The time has come once again for Manhattan choirs to visit the Happiest Place on Earth.

The tradition of Manhattan High’s music department traveling to perform at Disney has been a long-standing one, and this year is no different. March 17, eligible choir students will be travelling to Disney World. With the excitement of not only performing but also having fun is the only thing attending choir kids can talk about. However, for some students, this is a repeated event.

“When I went last time, most of the time was spent hanging around the hotel with groups of friends, eating food, going on rides in the down time,” senior Aeron Julian said. “I think I will enjoy it a lot more this year because I have a lot more friends. I consider everyone in Pops my good friends this year. I think it will be a very enjoyable experience.”

Other seniors find themselves excited to lead the way for first-time Disney performers.

“I went to Disney over the summer but I only got to go to Magic Kingdom,” senior Emily Augustine said. “Which obviously has the most but there is a live-action Little Mermaid at Disney which is my favorite thing in the world so I am excited about that. My mom is going and she has never been before so I am excited to show her everything and [junior exchange students] Esther Borgarsdottir and Juliana Dylia are going and they are rooming with me, and Esther keeps saying that this is like Christmas for her. She’s never ridden a rollercoaster which is so crazy to me because I’ve always grown up with that. I’m excited to see other people’s take on it too.”

With spring break and their performances coming up soon, students have been preparing for the trip in their own ways. Some prepare by not preparing at all.

“I haven’t really been preparing for Disney much at all,” Julian said. “I didn’t the first time I went and it went fine, I just packed the night before and hoped for the best and it turned out okay, I didn’t lack anything. I don’t really do anything to prepare, I know a lot of people are reserving restaurants and character visits but that’s not how I enjoy my trips. I just like to go on them.”

Others, like Augustine have a completely different approach.

“I am preparing for Disney personally by planning everything because this year we get to actually enjoy Disney so that makes it more fun,” Augustine said, “but I was literally on the website looking at everything and making lists because that’s who I am. That along with making sure the melodies are right.”

Aside from personal planning, the choirs themselves have been doing their own brand of preparing for their big show.

“We practiced our melodies with new formations for Disney and every day the small groups have been practicing their dance shows,” Julian said. “We have to dance on dance risers which we don’t normally do. Varsity I’m sure is doing the same thing. Pops and Varsity always perform well even under a lot of pressure.”