competition, every parent on the team was a ball of nerves by the time the group came out. When the music started, they KILLED it. In the three years Tahlia as been doing competitions in this sport, I have NEVER seen a team she is on perform like this.
(My baby is the flyer on the far right side.)
But was it enough?
There were over 85 teams at the competition and only 2 of them were getting a bid. Some of the other teams were killing it as well. EVERYONE knew this was a final chance to go The Summit and everyone wanted it.
When awards for our level came up, we won the National Champions title for Senior 2. Then we won a Level 2 High Score award. Summit Bids would not be announced until after the next and final session of the competition when the Level 3-5 teams had awards. Though we were technically free head home once our division awards were done, no one did. All of the team members stayed to see if they would get the bid.
For two long hours we sat and waited, watching team after team get up and perform. When awards finally came, they spent a good 20 minutes recognizing all of the level 3-5 teams and awarding the national championship titles to each division.
Tracy and I sat near the back while Tahlia was up next to the stage with the team. By the time they got ready to announce the bid, my legs were bouncing up and down like a jack rabbit with bladder control issue.
The announcer held up the certificate and said “Our first Summit Bid winner is from our Senior Level 4 division.”
I knew then it wasn’t us. I let out the breath I had been holding and waited. He announced the winner, there were screams and squeals, and then he picked up the second certificate.
After a couple of “Are you sure you’re ready” teases, the announced the final bid. I was leaning so far forward, I nearly levitating.
“Our final Summit bid goes to a Senior Level 2 team."
My heart started skipping beats.
"Congratulations to......" and then he yelled the name of our gym and our team.
From somewhere in the front of the room, a blast of screams and squeals let everyone in that convention center know exactly where our kids were standing.
As to me, my reaction surprised me.
I started laughing.
No like a tee-hee-hee.
I mean an uncontrollable, bottom of the gut, somebody-just-broke-wind-during-church guffaw. The only words I could even manage were “OH MY WORD!” We made our way through the sea of humanity pouring out of the place and found the team up front, all of them bouncing, jumping, and causing a general scene of chaos and unrest.
At some point while taking photos of the celebrations it suddenly became very real to me.
We were going to Disney World.
In just over 2 weeks.
And that’s when the panic attack began.
Driving home, I spent the entirety of the 2.5 hour trip praying for a miracle.
I needed one in a fierce sort of way to make this happen.
And in a set of events I could not have forseen, it actually happened. The miracle I had prayed for came to be. The money showed up the next day.
I was reminded again of just how blessed we truly are.
With the “how” portion of the trip settled, it came time to plan the “what”.
And THAT has become our biggest challenge.
I still have no idea what we’re doing.
Here’s the thing.
Because we got our bid so late (Some teams have had them since before Christmas) all of the Varsity (the company sponsoring The Summit) packages were sold out. That means we had to be off property. And since we couldn’t find a place big enough for the entire team on 2 weeks notice, we are all splitting up.
Our family, (we are all four going) is flying in on Thursday night. (11:10 PM arrival at MCO.) I was able to purchase 3 tickets on Southwest, and my mom had enough points to get us a fourth.
When I went to look at rooms, the only thing left on property was a suite at Coronado Springs for over $800 a night (who knew?), at suite at AoA for $380-ish, and the Deluxe resorts starting around $450. ALL of the value and moderate rooms were gone and I was not finding any discounts. With that being out of our price range, we started looking for other options.
My aunt owns a condo at WorldQuest but we were well past the “guaranteed usage” window. (They rent it out on her behalf anytime she does not use it.) Since WorldQuest was booked solid, I wasn’t holding out hope that we’d get a room. Yet, in another answer to prayer, a booking opened up and she was able to get us in.
Here is how the schedule is shaping up:
Friday we have a practice, but don’t yet have the time yet. It could be as early as 11:00 AM or as late as 8:40 PM. (We are supposed to find that out tonight.) It will be in the convention center at the Coronado Springs Resort. It could be as early as 11:00 AM or as late as 8:40 PM.
Friday night they are TALKING about a team dinner somewhere. We all know ADR’s for a group of 60 aren’t exactly easy to find 2 weeks out. (Or 2 months out for that matter.) I sent some suggestions in, but I don’t know if they had any luck. (We are supposed to find out tonight.)
Friday morning we are supposed to be able to pick up our packets which have our park tickets. They are going to be at one of the All Star resorts, but we still don’t have an exact time or location. (Again we find that out tonight.)
Friday is going to be a park day for us. Once I know for sure when I can actually pick up our tickets, when our practice is going to be and when/where they wind up meeting for dinner, I will be able to plan our park day. My plan now is to enter the tickets into the My Disney Experience app as SOON as I get the packet, grab FP+ reservations for DHS, drive over to AK and do Everest and maybe one or two other things standby, and then go hit up DHS. But again, all this very fluid and will depend on what we find out tonight.
Saturday we compete at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. Our official check in with The Summit is 1:10 PM, which means our check in with the gym coaches will probably be noon (they typically start stretching an hour before warmups), so or check in time with the team mom (who takes attendance and calls to check on stragglers) will probably be 11:15-11:30. We are staying 4.5 miles away from ESPN, and have to allow time to drive / park / walk to the venue. We are aiming for a 10:30 departure time, which gives us an 8:00 AM wake up time as it takes us 2 hours to do the competition hair and makeup. And by us I mean First Lady Biscuit. I'll be down in the lobby eating a bagel and reading the paper. I ain't fixing to go wading into that hurricane of drama.
Once all of Senior 2 competes, they will announce which teams made it to finals. (Out of 18 teams, the top 9 move on to compete on Day 2.) The announcement will be made at 4:15 PM. We do not yet know if we are supposed to stay for the announcement or if we will be done at 1:50. At the latest we will be finished at ESPN WWOS by 4:30.
Sunday, we will either compete at about the exact same time with awards at about the same time and be done around 4:30 OR, if they don’t make finals, it will be an open park day.
Monday we have to be back at the airport by 4:00 PM for our 5:15 flight home.
We have 3 day park hopper passes for 4, ESPN WWOS admission for The Summit, 8 quick service meal vouchers, 8 Snack vouchers, and whole lot of unanswered questions.
So that’s it in a nutshell.
A last minute trip, I can’t really plan, with tickets I don’t yet have, with FP+’s I can’t yet book, with schedules I don’t yet know.
And we leave in 3 days.
I’mma need me some Peto-Bismol up in here.
