Magic Music Days?

[dancin Disney style]

Has anyone heard of this program?
My kids will be participating in it this summer and we have just found out that even though we have paid a fee to WDW(we are providing entertainment to WDW guest) we will still require park admission. Also, we are attending a convention at CSR that has sold us 4 day hopper passes, we don't want to waste one of our admissions, so we were wondering if there was a way to upgrade the convention passes to 5 or 6 day hoppers?

If anyone can provide info it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

I was a part of this when I was in high school. Can't help you w/ your questions but will tell you it ROCKED singing in WDW. We sang in Fantasyland and DTD. It was also awesome getting to be "backstage" at WDW.

 

[snyderla]

My son and his High School Choir performed last year, but DH & I have AP's, so I can't really answer the convention pass upgrade question. I believe I know someone who can though. I was planning a family reunion for this year and we considered convention passes for that, I spoke with a CM at Group Services. I can give you his email address if you PM me.

Lori

 

[scanne]

In Feb. 2004 I took a group of students to WDW for Magic Music Days. What type of "fee" to WDW are you talking about? When I ran the trip, I offered the parents the option of purchasing park tickets, but never was I told of a fee for parents attending. Basically, if you're not a chaperone you have to have your own paid admission to the park.

Also, I'm confused about the other part of your post regarding the convention. Is the convention part of Magic Music Days or is it entirely separate? If it is NOT park of MMD's, I'd call the planner of the convention and ask about adding days to your tickets.

Hope I was some help.

 

[dancin Disney style]

snyderla-- I sent you a PM, it's my first one(I'm new). Did you get it?

Scanne-- Sorry I didn't explain very well what were doing. The fee was for the participants to attend an orientation . MMD requires 1 chaperone for every 5 participants and the chaperones had to pay as well. Technically the convention is nothing to do with MMD, but our kids are dancers and the convention is a dance competition. So we have combined the 2 events. Originally the kids were to be performing(MMD) at DTD, but they informed us that the stage is now unsafe. So, they are moving us to a stage inside one of the parks. The morning for MMD we have to attend a convention related event until approx. 11 am. Then the kids need a couple of hours of prep time before they perform so, we lose a whole day of our passes if we can't upgrade to a 5 day pass. Basically we're unhappy about MMD giving us this info so late in the game, had we known before we bought passes through the convention we would have bought them from somewhere else. I guess really I'm hoping to find out if we can upgrade the passes to cover this extra day before I get, I'm trying to have all expenses covered before departure.
Thanks for your help.

 

[dizanimator]

My highschool choir went in may of 1998. We performed in Future World at EPCOT on the stage near the Imagination pavilion. The only bad part of performing was the black choir robes we wore while onstage for the performance. I don't know very much about the passes for Magic Music Days because I had an annual pass that year. (I'm sure I had an annual pass because I remember that it wasn't too long after APs had to use biometerics and the front gates of EPCOT HATED to let me in. I almost always had to pull a photo ID to get in the park. ) Also I had a chaperone that didn't always show up when we were supposed to check in. There was still some charge for me to participate and get the shirt and pin, but it was less than most other people paid because I had park admission. It really was a fun experience and I want my cousin to be on a Magic Music Days trip so I can beg and plead to please let me be a chaperone. I know a lot of what NOT to do from when I was in school, so I think I would be a very good chaperone.

 

[indigoxtreme]

Call guest relations at WDW and ask if you can upgrade your pases and tell them the reason why this is needed, the unexpected conference etc. MMD are great my son and his high school band marched in the afternoon paraded at MK in 2002 and we had a wonderful time.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Thanks for all the input directly about MMD, it's sounds like a better experience than I was thinking.
As far as the passes go it now is starting to sound like we will need all 4 days for the competition it self. I'm extremely unhappy about that because this will be my younger childs first trip to WDW and she partially believes in all the characters. Right now I'm wishing I could get out of this trip and book my own trip for the end of August(bonus meal plan would be really nice). I've got to try to remember how magical this will be for our little one, regardless of how much more money it's going to cost me.

Sorry for the negativity, I need to vent. BIG TIME!!!!!!

 

[Dancemom03]

Hope this is right - it's my first post...
My teen has done MMD several times. IMHO you're really lucky not to be dancing on the DTD stage. It was nice to be able to sit down and watch them but we were about the only people who stopped to watch at DTD. Their performances in the MK were standing room only though (of course they had to be, there were no seats...) so they felt much better about themselves when finished. Unless they change it this year, you'll likely be dancing on the portable stage in front of Space Mountain. There aren't any seats but our girls thought it especially neat to be able to go behind the scenes in the park. As a parent those times are some of my favorites, second only to watching her performing on the MK's nearby Galaxy Theatre Stage with Starpower's Powerpak.
We even invited all the girls to end the evening one year with dinner at Crystal Place for DD's Birthday giving each girl a pooh beanie wearing a tshirt that had the date and "Dancing in Disney" along with all their names listed on the back. Every once in a while we run into a few of those girls at competitions and they still talk about it.
Pixie dust is in the air when you see your child perform on a wdw stage. I suspect, despite the stress now, it'll be a magical time for you too.
About the competition, while I don't know which one you're going for, we go every July for nationals and always plan to add extra days to the trip just for parks. Often competition schedules are such that we might not even see a park on dance days.
We've had no problem upgrading passes to longer ones but since most MMD and convention passes are purchased at a discount it could be more costly to upgrade to some other types of longer passes.

