August 23, 2016 | 5:26 p.m. – posted by Travis Dye

Four Seasons Tours is excited to welcome you to Festival Disney and we truly look forward to hosting your group at this unique music festival.

As we draw closer to your festival dates, we will continue providing periodic updates to assist in your preparations for your group’s magical festival experience.

As a starting guideline, Disney would like to provide the following timeline of items to remember for your trip:

(As Soon as Possible) Work with Four Seasons Tours to book transportation to and from Orlando, hotel accommodations and bus transportation within the Central Florida area.

■ *Reminder:  Groups must provide their own bus transportation to and from the performance and award ceremony locations. Disney Transportation may not be used to attend festival activities due to backstage arrival locations, instrument transport, etc.

(By Fall) Discuss Walt Disney World meal options and potential catered group functions for your group with Four Seasons Tours.
■ Disney Youth Programs Meal Coupons and Disney Dining Cards are available to assist groups with dining at Disney Resorts, Theme Parks and Downtown Disney.
■ Also available are exclusive catered group functions such as a Theme Park breakfast including a morning attraction experience and dinner or dessert options in reserved viewing areas for Illuminations fireworks or Fantasmic nighttime spectacular.
■ Your Four Seasons Tours can be a resource for additional details on these options.
(catered events are subject to venue availability and minimum # of participants)

(By Fall) Review the NEW National Core Arts Standards document for Festival Disney to support your lesson planning
■ Festival Disney and Disney Performing Arts now have documents available for each program that Disney offers where teachers, administrators, and parents can see how a musical experience at the Walt Disney World Resort can guide lesson plans before, during, and after the trip.
■ Additionally, the National Core Arts Standards were recently found by The College Board to correlate to many of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics.  Any Common Core standards that have a strong alignment to the National Core Arts Standards covered by a Disney Performing Arts experience have been identified as well.
■ Click here to view the National Core Arts Standards document for Festival Disney. 

(By Late Fall) Begin planning your festival musical selections
Disney encourages you to select appropriate graded music that challenges the ensemble.
■ Be sure to determine the musical selections early enough so you have ample time to secure the required three (3) original published scores for each selection being performed.
*Reminder: Photocopies are not permitted unless accompanied by a written letter from the publisher. Failure to follow these guidelines and to have proper documentation by the scheduled festival performance time may result in not being allowed to perform selections that may be in question.

(Approx. 2 months before the trip) Remember to get necessary permission and medical release forms
■ Each school district is different when it comes to permission and medical forms, but we definitely wanted to remind you of this important step in any school group trip.

(Approx. 6 weeks from the festival dates) You will receive the Director Handbook and festival schedule
■ The handbook will include additional details, maps, and festival forms for you to submit.
■ At this time, Disney strongly encourage you to quickly work with your Four Seasons Tours rep to finalize your itinerary and ensure all local transportation and meals are covered for the group.

(4 weeks from the festival dates) Submit your Festival Forms
■ The Festival Forms in the handbook will include “Group Travel Info” for you to provide specific travel details and contact information and “Ensemble Performance Info” where you can provide specific details for each of your performing ensembles as well as selections to be performed and soloists being featured.
■ It is very important for us to receive these forms 4 weeks in advance so Disney can properly plan for your performance and be able to contact you to confirm details in a timely manner.  

(Approx. 2-3 weeks from the festival dates) A Festival Disney Coordinator will call you to confirm final details
■ During this call we will briefly discuss all aspects of your upcoming festival participation to ensure details are taken care of so you and your students will have a magical festival experience.

(Days before your trip) Review the Director’s Checklist to remind you of last minute items to bring
■ A Director’s Checklist will be included in the Handbook to help remind you of items to pack for the trip.

(Once you arrive at the Walt Disney World Resort) Disney invites you to enjoy everything our world-class Theme Parks have to offer and get the most out of our “Music Festival with Character”

We hope this timeline will assist in guiding you through the festival preparations so you can avoid last minute challenges due to items being forgotten.

Again, we look forward to hosting your group at Festival Disney and Disney are hard at work making preparations for your trip. If you have any questions, please contact your Four Seasons Tours Rep for assistance.