DATE: Friday May 17th, 2024 (Two-Day option: Fri-Sat May 17-18)

TIME: Leave Friday morning at 5am. Return time TBD

PAYMENTS: Online only. Link above. Payment plan below.

FULL PAYMENT DUE: March 1st, 2024

UNIVERSAL REHEARSALS: All participants must attend all after-school Universal rehearsals scheduled by chorus or band teacher.

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          TWO DAY OPTION: $450 for students/chaperones, ($480 for chaperones who prefer a double-occupany hotel room)

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  *If you have an annual pass, you will not make the March 1st payment  We need a front and back photo of each annual pass to send to the festival with the rest of our paperwork. Make sure to HAVE your Annual Pass on the trip!

  *Parents MUST be trip chaperones in order to see performances! The festival does not sell tickets to general park guests.

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FIELD TRIP QUALIFICATIONS

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The groups we plan to take to perform at the Universal Studios trip this year will be the following:

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Beginning Concert Band 

Int/Adv Concert Band

Chorus

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FRANKLIN RULE: Students must have all school fees fully paid before submitting any field trip form and/or payment. Any student who is delinquent in school payments will not be allowed to attend the field trip! Any student with excessive behavior infractions will be flagged by the Administration and not allowed to go.

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PAYMENT PLAN (Students/Chaperones $450):

First Deposit: November 1st - $100

Second Deposit: December 1st - $100

Third Deposit: January 1st - $100

Fourth Deposit: February 1st - $100

Fifth Deposit: March 1st - $50

 Students/Chaperones are booked 4 per room.

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Fifth Deposit: March 1st - $80

For chaperones who prefer a double-occupany room.

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The fee includes the following:

- Group Ensemble Performance in Music USA Festivals at Universal Orlando Resort

- Ensemble Adjudicated Performance: Rating or Competition

- On-Stage Clinic Post-Performance

- Recorded & Written Adjudicator Comments, including a Professional Recording of Ensemble Performance in Soundstage 33 at Universal Orlando Resort

- Festival Awards Ceremony, featuring Trophies & Awards for Ensemble Participants

- Liability Insurance Coverage for the school

- One (1) Two-Park, Two-Day, Park-to-Park Universal Orlando Admission Ticket, providing access to both Universal Studios Florida & Universal’s Islands of Adventure

- Coach bus fee for both days, including driver accommodations and gas

- [Two-Day option] One (1) Night Lodging at an Orlando-area Hotel (Check-In: 05/17 // Check-Out: 05/18/24

- Breakfast will be provided at the Hotel in the Morning

- Trip t-shirt

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PURPOSE

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The purpose of the trip is to reward the efforts and hard work of the music students for their achievements this year in class and on stage for the band and chorus concerts. The students will have the opportunity to see other school music performances at the Music USA Festival, attend the aware ceremony, and then enjoy park rides at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios for the rest of the day. 

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DRESS CODE

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Students will wear their all-black concert attire on the bus on the way to Orlando. (Please see Syllabus for appropriate concert attire). Students should have their park outfit (trip t-shirt, khaki shorts/jeans, sneakers, protective sun gear) in an extra bag.

All students will be given a Franklin Academy Music Universal Studios 2022 field trip shirt for use at the park. The students will be able to keep the shirts after the trip.

     Field trip t-shirts may not be cut, modified, or altered in any way.

     Shorts must end at the knee.

     Shorts, jeans, and sneakers must be solid in color and have no words, logos, gang symbols, etc.

     Jeans may not be ripped or have holes in them.  

     Sandals are not allowed in the park.

Students will have time in a bathroom to change before entering the park after the performances.

All belongings will be left on or under the buses while visiting the parks. No one will have access to the buses until 9:00 pm when we meet at the bus terminals. 

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BUS RULES

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Students will be placed onto either the Girls or Boys bus. Any bus with girls and boys together will have the front of the bus for boys and the back of the bus for girls separated by a row of parent chaperones in accordance with administration policy. Students are to remain on their best behavior on the bus. "Hand-checks" will be made sporadically. Unfortunately, the bus company does NOT allow FOOD or DRINKS on the bus.

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HOTEL RULES

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Chaperones will be responsible for all KEYS and will open rooms for the students upon arrival at the hotel. "Lights Out" will be at 10:30pm. At "Lights Out," assigned chaperones will take attendance and inspect the rooms for security purposes. You may be required to open your bags and cases during inspection time for chaperones to inspect for specific items on their checklist. After inspection, the chaperone will tape up the door with painter's tape. Any tape that was removed over night indicating that someone left the room without permission will warrant a referral when we get back to school. Students will have chaperone contact information and be able to message the teachers on Remind101 if needed. Any emergencies during the hotel rest period will require a call to the hotel front desk FIRST, and then to Remind101 and chaperone.

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PERCUSSION/EQUIPMENT

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All percussionists and Tri-M members attending the trip are to meet an hour before the departure time to assist with moving percussion instruments and equipment to the buses. Percussionists and Tri-M members will need to be there at 5am. 

