Taking a Girl Scout Troop to Disney

[jrhmc]

We're going August 3-8 and would love to meet up with other girls. Please message me with meet up info! Thanks! Jami Castillo Troop 9026 College Station, TX

 

[bearbear]

We have been only saving for 2 years. I have 4 scouts and 2adults going. We did a great fund raiser called flamingo flocking. Low overhead and the kids had fun doing it.

 

[hoffmann2828]

We have been only saving for 2 years. I have 4 scouts and 2adults going. We did a great fund raiser called flamingo flocking. Low overhead and the kids had fun doing it.

I want to try that! I've seen some info on it, but would love to know anything you've done. How many, how much you charged, if you got any bad feedback, etc.

 

[Evicamp]

I love the Crystal Light idea. I'm def going to pass that tip on to my girls. I'm sure they will be fine. I told them they need to pack lots of snacks (nothing that can melt). Granola bars, twizzlers, chips, pop tarts, etc.

If you have any more tips, please pass them on! Which YES program are you doing? We are doing the physics one in MK. My girls are 16-17 yrs old, so I'm hoping it will keep them interested.

We are doing the Energy And Waves-Physics Lab (201) at MK. I have siblings joining the group, so our ages will vary a little bit. Since we are our own group (and not a part of an open enrollment group) I have been told we are good. We will have kids from 10-16 years old in our group.

I have successfully linked my group together, linked our reservations and our YES tickets to our MagicBands and have been able to make FastPass+ reservations for everyone. (We even got Seven Dwarves Mine Train today !!) I am urging everyone to download the MDE APP to their phone and make sure that they are familiar with it before we go.

We are also excited that we will be there for the Star Wars Weekend that Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) will be there. So will Billy Dee Williams. Now that we are a month away, I am getting so excited !

Make sure you get FastPasses for the more popular rides and make them earlier in the day. You can get additional FastPasses once all of your initial three selections have been used. (If your last one is at 8:00pm at night, you have to wait until AFTER that one to get more. ) If the girls have never been, make sure they get Soarin' at EPCOT. (If it a choice between that and Test Track, pick Soarin'. There is a single rider line at TT that moves really fast, but they often run out of Soarin very early in the day !!) At Hollywood Studios, get Toy Story Mania (same reason). Rock N Rollercoaster has a single rider option as well. At MK, Seven Dwarves Mine Train will be the one to get.

At EPCOT, be sure to visit the Coca Cola Cool Spot (in Future World). They have free samples (self serve) of many Coke products that are popular all over the world. Have your camera ready when the girls try a Beverly (from Italy). It is priceless.

The only other thing I remind people about is the weather. We were there last June and it rained A LOT. (Every single day...and heavily...it would pop up out of no where and soak everything. )I would make sure everyone has TWO pair of tennis shoes and plenty of socks. I also had Fit Flops (which are amazing for walking long distances) and my hubby and kids had Crocs. A good lightweight rain jacket, poncho or a mess of those single use (dollar store) ponchos are recommended. If you are caught without one, ponchos are about $10 each in the stores. WARNING: Everyone looks alike in those ponchos !! We didn't bother with umbrellas. (Too bulky.) We did have small, drawstring backpacks.

Can't think of any other tips. I would check our ALLEARS for great tips and helpful hints. Just have a plan (so you have a general idea of what you want to do each day) and then, once there, be flexible and have fun. No matter what, you are at Disney World.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I am moving to this to the Disney Tips forum.

 

[jrhmc]

I want to try that! I've seen some info on it, but would love to know anything you've done. How many, how much you charged, if you got any bad feedback, etc.

We also did Flamingo Flocking but did it as an adult fundraiser since I wasn't sure that my council would approve it as an official money-earning project for the girls. (They're kinda picky.) Since we're located in the same town as Texas A&M University and the 12th man is a pretty big deal here, we did flocks of 12 maroon flamingos. You could pay $25 for a flock of 12 to land in a friend's yard overnight or $40 for a flock of 24. We did not allow anonymous flocking. The person sending the flock was identified on a letter attached to a flamingo in the flock. We also had a sign that went with the flock explaining what we were doing and how to order a flock so that people passing by would be able to get in on the fun. We picked up the flock the next evening and would move it on to the next house. We raised about $800 doing this over about 3 months but we only had about 4 parents participating. It made the other parents too nervous. We only really had one bad reaction from a guy who was afraid his HOA wouldn't like them so he asked us to pick them up early. Others loved it and we even were able to flock some of the football coaches.

 

[hoffmann2828]

Just passed the 60% mark of our goal! We are exactly 1 year out and requested our YES group this morning!

Our GS garage sale is next week, hoping to make $500 (or more)

 

[bearbear]

Good luck with the yard sale. We are still flamingo flocking and we leave in 48 days I can't believe it's almost here. We did really well our fundraisers. We even have enough to have a sit down breakfast.

