7 Swans Senior Trip 2007 was a success!

[7swans]

Just wanted to let everyone who participated in the planning of our trip that it was really a great experience for all of us!
This is the first time since we came home that I have had a minute to myself or I would have posted something sooner.

The students were so thankful , and expressed their appreciation again and again. That made the parts that were trying easy to overlook.
We had no major problems, and everyone made it back for curfew, and to each group meal on time!

We learned some valuable lessons for the future, I will write in more detail soon.
I just wanted to check in and say thanks again for all your input, the Disney knowledge I have gained from Mouse Owners helped to make our trip such a great one!
Here's a picture from our early MK entry for breakfast at Crystal Palace.
Chris

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/graciemagoun/DSCF4063.jpg

[kathyseb]

Glad to hear it was a success.

How many were on the trip? Looks like a large group.

Can't wait to read the details.

[administrator]

Great pic! I'm really glad it was a success. I took a youth choir there in '99 (there were about 30 of us), and we had fun, too.

[AZDVC]

I was just thinking about you and the Sr. trip and here was your thread!!
They look like a fun and nice bunch.
Can't wait for more details.
Patsy

[Colorado Belle]

So glad it all went well. Can't wait to hear the fun stories and see more pics!
Welcome back home!

[greenban]

Just wanted to let everyone who participated in the planning of our trip that it was really a great experience for all of us!
This is the first time since we came home that I have had a minute to myself or I would have posted something sooner.

The students were so thankful , and expressed their appreciation again and again. That made the parts that were trying easy to overlook.
We had no major problems, and everyone made it back for curfew, and to each group meal on time!

We learned some valuable lessons for the future, I will write in more detail soon.
I just wanted to check in and say thanks again for all your input, the Disney knowledge I have gained from Mouse Owners helped to make our trip such a great one!
Here's a picture from our early MK entry for breakfast at Crystal Palace.
Chris

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/graciemagoun/DSCF4063.jpg

Glad it went so well!

-Tony:drillserg

[AFMom]

Yay!
Great picture!

[shamrock6]

It's nice to hear you all had a great time. I would love to hear more about it.

[7swans]

Ha Ha!
I just realized I wrote the wrong year!
Oh my Gosh, I am still tired!
We came home last Tuesday arriving at the School at about 10:30 pm.
The next day I felt as if I had been in a boxing match! I was sore all over and my had a colossal headache.

I came home from work yesterday to see a letter on the computer to next years class concerning that trip :faint:. Dh is a class advisor for the class of 2009. It seems to soon to me to start all over, but here we go again!

Many of the 35 students drank deeply of the Disney Kool-Aid, a couple of them are planning to work there. What nice kids they all were! Aside from a bit too much noise at the pool on one occasion, we had no issues with behaviour, I witnessed many in our group interacting positively with other park guests.
I was proud of them as many of you suggested I would be!

I gave them tip sheets for each park, one side had not to be missed attractions, dining suggestions, times etc, the other side had the hunts on it. A couple of the groups of girls really got into the hunts, leading them to ask the cast members questions, which enhanced their experience. For one of the ToT questions they asked a couple of different cast members, the second of which took them straight to one of the elevators and let the ride again with no wait in line! They really enjoyed this extra attention. That group even found answers to question that were outdated! They split at least $70.00 or $80.00 of prize $ between 3 girls.
We awarded $ 50.00 or $60.00 per day in prize $.

I need to think about how to rework the hunts to get more of them to participate, maybe multiple choice answers, or separate reward categories of some sort. I will need to give that some thought. They did make use of the tip sheets, the groups who toured the parks with someone who knew their way around had a real advantage over those relying on maps to locate attractions. We schooled them all in the use of fast passes on day one at AK. They learned their lesson quickly and sought out fast pass machines like pros!

Commencement was this past Sunday. DH was in charge of the slide show, we had baby pictures of the students fade into their senior picture, pictures from prom & from the trip. It is a nice addition to the ceremonies, one of the benefits of having a small graduating class.

All of our kids are gone from the house this week, they will return on Friday & Saturday, my plans are to clean the house like a crazy women , DS"s graduation party is on the horizon. Additional responsibilities at my workplace coupled with preparations for the trip have left my house looking pretty sad! The dogs don't seem to quit shedding just because I am busy!

I will add to this as I can, I need to start cleaning before my morning coffee wears off!

Here's an all chaperon photo from Splash Mountain!

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/graciemagoun/DSCF4130.jpg

[AFMom]

What an awesome trip you prepared for them! I'm going to remember the tip sheets idea the next time someone I know is going for the first time (if we aren't with them).
Yeah - I can imagine thinking about next year's trip is a bit much right now!

[tomandrobin]

Glad you had a great trip and the kids had a fun time!

Good looking group of kids! :thumbsup:

[carolina_yankee]

Thanks for posting - I was just thinking that we should be hearing an update (assuming you survived, of course!). It's a real gift to be able to organize so many kids in such a way that everyone has fun. Congratulations!

