Daughter's school band trip, just 1-1/4 days in parks. Any experience with this?

[avalon451]

Anybody done band/dance/ whatever competition groups with your kid? As a DL vet, this makes me crazy. You are in Anaheim for a performance and workshop somewhere else, and they tack on 2-day parkhoppers which you'll only be able to use for one evening and one full day. Plus, it's Memorial Day weekend! CRAZY DAYS!

We get in Thursday, staying at Hyatt Orange County. Hydroguy's Hotel Room rule is out the window, here. They have a dedicated shuttle for $6 per person, per day, every 30 minutes. Not sure if that will be included in our package costs. Also, I don't think the shuttle will get us to the gates before 15 minutes to opening. Not cool.

Friday and most of Saturday is the band festival. After the awards we go back to the hotel to drop off instruments, and they're hazy on what time we will get into the parks.

Then all day Sunday in the parks. It'll be full schedule, since it's a holiday and Monday off, too.

Then Monday we go to some boring museum and get back on the plane in the afternoon.

Here's the thing: most of the parent and student feedback I'm hearing from other parents is a sort of "Oh, yay, we can go to Disneyland." But no clue as to how busy it's going to be, how to use FPs or Maxpass, shows, strategy, etc.

I'm thinking of putting together a couple of basic fact sheets to distribute to the other chaperons in the group, and a couple of basic plans for touring, like, "If you want to ride all the big thrill rides, do this" or "if you want to sleep in, wander leisurely, just shop and maybe ride Pinocchio, do this" and "If you want to get up for rope drop, pack in all you can see plus WOC, do this."

Anybody else experienced this kind of thing? I think I have to keep my expectations low and just go with, "Any day in Disneyland is better than a day at work!" kind of attitude.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Keeping your expectations low and going with the flow may very well be what you have to do. My older son went on a Disneyland band trip 2 years ago. I did not attend, but I can share what he said about it. They went in May over a weekend but not Memorial Day weekend. They had some scheduling difficulties with Disney so ended up needing 3 day parkhoppers to insure that the kids at least got one "full" Disney day to enjoy. My son said the coolest part of the experience was the session with the Disney composers and musicians when they got to play Disney music to Disney animations. He said it was also fun to see some of the back stage areas. A chunk of time one day was taken up with this experience. Ideally the group would also have their in-park performance on the same day, but that didn't work out and they had to wait and do that at DCA first thing in the morning on their departure day.

The day they had their studio session, they got park time afterwards. They had an additional full day devoted to park time as well. They never arrived at the parks by opening time or anytime close to opening. I think my son said it took until 10:30 or 11 am each morning to get everyone to the esplanade and that was with an 8 or 9 am park opening. I don't know how your transportation is going to work, but his band group (it was pretty big, at least 80-90 people I think) was transported by chartered bus everyday from their non-walking distance hotel. Everybody had to come and go together, and there was roll call before departures. Once there, the kids were free to roam the parks in smaller groups as they pleased just having to check in occasionally by text with their chaperones. My son said most of the kids and adults on the trip weren't particularly Disney-saavy even though many/most of them had been to the parks at least once before. His group of friends loved him because he had been at least 40 times and was considered an "expert" by his friends. He said when comparing afterwards, his group definitely got the most done because they pretty much just followed him from place to place doing what he suggested, i.e. now we're going to get a fastpass for this, then we're going to ride that, then we're going to go eat at this place before the lunchtime crowds come. Lol. He had a great time being tour group leader, and I guess he had as many as a dozen kids in his group at times. He also liked that it was a different kind of trip than going with family and he definitely knew his audience, so while his group was impressed by what they got to do they also just enjoyed the park as kids hanging out together with no particular itinerary and didn't worry about keeping a schedule or firm list of things to do and sometimes waited in lines longer than our family would ever bother with. The great thing for chaperones with this arrangement was that they could pretty much do as they pleased. Some chaperones chose to tag along with their kid groups, but others went off singly or in pairs or small groups and rode things and watched shows together.

I don't know how your group is choosing to handle things, but if you as a chaperone get to go off on your own during park time, then it seems you would have plenty of freedom to do what you want so long as you remember to check occasionally that your assigned kids are alive and well. I personally wouldn't be overly worried about what anyone else gets to do. They will figure it out or not. Most of the kids and adults I spoke with afterwards came back highly satisfied with the trip experience overall. If you as a chaperone have to stick with your assigned kids throughout your time there or choose to do so, then try to go with the flow. By all means make suggestions to maximize your use of time like my son did, but don't act terribly surprised (and try to hide your disappointment) if the whole group really wants to stand in line for an hour for something you would never wait more than 20 minutes for. Hopefully you'll have a great time either way and have a new kind of Disney memory.

 

[Angrose]

I don't have specific experience with a school trip such as this, but I want to let you know that in recent years Memorial Day weekend has not been too bad crowd-wise. I remember reading anecdotal evidence from a few years ago because we had a trip planned that weekend but had to cancel it. I kicked myself because people on here reported it not being bad at all. Looking at Touring Plans "what they saw" ratings, they had it at a 5 or 6 out of 10 for the Sat and Sun of Memorial Day weekend in 2015 and 2016 (don't look at 2015, that was the 24hr party and kick off of the 60th anniversary, what a cluster that was!). Monday crowds will go increase since SoCal and Deluxe APs are not blocked that day. All hope is not lost!

