Planning a trip from April 17-26; need opinions

[melaniemiller2002]

I have only been to WDW once and it was about 10 years ago in December. I don't remember being really hot or it being too crowded (it was after Christmas). We are planning a trip to the park in April and with two small children, we can't really go any other time than during their Spring Break.

Easter is April 16th. We are planning on flying from NV to FL on Monday, April 17th and staying until the following Tuesday. This way, the kids will only miss 2 days of school and we will have ample time to visit the parks (or so I think). My question is how bad is it really during this time? I think that most schools will have Spring Break either the week before or the week after Easter, so if we go the week after and stay through the following week, maybe it won't be too insane?

For those of you with young children, how do you feel about keeping them from school a couple of days in order to visit the park? My D will be 6 and in halfday Kindergarten. My S will be 9 and in 4th grade....he's also one of the top students in his classes and does great in school. I'm not worried about them missing a few days. But how do teachers see this? I don't want to anger his teacher by making it seem like WDW is more important than schoolwork but I don't see any other time we could make it out there. The kids are with their real mother most of the summer, so that's not an option. And we have to split Christmas vacation with her as well, so we can't go then. Besides, I'm an RN and rarely get holidays off....LOL.

If it's really THAT bad (I notice that Regular Season starts April 17th, one day after Peak Season is over), maybe we could consider not heading out to FL until Wed or Thursday and stay through until the following Friday. This would mean the kids missing an entire week of school and that kind of scares me. If we are going to do that, I would rather make the trip in the beginning of February or some other, less crowded time!

Any opinions or suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!!!!

Melanie

 

[dawgsgirl]

I have always heard that the 2 weeks on either side of Easter are crowded. I have not been there myself during this time, but it is known as a high crowd time. We have taken my neice out of school for 3 days this past school year. She was in the third grade. Really made no difference at all. It just depends on the school, what is going on that week at school, and how you feel about the absences. The 3 days my neice missed were the only days they went to school that week and they were not doing too much. Happy planning!

 

[Leota]

We just went for Spring Break that was not even connected to Easter & it was busy. By noon, waits for the major attractions were well into the hour frame. I am pretty spoiled with less lines that that, so it was tough to take. Luckily we have been there enough & planning enough return trips that we had no pressure to see it all. If my DS was younger, I would still be taking him out of school on the off-season for our WDW trips. I hear Easter weeks are way worse than what we experienced. I doubt I would ever go Easter or Christmas weeks.

I took my son out of school for WDW trips until 7th grade. That was about a year too old for missing school. We worked things out with the school to complete the work before & after the trip as well as doing an extra project while in WDW (usually a Science or Social Studies report based on an Epcot pavillion) I know different teachers & different schools react differently. Ours was pretty supportive. If you are going to have your kids miss school, go another time - it's not worth puttling them out of school for a crowded visit.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Last year was our lst easter trip ever. It just coincided with our 3 ds spring break so that is the only time we could go. This first comment is in relation to going at easter. We have been there in feb,april,may and august so that is what I am comparing it too. It was crowded, more crowded then I ever imagined, more crowded than hot august. Most of the times it was standing room only on the buses, there were actual lines just to get a fastpass for a ride, most fastpasses had return times of like 6 hours later, for example at 10 am, the return time was 6 pm., this was not good if you were planning to park hop, most sit down restraunts were turning people away who did not have ps, now know as adr etc. But with proper planning you will be able to accomplish alot. The weather is much more bearable than in the summer. As far as taking the kids out of school, as long as they make up homework and assignments their shouldnt be a problem. We will go next easter too, but now that I see peak season is when we will arrive, I will split my reservation to get a lower rate for the rest of the days.

 

[dani0622]

I was there the last two weeks of April this year (over a month after Easter) and it was extremely crowded with some wait times over an hour and very hot most days. Got sunburned so bad one day had to wear long sleeves and SPF 75 afterwards! I also went two years ago during Easter and it was extremely crowded. But if you plan right (using FP and PS) you can still enjoy!