Good news. . . . new questions

[wwessing]

Ok. . . our family (dd8, dd11, dd15, dh and me) travels during spring break due to my dh's job. 2008 school calendar has just been approved and THERE'S NO SPRING BREAK!! Due to major construction, spring break has been reduced to a Friday and Monday off in March. Looks like my kids will be missing a week of school next Spring.

So, I'm relieved because now we don't have to pay those outrageous HRH rates during spring break, we hope. Like I said, we are restricted because of work schedule, but now we can pretty much go anytime in March or April. Is this still mostly spring break weeks? I was told that the 2008 rates won't be out for a while (?) so now what's our best bet? Maybe 3rd or 4th week in April? We are driving from central Illinois, straight through. We thought about leaving on a Thursday or Friday night, so we would arrive on a Friday or Saturday morning. I want to be able to get an awesome queen deluxe with a great view (room number advice needed - not much on the room number thread regarding queen deluxe), so I wonder if certain days of the week are better to check in than others. We want to take advantage of two weekends, so checking in on a Monday is not a good option for this trip. We plan to stay at least 7 nights, possibly 1 or 2 more. We are purchasing the $86 tickets for US/IoA and for SW/BG.

What would you do?

 

[Fan2CSkr]

Spring breaks vary all over the country. I have found that the week before and the week after Easter are the worst weeks to go. Arriving on a thursday is always bestter than on a weekend day for getting your requests met. The rates will still be higher than at other times but maybe some AP rates sprinkled in on the off days.

If the kids have no spring break do they give them off at another time or end the year earlier?

 

[wwessing]

Spring breaks vary all over the country. I have found that the week before and the week after Easter are the worst weeks to go. Arriving on a thursday is always bestter than on a weekend day for getting your requests met. The rates will still be higher than at other times but maybe some AP rates sprinkled in on the off days.

If the kids have no spring break do they give them off at another time or end the year earlier?[/QUOTE

After I posted, I looked at the 2007 seasonal rates, which I should have done BEFORE I posted (it's just sooo easy to ask a question here an know your going to get a great answer so you don't have to do your own research). Easter was April 8 this year and the highest (Holiday) rates were from 3/30 - 4/11, dropping a bit to Peak rates 4/12 - 4/28, then to Regular on 4/29 until 6/7 when they go up again. In 2008, Easter is early, March 23. I am hoping that the Regular rates come around a bit sooner in April. I know spring break is different everywhere, but usually they are scheduled with Easter in mind. I would LOVE to get in on some of those Regular season rates, plus we have AAA and there might be some supersaver rates then too.

Regarding our kids spring break, they actually get a thurs, fri and monday off at Easter. Usually, though, they get at least a full week before or after Easter sunday. It is only abbreviated in 2008 due to some major school construction. They get almost 2 weeks for winter break (Xmas) and they don't get out any earlier - weird, huh? My dh is soooooo way ticked off that we have to take the kids out for so many days. He decided last December that we were taking this trip in 2008 and have been planning since. Our kids have known about it since he decided and are really looking forward to it. I wrote to the school board and the superintendant months ago asking for the schedule but they kept putting off approving anything because of the construction. They just approved the schedule this week. Too late - we are going ahead with our plans (kids will have lots of time for homework during our 18 - 20 hour drive down ).

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Next year's SB crowds will be tough to predict ahead of time. With Easter being so early, my son's school is only off on Good Friday. Spring Break will be April 7th - 11th. These are the same dates my family in NC are off too. We're thrilled, because our kids are never off at the same time. We can actually all do something together. Anyway, you can usually depend on the weeks surrounding Easter being SB for most Public Schools, but next year looks like it's going to be different. At least, College SB's will be over long before most PS are out. Hopefully, UO will release those dates soon, & you'll be able to plan based on rates. It's great you have some flexibility. That should help.

 

[macraven]

there are some schools in central illinois that started spring break march 9th for a week. my son was one of them.

spring break, like the others stated, varies in the united states.

check the calendar site for UO to see the weeks that UO listed as spring break/peak season.

then figure those weeks before and after for the easter breaks coming up in 08.

maybe that will help you figure out the crowds and cost of on site hotels for the future.

 

[wwessing]

there are some schools in central illinois that started spring break march 9th for a week. my son was one of them.

spring break, like the others stated, varies in the united states.

check the calendar site for UO to see the weeks that UO listed as spring break/peak season.

then figure those weeks before and after for the easter breaks coming up in 08.

maybe that will help you figure out the crowds and cost of on site hotels for the future.

That's what I did. I checked out the peak, or holiday, season rates. I hope next year compares to this year because if it does, then the rates should be reasonable mid april. Reasonable. . . not great, but way, way better than we were looking at over spring break.