Is there anytime of the year anymore to visit Disney when no schools have break?

[OhioStateBuckeye]

This post is partly in jest, but I am seriously beginning to wonder if there is any time of year anymore where some state's schools are not having some sort of break.

I'm really not that old, but when I went to school we didn't have fall break. Now every school has a fall break, which I believe can start for some schools as early as the end of September (for the schools that start back in August). So schools have fall breaks September-October.
Then they have November Thanksgiving break, which I understand for some schools are just a day or two whereas others get more days.

Then there is Christmas break which lasts until new year's.

Do any schools have long breaks for January-February? When I was in school we usually had a day for presidents day and mlk day. Do those breaks get extended nowadays?

Then once we hit March spring breaks start and don't end until April, and Easter of course is randomly thrown in there.

Then schools start to get out for the summer in may.

Just seems like there are an awful lot of school breaks to contend with.

 

[soniam]

It's not just school breaks. A lot of families take their kids out of school or home school. So, there is no time anymore that WDW won't be busy

 

[soniam]

I forgot to mention foreign travelers, like Australia and South America, whose school breaks could be completely different from the US/Canada/Europe.

 

[Mikie]

It pretty much locks up the year doesn't it? I don't know if there are special events or international breaks that fill in these gaps, but I'd say it's really only the middle two weeks of Sept (after Labor Day, but before the early schools start having fall break), Maybe November after most fall breaks are done and before Thanksgiving breaks, and late January through the first couple weeks of February (avoiding the weeks with MLK day and Presidents' Day). . . That's really just about it school-wise! You're getting into spring breaks again after that, then summer. I think Sept and Jan/feb are resort value season and have the historically shortest park hours, reflective of those being the last remaining slow times.

 

[NYCANC]

We are in year round school so every season my kids get 3 weeks off. 9 weeks on and 3 weeks off instead of 1 big summer vacation.

 

[princessemsmom]

In NYC kids get a week off in eary Feb for Mid Winter break. This is after the break around Christmas and 4-6 weeks before Spring break. And a ton of days off for various holiday's!

Grrr - I keep telling my DD she is lucky - I never had so many breaks when I was in school.

 

[Shanti]

This post is partly in jest, but I am seriously beginning to wonder if there is any time of year anymore where some state's schools are not having some sort of break.

I'm really not that old, but when I went to school we didn't have fall break. Now every school has a fall break, which I believe can start for some schools as early as the end of September (for the schools that start back in August). So schools have fall breaks September-October.
Then they have November Thanksgiving break, which I understand for some schools are just a day or two whereas others get more days.

Then there is Christmas break which lasts until new year's.

Do any schools have long breaks for January-February? When I was in school we usually had a day for presidents day and mlk day. Do those breaks get extended nowadays?

Then once we hit March spring breaks start and don't end until April, and Easter of course is randomly thrown in there.

Then schools start to get out for the summer in may.

Just seems like there are an awful lot of school breaks to contend with.

It's not that schools have more breaks than they used to- they don't. It's that around the country, different schools break at different times, so when you're looking at a nationally popular vacation destination, you find out how many different break schedules there are across the country.

Also, as a teacher I can tell you from experience that many parents don't shy away from pulling their kids from school for a week for a Disney trip. There are kids who miss weeks of school for Disney in my class every year. This year I had 2 (out of 22) that were out for a week+ for Disney vacations. That's almost 10% of my students skipping school for Disney, and it's nothing unusual these days. Multiply those numbers by all the middle class families across the country, and that equals crowded parks year round- which is exactly what is happening at Disney.

So no, you won't find any week of the year anymore when lots of families won't be there. The era of crowded school vacation parks vs. vacant school week parks is gone with the wind.

 

[Mikie]

We are in year round school so every season my kids get 3 weeks off. 9 weeks on and 3 weeks off instead of 1 big summer vacation.

I miss that! My goofy school district had it for 20 years (of which I had a student in there the last 5) and moved away from it right when so many articles were coming out about the benefits. Now we have a 1 week +1-2 days fall break, Christmas break pretty traditional 2 weeks, 1.5 week spring break and start in early-mid August. Ignoring the science about improved learning, it really hampers my vacation planning

 

[OKWJan]

Right after school starts is pretty much the only time when the are not a lot of school age kids at Disney, and right before school gets out (but that less so than when it first starts).

The rest of the year it many varied breaks, and quite frankly, people just take their kids out of school.

 

[Lynzer4]

They dont get more actually time off compared to when I was a kid it's just spread out more. I didnt get all the breaks but got out by mid May (May 15ish) and didn't start until last week of Aug/1st week of sept.

Now kids don't get out until June and start back mid August. They just get a spring, winter and fall break.

So now with all the school on a similar yet different schedule as soon as one starts back up another is out.

I will say that the first few weeks in January seem to be about the best bet for schools being in session as everyone starts back up after Christmas for a few weeks at least.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Yeah, I understand the part about different schools having different breaks so they pretty much rotate schools and take up the whole year. Kids on school break don't affect my trips too much, I was just thinking about this the other day and started to think of how many different breaks kids have now. My school in south western PA really only had the long Christmas break and spring break. I guess that was in the 90s and 00s. We had maybe a few long weekends or days off but only the two one break periods off.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

This post is partly in jest, but I am seriously beginning to wonder if there is any time of year anymore where some state's schools are not having some sort of break.

