Credit: James McCann
The threat of the coronavirus has cancelled the Pennsbury High School’s marching band and concert jazz band’s April trip to Disney’s Shanghai park resort.
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The trip to China has been in the works since early 2019 and would have made Pennsbury’s marching band the first in the world to play all of Disney’s park resorts. Previously, the marching band has performed at Walt Disney World in Florida, Disneyland Resort in California, Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort in China.
Band director Frank Mazzeo told the school board Thursday evening that the bands and school staff are working to set up an April trip to perform at Disneyland Paris, Normandy American Cemetery at Omaha Beach, a university, and outside the Eiffel Tower in France.
The cost for the trip that is expected to run from April 4 to April 12 would only be about $15 more than students were paying to travel to China. Some cost details are still being worked out and finalized, Mazzeo said.
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About 225 people are expected to travel in the Pennsbury group.
The new coronavirus appeared in recent weeks and has sparked concerns among worldwide health officials. In China, where the coronavirus started and has hit hard, there have been at least 717 fatalities and tens of thousands of people sickened, according to Bloomberg News.
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Mazzeo said student safety is of chief concern for the district.
“We scrambled the last week and a half trying to find something for our kids to do,” he said, adding families are invited to see their students perform in France.
The marching band has not performed in France since 1993.
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On the China itinerary, the bands were slated to perform at the Shanghai Disney Resort, Beijing, and the Great Wall of China.
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