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MEALS 

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Meals are not purchased under our payment plan to the parks. All trip participants will be required to have enough money for their meals on the trip. For the 2-Day trip, breakfast is provided by the hotel at 7am.

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COMMUNICATION DURING TRIP

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All students, staff, and chaperones are required to join the Franklin Universal Trip Remind101 group. Students will not be allowed to enter the bus until they are signed up on the Remind101. If a student does not have a phone, they need to choose a phone buddy that they will be with the entire trip. Mr. Saenz (band) or Mr. Santiago (chorus) needs to be notified of any phone buddy pairs!     

         

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PARENT PICKUPS

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Students may be picked up by their parent/guardian or previously approved adult from the bus terminals at 7:00 pm. The parent/guardian or approved adult must CHECK IN with a teacher or staff chaperone at the bus terminal before the student is to be released. The student will not be released from the bus terminals to walk all the way to the car parking lot by themselves. Students cannot be picked up by parents before 7:00 pm as this will require a chaperone to walk the student to the bus terminals and use 30 or more minutes of their own time to do so. 

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EMERGENCIES & PARK COMMUNICATION 

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Each parent chaperone must bring a draw-string bag to hold some basic medical materials. Each chaperone will be equipped with band-aids, gauze, alcohol wipes, feminine products, some basic medication, and the assigned medication and equipment needed by any students they are chaperoning (like allergy medication, epi-pens, snacks for diabetics etc). 

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We use the Remind101 app for notifications from the director throughout the day. 

Middle School chaperones must stay with their student group throughout the day. High school groups are permitted to roam the parks without a chaperone, but must keep in regular contact with their chaperone. An hourly updated is recommended. 

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Parent chaperones must have fully charged phones for the trip in order to receive the "head towards the buses" text an hour before we leave the park. We recommend bringing a fully-charged portable charger just in case.

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In the case of an emergency, it is important that all trip participants follow these steps:

#1. Locate and notify a PARK ATTENDANT of the emergency. Request that they call for park security if needed.

#2. Call your chaperone and notify them of the emergency after the park personnel have started handling the situation. 

#3. The chaperone will call Mr. Saenz to notify me of the situation. A Remind101 message is also fine if the emergency doesn't require me to run across the park to your location. 

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CHAPERONE ELIGIBILITY

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All Franklin Academy MUSIC parents are eligible to attend as chaperones on the trip as long as the following requirements have been met ahead of time:

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              #1 - Child must be in band or chorus class

              #2 - Parent and child must pay the Full Trip Fee by the deadline given

              #3 - Child may not be delinquent in any school payments or have excessive behavior infractions.

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****Parents get ALL Service Hours for chaperoning!

Parents do not need to be fingerprinted or cleared with the county, but must be "Raptored"(cleared at the front office at least the day before the trip)

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Chaperones for this trip can be any MS or HS parent, but we will only be taking enough chaperones for the amount of MS student groups who need supervising. This means that any chaperone chosen must know that they will be supervising a MS group in the theme park. HS students will not be chaperoned in the theme park as HS students are allowed to roam the park freely with their student groups.

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Chaperones have the option to ride the field trip bus with the kids and teachers, or drive yourselves and meet us up there in Orlando. Just make sure to indicate your preference on the Interest Form.

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NON-CHAPERONE PARENTS

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We do NOT take any non-chaperone parents on this trip. Only trip chaperones are permitted into the Music USA Festival building to see the performances. Any parent/family member who wishes to attend the parks separately that day may drive up separately, pay regular price for their own park tickets, and enjoy the parks with ONLY their child who is a participant, and only with their child. Non-chaperone parents may not chaperone another child(ren) under any circumstances, even if the other parent approves. Non-chaperone parents unfortunately will NOT be able to see the performances since Music USA Festivals only sells show tickets to schools through field trip packages, they do not sell show tickets outside of the field trip packages to parents. Music USA Festivals does not accept any form of payments from parents at any capacity. In order to see the performances, you will have to attend as a chaperone. This is their rule, not the the school or music program's rule.

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ANNUAL PASS HOLDERS

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Students and Chaperones who have a CURRENT Universal Annual Park Pass will not pay the January Payment ($60 for students, $40 for parents). Any trip participant with a Universal Annual Pass must provide a Front and Back photo of the current annual pass to the teacher or bring it in to be scanned by the teacher. These need to be sent to Universal with our paperwork. Any trip participant with an annual pass must also BRING the pass with them on the trip. 

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CANCELLATIONS

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All payments made to Franklin Academy are FINAL and NON-REFUNDABLE. Refunds will not be made at the parent's request. Parents may request approval from Admin to have payments MOVED to other accounts for other trips and payments by emailing the business manager, but absolutely no refunds at the parent's request. The business manager reserves the right to deny the transfer of payments. Family and medical emergencies will not allow refunds. 

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If you need to cancel, the only way to get a refund would be to have another student take your place on the trip. Only after your replacement has made their full payment can you be refunded. If you can't find a replacement, a refund will not be provided.

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The music teachers and administrators reserve the right to remove students from a field trip for academic reasons, behavioral reasons, or ensemble balance reasons. If a teacher or administrator removes a student from the trip, a refund will be provided.

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