I'm really not that old, but when I went to school we didn't have fall break. Now every school has a fall break, which I believe can start for some schools as early as the end of September (for the schools that start back in August). So schools have fall breaks September-October.
Then they have November Thanksgiving break, which I understand for some schools are just a day or two whereas others get more days.

Then there is Christmas break which lasts until new year's.

Do any schools have long breaks for January-February? When I was in school we usually had a day for presidents day and mlk day. Do those breaks get extended nowadays?

Then once we hit March spring breaks start and don't end until April, and Easter of course is randomly thrown in there.

Then schools start to get out for the summer in may.

Just seems like there are an awful lot of school breaks to contend with.

Yeah and being in a 2 working parent family and having to arrange care for all those days off is no picnic. My kids absolutely get more days off than I did but that may have more to do with the state we live in being different. They get 2 weeks at Christmas and the whole week of Thanksgiving. For every national holiday they get that day and the day before or after for teacher planning (MLK day + Tues, President's day + another day, etc) plus 2 planning days in May so it works out to at least two days off every month that most employers don't give off.

Ironically that makes me feel less guilty about taking the kids out the 3 other days one of those weeks for a vacation.

 

[conandrob240]

I still think Labor Day week qnd week after are decent as long as no major Jewish holidays fall then. Much of the country is headed back to school that week, more have just started a week or two before. Even parents that would take kids out of school probably wouldn't do so first week or two.

 

[Delphinidae]

Yeah, I understand the part about different schools having different breaks so they pretty much rotate schools and take up the whole year. Kids on school break don't affect my trips too much, I was just thinking about this the other day and started to think of how many different breaks kids have now. My school in south western PA really only had the long Christmas break and spring break. I guess that was in the 90s and 00s. We had maybe a few long weekends or days off but only the two one break periods off.

My kids' schools still only have spring break and Christmas break. They recently started getting the whole week off for Thanksgiving instead of just a couple of days. Never had a "fall break". It does seem like they get more random days here and there than I remember getting, but when I was in school (around the same time as you, in Louisiana) we also got out for Mardi Gras and got days off for opening days of hunting season

I just wish there was still real "slow" times left at Disney!

 

[soniam]

My kids' schools still only have spring break and Christmas break. They recently started getting the whole week off for Thanksgiving instead of just a couple of days. Never had a "fall break". It does seem like they get more random days here and there than I remember getting, but when I was in school (around the same time as you, in Louisiana) we also got out for Mardi Gras and got days off for opening days of hunting season

I just wish there was still real "slow" times left at Disney!

So jealous of the Mardi Gras break, but in NOLA, they really have no choice. I knew of places, especially smaller towns in Texas, that got off for the beginning of deer season. I guess that was their fall break.

 

[SaintsManiac]

My only child is finishing kindergarten this month and I was so shocked at the amount of days off they get. Now being from New Orleans we are used to Mardi Gras break, but fall break is new to me. They also got a very long spring break on top of everything.

We took her out for a week in December for Disney and we'll do it again next year. Not sure if we can get away with it after that.

 

[Delphinidae]

So jealous of the Mardi Gras break, but in NOLA, they really have no choice. I knew of places, especially smaller towns in Texas, that got off for the beginning of deer season. I guess that was their fall break.

Mardi Gras break was always the time to go to Disney! Some friends that went recently during Mardi Gras told us that the whole state of Louisiana must have been at Disney LOL. We weren't even in New Orleans, I think the whole state gets out for Mardi Gras (or at least used to) but I could be wrong. We live in Texas now and have lived in three different cities in different parts of the state and haven't gotten out for hunting season, or anything like a fall break Come to think of it, we *may* have gotten a day or two for dove season but that was when my oldest was pretty young and I can't remember. We did pull them out of school for our last trip which was in September, and we loved going that time of year, but this time we are going in August before they start back to school. My oldest is going into 8th grade now and I don't know if pulling them for a week is the best thing anymore

 

[mkla2015]

I wish my kids got a Fall Break here in Texas. That seems like it would be a great time to Vacation. We get 1 week for Thanksgiving, 2 weeks for Christmas, and 1 week for spring break.

Growing up in Louisiana we never got a fall break but apparently they do get one now. And, of course Mardi Gras break was always when we went to Disney.

 

[disneyjunkie]

In NYC kids get a week off in eary Feb for Mid Winter break. This is after the break around Christmas and 4-6 weeks before Spring break. And a ton of days off for various holiday's!

Grrr - I keep telling my DD she is lucky - I never had so many breaks when I was in school.

I love our schedule. The only difference between now and when I was a kid on NYC public schools is the mid winter break. Back then we were out two Mondays in a row (Lincoln and Washington's birthdays). That changed to a week long break while I was in college.

The only "bad" thing about the schedule is that we don't get out until June 28.

 

[Prose]

I think you'll see this more and more - schools around here are gradually switching to the 9 weeks on, 2 weeks off model, with a shorter summer break. The only down side is, while our kids get off for the summer in late May, they go back in late July. And even school districts in neighboring towns do it differently, so that between all the different schools and different towns, someone in the area is on break almost any time most of October, March and early April....