Dirk

[7swans]

Thursday the 29th;
Our Charter Bus arrived at the school @ 5:15, we had the students drop of their checked bags the night before, we searched them and put the Magical Express tags on that night , so they were ready to go in the morning.
By 5:45 all the bags and students were on board save one. He had been supposed to pick up one of the other students, and had not shown up. We attempted to reach him by phone in every way we could think of without success.
We felt terrible about it, but we had to leave his luggage at the school, and depart for the airport @ 5:50.
We continued to try to contact our missing person& finally he called us when we were about 1/2 way to the airport, his phone battery died before we could tell him that his luggage was still at the school.
He met us at the airport just as we were finishing up checking in. One of our chaperone's footed the bill for Fed Exing his bag down to POFQ. He had to make due with the contents of his carry on for a couple of days though.
We had positioned chaperone's at various locations to guide the students through check-in & security, many of them were flying for the first time, and a couple were really nervous. Every thing went smoothly. Our Southwest flight took off right on time at 8:35. It was quite a bumpy ride in spite of clear skies.
We landed a few minutes early, a cheer went up from our group!

Kathy& I went off directly to meet up with our American Luxury Transportation van who took us to Sam's Club to get snacks for the students rooms. The rest of our group took ME to the hotel.
Some of you may remember I was worried about if our ride would show up, so I was greatly relieved to see him with a sign that was supposed to be my name ( it was badly misspelled!)
We had used Sam's club's click & pull service, so they had our order ready to go when we arrived.
It was a lot of stuff! we worked up a good sweat loading our items into the van, but we managed to accomplish our stop within the allotted 1/2 an hour time frame. We paid $100.00 for this service including the tip.

We arrived at Port Orleans French Quarter in time to see our students getting on the Downtown Disney bus. They had checked their carry ons at the desk and headed off to get some lunch with the rest of the chaperones,& my DH as their guide.

Kathy's DH stayed with us , all but 3 of our rooms were ready, so we headed off to separate the snacks & such into the rooms.

This took quite a bit of time & considerable effort, as there were 15 total rooms and a lot of snacks and water & milk to be disbursed. By 4 pm we told the students that they could return to check out thier rooms and swim if they liked. They had the opion of going back to Disney Quest or heading to Epcot, which had Extra Magic hours that night.

Some of the other chaperone's came back to the hotel, DH rejoined us & we finally got to have something to eat. My smoothie I had consumed at the airport at 7 am was long since used up. It was around 5 pm when we arrived a t Raglan Road, I had smelled Its not The Bleeding Chowder on our last trip and knew that is what I wanted, it did not disappoint!
We all enjoyed our meals, after which we went to Epcot, since most of the students had headed there.
It was pretty Crowed at Epcot (EMH) we watched Off Kilter for a while and made funny e-mails of ourselves in Mexico.
We decided to watch Illuminations the next day as we would be there again and it would be less crowed.
Many of the students did the same, and we filled up the bus on the way back to the resort.
Curfew was midnight, many of the students stayed in the pool till the last minute.
I am glad we had the security guard. The students saw him every night, I know I slept better knowing he was there.
The first day went pretty well over all. I was worn out already!
To be continued!

[Colorado Belle]

So you decided to hire the security guard? would you do it again? Thinking it must have let you sleep better, knowing you didn't have to get up to check the halls and rooms at night!

Another question: I think if I were responsible for such a large group that instead of getting a van for groceries at $100+ that I would have rented a car, used it for the groceries but also kept it at the resort, just in case....When DD was little, I kinda liked having the ability to go out and buy a perscription or take her to a clinic is something came up instead of doing a 911 or in-house doc. I think a rental might have been had for less than $100...and as long as you kept the keys safely hidden from the kids (:lmbo:) I think it might have served you well. So is that something you might recommend to other intrepid chaperones?

In the 'there's always one' category, glad the kid who missed the bus made it...and how nice that someone paid to have his luggage sent down. Not sure if in today's world they would do it, but in the old days, if this happened, the airline (especially SWA) might consider sending it down on the next flight is his parents could have gotten it to the airport. I'm thinking it might be more difficult with current security though. Hope he packed his swimtrunks in his carryon!

Glad you finally got yourself something to eat....that was a LONG day for everyone, and I can't wait to hear more!

[JimP]

Let's see...

Strike one: He was late
Strike two: He didn't charge his cell phone

Looks like a close call to me... but he also seems to have similar habits to one my girls.

/Jim

[7swans]

So you decided to hire the security guard? would you do it again? Thinking it must have let you sleep better, knowing you didn't have to get up to check the halls and rooms at night!

Another question: I think if I were responsible for such a large group that instead of getting a van for groceries at $100+ that I would have rented a car, used it for the groceries but also kept it at the resort, just in case....When DD was little, I kinda liked having the ability to go out and buy a perscription or take her to a clinic is something came up instead of doing a 911 or in-house doc. I think a rental might have been had for less than $100...and as long as you kept the keys safely hidden from the kids (:lmbo:) I think it might have served you well. So is that something you might recommend to other intrepid chaperones?

