Orlando, Florida – the home to many thrillers and attractions such as Walt Disney World and SeaWorld. This year, however, the seniors experienced one unforgettable night at Orlando’s Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure during an event named Grad Bash. Grad Bash allows the seniors from an abundance of high schools to enjoy a night roaming both theme parks from 7:00PM to 2:00AM.

Before the seniors reached Grad Bash, a few complications arose before and during the bus ride. After eating lunch, all the seniors attending Grad Bash went to the gym where each bag was inspected by drug searching police dogs. The dogs were there in response to the event that happened during last year’s Grad Bash trip. Last year, some students brought marijuana brownies onto the bus. In addition, all food and drinks were confiscated from the students before getting on the bus.

“Having drug dogs search our bags was fine, they’re just doing their job,” senior Daniel Cheney said. “On the other hand, the fact that our food and drinks were confiscated seemed unnecessary.”

After the students got on the bus, many experienced what it is like to be on a bus without air conditioning. In one bus, they had to stop at a rest stop in Pompano Beach in order to fix the air conditioning but instead, they ended up getting a new bus. But once again, the air conditioning was not that great.

“The bus ride was unbearable. What a miserable and lengthy six hours,” senior Ivan Figueroa said. “Not to mention that Dr. Harley was on our bus. Really? That’s rule number one! Make sure the bus the principal is on is the perfect experience.”

Along with the broken air conditioning on a few buses, one bus actually broke down. The students on that bus had to be redistributed among the nine other buses.

“So we just finished watching Frozen, the most amazing movie I have ever seen in my life, when all of a sudden the bus started spasming out and the engine broke,” senior Kevin Ordonez said. “The engine just shut itself off and after about ten minutes, the driver was able to turn it back on and we just rode into the plaza and they didn’t want to risk the possibility of the bus breaking down again because it couldn’t go past 50 miles per hour or else it would shut itself off.”

The bus ride from school to Orlando took approximately seven hours because of all the issues. Despite this however, everyone made it inside the park where the students were free to roam each park at their pleasure. Many popular attractions such as the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket, Revenge of the Mummy, Incredible Hulk, and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey had waiting times as much as two hours. Even Trey Songz performed in Universal Studios.

Everything must come to an end. Therefore at around 3:00AM the buses started the trip back down to Miami. Around 6:30AM the buses arrived back at school where the seniors were treated to a surprise by the junior class officers warning the seniors to come prepared for the battle of the upperclassmen on May 21.

“Grad Bash was an amazing experience. The experience as a whole was so fun and exciting,” senior Dylan Pappas said. “The rides were a blast and hanging out with friends was as much of a bonding experience as any. I loved the experience and I will never forget it.”