Keep September or switch ?

[blakefamily]

WWYD ? We have a trip planned for Orange lake 9/21-9/28. Two families each with a daughter. One will be starting 6th grade, one will be starting 7th. We start school the day after labor day so the girls would be in school for 2-3 wks and then miss a week. I'm staring to question the decision for them to miss school and considering changing our reservation to either August or Thanksgiving week so they don't miss school or maybe only a day or two. I know August will be HOT, but so is Sept and we've been in Sept and done fine. We've been the week leading into Thanksgiving before and headed home on Thanksgiving. Crowds got busier as we got closer to Thanksgiving and for the most part we had good weather. A few colder days, but still had pool days too. With SWGE likely being open by Thanksgiving, I'm a bit concerned about crowds......UGHHH Decisions, Decisions, Decisions LOL So, What would you do ??

 

[ClapYourHands]

I'd choose August. I wouldn't want my kids to miss school that early in the year if I could help it. There's so much settling in, and 6th grade here is a transition to the middle school, so I for sure wouldn't want to pull my kid for a week when she's only been there for 2. Unless you really want to go to SWGE, I'd skip the crowds of Thanksgiving. If you go near the end of August, the parks will be low-ish season because so many of the Southern schools will be back in session. That week leading up to Labor Day seems to have pretty sweet flights, too.

This is not from personal experience, but on several threads, people have said that September weather is akin to August weather, and sometimes September is hotter.

 

[Macprincess]

I'm a Florida Resident and I can honestly say there is not much difference between the weather in August and September. Both will be hot & sticky and you can pretty much count on it raining daily in the afternoon.

I'm also a Mom with two grown college students and a freshman in High School. I wouldn't suggest pulling the kids from school as the missed work load can be enormous to make up and some school won't allow work to be made up if school is missed for vacation. This can mess with their GPA, which is not the end of the world in middle school, as it won't count for college admittance. However, it might hinder their ability to take more advance classes in High School.

Thanksgiving week is going to be more expensive if you fly. If you drive plan on the roads being crowded and it taking longer to get to and from Florida. Especially if you plan on driving home the Sunday after Thanksgiving or to Florida the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Count on resorts being more expensive as well.

Personally, in your situation I would suggest moving the trip to August after the 15th. Most Florida and southern states schools are back in session by then. Resort prices and crowds should both drop after the 15th.

 

[blakefamily]

Thank you for your thoughts and recommendations. Much appreciated. I feel like August might be a better choice. Need to discuss with our friends and decide

 

[HeatherC]

Another option might be to look at your school calendar and see if there is a week that the kids have a day off with maybe a half day off mixed in? We usually have days like this in October and March. The kids may be off on a Thursday and then a half day Friday for teacher professional development days or teacher conferences, etc.
that way they wouldn’t miss as many days.

Last year I remember the week of Veterans Day was like this. They were off for the holiday and then another day was a professional development day and another day was a half day for conferences.

 

[TamaraQT]

We permanently changed our annual July trips to the last 2 weeks of August a couple of years ago and haven't regretted it at all. I live in NJ and as others have mentioned flights are cheaper for one but we noticed other things too. Its less rainy in August than July. Since we changed to August we only got rained out ONCE in 3 years and it was only for a half of day. In July we could be rained out 2 or 3 days during each vacation. Also its so true that crowd levels are lower EVERYWHERE. Disney, Universal,Sea World, Busch Gardens, Clearwater and all points in between. Also the hotels seem to be less crowded. We stay at timeshares and its easier to have room requests granted due to lower crowd levels. Easier to get my preferred building, floor and poolview. The resort buildings and pools are less occupied. Restaurants have far less wait times if any at all. You get all the peak season benefits with off-season perks. I say go in the last two weeks in August. I doubt that you will regret it.