Day 1 : SUNDAY

Visit the Empire State Building and view the Big Apple’s magnificent skyline

  Day 2 : MONDAY

  Day 3 : TUESDAY

Experience interactive workshops at “Broadway Classroom”, a conservatory workshop with theatre professional, designed to enrich your students’ introduction to Broadway:

• Place your students directly in the world of a professional Broadway pit musician. Your students will sight read and prepare a special performance of a selected piece of Broadway music, provided by Music Theatre International. Working with a Broadway musician, students will not only strive for musical precision and excellence, but also will explore the relationship between composition/ orchestration and story-telling on stage. After 90 minutes of work on the piece, your group will be joined by a Broadway performer, who will discuss interpretation of the material and then perform it, accompanied by your students!

Performance opportunity at the United Nations*

  Day 4 : WEDNESDAY

Walking tour of Philadelphia to include:

Independence Hall: constructed between 1732 and 1756 as the State House of the Province of Pennsylvania; from 1775 to 1783 (except for the winter of 1777 - 1778 when Philadelphia was occupied by the British Army) this was the meeting place for the Second Continental Congress. It was in the Assembly Room of this building that George Washington was appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775 and the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. In the same room the design of the American flag was agreed upon in 1777, the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1781, and the U. S. Constitution was drafted in 1787.

Congress Hall: the newly formed United States Congress occupied Congress Hall when Philadelphia was the capital of the United States from 1790-1800

Liberty Bell: tradition tells of a chime that changed the world on July 8, 1776, with the Liberty Bell ringing out from the tower of Independence Hall summoning citizens to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon.

Constitution Center: the first-ever national museum honoring and explaining the U.S. Constitution tells the story of the document that framed the American ideal. The museum includes interactive exhibits and a theater with a live-actor-and-light show engagingly framing the importance of the Constitution to us as a nation and to the world.

Visit the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum, the oldest chartered Civil War institution in the United States created to preserve the history of that conflict, and to promote public education through the collection, preservation and display of artifacts and written and photographic documents

  Day 5 : THURSDAY

Go on a journey back to the time of the 1800’s on the Underground Railroad. Learn the role of the AME church, Africans (free and escaped), and abolitionists in the successful pursuit of freedom.

Landis Valley Farm Museum: learn about Pennsylvania German immigrant life

Performance opportunity at Landis Valley Farm Museum*

Amish Country back-roads tour (step on guide): discover Amish communities where life moves at a slower pace and centers around time-honored traditions and values.

A traditional Amish dinner – included

  Day 6 : FRIDAY

Take a drive to Gettysburg, PA (approx. 1 hr, 30 minutes)

Experience the Gettysburg Battlefields. Though the Civil War ended well over a century ago, many come to see for themselves the spot where thousands fought and died for their "cause", the spot where President Lincoln spoke and still speaks to us today.

Once you set foot in the National Cemetery there's no mistaking that you're in Gettysburg where many thousands of Americans struggled over the future of this great land.

Take a tour of the Shriver House Museum: the museum's mission is to provide a unique perspective often overlooked by interpreters of the Battle of Gettysburg. That perspective is "The Civilian Experience" during the battle and in particular, the story of one family, the Shrivers'.

Back on the bus for a ride to Washington DC (approx. 1 hr, 40 minutes drive).

Spend some time at the Arlington National Cemetery and perhaps lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Honor other memorials: the eternal flame at the Grave of John F. Kennedy, USMC War Memorial, a memorial to the USS Maine, The Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial, The Pentagon memorial, to the 184 victims of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and memorials to fallen since the Civil War

Evening guided tour of our Nation’s Capital:

• Jefferson Memorial: A 19-foot bronze statue of the third President of the United States.
• FDR Memorial: Four outdoor "gallery" rooms featuring 10 bronze sculptures depicting the life and times of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
• Iwo Jima Statue: This memorial is dedicated to all Marines who have given their lives in defense of the United States since 1775. This statue depicts one of the most famous incidents of World War II and it stands as a symbol of this nation’s esteem for the honored dead of the U.S. Marine Corps.
• The Kennedy Center, located on 17 acres overlooking the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., is America’s living memorial to President Kennedy as well as the nation’s busiest arts facility, presenting more than 3,000 performances each year.

