Dance team tickets/planning HELP!

[bbjunkie]

Hello Everyone! I have a couple of questions and I know there are people here that can help me.

My daughter's competitive dance team is performing at Epcot next summer. Our "package" includes four nights/five days at Carribean Beach, 5 day park hoppers. Here are my questions:

Can I bridge the ticket pricing and add on for 8-day tickets?

Can we choose to stay in a different resort?

Can I add on days at the Carribean Beach?

Do we get Magic Bands? If not, can I link these tickets to Magic Bands we already have?

Navigating this is a first for me. I can plan the heck out of WDW vacation, but this has variables that are completely different for me.

Thanks for your help!

 

[kj2mom]

Are you doing Dance The World? We did that this year but we kept the regular tickets so I can't help with bridging and we loved CBR. Yes, we added on days at CBR. We just went to the desk the day before the end of the dancing portion to ask about staying in the same room and we were good. Yes, we got Magic Bands.

ETA: You should also be able to use existing MB too.

 

[bbjunkie]

Yep! This is good info. Thank you.

I know there are a couple of people on the boards that are either agents or guides for dance/band/cheer groups. I'm hoping they can help answer the changing resorts/adding on to tickets questions. For so,e reason I thought you didn't get Magic Bands...the fact that you did is encouraging!

 

[kj2mom]

Our little dancer customized all of our bands for us. 100% we got bands (I had one from the year before but I used the one she did for me because it made her happy).

 

[DAKL101]

I would ask about adding days at check-in.

 

[scrappingbuckeye]

My daughter's dance team performed at Disney Spring in January. You can add days but it isn't cheap if i recall correctly. You're getting discounted tickets thru the performing arts. You should be magic bands.

 

[bbjunkie]

My daughter's dance team performed at Disney Spring in January. You can add days but it isn't cheap if i recall correctly. You're getting discounted tickets thru the performing arts. You should be magic bands.

When your daughter performed, was it a Disney number she learned with Disney clinicians?

 

[subtchr]

I am a tour director for band and choir groups. My best advice for you is to check with the company planning your trip, because I know there are differences between the trips we plan and the Dance the World trips.

Most youth tickets cannot be upgraded or changed, and have strict (and short) expiration dates.

You definitely get MagicBands. Every resort guest receives them, because they are your room key.

You can also bring and use any old MagicBand that you still have active on your account, and use it interchangeably, if you want. Nothing is "on" or directly linked to a band. All they do is access the information in the MDE account, so any active band will work.

As for changing the resort or adding days there, that's a question for the trip organizers. When our groups stay onsite, they don't have a choice of where to stay and can't add days other than making a separate reservation, but Dance the World may have different policies.

 

[scrappingbuckeye]

When your daughter performed, was it a Disney number she learned with Disney clinicians?

No, her team is a high school team. They performed their own numbers for 20 minutes.

 

[bbjunkie]

I am a tour director for band and choir groups. My best advice for you is to check with the company planning your trip, because I know there are differences between the trips we plan and the Dance the World trips.

Most youth tickets cannot be upgraded or changed, and have strict (and short) expiration dates.

You definitely get MagicBands. Every resort guest receives them, because they are your room key.

You can also bring and use any old MagicBand that you still have active on your account, and use it interchangeably, if you want. Nothing is "on" or directly linked to a band. All they do is access the information in the MDE account, so any active band will work.

As for changing the resort or adding days there, that's a question for the trip organizers. When our groups stay onsite, they don't have a choice of where to stay and can't add days other than making a separate reservation, but Dance the World may have different policies.

Thank you for this info. This is what I suspected. I guess the most concerning part is that there is a shorter time-frame for ticket use.

My thinking was that I'd like to add five days at the end, and I don't mind booking a separate reservation and even transferring resorts in that process. But I'd assumed that the tickets would be good for 14 days from their first use as is usually the case. I was thinking we could do an every-other-day use of the five-day tickets and do Thphoon Lagoon, resort-hop, pool-relax, and Disney Springs on the in-between days. Now I'm thinking we may not be able to do that. Is that what you think, too? I'm not sure that I will ever have a way to contact the Disney person in charge of our trip.