 

[dancin Disney style]

HI Dancemom03,
We will be attending Co. Dance at the CSR. Have you been to this one?
The package they sold us that included the park passes also included some competion related stuff, but it only really applies to the junior comp. My kids are in the senior comp. I actually could have purchased passes on my own with the same number of days for $25 dollars more per adult and $15 less for the child. At the time they made it sound like we would have to pay an extra $40 per person for admission to the comp. if we didn't buy the package from the comp., now that is not the case. We have been attending different national events for 13 years and this is the first time that I have felt ripped off. It seems like every week something changes that involves more money. I think I'm up to about $3000 and I'm not even there yet. It has never cost me so much money to go to nationals, I'm starting to feel sick. I guess I'm having one of those moments when you sit back at really analize this whole dance thing and think that it's crazy.

 

[momsgoofy]

Okay, DIS family....I give. What are Magic Music Days? As a parent of a musical child, band and choir, this is interesting to me. I tried to convince the band director what an honor it is to march at WDW, but he thinks not. Now, ya'll are talking about singing at WDW...his choir teacher might go for that...she is all about doing cool things for the kids and enriching the choir program in the district. So, can anyone give me more information...like who to contact, how you get to do this? Anything you might be able to share would be most appreciated. If you want, just send me a PM or if you prefer, post here.

Thanks so much!

 

[OklaDISNEYMom]

We were just there in May. Magic Music Days are just that---MAGICAL!!!!!

Our high School band marched at Magic Kingdom May 24th. The kids were grinning ear to ear when they passed us even tho it was almost 90 degrees. I got cold chills as I watched them come acoss the castle and start up Main Street.
They were treated to a little backstage magic and I know the performance will be one they will never forget!!!!! We were treated to Breakfast with the other performers for that day. They were told that they would be part of the cast for the day.

All I have to say is, if you have the oportunity to go---GO! You will not be sorry you did.

 

[Dancemom03]

Momsgoofy - MMD is a Disney Program. It is open to choral goups as well as dance, marching/band units, majorettes, and probably other performing units. It is coordinated thru WDW youth programs and often may arranged by a travel agent specializing in youth oriented activities. It depends upon how involved the studio/choral/band director or boosters org. chairperson wants to get. Many find it easier to have a TA do it, others call youth programs and handle it themselves. You can call and request a MMD packet from WDW and present it to your choral director. (If you'd like more details feel free to pm me or whatever. I'm still earning my ears here so I haven't a clue how to do that.)
It is by audition so the group needs to prepare a video submission for approval. There's a perception that they don't turn people away but I can attest that they do. One group I assisted was told the seniors would be accepted but the junior members would not. I have found that WDW will do whatever they can to assist groups to work out any issues and would offer an alternative to performing so that the experience can still be enjoyed if for some reason the audition tape was not what they were looking for.
The times we've danced in MMD programs have not been related to competitions or conventions but arranged just for the MMD experience although occassionally the dates overlapped for convienence.

Hi Disney Style...Co. dance is Starlight right? We've never done those, especially the convention as the studios dd has danced with all focused more on nationals. I do hear there's some really good master classes available there so it should be a terrific week for them.
Our summer's get spent at various Nationals, chosen based on how they did at each one's regional comp.
This will be our first easy summer in maybe 10 yrs. DD, soon 16, dropped group numbers to allow her to be more active at high school with chorus and drama there. She's still on board with her solos but it's so nice to have a bit of control over what she registers for now without the obligation and resulting guilt. Other DD, 4yrs, won't join company classes until Aug so I'm feeling like I got a reprieve of sorts for the summer.

ADA and Starpower, among others, do big Nationals in July in Orlando, hence we plan vacation for july each year. Starpower is always at the DTD Wyndham while others have been either at the Orlando convention ctr, Contemporary, or caribe royale. Starpower chooses powerpak members from top regional solos and those dancers, their elite if you will, are invited to study with the masters each day keeping full class schedules during Nationals. The culmination of Powerpak's week is a performance in the MK's Galaxy Theatre on the final day, normally on the last Saturday of July. It's rare for performers who aren't Disney cast to be allowed to use that stage making it seem extra magical.

None of us, even DH who makes every possible excuse to get out of a competition, would miss Starpower. If anyone's in WDW that last week of July drop by the Wyndham and prepare to be entertained and impressed. There's no charge to watch and you might even catch one of the coveted foam frisbees thrown during awards ceremonies and win a prize!