December 8-15, 2012
Registration Deadline: October 10

Information is divided into six pages in order to help you plan your trip to Disney World. Please read through all of these pages before registering.

CONTENTS
Introduction
Hotel Information & Options
Special Events & Group Activities
Disney Educational Programs
Important Things to Remember ← you are here
Registration Form


Important Things to Remember
• The registration deadline for this trip is October 10. Travelers who register early will have a better chance of getting any extra guest tickets they need and will have priority for chaperoning our educational programs. (Parents who aren't chaperones cannot attend 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 within one week of my confirmation email, your registration will be deleted and you'll lose first-come, first-serve priority for any extra guest tickets needed for your family, as well as priority for chaperone spots. If you decide to register again, a re-registration fee will be added to your total.

• We accept checks, money orders, and bank (cashier's, billpay) checks. We can't accept PayPal or credit cards (credit card checks are fine). 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 enjoyed meeting homeschooling families from around the country 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 your own hotel based on your budget, whether on Disney property or off. We do have a group rate at Disney's Swan Resort for those who choose this option. We've found that option-for-option, the cost of our trip is lower than those offered by a travel agent, 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 5-day or 8-day park ticket you purchase for your school-age children (K-12, and college-age), you'll be able to purchase one identical ticket for yourself, your spouse, and/or another guest in your party. Since the number of parent/guest tickets cannot exceed the number of student tickets, you might not be able to get the discounted group tickets for every guest in your party if the number of guests exceed the number of students. (In this case, you'll need to purchase the extra tickets from Disney - I'll help you with this once I determine our total student/guest ratio.)

• Guest tickets will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, so register early for a better chance of getting educational tickets for the "extra" guests in your party. All children in grades K-12 must be registered for and attend at least one educational program in order for your family to qualify for the discounted group tickets.

• If you're trying to decide between the 8-day and 5-day tickets, I recommend the 8-day tickets. Families who've traveled with us in the past have been disappointed when they couldn't upgrade their tickets to 8 days after they arrived.

• Parents cannot attend the educational programs with their children unless they are one of the assigned chaperones. Exceptions are made for the How Things Move program due to the younger ages of the children.

• One parent per five students can chaperone during each program (except for the How Things Move program). Early registrants will have priority with chaperone assignments. Please be aware that you probably won't be able to attend these programs with your children. (We'll have plenty of homeschool parents chaperoning each program, and we've never lost a child in the six years we've coordinated these trips.)

• Each child registered in the How Things Move program must have a parent attend with them.

• The Kingdom Keepers Quest is an add-on program for students who are already registered in one of the 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 leader's guide, but you'll still have to attend with your child).

• Your tickets will be mailed to you via Priority, tracked, signature-required mail at least two weeks before our departure date. In six years of coordinating this trip, we've never lost tickets in the mail. If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of Carolina Homeschooler, please ask me for references before you register. Don't send money to anyone on the internet if you don't trust them.

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

• You will not be able to purchase the 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 your educational ticket to your "Key to the Kingdom" card (room keycard) to get everything on one card, 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 water parks, Disney Quest, or use your 5 or 8 park days, it won't work. You'll then have to spend the better part of a day getting your original educational tickets reissued to you. (Yes, we learned this from experience.)

• Park admission is required for the educational programs. Your tickets will have five or eight park-hopper days included, so make sure you save one (or more) of those days for admission to the park that is hosting the educational programs you registered for. You don't have to stay at that park after the conclusion of the program. Since you have hopper 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). Please make sure you 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) 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.

• 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.


That's about it!
If you're still interested in going, it's time to register.