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Post by lemondude617 on Dec 4, 2019 11:41:53 GMT -6
If Bridgeland attending GN is true, then I’m in total admiration of the boldness of the staff. While they’re rising FAST, they have yet to make BOA regional finals. I don’t think they’ve even attended BOA SA!
I haven’t seen anything confirming their attendance, so I’m a bit dubious, but I really have no reason not to believe it. I really really want them to go and set an example for the rest of Houston!
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Post by supersound on Dec 4, 2019 12:14:54 GMT -6
Going to Grand Nationals is a great learning experience for the kids. Happy to see them make the trip, with all respect to Bridgeland it’s tough to take the national stage when you aren’t a top-dog ; kudos to them for putting themselves out there. Non-Finalist Texas bands are among my favorite group of attendees!! It's a rarity to get them up, and it's a treat for both them and us when they attend. Prosper 2017 is a great example; they learned SO MUCH from that trip to the national stage, and they made Semis that much deeper that year for the audience. Reminds me of when Whitesboro took the leap of faith and took a trip to Indianapolis. Wish we’d see more this.
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Post by LeanderMomma on Dec 6, 2019 17:22:19 GMT -6
It appears that Cedar Park will not attend 2020 GN after all.
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Post by supersound on Dec 6, 2019 23:13:09 GMT -6
Cedar Park is confirmed to not be attending.
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Post by TeamIndiana on Dec 11, 2019 12:32:25 GMT -6
It appears that Cedar Park will not attend 2020 GN after all. Bummer! What Texas groups are said to be attending?
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Post by principalagent on Dec 11, 2019 12:44:16 GMT -6
It appears that Cedar Park will not attend 2020 GN after all. Bummer! What Texas groups are said to be attending? Vista Ridge and Bridgeland are the only completely confirmed ones. Ronald Reagan is all but confirmed as well. I know one other band is all but confirmed but can't say who since it isn't entirely public. I think Texas gets three finalists, and maybe four or five depending on what rumors coalesce and which don't.
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Post by supersound on Dec 11, 2019 17:24:23 GMT -6
I bet Westwood makes the trip. And I don’t bet much
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Post by verysaxy on Dec 11, 2019 18:01:47 GMT -6
When is the last time LD Bell made the trip? Is there a reason they haven’t been the past few years?
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Post by Allohak on Dec 11, 2019 18:20:35 GMT -6
When is the last time LD Bell made the trip? Is there a reason they haven’t been the past few years? LDB last attended (and made finals) in 2013. I could have sworn it was more recent than that, but went back and looked at the lists. Time flies, I guess. As for why they stopped coming, I have no idea.
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Post by thewho on Dec 11, 2019 18:37:54 GMT -6
When is the last time LD Bell made the trip? Is there a reason they haven’t been the past few years? What Allohak said. They were also rebuilding for a bit a little after the GN appearance. It wasn't until recently that they began doing spectacular in BOA. Always treading the waters a bit at San Antonio, in that sense. I wouldn't be surprised if they're planning for another trip in the near future especially with the recent placing this past year.... but not this year at all. I've heard nothing in regards to that.
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Post by principalagent on Dec 11, 2019 19:09:59 GMT -6
Yeah, I think a low placement (for them) and losing Cartwright for a couple of seasons weren’t great for the program. Then shaky placements when they first got Cartwright back also probably didn’t help. Finally, Hurst isn’t a wealthy city by any means, so going six years in a row was probably hard on the program financially. But they’re clearly back on the right path (LOVED this year’s show) and hope they go! Soon!
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Post by propsquaddad on Dec 16, 2019 15:58:21 GMT -6
Going to GN is about a $400,000 trip for a Texas band.
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Post by paddy on Dec 16, 2019 16:27:51 GMT -6
Going to GN is about a $400,000 trip for a Texas band. Please show your work. Just trying to wrap my head around this as I have some experience running the budget for a band department.
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Post by WoodlandsMom4ever on Dec 16, 2019 16:33:28 GMT -6
Going to GN is about a $400,000 trip for a Texas band. Please show your work. Just trying to wrap my head around this as I have some experience running the budget for a band department. On a non Indy year we pay about $950 in band fee’s. This last year we paid $2200 for our band fee. So difference of $1250... times 325 students= $406,250.00 And I’m pretty sure our band is not the largest of the Texas bands.
