Has anyone had a child go on a WDW school trip with food vouchers?

[patsal]

Hi, long story short there is a group of students going from my district and they were short a chaperone, chaperones in my district have to pay for their own packages. I have an AP and figured I could help out for less than it would cost others. I had the hopper removed from the price of my trip, but 4 nights in an all star is still $830 in a double room. Food vouchers are included as well as Hoop De Doo and an Illuminations dinner==I am hard pressed to believe that food vouchers give enough food to be worth almost $500! (4 breakfast, 5 lunch and 2 dinner (other dinner 2 dinners as stated above).What am I missing?

 

[biminibigblue]

Are they including gratuities in that cost? Transportation?

 

[patsal]

Are they including gratuities in that cost? Transportation?

Nope, my plane fare was another $250, and the rest of the transportation is Magical Express and Disney Busses.

I am in a bit of a sticker shock at the price. Especially since checking AP rates at AS those days is showing at $79 per night.
As far as the "vouchers" go I ahve no idea...that is why I am asking. Hoop Dee Doo includes gratuity, I assume the Illuminations dinner does as well (but in case I will carry some cash).

 

[Ali]

Disney and the sponsoring organization make a lot of money off of these kind of events. It seems pretty standard for Disney Student travel packages to me. IS there anyway you could just pay your own way without the package? Probably not but you could try. I'm working on it to for a trip I am chaperoning for my son too.

 

[anjalee6]

This sounds like what our districts high school students just did this past spring. It was QS meals except for the HDDR and the other dinner which had gratuity included in the price. The vouchers had a list of places where they could be redeemed in each park. Don't remember which ones though.

 

[patsal]

Thanks, everyone. I guess the profit margin on it is very high then. Next time I help out I will be more aware and just book my room with an AP discount. I will pay for HDDR or whatever a la carte as well. I guess no good deed goes unpunished, and I really didn't want to see the kids not be able to go. I am sure it will be lots of fun and since it is only for one person I will more easily deal with it!

 

[bobcat]

When our marching band went to WDW several years ago the vouchers were actually gift cards for each meal. We had two a day that were described as quick service vouchers during all of our planning so I was surprised when we got there and received the gift cards. I can't remember the GC amount but it was $10-15 for each meal.

 

[sharonmickey]

DD went with her high school band/choir twice to Disney. Both trips it was less expensive to make arrangements on my own then with the travel company. I know the price of a travel agent's trip was included in the cost of the trip for the students. (and the travel agent they sent knew nothing about Disney, my DD and another girl had to tell her where to catch Magical Express among other things) All trips with our district require chaperones to pay their own way. Every one pays except the band/choir director and one person of his/her choosing. In other words, the school received two "free" trips along with a "free" trip for a travel agency representative. The price of those three trips, along with the travel agents wages were attached to the price of everyone else's trip.

Patsal - I'm sure the people organizing the trip appreciate your offering to chaperone. Have a fantastic trip!

 

[brymolmom]

This is what gets me about these Disney 'group trips'. A class trip is a bit different but the ones where you are 'specially' invited (along with thousands of other groups who are 'special' and happen to have the cash lol) get to me even more. Friend's cheerleading trip for her 8 year old and they HAVE to buy the package and HAVE to stay on site (even with staying with their own parents) and HAVE to buy park tickets (even if having AP's). SUCH a scam! I know they are a business and need to make money. But obviously you make money on all guests who enter the park...seems unfair to me to stick-it to those who are bringing a group of 50 people with them. Seems to me like they might be in a position where they deserve a bit of a discount instead.

 

[leeserw]

I am in the process of helping plan our hs band trip. I booked separately b/c I was sure I could beat the TA price. Sure enough. I booked a room at All Star Sports with my AP discount and got a great deal.
As far as meals, the vouchers are a rip off. They are $11.00 for bfast and 17.50 for lunch/dinner. There are only certain restaurants you can eat at and if you choose to eat an apple for bfast and someone else wants an egg platter with bacon and toast it cost you both a voucher. The meal cards are a much smarter way to go. It's dollar for dollar, can only be used on food (so kids don't buy hoodies then run out of money for food), and can be used at any restaurant or food cart.

 

[disneyfab]

When we went two years ago, we got vouchers for two meals per day. We stayed offsite and the hotel had free breakfast.

The vouchers could only be used at quick serve locations for each park and at the Earl of Sandwich (& two others I forgot) at Downtown Disney. Most places it was entree, side and drink. Some places the voucher covered just entree and drink. The vouchers were paper cards that had to be surrendered at the cash register.

If memory serves, some places let you pay the difference if the option you wanted was included in the voucher meal. So, if the voucher was a $12.95 max value and you wanted a $14.40 meal, you could just pay the difference.

It was plenty of food and lots of reasonable options. Most of the parents thought the vouchers would be a PB&J sandwich, fruit, and water :lol:, so we were glad to have the variety.