Check into Washington DC area hotel

  Day 7 : SATURDAY

Tour the nexus of our government, the Capitol Building; the Rotunda, the House and Senate chambers

Explore the Smithsonian Institution, free time and choice of:

• National Air and Space Museum maintains the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. Artifacts on display including the original Wright 1903 Flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 command module, and a lunar rock sample that visitors can touch. It is also a vital center for research into the history, science, and technology of aviation and space flight, as well as planetary science and terrestrial geology and geophysics.
• Natural History Museums: The Museum is dedicated to inspiring curiosity, discovery, and learning about the natural world through its unparalleled research, collections, exhibitions.
• National Museum of American History: The Museum collects and preserves more than 3 million artifacts. They take care of everything from the original Star-Spangled Banner and Abraham Lincoln’s top hat to Dizzy Gillespie’s angled trumpet and Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. Their collections are a vast and fascinating mosaic of American life.

Night view of the National Mall:

• Lincoln Memorial: “In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.” Beneath these words, the 16th President of the United States—the Great Emancipator and preserver of the nation during the Civil War—sits immortalized in marble. As an enduring symbol of Freedom, the Lincoln Memorial attracts anyone who seeks inspiration and hope.
• Korean Memorial: In the early morning of June 25, 1950, only five years after the end of World War II, the communist government of North Korea launched an attack into South Korea. Determined to support the world’s imperiled democracies, the United States immediately sent troops from Japan to join those already stationed in Korea; they fought with other nations under the U.N. flag. One-and-a-half million American men & women struggled side by side during the conflict.
• Vietnam Veterans Memorial: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors the men and women of the armed forces that served in the Vietnam War. The names of more than 58,000 people who gave their lives or remain missing are listed on the black granite panels in the chronological order that they became casualties.
• Washington Monument: The famous marble obelisk, honoring America’s first president, is the tallest structure in the nation’s Capitol and will remain so by law.

  Day 8 : SUNDAY

Participate in the National Independence Day Parade*

A National Folklife Festival on the Mall features different cultures in the Americas

Parade participants are all part of the audience of the PBS Concert at the Capitol Building featuring the National Symphony Orchestra and one of the country's largest fireworks displays. There is no greater location displaying greater excitement on America's birthday than in our nation's capital!

Watch the Fireworks from The National Mall

  Day 9 : MONDAY

Tour Mount Vernon, the beloved home of George and Martha Washington from the time of their marriage in 1759 until George Washington’s death in 1799. He worked tirelessly to expand his plantation from 2,000 acres to 8,000 and the mansion house from six rooms to twenty one.

Performance opportunity at Mount Vernon*

Depart from Washington DC Airport for Denver International Airport

  WELCOME HOME!

  Custom Performing Travel programs include:

Roundtrip air transportation to Washington DC and New York International Airport

Motorcoach transportation while touring; daily driver’s tip and accommodations

Quality accommodations based on quad occupancy for students, double for adults

Breakfasts: 8 - Dinners: 8

One 24 hour-a-day tour escort per motorcoach

1:20 complimentary travelers (can be changed at your request)

All admissions, taxes, and gratuities per itinerary

Bulk billing to school OR individual invoicing to parents – your choice

Insurance and financial protection

Standard behavior guidelines

Tiered pricing note: Tiered pricing gives you a smaller price per student as your group grows to fill more of your bus. At about 90 days before travel, we review your group for tiered pricing. Counting those who are on schedule with payments, we will decrease your price if you’ve reached a lower tiered price. Trips are usually billed on a higher tiered price. We hope for price decreases, rather than increases. Should you reach a lower tier, you and your group may decide to add something to the trip rather than have a price decrease. If there are overpayments, they are refunded before the trip travels.

  EXCLUSIONS:

• Transportation to/from an your local airport
• Rollaway beds
• Meals not indicated in the itinerary (airline meal allowance can be included at your request)
• Airline baggage fees; excess or oversized baggage fees (allowance can be included at your request)
• Music equipment rental fees and transportation (allowance can be included at your request)