Band Trip

[OklaDISNEYMom]

Our band is planning a trip to WDW in May of 2005.
I would appreciate any helpful info that anyone has to help us plan and have a great time. We have a band of about 150 and we will be chartering buses to get there.

 

[GIOny]

what kind of info are you looking for?? If you want suggestions about staying in the park you may want to try the All Star Resorts or the new Pop Century, they are the least expensinve and I remember while I was staying at the All Stars they had several school groups. What I've seen in the parks with large groups is that they all wear the same t-shirt with their group name on it and usually in a bright color so they can spot one another more easily. I would call Disney tell them your circumstances and see what they can do for you!! Have fun!!

 

[VintageKnight]

Why are you guys going to disney?, never heard of any compititions that late in the year??

your gonna have a bus, so you dont have to do on-site, and the bigger and fancier hotels love groups....call around see what you can do and of course everything has a discount group rate....so ask ask ask...

I did a freedom bowl trip with newcastle ok in late dec 92, disneyland was quite acomidating to us...

DisneyVK

 

[buzzandjulie]

Our high school band is performing in disney april 14 then orlando music competion will be staying outside park/ breakfast buffet included and give kids 1 meal voucher daily any help i can be let me know

 

[HunnyPots]

Just wanted to say from another band mom!
150 in your band - WOW! We only have about 55 right now!

Anyway, you've come to the right place for info, you'll get lots of help here. Just be as specific as you can with your questions and they will get answered.

Also, check out allears.net for great info on dining, hotels, the parks, etc.

Have fun planning!

 

[DennisP]

I've been a chaperone on 5 high school concert choir / show choir trips to WDW (my wife was chaperone for 3 of these trips). The first trip was in the early 90's when our daughter was in high school, the second and third trips were when our son was in high school and the last 2 trips were with our daughter again but this time, she was the high school choral music director.

For all trips, travel planners were used. These planners took care of everything and I mean EVERYTHING!!! (transportation, hotels, meals, park passes, performances in the parks, etc.). This allowed the music directors to concentrate on preparing the high school groups for the competition.

On the last two trips to WDW, the trip planner even arranged to have a pictures of the high school groups taken in front of the castle in MK before the park opened. This was an experience my wife and I will never forget. Imagine being in MK with absolutely nobody else in the park except for a few Disney maintenance workers and the Disney photographer.

I'm sure there are trip planners in Okla that you can contact to help you with your band trip. Good Luck! (The following is a link to the trip planner that was used on our trips).

americandestinations.com

 

[OklaDISNEYMom]

WOW---Thanks for the response. We are in the very early stages and are not sure of much. The tips on using a trip planner was a great idea! The tip about the t-shirts was also a fantastic idea.

How did you handle the parks? Did everyone go to the same park, and did you visit all of them, I know this will be a decision we have not made as to how many parks we will visit. I know money of course will be an issue.

Keep the great suggestions coming!!!

We are VERY excited about our upcoming trip!!!!

 

[DennisP]

Originally posted by OklaDISNEYMom
How did you handle the parks? Did everyone go to the same park, and did you visit all of them,

The answer to your question depends on how many chaperones you have on the trip. On a few of our trips, there were enough chaperones to cover all 4 parks at once. In this case, the park passes were given to the kids and they kept them so that they could park hop. On the other trips, there were only 5 chaperones in total. In this case, one chaperone handed each kid their park pass as they entered the park turnstile. Another chaperone collected the park passes from each kid as they exited the turnstile. This essentially kept all the kids in one park at a time and it worked out very well.

The kids choose the parks by a majority vote. On one trip, one day was spent in MK. one day in MGM, and one day was split between AK and Epcot.

Hope this helps.

 

[crazyforgoofy]

I just sent you a pm in response to your pm.

What fun you're gonna have! I'm glad DennisP gave you a link to one of the travel planners. Good travel planners will make things much easier on you.

Our kids voted on which park, which day too and we did the same ticket collection method. We also handed out the meal vouchers when we collected the tickets - that way each kid searched us out - they weren't gonna miss a meal!

Have fun fundraising and planning.

One fundraiser I liked was from Dutch Gardens. The bulbs and plants were SO easy for the kids to sell, they made tons of $$.