 

[SplashMo]

We used the vouchers several years ago. You could easily feed two people with one voucher or at least three people on two vouchers. They included dessert as well.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

Are you sure that there is a travel agency involved? I did most of the planning for our high school's band trip last year, and we used a TA for part of it, but it didn't make the rates any higher than what they would have been otherwise. The participation in the music festival and the park hopper tickets were only $212 per person for 4 day hoppers. The food vouchers are $15 each for lunch and dinner, and $10 for breakfast. We did have actual "Youth Vouchers" that worked like QS- so you could go over or under the $15. These were NOT gift cards, but we were given that option. Everyone figured out quickly to get an iced coffee or smoothie type drink to get the best value. We did not do any additional meals like HDDR. We also stayed offsite. Disney allowed our 3 directors tickets to be comped, so there was no padded cost there. If you are not going with a tax exempt organization, add taxes to all those prices.

The trip was still $700 per person. What killed us was transportation! We took 3 coach busses at a cost of $37,500 for the trip, and we still had to cover the costs of hotel rooms for the drivers at single occupancy. With a music festival, you are required to have your own transportation for all of the instruments to get you in and around the backstage area. Another cost for us was renting a truck and gas and mileage from MD for all of the equipment.

Your trip does sound a little high, but it's hard to know what the costs are without seeing an overall budget. You stated that chaperones are not free, but there is a good chance that some of the school staff members are going free.

 

[chartle]

This is what gets me about these Disney 'group trips'. A class trip is a bit different but the ones where you are 'specially' invited (along with thousands of other groups who are 'special' and happen to have the cash lol) get to me even more. Friend's cheerleading trip for her 8 year old and they HAVE to buy the package and HAVE to stay on site (even with staying with their own parents) and HAVE to buy park tickets (even if having AP's). SUCH a scam! I know they are a business and need to make money. But obviously you make money on all guests who enter the park...seems unfair to me to stick-it to those who are bringing a group of 50 people with them. Seems to me like they might be in a position where they deserve a bit of a discount instead.

Who organized the event, Disney or an outside group.

I'm thinking an outside group and it's not Disney but the outside group for the event that forces you to buy the package. The group uses it as a money maker to fund the organization and put on the event.

I have read quite a few threads, mostly from cheer and dance parents, making the same comment that they have to buy an overpriced package.

The organizing group, marks up everything. The YES tickets, that have a huge discount, were only a little less than UT tickets, the rooms were around rack rate and they even marked up the already overpriced Meal vouchers a buck. Some forced you to buy the package, including YES tickets, by including a ticket for the award show that was only in the package, even if you had an AP.

I planned an entire trip for my sons' band and came up with a price that was much cheaper than the TA wanted for the similar accommodations.

I could buy as many tickets as we needed, stay where ever we wanted and could buy as many vouchers or meal gift cards as I wanted.

Again its not Disney but the organizing group that marks up the items and forces you to buy the package.

 

[brymolmom]

Who organized the event, Disney or an outside group.

I'm thinking an outside group and it's not Disney but the outside group for the event that forces you to buy the package. The group uses it as a money maker to fund the organization and put on the event.

I have read quite a few threads, mostly from cheer and dance parents, making the same comment that they have to buy an overpriced package.

The organizing group, marks up everything. The YES tickets, that have a huge discount, were only a little less than UT tickets, the rooms were around rack rate and they even marked up the already overpriced Meal vouchers a buck. Some forced you to buy the package, including YES tickets, by including a ticket for the award show that was only in the package, even if you had an AP.

I planned an entire trip for my sons' band and came up with a price that was much cheaper than the TA wanted for the similar accommodations.

I could buy as many tickets as we needed, stay where ever we wanted and could buy as many vouchers or meal gift cards as I wanted.

Again its not Disney but the organizing group that marks up the items and forces you to buy the package.

Well, I'm not positive since I do not have first hand experience (thank goodness my kids are not on teams that would be 'thrilled' to be 'chosen' for an overpriced vacation)...However, I was informed that the cheerleader in question would NOT BE ALLOWED to cheer in the event if they did not buy the package. So I believe it was not an outside agency- but Disney's rule that all the team participants must buy the 'group package' that they were offered.

Maybe someone on here has first hand experience that can clarify.

 

[chartle]

Well, I'm not positive since I do not have first hand experience (thank goodness my kids are not on teams that would be 'thrilled' to be 'chosen' for an overpriced vacation)...However, I was informed that the cheerleader in question would NOT BE ALLOWED to cheer in the event if they did not buy the package. So I believe it was not an outside agency- but Disney's rule that all the team participants must buy the 'group package' that they were offered.

Maybe someone on here has first hand experience that can clarify.

Not sure why.

Maybe we are thinking of two different types of activities. what I'm talking about is a something like Cheer USA, just picking a name, has a competition in WDW. Cheer USA is running the event and has the contract with Disney. Cheer USA decides what you have to buy, the cost and how the event is run.

Are you maybe thinking about the Xmas parade where they ask group to come perform in the parade?

I'll try to find the thread where I found those costs and what kind of event it was.