Heads Up on Jersey Week 2004, 2005, 2006....

[SnoWhiteRabbit]

Here are the dates for the NJ Teachers' Conventions for the next few years:

2004 Thursday, November 4
Friday, November 5
Saturday, November 6

2005 Thursday, November 10
Friday, November 11
Saturday, November 12

2006 Thursday, November 9
Friday, November 10
Saturday, November 11

These dates can be viewed on the NJ Education Association's website (www.njea.org). Most NJ public schools close for these TWO days (a Thursday & Friday) so that teachers can attend workshops and schools don't have to worry about substitute teachers, etc.

Seemingly, many NJ families take advantage of this and go to WDW for a long weekend, or the week, with their school aged children only missing 3 days of school instead of 5.

Anyhow, in all my years of public school education, I have hardly seen a mass exodus of the state! I grew up in a fairly affluent town and don't ever recall anyone I knew going to WDW during "Jersey Week" in 12 years of school. And I taught in 2 different fairly affluent Jersey towns for 8 years, and my classes and the schools were still full during Jersey Week...quite honestly, not *everybody* goes to WDW during Jersey Week!

Think about it -- it's one state that has off for two days. It can't possibly be *anything* like the times when all 50 states are off for two days, a week or a month at the same time! ("Of course that's just my opinion. I could be wrong," as Denis Miller would say).

Go and have a good time...and if you see anyone from Jersey, don't ask them "what exit?"

 

[anne60]

In Massachusetts, a lot of school systems add a day onto a long weekend. My kids usually have the day after Columbus Day off, as well as the day after MLKJr day. This year they had yesterday off and well as today (Veteran's day). On years when Jersey week coincides with Veteran's day I imagine it can get pretty crowded.

I remember when my daughter and I went over Veteran's day in 2001, CMs kept asking us if we were from Jersey. We were completely confused, as we both have your typical Boston accent (the number after 3 is fohwa, car keys and Khakis sound the same), until one CM explained what "Jersey week" was!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I taught in NJ and only went to 1 NJEA Teachers' Convention, been there, done that. Florida was my destination! Once we stayed at the Poly and went to the Catholic Mass, most of the hands went up when the priest asked who was from NJ!

Bobbi

 

[Keke]

We just got back last night and EVERYONE was from Jersey. It was crazy. Seriously, every single volunteer that was selected to do something at the different shows (Indy Jones, Lion King, Tarzan, etc) was from Jersey. And when they said it, the entire crowd would cheer.

 

[3kidsdisney]

i am from NJ and had thought about going this year but didnot start planning in time --there were no flights available at a reasonalble rate anyway... then wed. while watching the news there was lotsof traffic problems at the airport so alot of people do go to florida during this time but i can't imagine the crowds would be as bad as the summer anyway--we are planiing next years trip soon so we can get there, glad to here your trip was good, evenwith the crowds

 

[tiggerzpalz]

Actually, in Southern NJ, where I am schools, are closed for the entire week as well as Monday for Veterans' Day so we have many people around here who take advantage of the long break.

 

[Cruisin]

We just got back last night from the parks. We were there Friday, Saturday , Sunday and Monday.
We found the wait times were actually not very long at all. Most were in the 10-20 minute range. There were lots of people around and the parks felt crowded but not a problem with getting on any of the attractions that we noticed.
Robin

 

[Lesley]

In '99 we were at WDW during Jersey week....and actually had another guest explain this to us as we mentioned that almost everyone we talked to that week happened to be from NJ!

On the way home we noticed a lot of other cars on the highway from NJ...as we were headed back to PA!

Certainly not everyone from NJ goes to WDW this week....but boy did we run into a lot of Jersey folks when we were there at that time!