The new sales come weeks after Furlong made a booking for 234 people, including members of the Starstruck Dance Academy – of which her son is a member – and their families. That sale was worth around €120,000.
Each of the sales is for performers taking part in Disney’s performing arts programme at Disneyland Paris. The dancers will take part in classes and rehearsals before performing a 10-minute show on the main stage.
In addition to the Star Struck Dance Academy booking, qualified ballet teacher Furlong has now booked another 175 dancers from a Limerick-based performing arts school, plus their friends and family, as well as dancers from two dance schools in Dublin, with 95 dancers between them.
The groups will stay at the Disney Explorers Hotel for three nights on a bed-and-breakfast basis, and have two-day park tickets. Some families have chosen to stay longer.
“There seems to be a snowball effect with the group bookings – it’s been incredible," said Furlong. “I have a background as a ballet teacher, and that has certainly helped when dealing with the dance schools. They want someone they can trust who understands what they do and also understands travel.”
She added: “It is a great area to focus on, and the rewards can be big, but it is also a lot of hard work and I have been on this for several months. The potential for my business is massive.”
Separately, Furlong has made three other group bookings – each worth more than €10,000 – in 2025, and has made €200,000 of sales in the first seven weeks of this year, already surpassing her total for the whole of 2024.
Prior to the monster Disneyland bookings, Furlong’s business was mainly luxury family trips – the largest being a ski trip for 17.
