Can I reduce my stay?

[GhostLady]

I'm not sure what to do. Maybe someone here can help me out.

I had planned to call today to book free dining (3 rooms at POP) for my family, my parents, and my in-laws.

Here's my problem. We have a new state school superintendent here in Indiana. He is making some changes to the school calendars.

Normally my kids start school about the 3rd week in August and do not get a break until mid October. Because of the new changes, our local schools have not decided on a calendar for next year yet. They said it could be months before anything is decided. Obviously I can't wait that long to book so I'm not sure what to do.

One of the options they are considering is to start the school year the 1st week of August. They would then go 9 weeks and have a 2 week vacation. If this happens, we could book free dining for almost 2 weeks but if they decide to do something similar to past years, I would have to take my kids out of school for free dining and I wouldn't want to do that for more than a week.

Could I go ahead and book 2 weeks hoping they do the new schedule and then cancel one of the weeks if they do not? We would be getting the same tickets either way so only the room dates and dining credits would change. I would call to reduce our stay as soon as the new calendar comes out but it will probably be sometime after the free dining promo expires so making a new ressie at that time would keep us from getting the FD.

Should I just book one week for now and then try to add the second week if the calendar comes out in time?

I have been stressing over this for days so any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. This is the only time my parents and in-laws will ever be able to go with us due to health issues (my dad was just diagnosed with cancer) so I want to make this trip special and this school thing is really throwing a wrench in my plans.

 

[mbanks21]

Its best to book more then you need and reduce it later. If you try to book more time later on youre rolling the dice hoping its available

 

[brentalex]

As long as you can make changes to your reservation before you hit the 45 day mark, there is no penalty for making a change. So if you need to cancel a week and know about it before the 45 day mark, you should not have a problem.
If it is within the 45 day window there can be a penalty for making a change.

 

[GhostLady]

Thank you both for your great advice.

I thought it would be better to book longer and reduce but I wanted to make sure it wouldn't mess up my ressie or FD.

I'm sure they will have the calendar out at least a few weeks before my 45 day mark since that date will be after school starts on either of the proposed schedules.

Guess I better get on the phone.

Thanks again

 

[dgrissom17]

This is one of the reasons why I am happy I homeschool! It's ridiculous to have to work around the school calendar or principals/teachers that get upset if you pull them out for a week, especially in the younger grades. How can you plan anything? I say you go ahead and make your plans-once your children are grown adults will it matter that you took them out of school for a week once in their short childhood lives? NO! They'll have wonderful memories to treasure forever and their education will not have suffered. Don't worry about it! Go and have a wonderful vacation!!!

 

[connie1042]

I say go ahead and book for as long as you want. I would not worry about taking the kids out of school. Like the above poster said, it is not going to make a whole lot of difference down the road. Spend the time you still have with your family. Life is to short. go have fun and make some great memories for your family to cherish many years down the road.