"Official" 2018 Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party - A Spooktacular Celebration!

[mara512]

My husband bought me a new car!

Yep, very out of the blue and surprised me with it earlier this evening! Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited!

WOW CONGRATULATIONS
I am 100% a Jeep person so I am excited for you!

 

[cwilso1987]

I know this is a "personal preference" question but just wanted to see others thoughts.

Thinking about doing a very short and quick trip and would attend one of the first parties. We would leave Thursday afternoon after the kids got out of school. Attend a Friday party and come back home Sunday. (The kids would miss a day a school.)

In November, we are going the same thing a few days before Thanksgiving break, so the kids would miss 2 days of school then.

My concern and question I guess is about the kids missing 3 days of school just for Disney (would you just go for it?). I'm not really worried about my youngest as he is in kindergarten, but my oldest is in 6th grade.

 

[Jafar30]

So it’s just 16 days from the first party. That doesn’t feel right

 

[Best Aunt]

Yep. It’s called Disney Vacation Club.

Thanks!

For those who are following along at home... I went to the DVC member page, and clicked on the Facebook icon at the bottom of the page. It took me to this: https://www.facebook.com/pg/DisneyVacationClub/posts/

So presumably this is an official DVC Facebook page.

Someone asked on this page how many guests a DVC member can bring with them if entering the Magic Kingdom at 2:00 pm using just a party ticket.
The person posting for DVC replied: "You can bring up to seven Guests with you!"

So then someone said that she and her spouse both have dvc cards.
The person posting for DVC replied: "The seven Guests are per DVC Membership card."

My question for you guys: If husband and wife jointly own one DVC contract, do they get two membership cards? If yes, it appears that if they both remember to bring their membership cards with them, they can each get themselves plus 7 guests in at 2:00 pm.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I know this is a "personal preference" question but just wanted to see others thoughts.

Thinking about doing a very short and quick trip and would attend one of the first parties. We would leave Thursday afternoon after the kids got out of school. Attend a Friday party and come back home Sunday. (The kids would miss a day a school.)

In November, we are going the same thing a few days before Thanksgiving break, so the kids would miss 2 days of school then.

My concern and question I guess is about the kids missing 3 days of school just for Disney (would you just go for it?). I'm not really worried about my youngest as he is in kindergarten, but my oldest is in 6th grade.

Obviously highly personal... I've been in that camp the last few years (DS will be in 2nd grade this year). We usually do a "long weekend" MNSSHP trip sometime early Sept and hit either a Friday or Sunday party depending on the schedule, which means being out of school one day (either Friday or Monday).

For K, we didn't really care. For 1st grade, we were borderline on taking him out but did it anyway. This year, we are probably not going to take him out and just work within the school/fall break calendar. That being said, we'd still do a day or so if needed - it's not the end of the world and we do value our family travel time. Not sure we'd plan three days (or let me say it another way, no way DW would let me do that!).

From what I see of DS's friends/our peer group - we err on the more rigid side when it comes to school attendance. Several of our friends take their kids out quite often, it seems.

Anyway - no right, no wrong of course...just one family's perspective.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

So it’s just 16 days from the first party. That doesn’t feel right

But it doesn't feel wrong either!

"It's really not so scary...."

 

[CMNJ]

Thanks!

My question for you guys: If husband and wife jointly own one DVC contract, do they get two membership cards? If yes, it appears that if they both remember to bring their membership cards with them, they can each get themselves plus 7 guests in at 2:00 pm.

yes all owners listed on the deed are entitled to membership cards (both my husband and I have one). This is only supposedly avail to those with blue membership cards (direct buyers or those who were grandfathered in by DVC) as it is a membership magic extra.

 

[Cluelyss]

I know this is a "personal preference" question but just wanted to see others thoughts.

Thinking about doing a very short and quick trip and would attend one of the first parties. We would leave Thursday afternoon after the kids got out of school. Attend a Friday party and come back home Sunday. (The kids would miss a day a school.)

In November, we are going the same thing a few days before Thanksgiving break, so the kids would miss 2 days of school then.

