TOURNAMENT OF ROSES PARADE
UPDATE #5
APRIL 28, 2007
"DISNEY, DEADLINES, AND PROJECTED COSTS"
First I wish to thank all who were involved with our recent Disney trip for a very enjoyable adventure. Even though there were some minor bumps in the road, it all came off basically with no major problems. The students are to be congratulated for the manner in which they handled the backstage Disney aspect of the trip and for their parade performance on Friday night. I hope all who were with us enjoyed the beautiful weather and all that a Disney trip has to offer.
Kudos to bus #2 for the way they handled the unfortunate situation with the cleaning of their bus. If you did not know, bus #2 did not clean their bus as instructed after the trip and thus were required to stay one afternoon and assist the hospitality and uniform parents with all the final trip cleanings and storage. Bus #2 came in, did what was asked with no complaining as they realized they should have done the proper thing and cleaned their bus. From this incident we all learn character education and hopefully they have learned their lesson about how we travel and the high expectations that I have.
NOW ONWARD AND UPWARD!!
DEADLINES
As previously mentioned, we have MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR deadlines approaching. I will review the upcoming deadlines as some are very important as you might lose an event you have shown interest in while on this trip.
1. MONTHLY DEPOSITS---please continue to meet. Some have gotten behind due to the Disney experience but we now have a deposit of $300.00 per person due to Norman Travel on May 15, 2007. This is for all expenses of the trip. If you have been sending your normal $125.00 monthly deposit, you are in good shape. If you have missed a month, please forward what is needed in May so that we can continue to reserve a spot for you. The closer we get to the trip, the deposits might increase due to payments that we must pay to Norman Travel so that airline seats, hotel, bus transportation, etc. can still be reserved.
2. QUEEN MARY, PARADE TICKETS, & PARKING PERMITS--we have agreed to reserve many things for those who will not be in the "official" party. Many of you have asked on submitted forms for me to hold parade/QM dinner tickets. I have done that. I have also made available to you parking permits on the morning of the parade to hopefully make your life a little easier once you get into Pasadena.
For me to continue to hold these things for you, I will need payment by May 1, 2007. This has been stated in every newsletter from the very beginning. Many of you have reserved in excess of 8-10 extra parade/QM dinner reservations. Please submit as needed for me to continue to hold these for you. If you do not, then I will release to others who are on a waiting list for tickets for these events.
To refresh your memory.........parade tickets are $70.00 each.........QM dinner tickets are $60.00 each.........and parade parking permits are $30.00 each.
Please make your checks payable to the Broughton Band Boosters and mark on the ENVELOPE and the CHECK what it is for.
If I hear nothing from you then I will just release all the things I am presently holding.
3. AIRLINE RESERVATION--Norman Travel and myself have been gracious enough to allow all those in the "official" party to make your own air reservations. Some of you wish to visit family in the western USA before or after the trip. No problem with any of this. You also have until May 1, 2007 to submit to me your air plans. After that date, we will reserve a seat for you on our airplanes. Quite frankly the closer we get to the December departure date, the harder it is going to be for you to also find airlines that will have available seats through their frequent flyer programs. Please meet that deadline or airfare will be charged to you. I honestly think it will be very hard now to find what you are looking for if you have not already booked the seats.
As of this newsletter, I have airfare information from the following: Kline, Rassel, Greer, Iversen, Wilson, and Childress. Unless I hear from the rest of you, we will be booking you seats with us on our reserved airplanes.
WEBSITE UPDATE
Many thanks to Mr. Tom Rouillard, father of band members Alicia and Elliott, for his terrific work on our website. Please take some time and visit the sight at www.broughtonband.com and see what he has already done. It is still a work in progress and I know you will enjoy seeing the progress so far. A website is something I have wanted for a long time and I appreciate all of Mr. Rouillard's work so that all can see what the band does.
PROJECTED TRIP COSTS
Norman Travel and myself feel that we can finally release to you what we feel the costs of the trip will be. Please understand that over the next few months, gas prices and airfares could rise. Fuel surcharges are happening everywhere. Look at your local gas prices. This price has been released based on what we feel various parts of the trip will cost. If Universal Studios/Sea World come back with their prices for 2008 higher than what we project we will have to raise the trip cost. I hope we do not have to but want you to know this could occur.
NEEDLESS TO SAY, I AM THRILLED WITH ALL THAT NORMAN TRAVEL IS GIVING US!