 

[bbjunkie]

No, her team is a high school team. They performed their own numbers for 20 minutes.

Ok, thanks. That's a little different than what we'll be doing. I hope they had a good experience!

 

[scrappingbuckeye]

I hope they had a good experience!

Oh they had a wonderful experience. I'd do it again, however traveling with other people is harder than I thought lol. We go to Disney at least once a year, so it was hard to adjust from our "normal plan".

 

[subtchr]

I'm not sure that I will ever have a way to contact the Disney person in charge of our trip.

Why couldn't you contact them? Is the information on a website? It would be horrible customer service to not allow clients to ask questions!!

Oh they had a wonderful experience. I'd do it again, however traveling with other people is harder than I thought lol. We go to Disney at least once a year, so it was hard to adjust from our "normal plan".

This, a hundred times. With a group, your schedule is not your own. Between rehearsals and performances, plus wanting to keep the group together, you have to give up your usual touring style and go with the flow, remembering that the trip is about the kids!

 

[bbjunkie]

Why couldn't you contact them? Is the information on a website? It would be horrible customer service to not allow clients to ask questions!!



This, a hundred times. With a group, your schedule is not your own. Between rehearsals and performances, plus wanting to keep the group together, you have to give up your usual touring style and go with the flow, remembering that the trip is about the kids!

I said I suspected I wouldn't be able to contact them because I'm not in charge of the trip. I do t even k ow who the contact person would be. I suppose I could ask the studio director to ask the coordinator.

 

[DynamicDisney]

My daughter's chorus and band went with a school trip in Feb 2015. They performed at DS. We stayed off-site, but had 3-day tickets. We lost an entire park day, because they changed their DS performance time - which made it from about 10-3 at DS one of the days, which ate that entire day up. The entire group had reservations at Planet Hollywood as part of our package, so we had no choice about going to a park that day. It made for a different touring style for sure! We also did not get our tickets until we were ON THE BUS from the resort, headed to Epcot on the first day. You should have seen me flying onto MDE and booking FP+! Then, as people were wondering what I was doing, I guided the other parents and teachers, and then some of the kids in how to link the tix and book the FP before we got to the park.

So, long story short, it was just a different touring style than I was used to. I had to remind myself it was for the kids, and just enjoy what time I did have there. Luckily too, we had a family trip planned for that April, so at least I knew I would return very soon!

 

[subtchr]

I said I suspected I wouldn't be able to contact them because I'm not in charge of the trip. I do t even k ow who the contact person would be. I suppose I could ask the studio director to ask the coordinator.

So there isn't a website or anything with information? It's just sign a paper and go? I don't know which company your studio is using, but our company is always happy to answer any questions from any of our travelers, whether they are the group coordinator or just a member of the group. You're spending a lot of money, you should know everything you need to know to make it the best trip for you, or at least to know exactly what you are getting into!

My daughter's chorus and band went with a school trip in Feb 2015. They performed at DS. We stayed off-site, but had 3-day tickets. We lost an entire park day, because they changed their DS performance time - which made it from about 10-3 at DS one of the days, which ate that entire day up. The entire group had reservations at Planet Hollywood as part of our package, so we had no choice about going to a park that day. It made for a different touring style for sure! We also did not get our tickets until we were ON THE BUS from the resort, headed to Epcot on the first day. You should have seen me flying onto MDE and booking FP+! Then, as people were wondering what I was doing, I guided the other parents and teachers, and then some of the kids in how to link the tix and book the FP before we got to the park.

So, long story short, it was just a different touring style than I was used to. I had to remind myself it was for the kids, and just enjoy what time I did have there. Luckily too, we had a family trip planned for that April, so at least I knew I would return very soon!

Our company also does not pass out the physical tickets until we are on the bus headed to the park. HOWEVER, we email the group members their ticket numbers over a month before the trip, so that they can link them to MDE and book FP. Sounds as if your group used a company that doesn't do that, which surprises me. I think most group travel companies now do it the way we do, since pre-booking FP is such a valuable part of making a trip the best it can be.

