The GlenOak band led by Christopher Irwin takes on the challenge of a trip every other year. This year it happens to be Disney. The trip is filled with both fun and stress, especially for the band director.
The preparation for Disney must begin a year in advance.
“We start planning for a trip of this magnitude about one year prior. We have to look at potential dates with the administration and see the best time to go. We also have to prepare audition materials for Disney. We send them videos of recent performances and provide detailed photos of our uniforms. We have to wait several weeks to hear back from Disney to see if we are invited to perform.” Irwin said.
This trip may seem easy to plan, but there is a lot of preparation that goes into the trip that most don’t realize. For example, Irwin and the band have to prepare material for an audition to receive an invitation to go on this trip. Without an invitation, there is no trip. They also must give detailed information about uniforms and recent performances to see if they fit the “Disney standards.”
“Once we are invited to perform by Disney, we need to work on an itinerary and figure out traveling logistics. This can take weeks and we work closely with a travel company who specializes in school performance travel. The company will send us several options and cost estimates. We eventually work the itinerary until we are satisfied,” Irwin said.
Once the invitation is final, the school and band directors have to get together and figure out a good travel plan. The school has a travel company that handles most of the logistics of the itinerary and meets with the band directors to ensure a safe plan with an effective cost for the students.
These trips can be costly, so many fundraisers are held so students can raise money to put towards their trip payment.
“I believe we have held 6 fundraisers since taking the last performance trip in 2023,” Irwin said.
One hundred and fifty students will be going on this trip with the ratio of one staff/chaperone to 17 students. The help of the staff and chaperones allows for this trip to be successful and fun, filled with a low amount of, if not any, stress.
The 24-25 trip will be the first year the band travels by plane. In previous years, they had taken buses which took much longer and caused more complications. Traveling by plane can be easier but also more complicated due to security, tickets, checking in luggage, collecting the luggage, layovers, etc.
“It should definitely be shorter. When we traveled in 2023, we took charter buses and it was about 18 hours to Florida. On the way back, it was around 22-23 hours because of traffic,” Irwin said.
The Disney trip with the Glenoak band comes with a lot of meetings and preparations from the staff and students. However, the band members are looking forward to April 3-7 when they travel to Disney.