Is it just me or has attendance been down?

[ChipnDale79]

we were there last week (after having to flip our yellowstone trip). it was more crowded than when we went last July.

We happened to be at DHS when Slinky Dog, Toy Story, and Rise all went down at the same time, absolutely brutal

 

[Aimeedyan]

Off topic - where is a shady spot for the parade? Going in September and would love to watch from a shady spot : )

We stood on a porch near Country Bear Jamboree in Frontierland - we were at the shooting arcade when I realized it was parade time so we just wandered out and stood under the awning. There were people lined up at the rope (in the sun) but we stood on the porch and saw just fine!

 

[Disney Bobby]

I don't understand how so many rides go down with the frequency they do at Disney. Especially Rise. You would think after safety, reliability would be priority number one. I was there pre-pandemic, and that thing was literally down for hours the day we rode, and the others we talked to said it had been that way other days.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

I don't understand how so many rides go down with the frequency they do at Disney. Especially Rise. You would think after safety, reliability would be priority number one. I was there pre-pandemic, and that thing was literally down for hours the day we rode, and the others we talked to said it had been that way other days.

They are very complicated ride systems and if something glitches it takes a while to reset. These are simple carnival rides in the end.

 

[MinnieMSue]

I don't understand how so many rides go down with the frequency they do at Disney. Especially Rise. You would think after safety, reliability would be priority number one. I was there pre-pandemic, and that thing was literally down for hours the day we rode, and the others we talked to said it had been that way other days.

Rides at cedar point go down all the time and they are seemingly way less complicated than Disney. There are sometimes electrical supply issues. Of course wind too but any given day several coasters are down. Unrelated to weather. I also see rides at universal down a lot - looking at you Hagrids. It is not unique to Disney.

 

[Alynw]

Not sure there is a slow season anymore, WDW has done a fantastic job at spreading the crowds out throughout the entire year. I can say though, I been going now every year for past 12yr during week of xmas and week of new year and parks almost always reach capacity and stop letting people in, so I'd say xmas is busiest time of year. I know people that go during hot summer months because they say they rather deal with heat to get less crowds and i know folks that go during winter months cause they believe that when crowds are less. If I had to guess I'd say from mid August after kids return to school to end of September would be slowest summer crowds and then after xmas decorations are taken down in January through February before spring breaks start is slowest crowds in winter months.

 

[xipotec]

Economy.
Too much planning.
Initial high crowd and lack of services
Bad press with fights.
Covid back on the rise.
Nickel and dime everything

Its all the above and more.

 

[sheilafri]

Taking kids out of school, or not taking them out, is removed from the hands of parents in some school systems. It had nothing to do with who was willing, nor not willing.
At least around here.
Well, unless you want to jump through some serious hoops.
At least it was pre-pandemic. If there's a change in policy now I'm not sure but before you got 4 absences per semester. Excused or Unexcused treated the same. If you exceeded the 4 you could present the why to the school (doc note, etc) and they could accept it, or not. A trip to Disney, vacation was not going to be accepted. So, if you wanted to gamble that your child would miss no other days that semester and go on a trip then good. Go. Take the risk. Otherwise, you could risk your child failing the semester.
Of course they like to claim it was for the good of the child's education but we all know it's because they get paid for avg number of hinny's in classrooms. So they want you child's hinny in their seat not out on vacation.
With remote learning that may have changed things

Many years ago (youngest is 30 now) our school was very supportive of taking the kids out of school for travel. Granted, we were in a smaller school district, gave plenty of notice, made sure our children made up their work, and took trips to WDW and to other countries. The school always knew where we were going. I’m not surprised times have changed.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

Many years ago (youngest is 30 now) our school was very supportive of taking the kids out of school for travel. Granted, we were in a smaller school district, gave plenty of notice, made sure our children made up their work, and took trips to WDW and to other countries. The school always knew where we were going. I’m not surprised times have changed.

This, it used to be so easy but now it's impossible for many. Some school districts flat out don't allow it and you can get reported to DCFS for doing it ( I don't agree with it all). And even districts that allow it the teachers guilt trip parents to the point they don't want to deal with it.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Many years ago (youngest is 30 now) our school was very supportive of taking the kids out of school for travel. Granted, we were in a smaller school district, gave plenty of notice, made sure our children made up their work, and took trips to WDW and to other countries. The school always knew where we were going. I’m not surprised times have changed.

I wish I thought they cared about the kids education. If I thought was was behind it, it would be different. I know it's 100% about the dollars they get for butts in seats from the Dept of Ed. That's done by avg per semester so they need that number as high as possible.

I'm sure it's different with remote education now though. It may be the only positive thing that came out of this entire Covid mess.