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Post by Allohak on Dec 16, 2019 16:54:21 GMT -6
Please show your work. Just trying to wrap my head around this as I have some experience running the budget for a band department. On a non Indy year we pay about $950 in band fee’s. This last year we paid $2200 for our band fee. So difference of $1250... times 325 students= $406,250.00 And I’m pretty sure our band is not the largest of the Texas bands. Somebody isn't spending wisely if the trip is costing that much per student. Not saying that number isn't accurate, mind...
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Post by Samuel Culper on Dec 16, 2019 17:44:30 GMT -6
Those numbers are consistent with the handful of Texas bands that I have personal knowledge of their GNats fees.
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Post by WoodlandsMom4ever on Dec 16, 2019 18:33:25 GMT -6
There isn’t a lot of wiggle room in the travel that schools can try to negotiate any better prices. The hotels have to be booked through BOA. The flights- there are only a handful of airlines that will work with large groups for chartered flights. So the flexible/negotiable spots are charter busses to the airport vs parents dropping off... and the travel expenses for the trucks and drivers that have to be paid.
Then the props can be an expense that fluctuate...but the travel expenses aren’t something the bands have full control over.
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Post by paddy on Dec 16, 2019 19:02:44 GMT -6
On a non Indy year we pay about $950 in band fee’s. This last year we paid $2200 for our band fee. So difference of $1250... times 325 students= $406,250.00 And I’m pretty sure our band is not the largest of the Texas bands. Somebody isn't spending wisely if the trip is costing that much per student. Not saying that number isn't accurate, mind... The flights and ground transport have to be the killer. Having booked large group travel before, I assume you can get a 4 kid hotel room for ~$150/night. That is $60k for 100 rooms which covers the kids plus 20 rooms for staff/chaperones. It is about $20k/hour to charter a plane for 450. The flight from Dallas is 2 hours but let’s round it to 3 and figure there is 4 flights (to cover deadheading the plane back to Dallas) so there is $240k (3x4x20k) in flights. I can see how you blow through the last $100k on ground transport, semi travel, food, rehearsal space, etc.). I wonder how much one would save if you traveled via charter bus. $2000/day/bus for 6 days and 8 buses is about $110k after tips. Sure the 16 hours on a bus sucks, but it is doable. Of course I contrast that with a family friend of mine who is sending 250 kids to Hawaii for a week for $2500/kid and the ubiquitous $1,000 band trip to Disney for a week, and I’m not sure if I continue to feel good about $1250 to Indy for 4 days. And just so no one gets the wrong idea, I’m not trying to be a jerk, I am genuinely interested.
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Post by WoodlandsMom4ever on Dec 16, 2019 19:54:06 GMT -6
Somebody isn't spending wisely if the trip is costing that much per student. Not saying that number isn't accurate, mind... The flights and ground transport have to be the killer. Having booked large group travel before, I assume you can get a 4 kid hotel room for ~$150/night. That is $60k for 100 rooms which covers the kids plus 20 rooms for staff/chaperones. It is about $20k/hour to charter a plane for 450. The flight from Dallas is 2 hours but let’s round it to 3 and figure there is 4 flights (to cover deadheading the plane back to Dallas) so there is $240k (3x4x20k) in flights. I can see how you blow through the last $100k on ground transport, semi travel, food, rehearsal space, etc.). I wonder how much one would save if you traveled via charter bus. $2000/day/bus for 6 days and 8 buses is about $110k after tips. Sure the 16 hours on a bus sucks, but it is doable. Of course I contrast that with a family friend of mine who is sending 250 kids to Hawaii for a week for $2500/kid and the ubiquitous $1,000 band trip to Disney for a week, and I’m not sure if I continue to feel good about $1250 to Indy for 4 days. And just so no one gets the wrong idea, I’m not trying to be a jerk, I am genuinely interested. Before kids I worked in international group travel- so I have that same genuine interest in the numbers. If we drove it would be 15 1/2 hours just driving time... not sure how much more would be added with pit stops... I’d guess at least 2 hours minimum? The distance means you’ve got two drivers per bus- so add more hotel rooms to the bill for them as well. Leaving at 2 am after retreat and loading the semis and giving kids a chance to change to travel clothes - that puts kids getting home at what 8 or 9pm after two marathon days? On paper it could work- but the kids get into trouble if they don’t show up in class at school on Monday morning ready to take the tests they missed the Thursday and Friday before... and that’s a lot of exhaustion for them to overcome with one short night before getting back to school. I believe the calculation was that we paid about $650 per person that flew on the flight. And half of our chaperones weren’t able to fly with the band because they wanted to keep it to two planes. So half of the travel fee really was the cost of the flight. I do wonder how much we pay for the hotel. That’s a cost that I haven’t been able to find out. I know I stayed at the same hotel as the band did- even wound up on the same hallway as both my kids- and with a aaa rate we were much higher (as should be- not on a group price) than your estimate of 150 per room for 4 kids. I do know though that our travel people spend a lot of time trying to cut the costs where they can... it’s just there aren’t many places they have choices to choose between things- generally it’s finding what company can actually accommodate the size group and there aren’t a lot of choices there.