My concern and question I guess is about the kids missing 3 days of school just for Disney (would you just go for it?). I'm not really worried about my youngest as he is in kindergarten, but my oldest is in 6th grade.

As others have said, this is very subjective and personal. We’ve pulled our kids out for up to a week at a time when they were younger. Last time we did that my oldest was in 2nd grade and had some trouble catching up before the end of the semester (we pulled her the 1st week in December), so that was the last time we did a long trip during the school year. Since then, we’ve pulled them for a day or two at a time, working around school breaks for all of our trips (and generally we’ve found they don’t miss much if they’re gone the day before or after a break). This year they will miss a day and a half before fall break and a day before Christmas break and I don’t feel bad about it at all. Family time is just as important as school time (if not more important), and missing a day or two here and there is unlikely to affect their studies. Now, once my kids are in high school, I probably won’t pull them for vacations at all, but for now they can afford to miss a few days! Just my opinion! (And for reference, my oldest will be in 5th grade this year.)

 

[bethbuchall]

So it’s just 16 days from the first party. That doesn’t feel right

That means in 16 days my vacation will be over But it also means that it’s almost ready to start!

 

[GillianP1301]

I know this is a "personal preference" question but just wanted to see others thoughts.

Thinking about doing a very short and quick trip and would attend one of the first parties. We would leave Thursday afternoon after the kids got out of school. Attend a Friday party and come back home Sunday. (The kids would miss a day a school.)

In November, we are going the same thing a few days before Thanksgiving break, so the kids would miss 2 days of school then.

My concern and question I guess is about the kids missing 3 days of school just for Disney (would you just go for it?). I'm not really worried about my youngest as he is in kindergarten, but my oldest is in 6th grade.

You're right, it is personal preference and I've always been in the camp that we don't miss school for anything other than illness (my son is starting 5th grade this year). However, I have no issue with those who choose to do so and in your scenario where it's 1 day in August and then 2 days in November, I would have less issue then if it were 3 days or a week all together. Making up a day or two here or there is a lot easier than longer.

 

[GillianP1301]

So it’s just 16 days from the first party. That doesn’t feel right

Weird but exciting! I'm not at that first party (we're doing 8/28 and 8/31), but I'm so excited that I can now say it's this month! Only at Disney can I go along with Hallowe'en in August and not find it weird at all. It's magical!

 

[iivye]

hinking about doing a very short and quick trip and would attend one of the first parties. We would leave Thursday afternoon after the kids got out of school. Attend a Friday party and come back home Sunday. (The kids would miss a day a school.)

In November, we are going the same thing a few days before Thanksgiving break, so the kids would miss 2 days of school then.

My concern and question I guess is about the kids missing 3 days of school just for Disney (would you just go for it?). I'm not really worried about my youngest as he is in kindergarten, but my oldest is in 6th grade.

We do 4 or 5 long weekends a year at Disney or Universal and my daughter will miss school on those Fridays. She is starting high school this year and I already have two trips planned where she will miss a day. When she was younger I was able to take her out of school for multiple days in a row but it got to the point that the catch up was just too difficult so I keep it to one day. The one exception would be Thanksgiving week because they usually have a half day on that Wednesday and I don't think they really do a lot on that Mon/Tue so I would say go for it.

 

[McFly913]

I will be at a party early September and will get an orange bird card . Looking to tride it for the Country Bear Card. Let me know if interested .

I've been wanting the CBJ cars for as long as I knew about it. Very big personal connection to the attraction.

PM if interested.

 

[kyomagi]

https://i.imgur.com/QHrp9Pm.jpg

Here are this years pins

 

[Cluelyss]

I will be at a party early September and will get an orange bird card . Looking to tride it for the Country Bear Card. Let me know if interested .

I've been wanting the CBJ cars for as long as I knew about it. Very big personal connection to the attraction.

PM if interested.

I’m almost positive I have an extra CBJ, will confirm when I get home tonight.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I know this is a "personal preference" question but just wanted to see others thoughts.