 

[BrianL]

That's so ridiculous. Shouldn't it be up to the parents to decide if their kid can miss school? Certainly, for some kids it would put them behind, but for others it may not matter. I remember in my first year in high school, my sister was graduating high school, but she lived with my dad. We were going for the ceremony but it overlapped one day of finals for me. I was told that finals couldn't be made up per the board of education, but I didn't have a choice. I was 14 and my mom was taking me - end of story. Anyway, I just went, missed the first day of exams, then just ended up taking all six of my exams in one day by going to the teachers directly. ALL of them let me do it. I was a good student, and had no problem completing all of them early (we were given two hours for each spread across two days). There was no reason to penalize me over something like that. Yeah, I know that some parents aren't too responsible and might do things that would not be beneficial for their kids, but that kind of thing should be discussed with teachers, etc. These kind of "zero tolerance" rules are silly.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

That's so ridiculous. Shouldn't it up to the parents to decide if their kid can miss school? Certainly, for some kids it would put them behind, but for others it may not matter. I remember in my first year in high school, my sister was graduating high school, but she lived with my dad. We were going for the ceremony but it overlapped one day of finals for me. I was told that finals couldn't be made up per the board of education, but I didn't have a choice. I was 14 and my mom was taking me - end of story. Anyway, I just went, missed the first day of exams, then just ended up taking all six of my exams in one day by going to the teachers directly. ALL of them let me do it. I was a good student, and had no problem completing all of them early (we were given two hours for each spread across two days). There was no reason to penalize me over something like that. Yeah, I know that some parents aren't too responsible and might do things that would not be beneficial for their kids, but that kind of thing should be discussed with teachers, etc. These kind of "zero tolerance" rules are silly.

It is the parents who don't care if their kids go to school or not that ruined it for all.
And it's not a zero tolerance policy here.
It's more a jump through hoops policy.
When you hit the 5th absence you go to the school board review committee with why your child was out.
A medical reason is approved, but it does take a doctor's involvement of some level, they don't just take the parents word that the child was sick all those days. The more the # of days, the harder they scrutinize it. I'm sure there's other reasons that are approved too. It's a case by case thing, as I understand it.
It's more how much are you willing to gamble type thing. If you have a very healthy child and think you'll never reach that 5th absence then you'll probably feel very safe with going on a vacation during the school year.
If you have a child that misses a lot of days here and there for little things, especially little things that you'd likely not see a doctor for otherwise, you may not want to risk it. I mean, who wants to go to the trouble of a doctor's visit for a bad headache, for instance.

 

[AvidDisReader]

That's so ridiculous. Shouldn't it up to the parents to decide if their kid can miss school? Certainly, for some kids it would put them behind, but for others it may not matter. I remember in my first year in high school, my sister was graduating high school, but she lived with my dad. We were going for the ceremony but it overlapped one day of finals for me. I was told that finals couldn't be made up per the board of education, but I didn't have a choice. I was 14 and my mom was taking me - end of story. Anyway, I just went, missed the first day of exams, then just ended up taking all six of my exams in one day by going to the teachers directly. ALL of them let me do it. I was a good student, and had no problem completing all of them early (we were given two hours for each spread across two days). There was no reason to penalize me over something like that. Yeah, I know that some parents aren't too responsible and might do things that would not be beneficial for their kids, but that kind of thing should be discussed with teachers, etc. These kind of "zero tolerance" rules are silly.

In the mid 90's, my wife and I used to take the week beginning the Saturday before Thanksgiving--at the time there was a loop hole that if you booked on that Saturday, your entire reservation was based on the non holiday rates thru your entire vacation (it really sucked when they closed this benefit). Did not have any issue until both my oldest reached high school. The oldest was a Soph and the younger was a Freshman. It took them 3 weeks to get caught up and the oldest had a teacher that down graded her a full grade for missing the time (from a B to a C). That was the last time we took our kids out of school to go to WDW, it just was not worth the hassle.

 

[BrianL]

In the mid 90's, my wife and I used to take the week beginning the Saturday before Thanksgiving--at the time there was a loop hole that if you booked on that Saturday, your entire reservation was based on the non holiday rates thru your entire vacation (it really sucked when they closed this benefit). Did not have any issue until both my oldest reached high school. The oldest was a Soph and the younger was a Freshman. It took them 3 weeks to get caught up and the oldest had a teacher that down graded her a full grade for missing the time (from a B to a C). That was the last time we took our kids out of school to go to WDW, it just was not worth the hassle.

It's one thing if there is a lot of catch-up work, but to just reduce the grade simply for missing time is ridiculous. If the kid can keep up and make up the work, then what's the problem? A butt in a seat isn't the only factor in education. Certianly, some kids might have trouble catching up, and in that case a parent should consider if it makes sense. My point is that every case is different and should be handled as appropriate between the parents and teachers. I know that's a big ask for a lot of people though.

