frustrated with Disney deals

[DCbride]

rluey29

 

[Forevryoung]

I work at a residential school. It's a "horrible" schedule compared with other teachers- I get 4 weeks of dictated vacation time (end of June, end of August, Christmas, Spring break at Passover) and sick time. Aside from 2 personal days with restrictions, that's when I can get out of town. We don't get federal holidays, parent teacher conference days, workshop days, snow days don't exist (residential program, need 24/7 staffing).

I'm going to have to go at that same time- end of June or end of Aug if I want to go for more than 3 days.

I can't look at other times of the year and I'm going to grin and make the best of it. Just hoping Grandma can handle the heat!

 

[kkwis2]

Just wanted to say that I'm right there with you!

DH and I are both teachers, so vacations are set to the busiest and most expensive times of the year - Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break and summer. Our children attend school in another district which has a vacation schedule that is different from our own, so traveling together without taking the kids out of school is not possible.

School is ending slightly earlier than usual for us this year, so we are taking advantage. As you can see, we are heading out on June 12 with a motorhome full of people! I hope the heat is tolerable, but we really had no other choice of when to go.

 

[palavra]

I'm a teacher, and we chose to go during Thanksgiving week as i get the whole week off. We didn't get the bst deals, but we were able to take advantage of free dining with a PIN code. Since we stayed at a value resort, we certainly saved money on food!

 

[EKW]

With you on this one! In Colorado teachers go back the first or second week of August...kids start around the 15th. We get off in late May, BUT, you can't plan ahead because if you have a lot of snow days the year can stretch into early June.

The Swan/Dolphin thing is nice, but it is still considerably more than Value Resorts.

Maybe if their attendance continues to fall they'll consider offering an educator's-only discount for June or July.

 

[Sagginit]

Vent away! My gripe is I have no kids. Last year I wanted to take adisney cruise and the only time I could go the deal was kids go free. I saw the park is doing a similar deal and I think its incredibly unfair.

 

[sorul82?]

My husband is a teacher and we had the same problem so we did the only thing we could do...we sold our house in AR and moved about 30 minutes from Disney!!!

rluey29

 

[december]

I'm a teacher too, and get June and July off. Ds13 plays baseball during the month of June, and spring break, and dh and ds13 hunt during Thanksgiving and Christmas break. Which leaves July! And I had to clear that with his baseball coach today!

I just booked a 3 bedroom/3 bath townhouse in Windsor Hills for 10 nights for $1000 total!!!!!! Private splash pool, ps2, 4 tvs/dvd players, high chair, etc, and everyone says it is a quick drive to Disney. I've stayed onsite 4 times, and can't wait to try offsite in a house!

 

[Pigeon]

It is frustrating. Dh is a teacher. We live in the northeast and I'd love to be able to go on school vacations during the Feb or April vacations. Going to FL in the summer is not appealing to me at all. The airfare, which is extremely high where we live to begin with) is usually about double those vacation weeks and there are usually no Disney deals for those weeks, either. For four of us to go on vacation weeks, it's thousands more.

If it were just the kids, I'd pull them out of school in a heartbeat as they are both doing fine in school.

Anyway, we rarely go (maybe every 4 years) because of the situation.

 

[cepmom]

on the East coast as well, and while I'm not a teacher, when my DD got to high school, it became very difficult to pull her out of school for value vacations. We ended up going in August(as late as we could go, school usually starts back up here right arond Labor Day) to accomodate her schedule.

Now she's in college and so am I so we have to work around that schedule...we are going in May this year after finals and pulling the younger Dd's out of school. DD13 will be in HS next year so we'll be trying to figure out a way to travel to Disney on a budget around HS and college schedules

 

[cepmom]

Vent away! My gripe is I have no kids. Last year I wanted to take adisney cruise and the only time I could go the deal was kids go free. I saw the park is doing a similar deal and I think its incredibly unfair.

unfair? it's simply marketing...many people head to Disney with kids. not sure how this is at all unfair?? I have kids that I take to Disney with me, but I can not take advantage of the kids stay and play for free either because my kids are too old for this promo.(13 and 10) I never thought about it being unfair though...it's just a marketing promo targeting families with young kids. Just like I can't take advnatage of military offers or FL resident offers, AP holder offers etc.

 

[Pixiedust34]

We're in the same boat. Dh is a teacher and the only time we can travel (spring break and Christmas are way too expensive for us) is from mid-June to mid-August.

I've been hoping for a code that'll cover our early August dates. There was a room only rate just released, but it starts for the 16th and we fly home on the 18th. We do have AAA room rates (not much of a savings, but better than nothing) and will keep hoping that a code will be offered that we can use. I was disappointed that value season had an early start this year and we had to book part of our trip during summer season rates.

 

[DawnM]

I worked in year round for 16 years and LOVED it! I was off Sept-Oct and March-April. M/A weren't great for travel, although early March and late April were ok, but most of my travel was Sept/Oct and it was awesome!

I also loved working May-end of Aug as it was too hot to do much anyway.

Dawn

I'm a teacher also and agree about only being able to travel in peak times. I wish my district would go to year round so vacations could be taken other times. That is when I can actually afford to travel Before anyone starts flaming about getting 2 months off every summer, I usually teach summer school and also take care of a disabled parent so WDW or any vacation doesn't happen every year.

 

[madcat]

our district decided to "merge" the school calendar because some schools were on year round (which we loved) and others on "traditional" really it seems like they ended up with a more traditional calendar but boy did we like the year round for this very reason.

 

[Disfan3]

HI! I am a teacher, too! Home today with a sick toddler so I am dis-ing and writing IEPs!!

I also get very frustrated with the schedule, mostly due to crowds and prices! We went this last March and while my friend who owns DVC gave me a SWEETHEART of a deal, combined with our Give-A-Day tickets, we really had a great deal going on there!! The crowds killed it for us!! We, before I got my teaching job, always went in September!! Big difference in crowd level there. my family did not have the best time due to this, I guess we just prefer low season.

I get that that is not really possible for us anymore but I am so thankful to have my job and be working at a time when many wonderful teachers have been laid off...I try to focus on the good and make due with the "bad." I think I have decided we would probably do June trips bi-annually. Makes me sad to think about though, since I now have teenagers. Not a lot of family trips left before they start doing their own thing...I am also considering doing an offsite stay (never ever done this before!) to help alleviate costs...

although I am sure my children will always want to come to Disney with me! right!!?! and of course I have the toddler, indoctrinating her has been pretty easy!

 

[sorul82?]

boy did we like the year round for this very reason.