Thinking about doing a very short and quick trip and would attend one of the first parties. We would leave Thursday afternoon after the kids got out of school. Attend a Friday party and come back home Sunday. (The kids would miss a day a school.)

In November, we are going the same thing a few days before Thanksgiving break, so the kids would miss 2 days of school then.

My concern and question I guess is about the kids missing 3 days of school just for Disney (would you just go for it?). I'm not really worried about my youngest as he is in kindergarten, but my oldest is in 6th grade.

It's personal but I'm of the belief that there's nothing my daughter can learn at school that is as valuable as the time we'll spend together on a Disney vacation. She will be in 4th grade this year and missing 6 days for our December trip.

So far we have averaged 8-12 school days/year for Disney vacations and never had any trouble catching up.

It's personal but until my DD begins to show problems with getting caught up, we go.

 

[Rich M]

It's personal but I'm of the belief that there's nothing my daughter can learn at school that is as valuable as the time we'll spend together on a Disney vacation. She will be in 4th grade this year and missing 6 days for our December trip.

So far we have averaged 8-12 school days/year for Disney vacations and never had any trouble catching up.

It's personal but until my DD begins to show problems with getting caught up, we go.

When my son was in school I always took him out of school for vacations. I refused to spend good money on a vacation to be there when everyone else was there too. I would notify his school 2 months prior to a trip and then again closer to the trip. I would communicate with the teachers to get all of the school work that he could do and he would have to do 2 hours of school work a day while on the trip as well as working on it on the plane. He never fell behind and always made sure he stayed up with everything since he knew it was a privilege to go on trips and that if he fell behind because of a trip he would not be allowed to do it anymore. He was also an athlete so he knew how important his grades where to be able to continue playing. I understand peoples arguments about missing school and don't want to do it but it worked out well for me.

 

[cwilso1987]

As others have said, this is very subjective and personal. We’ve pulled our kids out for up to a week at a time when they were younger. Last time we did that my oldest was in 2nd grade and had some trouble catching up before the end of the semester (we pulled her the 1st week in December), so that was the last time we did a long trip during the school year. Since then, we’ve pulled them for a day or two at a time, working around school breaks for all of our trips (and generally we’ve found they don’t miss much if they’re gone the day before or after a break). This year they will miss a day and a half before fall break and a day before Christmas break and I don’t feel bad about it at all. Family time is just as important as school time (if not more important), and missing a day or two here and there is unlikely to affect their studies. Now, once my kids are in high school, I probably won’t pull them for vacations at all, but for now they can afford to miss a few days! Just my opinion! (And for reference, my oldest will be in 5th grade this year.)

Thank you for your response! And I agree with you about how the kids to generally don't miss much when they are gone either before or after a break. The 1 day in August will be the Friday before Labor Day (so they will have Monday off) and the 2 days in November will be the Thursday and Friday before Thanksgiving break.

 

[cwilso1987]

We do 4 or 5 long weekends a year at Disney or Universal and my daughter will miss school on those Fridays. She is starting high school this year and I already have two trips planned where she will miss a day. When she was younger I was able to take her out of school for multiple days in a row but it got to the point that the catch up was just too difficult so I keep it to one day. The one exception would be Thanksgiving week because they usually have a half day on that Wednesday and I don't think they really do a lot on that Mon/Tue so I would say go for it.

Definitely leaning towards going more so than not! Thank you for your opinion!

 

[cwilso1987]

It's personal but I'm of the belief that there's nothing my daughter can learn at school that is as valuable as the time we'll spend together on a Disney vacation. She will be in 4th grade this year and missing 6 days for our December trip.

So far we have averaged 8-12 school days/year for Disney vacations and never had any trouble catching up.

It's personal but until my DD begins to show problems with getting caught up, we go.

Love "belief that there's nothing my daughter can learn at school that is as valuable as the time we'll spend together on a Disney vacation" So true!!! I also love your view of "until she begins to show problems with getting caught up, we go." I completely agree! Definitely think I'm going to go for it. Thank you for your opinion!