For students MARCHING IN THE PARADE, the cost for each is stated below. This covers all transportation from Raleigh to Los Angeles and back, all meals (except lunch and dinner on January 2 at Universal Studios and lunch and dinner on January 3 at Sea World), lodging, all admissions, t-shirts, travel pullovers, etc. THIS IS EVERYTHING!
| QUAD (4 to a room) | TRIPLE (3 to a room) | DOUBLE (2 to a room) | SINGLE (1 to a room) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $,1575.00 per person | $1,645.00 per person | $1,785.00 per person | not available |
For those NOT MARCHING IN THE PARADE but a member of the "official" party, your cost is listed below. This includes EVERYTHING for you also as started above. There will be a few lunches that band members will get at various rehearsals sight and Bandfest that you will need to pay for. These box lunches/hamburger type lunches are provided by the TOR organization and only available to the marching members. Your cost will also be higher as you must have parade tickets, Bandfest tickets (the band performs), float visitation tickets (band members get in free), etc.
| QUAD (4 to a room) | TRIPLE (3 to a room) | DOUBLE (2 to a room) | SINGLE (1 to a room) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,750.00 per person | $1,820.00 per person | $1,960.00 per person | $2,375.00 per person |
As you begin to calculate your costs for the family, please remember that band members room with other band members. We are allowing 8th graders next year who will have an older sibling in the band the opportunity to march in the events and thus they will room with their parents. Many have chosen to do this and I am glad to give the entire family this opportunity.
If you are making your own air reservations (that information is due to me by May 1, 2007), then your cost per person will drop by $400.00. Thus a quad for band members would be $1,175.00, a triple would be $1,300.00, and so forth and so on.
We are continuing our push for additional financing to hopefully lower the cost for all band members. Presently, due to the work of many parents, we have taken in roughly $15,000.00 from the community. I will be using that money to help in lowering the band member costs where I can and not charge them for things like travel pullovers, t-shirts, etc. That is why the community donated the money. Many thanks to all who have assisted. Letters continue to go out weekly to community leaders, former band members and their families and now to all alumni of Broughton. If you have any other contacts you feel we should make, please feel free to let me know. We have not heard from 82% of our corporate grants and I look at that as a positive. They have not said they can not assist so hopefully over the next few months we will begin to hear something.
Considering we are moving so many people and it is the busiest time of the year for family holiday travelers and also the major college bowl season, I was very thrilled to get airfare for $400.00 per person. It is costing the Hawaii band over $700.00 a person and it is only three hours from Honolulu to the west coast. And the South Dakota Band which is chartering their own airplane is being hit with an air cost of $750.00 per person. So we are coming the furthest but have the cheapest air fare. I AM VERY PLEASED!
Everyone I have shared these prices with has been surprised how low we can keep this trip and still get all that we wish. My goal was to keep it all under $1,700.00 per student and we have done it.....and added an extra day in San Diego! My good friend who had the Tennessee band there last year had their cost at roughly $1,400.00 per student......................with less distance to travel and one less day. SO I am pretty pleased with this!
You will remember that when this adventure started, I had set a cost of roughly $2,000.00 per student so I AM STILL ONCE AGAIN VERY PLEASED!
TOURNAMENT OF ROSES PRESIDENT VISIT
As you already know, Mr. CL Keedy and his wife Adrienne will be visiting us from May 28-31, 2007. I realize that Monday, May 28 is Memorial Day Holiday but we will be having a BBQ dinner for the Keedys that evening at BHS from 6:00-8:00 PM. You will be expected to attend as this will be the only time you will have the chance to meet the President and hear what he has to say about TOR. We had hoped to have you come another night but since exams will be starting on Wednesday,
May 30, we can not have you at school on the evening of the 29th as you will need to study in preparation for your exams the next day.
There will be various events throughout the year where attendance will be mandatory as we prepare for TOR. This is the first mandatory event. So please mark your calendar so that you will know what is happening. We will be emailing you soon asking you to RSVP the number who will be attending the BBQ. More to follow!
LAST CONCERT
Our last Concert for the year will be on Thursday, May 3, 2007 at 7:30 PM. We hope that all the rising 9th graders who are presently getting this email will come join us as we salute our seniors in their last concert. A reception to follow and FREE FOOD!
FOOD CARDS
Our food card program has been a huge success and we will have them available for the concert. So bring those check books and help lower your TOR expenses. Cards will also be available over the summer. More information about that to follow.
BAND CAMP
Many have asked about summer activities. We will start our camp on Tuesday, August 14 at 9:00 AM in the band room. There will be no activities over the summer as I wish for all students to enjoy their time away from school. There will be plenty of time to rehearse and get ready for TOR!
More to follow on this also.
WOW---that was a lot of information! If you should have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Broughton. Thanks you for continued deposit payments as we continue to move forward with our plans for TOR 2008!
JHRICHARDSON