 

[LovesTimone]

May Girl scout troop is planning a disney trip for June 2014. We are in full fledged fund raising. I have 7 girls in my troop. We are a cadette troop with my girls heading into High school next year. we are very excited. Any fund raising ideas are welcome
Cindy

I am not sure where you live, Do you have any major ball parks near you? When DD was in school, We work at the RayJ - ( Tampa bay Buc's stadium) in one of the fast food places. The parents are the ones that worked it with the kids as we had a booth that sold beer as well as hotdogs, hamburgers etc.., and they give you a " donation" for your day, It's been a while I believe it was a percent of what you sold. They have lots of programs I would check this out.

The meeting place were DD's girl scout troop met was at a church. A couple of times a year they would lets us raffle off baskets, each girl would make a basket, we did beach baskets.. a small cooler, beach towel, sunscreen, sunglasses. Car care basket.. a bucket, sponge, air fresheners. You get the idea.. Then we would pull a ticket and deliver the basket or they would pick it up. Oh and we sold donuts after church service's once a month.

Troup garage sale - One of the girls mom volunteer her garage and drive way, we did really well on this, I think we made 1000.00+ in 2 days, on a Friday and Saturday, make sure to have some Dad's around for the heavy lifting.

When DD was in high school and was in Color guard, one of the Parents owned his own business, with about 20 trucks and offered to donate 20.00 a truck for washing and cleaning out, his employee's brought around their personal vehicles also the team members families came too, most people gave between 5 to 10 dollars. We also sold hot dogs, chips and drinks. We did have some people who stopped that were not team members families or employees and they were just driving by. This was a really fun day.. make sure to have lots of towels for drying the vehicle, the kids and grown ups. If I remember correctly, I think we made around 1250.00 for that day.

 

[hoffmann2828]

Good luck with the yard sale. We are still flamingo flocking and we leave in 48 days I can't believe it's almost here. We did really well our fundraisers. We even have enough to have a sit down breakfast.

We earned $866. Last year we sold $1337, so we were a little disappointed this year but still beat our "low end" goal of $500.

We are hoping to earn enough extra for each girl to have a $50 souvenir gift card and pay for each girl and one parent for Hoop de Doo

 

[hoffmann2828]

Any new updates/tips? We are less than 8 months out. Getting super excited!

 

[TinaLala]

MY PEOPLE!!!!

GS Leader here with Cadette troop of 10 scouts 4 adults going to Disney in Oct 2015! We are staying at Art of Animation, they've picked History of Animation for their YES program. Just over a yr away and we've raised about 33% of our funds. Love hearing all the feedback on the programs and traveling with big groups! Can't wait to plan adrs and to make autograph books and luggage tags!! Not to mention getting those legs trained for all that walking!!

 

[hoffmann2828]

We're about 8 months out. Over $8k of our $10k goal. Been fundraising like mad! Exhausted!

Finally getting into the real planning stages for the girls. We're all super excited!

 

[TinaLala]

We're about 8 months out. Over $8k of our $10k goal. Been fundraising like mad! Exhausted! Finally getting into the real planning stages for the girls. We're all super excited!

WOW 8 months out and you're almost there, that is impressive! I hear you about being exhausted with fundraising. We have one planned almost every month. What types of fundraising are you doing?

 

[hoffmann2828]

Last weekend we sold hot dogs at a craft fair. Made $300 (our exact goal).

We're at $8500 right now and cookie sales alone should put us over and above!

Just got done ordering 2015 Birnbaums for kids books. I'm going to have them start deciding where they want to eat, etc.

 

[pugglemom]

Sounds fun, hope the girls love it.

 

[hoffmann2828]

Up at 5:00am yesterday to book Hoop Dee Doo on arrival day for 30 people! Got it - category 1 seating

 

[AintGonaGrowUp]

Ok, did Disney with my troop years ago. Just a few things that I remember...

-everyone had to have a water proof watch, not just be in a group with some who had one

- do not try to be a heard of cattle. No one will be happy.

- we had a few fundraisers that "procides being donated to troop ###" (it bypasses some red tape and I'm not sure about your area, but ours was a royal pain to get fundraisers approved)

- do have meal all together (crystal pallace was a blast!)

 

[TinaLala]

So anyone else hear that JetBlue is going to start charging per bag! Darn. I hate southwest. Praying flight prices stay low for us when I book in Feb!

 

[TinaLala]

So with 2015 arriving I'm realizing I have less than a dozen more months until our troop trip and we are far from prepared. I'm ready though, I've got my monthly meetings planned, prep adventures planned (hikes, trip to airport, amusement park,etc) and fundraisers up the you know what!

BRING 2015 ON!!