anyone been involved in planning a band trip for high school kids?

[Suedrews]

My son's high school band wants to go to disney for a band competition.....we are in Buffalo & they want to go by bus! Yuk! I want to help them come up with a great price including airfare. Anyone ever involved with planning something like this? Do you know of a tour group company I could contact? We know the key is fundraise, fundraise, fundraise.....HELP! I don't want to travel 24 hours in a bus with teenagers!

 

[Suedrews]

Hopefully, someone out there knows how to help me....

 

[TN Traveler]

Hey Sue........
I'm a travel agent and about 8 yrs ago when I first got into the the travel business, the agency I worked for put together a trip to Disney for the kids that wanted to go during Spring Break. It wasn't necessarily a band group....just a group of kids whose parents said ok you can go.
The kids did travel by bus but we're north of Nashville so it was more like a 14 hr drive. My suggestion to you is either get in touch w/a travel agency in your area that will issue airline tickets and let them take care of everything for you. OR if you prefer and don't mind dealing w/someone from TN, I'd be happy to give you any direction or help you need. I am a Disney Specialist, have been through the College of Knowledge, so have alot of experience selling Disney Trips. I'm sure there are people that visit this web site that have more experience GOING to Disney than I do but I sell probably 20 trips a year to Disney alone so might be able to help you somewhat.
If you would like to contact me directly, please feel free to do so.
My email address is karenpiper@msn.com.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Karen
aka....TN TRAVELER

 

[jimmybop]

cant really help you, but about 5 years ago when I was in high school, my band from the syracuse/utica area drove to Tampa for a trip, took about 26-27 hours. It was a LONNNNNG but do able trip. We did go to disney one day and marched, but the bulk of our trip was in tampa for the 2000 Outback bowl.

so I just did a google search and found a travel company that has done some Magic Music Days planning:
http://www.travelgroups.com/magicmusicdays.htm

This IS NOT the group my band did it with, just a random link I found.... just thought I would share good luck!

 

[missydisney]

I am also a travel ageant from Texas. Sounds like you are interested in Magic Music Days. I have been on two group trips for this event. It showcases Music and Dance groups from around the country. My daughters Drill Team danced down Main Street as the preparade for the afternoon parade. They had such a great time. Other performances can include concert type in various locations around WDW. The other was a band trip. Both groups flew charter it cut down on the expense. Either TN travler or myself would be able to help you plan this. I know they will enjoy it.
Missy

 

[Suedrews]

Thank you soooo much for all your input....jimmybob, I have already forwarded that website to the band leader.....Missy & TN, be looking for emails from me......I am so lucky to have fallen upon these discussion boards.....the information is amazing!!!xxoo Susan

 

[slimplaw]

I've gone on 2 of our band trips to WDW. We used All American Music Festival planners. The band did a competition at an area jr college. One time they marched at Universal and the other time they marched in MK. We took about 240 kids on one trip and 160 on the other. We did ride busses from Tx which is about 20 hours. The director insisted on staying offsite to make it as difficult as possible for kids to go back to the hotel without chaperones. Don't know if any did go back while we were supposed to be at the parks. The cost was $500 per student. One trip we went to WDW, Universal, Cape Canaveral, and Busch Gardens. The other trip we went to WDW and Universal. The band director will need to send tapes of the band performing in concert and a marching performance. We also had to send pictures of our uniforms to Disney to be accepted to perform there. Students had to also conform to some Disney standards such as no piercings and only light nail polish. I don't know if they are still requiring this. We went in '97 and '99. As with anything, you can add a lot to make it more expensive, such as meal coupons for students while in the parks. We usually had breakfast included in our packages at the hotel and a pizza dinner one night. While in the parks with a large group, WDW and Universal both request that chaperones check with first aid once an hour to make sure none of the students are ill or injured. We had sick or injured kids on both trips I chaperoned on. Our students were allowed to park hop, so chaperones were assigned to go to certain parks during the day so we could be close if we were needed. We made 4 notebooks with copies of all of the student's forms giving us permission to seek medical attention. The chaperone would deliver this notebook to the park's first aid when we arrived for the day and pick it up on our way out. Our trip in '99 cost our band about $70,000. I helped plan it and was treasurer so I also wrote the checks. I did try to talk to WDW once to see about staying on site and trying to plan the whole thing with them, but they would not talk to us until we had submitted performance tapes and been accepted for performance.

 

[disneychrista]

I am not in the planning stages YET, but I deffiently hope to be soon.

 

[InstImpres]

We took the train to Disney many years ago as the BOE did not allow us to fly!

It was almost as bad as driving.

 

[Pooh's Pal]

try these:
http://disneyyouthprograms.disney.g...coop/scoopGeneralDisplay?id=CalendarIndexPage

http://www.travelgroups.com/magicmusicdays.htm
http://www.schoolbands.com

Universal also has simalar band things going on.

My DD's high school is booking their trip through Seasons travel, or something like that....someone on these boards must know the name!??

 

[TN Traveler]

Hey Sue--I sent you a personal email on this but it sounds to me like there are others w/more experience and knowledge in this
area than I have. I deal mostly w/cruises, honeymoons and vacations to Hawaii, Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean (going crazy right now thanks to Frances & Ivan!) I think MissyDisney would be your best bet. Whatever you decide to do, go through a travel agent so they can do all the paperwork and you don't have that headache!
Thanks for getting in touch w/me!
Karen

 

[ksmom]

I went with my daughter's band in 1999. We flew from Wichita, KS to Orlando on a chartered flight. Don't remember much about the planning but I do remember it was one of the greatest trips to DW that I ever had. (Even though there was no sleep for the adults since we had to keep checking on the kids during the night.) Sorry, I'm really no help with answering any questions, but this post brought back fond memories.

 

[Suedrews]

thanks again for the info.....does anyone know what Season's travel might be? Thanks Pooh's Pal for those websites.....

 

[Simba's Mom]

I was involved in the early stages of planning DS's high school band trip several years ago (until a falling out with the band booster president made me quit-but that's another story). Some things we hadn't thought of-getting the instruments and uniforms there if the band's going to march (one of the reasons we chose bus travel). Also, I was very surprised that the group travel dept. at Disney quoted us a higher price to stay at the ASMusic than I could have gotten at that time using my AP discount, and I told the CM that! BTW, I noticed that lots of people on these boards who responded to your post are from Texas-sort of reinforces my claim that some of the best musicians come from Texas(pardon my bragging-DH is a college music major)-now I'll go hide while all the other people from other states attest that's not true!

 

[TN Traveler]

Hey Sue.......I did a search for you but couldn't find anything under Season's Travel. I did find a 4 Season's Travel and an All Season's Travel. Not sure if these are part of the agency you heard about or not. You could probably find a website, email or 800 # and give them a call.
GOOD LUCK!
K~~

 

[KarenB]

Our DSs high school band tries to go once every three years. We haven't been part of this yet, but a few things I was thinking about.

While it really would be nice to fly, remember you will have not only personal luggage, but also uniforms and instruments. Alos, you will have to find some sort of transportation once in Orlando. I know it is a long drive, but it may be the "practical" way to go.

Karen

 

[Suedrews]

I have seen some packages that include a truck to transport the instruments from the airport to resort & back again.....you are right, that is of utmost importance.....also, thanks TN for your info as well.....Susan