Kings Dominion Spring Trip

Tolbert Music Advanced ensembles are traveling to King Dominion on Friday May 1st for our annual field trip. Advanced Ensembles from all across our schools will combine to perform for judges, and spend the rest of the time in the park.

PLEASE READ THESE DETAILS THEIR ENTIRETY.

The form at the end of this webpage is the OFFICIAL signup. We will reserve buses and purchase tickets based on these numbers, so we will expect anyone who signs up here to PAY IN FULL.

The deadline to signup is Friday, March 27th.

Some Stipulations

Cost: $100-$150 per student. This includes the performance fee, park tickets, and bus fee, a provided meal on the bus ride home, and t-shirts. FAQ - Why is it more than last year? On top of the fact that everything has gotten more expensive, the bus fee is larger this year due to the fact that we will be spending a lot more time in the park. I am giving you a range and asking for a $50 non-refundable deposit. The bus is the biggest variable and we have to divide the cost evenly across participants based on how many buses we need. I can guarantee the cost will not be more than $150.

Advanced Only: Students must be enrolled in an ADVANCED ensemble at one of the schools where we administer Band and/or Orchestra programs. The trip must be approved by the Program Director and by the School Principal. If in doubt, confirm with your director before signing up please.

Practice: We expect some extra effort from anyone going on the trip! The music is not necessarily what you are practicing in school, and we need you to show up to rehearsals knowing all of your notes. We do not gather to teach the music, but rather to learn how to blend musically with a larger ensemble.

Outside Rehearsals: Tolbert Music will hold 4 rehearsals for all our students to get together to play the music before we have our trip. These are a MASSIVE OPPORTUNITY, and possibly the biggest benefit of participating in this whole experience. You will end up getting up to 6 extra hours of our time in rehearsals, and it will be with a super high-quality group of really dedicated kids from all over the DMV. Students are expected to make AT LEAST 2 of these rehearsals to go on the trip. If students are unable to make 2 rehearsals they must have their participation approved by their director, and may be asked to submit a recording of themselves playing as proof of mastery. (Nothing replaces in-person rehearsals so please try to make them if possible.)

Rehearsal 1: Tues 4/21 5pm-8pm at Bishop O’Connell High School, 6600 Little Falls Rd, Arlington, VA 22213

Rehearsal 2: Thurs 4/23 5pm-8pm at Bishop O’Connell High School, 6600 Little Falls Rd, Arlington, VA 22213

Rehearsal 3: Mon 4/27 5pm-8pm at Bishop Ireton High School, 201 Cambridge Rd, Alexandria, VA 22314

Rehearsal 4: Thurs 4/30 5pm-8pm at Bishop Ireton High School, 201 Cambridge Rd, Alexandria, VA 22314

Trip Itinerary

7:00 AM: Call time at rendezvous: Springfield Town Center, 6500 Springfield Mall, Springfield, VA 22150. Meet on the North Side of the mall, outside of Target. (Map included below)

7:30 AM: Buses depart en route to Kings Dominion.

9 AM: Arrive at the park, check in with Chaperones, distribute tickets. Exit buses with instruments, as performance is early.

10 AM: Performance. This time is subject to change. Last year they changed us by several hours. I am hopeful that by selecting an early time we are more likely to be able to stick to the plan.

approx 11 AM: Return instruments to bus and enjoy the park! Your group can follow it’s own schedule on what rides you want to enjoy, when and where you want to eat lunch, etc.

6:00 PM: Park closes and students return to buses

approx 6:30 PM: Buses begin return trip to rendezvous: Springfield Town Center, 6500 Springfield Mall, Springfield, VA 22150. Meet on the North Side of the mall, outside of Target. (Map provided below)

  • Students eat a provided meal on the bus. I will make a big order from Subway. If your student has dietary restrictions, we ask that you please contact us to work it out. Outside food is not permitted in the park. We are providing the meal so you can maximize your time in the park, as lines can be pretty long for food. You can eat dinner in the park if you want, and you can pack something if you want, but we do not have any form of refrigeration.

approx 7:30 PM: Arrival at Rendezvous. Please arrive a little early just in case!

The Rendezvous

Some other things to know:

  • The only thing your student must prepared to purchase is food, but Kings Dominion is CASHLESS so please plan appropriately.

  • Child debit cards are a good way to give your child something to spend with, while having a hard limit on what they can purchase.

  • We will create a group WhatsApp that is available to all parents who have students on the trip for day-of updates. We will drop updates throughout the day so you can be reassured of how things are going.

  • We have ensured that all school guidelines are met for this field trip.

  • We are respectfully asking that all students and Chaperones use the buses to attend this trip. The only exceptions are Southern Maryland Schools under the direction of Mrs. Linda Aughe, and Saint Patrick School in Fredericksburg VA under the direction of Mr. Matt Krysztopik. If necessary due to numbers, we may ask a few chaperones to carpool so we can avoid getting an extra bus.

  • Kings Dominion does not require special performance attire, and rather encourages students to wear what will be comfortable in the park. We will be providing T-Shirts this time around. It’s a long day with lots of walking so you will definitely want sneakers. Whatever you choose for shorts/pants should be school appropriate.

  • A small bag that can hold a water bottle, some sunscreen, and anything else small that your student may want is highly recommended!

  • Anything that would be prohibited at school - I’m thinking specifically and especially of smartphones - is prohibited on this trip. Recall that you can receive updates via the group WhatsApp that is administered by teachers and chaperones. If we find a student with a smartphone or other prohibited item, we will need to confiscate it until the end of the trip.

  • Possible Group Split and Audition: We have enough students enrolled in Advanced Ensembles that we may need to have 2 different groups perform. Once we have our final numbers, I will announce if this is the case. If we are splitting into 2 groups, we will form a “Top Group” for which there will be an optional audition. All students who want to go and perform get to - there is no barrier to entry. It’s just that if we have enough kids, we need to split the group anyway and the best way to do it is to divide so that everyone is playing repertoire of the appropriate difficulty for them. Some programs have been going for 4+ years and others are in their first. “Advanced” doesn’t mean exactly the same thing everywhere, so this is the best way of dividing if we need to do so.

Chaperones

We need parent Chaperones for this trip to work!

Chaperones should be comfortable being responsible for 4-7 students, addressing minor behavioral issues, taking roll of your group, and getting to the performance with all students on time.

Chaperones are free this year - I will build your cost into the final price we set for students. This includes your park ticket, bus seat, t-shirt and the provided dinner.

Each school will need to have its own parent Chaperone volunteers. This ensures that all students are properly supervised by an adult who is an approved volunteer by the school they attend.

We need to ensure we have the proper ratios of adults to students at each school. If we do not have enough Chaperones at a given school, we will reach out to parents to get another. If we have more volunteers than necessary, we will lottery off the spots. If you want to go and you don’t get one of the chaperone spots, I’ll happily add you to a bus if we have extra room, or invite you to drive separately. I have also created an option on the form that indicates that you would be a Chaperone if one is needed, but would recuse yourself if there are enough.