Also, I don't know if you are required to take the shuttle with the group, but you could easily Uber or Lyft over to the parks if you wanted to guarantee arriving before rope drop.

 

[avalon451]

I think my son said it took until 10:30 or 11 am each morning to get everyone to the esplanade and that was with an 8 or 9 am park opening.

There's a thought. I'll have to see if I can talk to a contact person with the tour company and see if this is how they do things. I really don't to have to wait for all 80-90 kids to roll out of bed. I'd rather take my kid and her little friend squad, find a shuttle, Uber, or walk if we have to. Well, no, I'm not going to walk 1.7 miles.

Great advice, thank you. I think you're right about not worrying how everybody else does. They'll all have a good time if only because they're hanging out with their friends in a fun place.

 

[avalon451]

I don't have specific experience with a school trip such as this, but I want to let you know that in recent years Memorial Day weekend has not been too bad crowd-wise. I remember reading anecdotal evidence from a few years ago because we had a trip planned that weekend but had to cancel it. I kicked myself because people on here reported it not being bad at all. Looking at Touring Plans "what they saw" ratings, they had it at a 5 or 6 out of 10 for the Sat and Sun of Memorial Day weekend in 2015 and 2016 (don't look at 2015, that was the 24hr party and kick off of the 60th anniversary, what a cluster that was!). Monday crowds will go increase since SoCal and Deluxe APs are not blocked that day. All hope is not lost!

Also, I don't know if you are required to take the shuttle with the group, but you could easily Uber or Lyft over to the parks if you wanted to guarantee arriving before rope drop.

This gives me hope! Thanks!

 

[Malcon10t]

Here's my take on it. You are a parent going as a chaperone. Don't expect it to be like your family's trip. You are there to supervise ALL kids, not just yours. We do choir trips several times a year. We travel to and from the parks as a group. There is going to be fun behind the scenes for the kids and much more than trying to hit all the rides. Don't expect to be there by opening. Don't expect things to go smoothly. The kids will have a blast. They always do, because they are doing this with friends. I wish you luck! My next chaperone expedition is the end of April!

ETA - Never mind the behind the scenes, didn't realize you weren't doing the Disney Music package.

 

[avalon451]

ETA - Never mind the behind the scenes, didn't realize you weren't doing the Disney Music package.

Yeah, it's not Disney per se, it's the Heritage Music Festival. Disneyland is just tacked on.

Good advice, thanks!

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Here's my take on it. You are a parent going as a chaperone. Don't expect it to be like your family's trip. You are there to supervise ALL kids, not just yours. We do choir trips several times a year. We travel to and from the parks as a group. There is going to be fun behind the scenes for the kids and much more than trying to hit all the rides. Don't expect to be there by opening. Don't expect things to go smoothly. The kids will have a blast. They always do, because they are doing this with friends. I wish you luck! My next chaperone expedition is the end of April!

ETA - Never mind the behind the scenes, didn't realize you weren't doing the Disney Music package.

This is great advice-we had a kid (16) get lost last March for an hour-he just wandered off to DTD. We were not chaperones last trip, we wanted to get video and pics from different spots, so we just shadowed them when they were in the park and did not participate in their other activities off site. But we have been chaperones and it is as Malcon10t said a different trip altogether and should be treated as such.

 

[BrerMama]

As you're planning, keep in mind that at least at my daughter's school, the student handbook specifically says students on a school trip must use school provided transportation. I wouldn't count on being able to catch a Uber/Lyft to get to the parks early. As others have said, just enjoy it for what it is.

 

[Chelsea B]

Here's my take on it. You are a parent going as a chaperone. Don't expect it to be like your family's trip. You are there to supervise ALL kids, not just yours.

I haven't been on school trips in years, but I know when I did my school trip in high school (to NYC...what were they thinking?! haha) it wasn't like that. Our chaperones didn't watch us all in a group. At one point it was more like, go ahead and go off and do your own thing as long as there's an adult with you. So my friend's mom stayed with a small group of like 4-5 of us and we did our own thing! Hopefully it'll be like that for your Disney day...have fun!!!

 

[Malcon10t]

I haven't been on school trips in years, but I know when I did my school trip in high school (to NYC...what were they thinking?! haha) it wasn't like that. Our chaperones didn't watch us all in a group. At one point it was more like, go ahead and go off and do your own thing as long as there's an adult with you. So my friend's mom stayed with a small group of like 4-5 of us and we did our own thing! Hopefully it'll be like that for your Disney day...have fun!!!

I understand that. And I wasn't implying they were going to move 100 kids all together. I meant, there will be things required, such as the lost child. They usually consolidate groups to send 2-3 chaperones to search for the lost child. An injury or illness, again, consolidate groups so a chaperone with proper paperwork can escort the child to first aid. Most schools won't allow Uber/Lyft transport for trips. Once she gets more info from the school, then they can decide how to proceed.

The kids will have fun (isn't that the point?) and the parents will be stressed (very normal) and things are not going to flow like your family trip. And if you think the museum is going to be boring, it will be. Which museum are you going to?