 

[AvidDisReader]

It's one thing if there is a lot of catch-up work, but to just reduce the grade simply for missing time is ridiculous. If the kid can keep up and make up the work, then what's the problem? A butt in a seat isn't the only factor in education. Certianly, some kids might have trouble catching up, and in that case a parent should consider if it makes sense. My point is that every case is different and should be handled as appropriate between the parents and teachers. I know that's a big ask for a lot of people though.

We both agreed and were going to go to the principal, but our daughter begged us not to. The teacher was the type to hold a grudge and she feared future retaliation--she said just let it go (sounds like a good title for a song). It turned out that my daughter was more mature then her parents, her year end grade was an A.

 

[Alynw]

It seems to be easier to take younger kids like 5th grade or younger out of school than it does older kids. I can understand why schools have cracked down so much though, most kids get 2 months summer break, 1 week fall break, 2 weeks xmas break, 1 week spring break all of which us parents can plan vacation. I'm sure some have specific reasons or issues that don't allow them to plan during these times off but it seems the majority remove kids to take advantage of lower cost or lower crowds that convenience the parents.

 

[BrianL]

We both agreed and were going to go to the principal, but our daughter begged us not to. The teacher was the type to hold a grudge and she feared future retaliation--she said just let it go (sounds like a good title for a song). It turned out that my daughter was more mature then her parents, her year end grade was an A.

Yeah, some teachers are just like that. When I was in college I needed to miss some time for surgery and I had one British Lit professor who gave a quiz every day and if you missed one you got a zero. Her theory was that you could make that up if you only missed one or two, but it was a very tough class. It wasn't up for debate either - I did tell her that I wasn't going to Disney World - it's surgery (minor but still). She would not budge. I ended up dropping her class and taking it from a different professor the following semester. All of my other professors were fine with it.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

It seems to be easier to take younger kids like 5th grade or younger out of school than it does older kids. I can understand why schools have cracked down so much though, most kids get 2 months summer break, 1 week fall break, 2 weeks xmas break, 1 week spring break all of which us parents can plan vacation. I'm sure some have specific reasons or issues that don't allow them to plan during these times off but it seems the majority remove kids to take advantage of lower cost or lower crowds that convenience the parents.

It's convenient for anyone who goes during those times. I can't get onboard with schools dictating what a parent would deem a good choice for their family, obviously there is a breakpoint, but taking a week vacation during the school year shouldn't cause a trial to be held by the school board. Parents get to raise their children, outside of just completely blowing off school IMO parents should be allowed to make a decision on what their child/ children can handle. My town is very lenient of missing days, they just want a notification at the beginning of the school year (or at least a month out) so that the teachers can prepare for the absence with makeup work, and that IMO is how it should be.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

It is the parents who don't care if their kids go to school or not that ruined it for all.
And it's not a zero tolerance policy here.
It's more a jump through hoops policy.
When you hit the 5th absence you go to the school board review committee with why your child was out.
A medical reason is approved, but it does take a doctor's involvement of some level, they don't just take the parents word that the child was sick all those days. The more the # of days, the harder they scrutinize it. I'm sure there's other reasons that are approved too. It's a case by case thing, as I understand it.
It's more how much are you willing to gamble type thing. If you have a very healthy child and think you'll never reach that 5th absence then you'll probably feel very safe with going on a vacation during the school year.
If you have a child that misses a lot of days here and there for little things, especially little things that you'd likely not see a doctor for otherwise, you may not want to risk it. I mean, who wants to go to the trouble of a doctor's visit for a bad headache, for instance.

For some districts its always about the funding, they can get less funding if attendance isn't at a certain level. It is different everywhere.

 

[SkyGuy]

This, it used to be so easy but now it's impossible for many. Some school districts flat out don't allow it and you can get reported to DCFS for doing it ( I don't agree with it all). And even districts that allow it the teachers guilt trip parents to the point they don't want to deal with it.

Part of it is due to the way schools are funded. If a student doesn’t show up for school, or if a student isn’t at school for a certain portion of the day, then the school does not receive funding for the student for that day even though the budget restraints for that day have not changed at all. I’m sure all school districts aren’t held to these impossible rules, but unfortunately a lot are. Even if a student checks in late or leaves early due to an appointment or illness the school may not receive the full funding amount allocated per student. So most districts (at least in my state) make attendance rules based on those parameters. And don’t even get me started on the way the school are funded in the first place - “oh good news! The state decided they would fund at 100% this year,” which is what the public hears but really means they are funding at 60% because that’s what the state government’s 100% means.