In the 'there's always one' category, glad the kid who missed the bus made it...and how nice that someone paid to have his luggage sent down. Not sure if in today's world they would do it, but in the old days, if this happened, the airline (especially SWA) might consider sending it down on the next flight is his parents could have gotten it to the airport. I'm thinking it might be more difficult with current security though. Hope he packed his swimtrunks in his carryon!

Glad you finally got yourself something to eat....that was a LONG day for everyone, and I can't wait to hear more!

Yes Yes Yes on the security guard question!
He was a visible deterrent to mischief simply by being visible at the end of the day:drillserg. I don't sleep well away from home anyway, I don't think I would have relaxed much at all if I had not known he was out there.

I had wanted to rent a car too, but we piddled around about making up our minds and the good deals were gone. We also had a ton of stuff, 11 cases of water 12 gallons of milk, and boxes upon boxes of snacks. We could not have fit all that stuff in a car, we pretty much filled up the extra large van. Additionally, and this was something I had not considered, he knew where to go, I don't think it would have been easy for Kathy & me to find that place, I would have hated to be lost driving around on the first day!

I am pretty sure none of the airlines will take a bag without a passenger these days. I was glad I had instructed them to put a change of clothes & a swimsuit in their carry on , just in case.

I was so hungry by the time we sat down to eat that I was feeling quite faint. I know it was early, but we were almost the only people in Raglan Road when we were there. I wish I had a bowl of that chowder right now!:drool:

[7swans]

Let's see...

Strike one: He was late
Strike two: He didn't charge his cell phone

Looks like a close call to me... but he also seems to have similar habits to one my girls.

/Jim

I am so glad he made it, he had a great time on the trip. When we landed back in Cleveland, he groaned and said "Ooooh I hate my life again"
He was not at commencement, I am not sure why.

[JimP]

I am so glad he made it, he had a great time on the trip. When we landed back in Cleveland, he groaned and said "Ooooh I hate my life again"
He was not at commencement, I am not sure why.

It does make you reflect doesn't it?

/Jim

[2nd Star]

Great TR,can't wait to hear the rest. Wow! security guard...we never had one when I went in HS. Maybe they didn't think they needed one for us marching band geeks :D

[TW1]

Congratulations on your trip. Your planning and questioning really paid off.

So glad you didn't need the ankle bracelets.

[tinkerbella's mom]

Chris
Glad your trip was a succes. Reminds me of my senior trip many moons ago, so long ago that we had 3 chaperones to 25 kids, no security guard, and the Farrah Fawcett hairstyle was on 85% of the girls heads. It is wonderful to hear to hear that such a large group of kids had fun and behaved. Great that your hard work, planning, etc. payed of.

[7swans]

Friday 30th morning
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/graciemagoun/DSCF3812.jpg
Fountain meeting

We got an early start, everyone met at the courtyard fountain and we were headed to the bus stop by 8:00 am. We gave the students $10.00 dining cards and $6.00 Disney Dollars, and advised them to try & eat lunch before noon as we had a 4:00 pm dinner planned at Biergarten.

We had our first incidence of a lost park pass at the turnstiles ay AK, to anyone else who heads up a student group, write down your ticket numbers and assign them to students ahead of time, write their names on the cards. It would have been much easier to do ahead of time I assure you! I wish I could say this was the only time this problem plagued us.

I gave them a mini touring plan, advising them;

Recommended Touring Plan1) Send someone for fastpasses for Expedition Everest 2) When they get back, Ride the Safari in Africa 6) Walk the Maharaja Jungle Trek 7) See Flights of Wonder 8) Ride Kali River Rapids 3) Walk the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail 4) See Its Tough to be a Bug 5) Ride Expedition Everest, And try to work in a show.

They needed to leave AK by 1:00 pm if they planned to shower before heading to Epcot. They had the option of staying at AK till 2:30, if they wanted to head straight to Epcot.

This was the earliest DH and I had ever been on the Safari, we saw many more animals up & about than we had in the past, a rhino was super close to us, some of the kids said their truck had to stop because a rhino was in the way!
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/graciemagoun/DSCF3841.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/graciemagoun/DSCF3824.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/graciemagoun/DSCF3844.jpg

There were far fewer gorillas on the Jungle Trek than there were in 2006.

I finally got a chance to see the Pangani Trail, and really enjoyed it. I don’t know how I missed it on our first 3 AK visits. I could happily hang out there for a long time.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/graciemagoun/DSCF3874.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/graciemagoun/DSCF3888.jpg

Kathy is not a thrill ride aficionado, but gave Everest a try & really enjoyed it. The students of course loved it.
They took to the fast passes like ducks to water, that combined with our early arrival to the park meant they accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. Some of them were asking to head back to the hotel for a swim by 11:30. This was a cause for debate among the chaperones, DH felt like we should make them stay in the parks. We compromised and headed back to POFQ with some of the students at around 12:15. A few decided to stay at AK till it was time to head to Epcot. It was pretty hot by the time we left.