Spring Break vacationing?

[westjones]

My twins enter middle school in August and for now on we are following the school schedule for vacations.

We are going to use our 1 week spring break in March for our trips. Next year we are planning to go on the 4 night Wonder and spending 2 days at WDW. That means we fly in on Saturday, board the Wonder on Sunday, disembark on Thursday and head to WDW until Saturday when we fly home. Sunday will be our day of rest.

We thought about doing 4 days at Disney and THEN doing teh 3 night Wonder, but that means we fly home on Sunday and the kids go back to school on Monday.

I am afraid they will be exhausted and not be mentally ready for school if we don't have a 'down' day. But then, we haven't tried it yet.

So what do the rest of you do? Do you return from vacation the day before school starts up after spring break, or do you give yourself a down day to relax first.

Thanks,
DJ

 

[depomas]

Very Interesting Question!!

I always try having a down day also.. I feel that we all need this to settle down a bit.. Not only for the kids, but myself....

 

[mom_rules]

We left on the Friday before our spring break started, spent Fri, Sat and 1/2 of Sun in WDW, 4 day Wonder cruise -got back to WDW at 10:30am on the Thurs. Spent Thursday, Friday and most of Saturday in WDW-flew home Sat night and had Sunday as cleanup, downtime, laundry day (whatever you'd like to call it). Glad we had those few extra days afterwards since we had trouble re-adjusting to land.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I suggest skipping WDW, and doing a 7-day cruise on the Magic. LOL! (You'll at least have one day downtime.)

That's JMHO.

 

[geffric]

WE fly in Frrday, board the Magic for 7 glorious days, then spend Sat and Sun at WDW... no down day for us...

 

[logan1_2000]

Since the Magic is Saturday to Saturday, I am driving down this Friday, hopefully beating some of the ATL traffic, after school lets out, then cruise Saturday to Saturday, spend the second Saturday driving 500 miles home, then on Sunday go to the final day of the Masters. Not a bad "down" day.

 

[Careycrew]

Our DD and DS 6th & 3rd grades are school break vacation vetreans. Having a return to earth day after a family vacation is always nice. But it dosen't always happen. If they are draggin a little on Monday morning, oh well, maybe they go in an hour late. I'm sure they aren't the only ones. IMHO Kids especilly as they get older, are pretty resilient. Don't get me wrong, school is important and as a rule my kids only miss two or three days out of the year, fortunately (thank God) they don't get sick very often, but... twenty years from now are they going to remember what they did in class the first week back from break, or are they going to remember the fantastic family vacation you all had together ? Plan the vacation, have fun, get back as best you can. To me family memories are more important, but thats just me.

 

[westjones]

I suggest skipping WDW, and doing a 7-day cruise on the Magic. LOL! (You'll at least have one day downtime.)

That's JMHO.

We want to go to WDW as well as go on the cruise. We have been on 6 cruises already (2 of each, the 3 night, 4 night and 7 night), so we have tried them all. We love the ship and don't care about excursions, so the shorter cruises work well for us.

If we want more time at WDW, we need to go with the 3 night, but if we want a more relaxing cruise and a 'down day' before going home, we need to go with the 4 night.

I see pluses for both, and being DVC members, the longer stay at WDW at the beginning of the trip with the 3 day at the end might be a better use of points.

It is interesting to hear everyone's opinion.
Thanks!
DJ

 

[tecdavidt]

Our Spring Break starts on a Friday and then all of the following week. We do the 7 day Magic cruise. We fly in on Friday, stay at the Hyatt, ship leaves on Sat. and returns following Sat. We fly on that same day. The daughter has Sunday to relax before school on Mon. Kathy

 

[Tri-circle-D]

As tempting as it is, we never take our kids out of school for vacations. They get several good breaks during the year, and all summer for trips. Because of that, we do try to enjoy every bit of our chances to spend time together. We seldom will have a down day before school starts back. Remember, every one else is in the same boat, even the teachers, so usually the first day back from break is going to be light for the students. Enjoy your time together!

 

[jacobatt1]

I vote for a down day at the end--maybe I'm just old, lol!!!! We came back from our cruise on Sunday in October, and it was SO HARD to get going the next day. The kids really didn't recover that whole week! It's not so bad to be tired from a trip, though, 'cause you have such great memories. BUT, I really like that day at home; just gets everyone back to earth.

JMO

Amy

 

[232271]

We want to go to WDW as well as go on the cruise. We have been on 6 cruises already (2 of each, the 3 night, 4 night and 7 night), so we have tried them all. We love the ship and don't care about excursions, so the shorter cruises work well for us.

DJ

I am glad someone else doenst care about the exercusions, I thought I was the only crazy one that way. My family wants to enjoy the ship more, since that is what we are going for.