On Jan. 13, Mark Harting from Music Travel Consultants presented tentative plans for the Marching Band’s trip to participate in the 2015 Hollywood Christmas Parade. Music Travel Consultants specializes in arranging travel for bands and has worked with BHSN in the past, most recently organizing the trip to NY and Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2012.
The plans are not yet finalized, as they will depend on what our group wants and how many people decide to go. For example, we could cut costs by coming back a day earlier or skipping an outing. Costs will also depend on, among other things, the number of people per room and the number of buses we need to rent. However, it looks like the total will be roughly $1600 per person for 5 per hotel room. This includes airfare, hotel, meals, excursions, and the parade’s fees. Some fundraising events will be offered, hopefully directly benefiting those who participate. Watch for more information about this over the coming months, and talk to Erin Wager-Miller if you’d like to be on the organizing committee or have ideas.
The proposed itinerary sounds like lots of fun! Departure will be the morning of Nov. 27, arriving in LA around noon. Lunch will be at the Farmer’s Market, followed by a city bus tour, and dinner at the hotel (Embassy Suites). The next day, there will be some rehearsal time, a visit to Universal Studios, and dinner, DJ, and dancing with the other bands in the parade. On Sunday, the group will tour the haunted(?) Queen Mary and hang out at the Santa Monica Pier. The parade will take place after dark and feature 12 bands, floats, and celebrities. (I believe it’s televised but only locally.) On Monday, it’ll be Disneyland and California Adventures all day. Dec. 1 will be the flight home.
A kick-off meeting, at which MTC will go over everything again, will be announced soon. We’ll see how many people sign up to go by Spring Break, then make the final decision about whether the trip will happen. So think about it and start saving money! If you’ve not been a part of marching band before, talk to any past member and they’ll tell you it’s a lot of work but even more fun. Join next year’s band (sign up this spring) and you’ll have the opportunity to go on this fabulous trip as well! (Note that you can be in marching band and not go on the trip too. It’s an individual decision.)
You can download a pdf of the Jan. 13 presentation here.
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