Trip information is divided into six pages in order to help you plan your trip to Disney World, Universal, and SeaWorld. Please read through all of these pages before registering.

CONTENTS
Introduction
Hotel Information
Disney Educational Tours
Universal Educational Tours
Important Things to Know ← you are here
Registration Form


Important Things to Know

• Travelers who register early will have a better chance of getting any extra non-student tickets they need and will have priority for chaperoning the Disney educational programs. (Parents who aren't chaperones cannot attend the Disney programs with their children.)

• Payment will be due in my mailbox within 7 days of the day I send your confirmation email. Please don't register until you're able to pay for your tickets. (This eliminates the need to send repeated payment reminders.) If I don't receive your payment, your registration will be moved to a waiting list and will be processed during the last week of registration.

• I accept checks, money orders, and bank (cashier's, BillPay) checks. I can't accept PayPal or credit cards (credit card checks are fine - call your company to ask them to mail you checks). Families from Canada (and other countries outside of the US) are encouraged to register well before the deadline to allow enough time for checks to clear and avoid a delay in mailing tickets.
 
• Homeschoolers from other states and countries are welcome to join us. We've enjoyed meeting homeschooling families from around the US and Canada on previous trips.

• We do not use a travel agent, nor are we travel agents who receive a commission on your trip. You may choose our group hotel, or your own, based on your budget, whether on Disney property or off-property. We've found that option-for-option, the cost of our trip is lower than those offered by travel agents, whether it's a "homeschool" trip or not.

• We are not attending Disney's Homeschool Days. We prefer to choose our own dates, and our own educational programs instead of being limited to whatever is being offered on Homeschool Days.

• Please understand that for each Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld park ticket you purchase for your school-age children, you can purchase one identical ticket for yourself, your spouse, and/or another non-student guest in your party. Our total of non-student tickets cannot exceed our total student tickets. Larger families with more students usually balance out those with fewer students, so I keep a waiting list to distribute out the tickets in the order I receive registrations. Just keep in mind that you might not be able to get our discounted group tickets for every guest in your party if you have fewer students. The earlier you register, the better your chance of getting the extra tickets you need. I'll do the best I can for you.

• All children in grades K-12 must be registered for and attend at least one Disney educational program in order for your family to qualify for our discounted Disney tickets.

• Parents cannot attend Disney educational programs with their children unless they are one of the assigned chaperones. More chaperones are allowed for the How Things Move and Synergy in Science program due to the younger ages of the children. (I know I've repeated this numerous times, but each year there are parents who don't understand this and are surprised when they arrive for the programs. Please bear with me while I try to make this as clear as possible.)

• Parents are required to attend the SeaWorld educational presentation with their children on the day of our group visit.

• You don't have to register for a Universal Educational Tour to buy their discounted tickets. If you choose to, it will cost extra for students and parents attending the tours.

• The Kingdom Keepers Quest is an add-on program for students who are already registered in one of Disney's other educational programs. It is intended for children in grades 5-9, but children in other grades can participate. However, they may not get as much out of the experience (it may be too easy or too difficult, so use your best judgment). You must attend this Quest with your child. I'll assign a parent to lead each group of 10 students (they'll have a leader's guide, but you'll still have to attend with your child).

• Your Disney and Universal tickets will be mailed to you via Priority, tracked, signature-required mail at least two weeks before our departure date. In seven years of coordinating this trip, we've never lost tickets in the mail. SeaWorld tickets will be distributed the morning of our visit.

• You can choose your own arrival date, but you must plan your arrival so your students can attend at least one Disney educational program if you're purchasing Disney tickets. I've scheduled our programs on Monday through Friday. See the Disney Educational Programs page for more information.

• You will not be able to purchase Disney's non-expiration option for our heavily discounted park tickets. They will be valid 7 days before our main group arrives and will expire 7 days after our main group leaves.

• If you stay at a Disney Resort, you will not be able to add our educational group ticket to your "Key to the Kingdom" card (room keycard) or the new MyMagic+ wristband to get everything on one card (or wristband), even if they say they can do this for you. Most Disney personnel are not familiar enough with our special group tickets to know that it won't work. If they try to transfer everything to your card, it will appear to work. However, the first time you try to use your card to get into the parks, water parks, Disney Quest, or miniature golf courses, it won't work. You'll then have to spend the better part of a day getting our original tickets reissued to you. (We learned this from experience.)

• Park admission is required for most Disney educational programs (except for Backstage at La Nouba), and for the Special F/X and Behind the Adventure tours at Universal. Make sure you save one (or more) of those days for admission to the park that is hosting the educational programs/tours you registered for. You don't have to stay at that park after the conclusion of the program. Since you have hopper (or park-to-park) tickets, you can hop to another park afterwards. Each program lasts for between 2 and 3 hours on a specific day (programs don't carry over on multiple days). Don't use all your park days before your scheduled program.

• If you decide not to take the trip after paying, a refund is not guaranteed. Please read and understand my refund policy (located on our main Disney Trip page, in the Important Notes section) before sending your money! In any case, a $25 cancellation fee per person will be charged.

• See a description of our previous trips to Disney World in our community area.

• More "things to know" will be posted as we near our departure date, so check back here from time to time for the latest updates.

And that's it!
Thanks for reading all of this! If you still want to go, it's time to register.