Troop 30154 visits Disneyland for their bridging ceremony

Thanks to Savannah B. from Troop 30154 of Grants Pass for this blog post!

In November, when my mom and leader, Naomi B., went to the Girl Scout National Conference, she found out that Disney was partnering with Girl Scouts to create a celebration for the 100th birthday.  She came home and told our troop all about it and we decided that very night we were going to do the trip.  

Our troop has only done one other big trip in seven years and it was to spend the night in the Shark tubes at the Newport aquarium when we were juniors.  Each year, our troop earns money from council sales to fund area events that we host such as the Candyland Ball, Chili-n-S'more Cookoff, Thinking Day, etc and also for the many service projects we do each year according to our badge work and community needs.  

We knew that if we were going to do this trip and still do all the other things we are committed to, we would have to earn more money.  When our troop sat down and did the budget and math, we figured it would cost us $550 per person and that was with the amazing discount 4 day park hopper tickets offered by Disney, the use of a friends Condo for a VERY cheap rate and strategic shopping for meals and gas.  Each girl was responsible to meet the deadlines we set to turn in money, but we all helped each other.

 We organized babysitting nights at a local church and quickly became a popular evening out for many families.  This has become a regular money earning avenue for our troop now.  We also recycled over $100 in cans and bottle, hosted a scrapbook night, did assorted odd jobs as a group and individually to get it all in.  It taught us a lot about being business women and we earned a couple of badges to boot!

Disney arranged for three separate ceremonies that Saturday and our group was the third and final session and there were only two groups from Oregon that went and we were second to last to walk across the bridge.  We had Daisy Duck as our special guest and wearing our uniforms in the park was like being a celebrity.  
 

People would stop and ask us questions about being a Girl Scout and it made us feel good to tell them how important and proud it made us.  We met a lot of girls from all over California, Washington, Alaska and even one girl from Hawaii. It all went by too fast! But coming across the bridge was amazing and awesome!  The next day we had a Youth Education Series class offered by Disney for Animation.  

We were able to go behind the scenes in California Adventure and see animators at work, learn to draw Oswald the Rabbit, act out a cartoon scene, voice it and sing and then ride on Tower of Terror to see how Disney incorporates stories into rides.  We had the best counselor ever! It was a great experience and it taught us that with hard work, we can do anything! Our next goal is to take a cruise in 2014!