 

[kj2mom]

It was definitely a different experience going with Dance the World than we were used to. Our schedule completely revolved around practices, bus schedules, performances etc but we knew this trip was all about that so we just set our mind to doing whatever she needed to do and when. One day got really bounced around, we thought everything was over and Saturday was a free day so we planned EMH RD at AK then to park hop over to HS in the afternoon in order to do a couple of rides and catch F!. Well, the day before the trip we found out the leader of our group was trying to get us into the 3pm FOLK because one of the performers was from our dance studio. No problem, we changed some ADRs - already had our FP at HS in the late afternoon/evening so we were good there. We then found out she was only able to get 6 reserved seats and she was giving them to the oldest girls. Short period of disappointment but then the realization we could still go to the 3pm show, just not sit up front (and not meet the cast !). In the end it worked out okay, we got an ADR in for lunch in AK then one for dinner in HS and just hopped over after the Lion King show was over but initially it was a bit of a panic on how to handle our ADRs and FP we already had planned at HS. I am actually glad it worked out that way because we ended up having lunch at Yak & Yeti and we thought it was fabulous!!

Our dance leader was very much on top of everything for us. Being a Disney planner I was pretty much already in the know but she sent out schedule updates and emails completely breaking down the whole FP process and even telling us what might be the girls' favorites based on her knowledge of them. She reminded people as they were closing in on their 180 days for meals then again when 60 days was approaching. I was very impressed with how she handled keeping everyone informed while also trying to make sure everyone made the most of their trip.

We had our ticket information in plenty of time to plug it into MDE and be ready for FP. Just a word of caution, the tickets are considered part of a youth package so when you add them to MDE don't be alarmed when you are assigning an adult what is called a youth ticket. It does not mean youth is the age, just that it is part of the Dance the World trip.

I believe our added night was indeed a different reservation number. That was why we went to the desk about staying in the same room if at all possible. We had two rooms and we both got to stay in our existing room when our new reservation kicked in.

 

[bbjunkie]

It was definitely a different experience going with Dance the World than we were used to. Our schedule completely revolved around practices, bus schedules, performances etc but we knew this trip was all about that so we just set our mind to doing whatever she needed to do and when. One day got really bounced around, we thought everything was over and Saturday was a free day so we planned EMH RD at AK then to park hop over to HS in the afternoon in order to do a couple of rides and catch F!. Well, the day before the trip we found out the leader of our group was trying to get us into the 3pm FOLK because one of the performers was from our dance studio. No problem, we changed some ADRs - already had our FP at HS in the late afternoon/evening so we were good there. We then found out she was only able to get 6 reserved seats and she was giving them to the oldest girls. Short period of disappointment but then the realization we could still go to the 3pm show, just not sit up front (and not meet the cast !). In the end it worked out okay, we got an ADR in for lunch in AK then one for dinner in HS and just hopped over after the Lion King show was over but initially it was a bit of a panic on how to handle our ADRs and FP we already had planned at HS. I am actually glad it worked out that way because we ended up having lunch at Yak & Yeti and we thought it was fabulous!!

Our dance leader was very much on top of everything for us. Being a Disney planner I was pretty much already in the know but she sent out schedule updates and emails completely breaking down the whole FP process and even telling us what might be the girls' favorites based on her knowledge of them. She reminded people as they were closing in on their 180 days for meals then again when 60 days was approaching. I was very impressed with how she handled keeping everyone informed while also trying to make sure everyone made the most of their trip.

We had our ticket information in plenty of time to plug it into MDE and be ready for FP. Just a word of caution, the tickets are considered part of a youth package so when you add them to MDE don't be alarmed when you are assigning an adult what is called a youth ticket. It does not mean youth is the age, just that it is part of the Dance the World trip.

I believe our added night was indeed a different reservation number. That was why we went to the desk about staying in the same room if at all possible. We had two rooms and we both got to stay in our existing room when our new reservation kicked in.

Thank you for this info.

 

[Princesspolly0110]

If you're planning through the school, the teacher or adult in charge should be able to put you in contact with the agent working with them. If they can't, I'd book a separate package. I would also not wait until check in to add days. You can probably get a better rate in advance.