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Post by Samuel Culper on Dec 16, 2019 20:07:46 GMT -6
The biggest difference vs a Disney trip is the charters. For a Disney trip, your band takes up maybe half a flight and gets on cheaper than any other passengers. The rest of the passengers are paying higher fares and you are not covering the extra expense of taking an aircraft out of the airline's route system (i.e. no deadhead legs).
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Post by paddy on Dec 16, 2019 20:29:39 GMT -6
The biggest difference vs a Disney trip is the charters. For a Disney trip, your band takes up maybe half a flight and gets on cheaper than any other passengers. The rest of the passengers are paying higher fares and you are not covering the extra expense of taking an aircraft out of the airline's route system (i.e. no deadhead legs). Disney was buses. 16 hours on buses. That is the difference in cost.
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Post by paddy on Dec 16, 2019 20:33:58 GMT -6
We paid $150/room for WGI Dayton. Not a perfect analog, but should be comparable.
Size does matter as the bigger group does limit your available choices. Also you have to balance room savings with ground transport costs. Staying downtown Indy costs more but saves on ground transportation.
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Post by Samuel Culper on Dec 16, 2019 20:34:40 GMT -6
The biggest difference vs a Disney trip is the charters. For a Disney trip, your band takes up maybe half a flight and gets on cheaper than any other passengers. The rest of the passengers are paying higher fares and you are not covering the extra expense of taking an aircraft out of the airline's route system (i.e. no deadhead legs). Disney was buses. 16 hours on buses. That is the difference in cost. Ok. I was thinking of our band's trip to Disney a few years ago which was maybe $1100 and they flew.
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Post by marimba11 on Dec 16, 2019 21:32:58 GMT -6
Wando drives straight home after GN finals.
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Post by LeanderMomma on Dec 16, 2019 21:35:54 GMT -6
It’s my understanding that bands MUST use Music Travel Consultants for BOA travel. How then can anyone negotiate any lower prices at all with a monopoly such as that?
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Post by LeanderMomma on Dec 16, 2019 21:37:19 GMT -6
Wando drives straight home after GN finals. And the Texas bands go STRAIGHT to the airport or charter bus after GN finals. No hotels after Friday night.
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Post by WoodlandsMom4ever on Dec 16, 2019 21:49:56 GMT -6
Wando drives straight home after GN finals. And the Texas bands go STRAIGHT to the airport or charter bus after GN finals. No hotels after Friday night. This year we actually got a few hours in the hotel. Kids got to rooms around 2am, packed and showered and lights out at 3... then awake at 7 and checked out and I’m the lobby by 8 I think? the previous time we checked out at 3:30am? I questioned why we kept the hotel for another night for the one hour of sleep.
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Post by LeanderMomma on Dec 16, 2019 22:27:49 GMT -6
And the Texas bands go STRAIGHT to the airport or charter bus after GN finals. No hotels after Friday night. This year we actually got a few hours in the hotel. Kids got to rooms around 2am, packed and showered and lights out at 3... then awake at 7 and checked out and I’m the lobby by 8 I think? the previous time we checked out at 3:30am? I questioned why we kept the hotel for another night for the one hour of sleep. Ahhh. Interesting! I guess it depends on what day and time your groups charter flights arrive and leave? I don’t know. More questions for the Music Travel peeps.
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Post by paddy on Dec 16, 2019 22:29:01 GMT -6
It’s my understanding that bands MUST use Music Travel Consultants for BOA travel. How then can anyone negotiate any lower prices at all with a monopoly such as that? That is a shame.
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Post by principalagent on Dec 17, 2019 10:10:54 GMT -6
Part of the reason Bell went every year is because they took charters. But doing that six years in a row is also a drain. And as mentioned, that’s a crazy drive and keeps kids out of school longer.
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