President's Week - Do a lot of schools around the country get it off?

[EpcotNerd]

I'm not asking for the reason you think I am I was under the impression that "President's Week" was primarily a New York thing and, that New York is a big enough state to cause large crowds in WDW.

If that is true, I'm struggling why none of the crowd calendars (or any of the off-site rental/hotel rates) are reflecting the fact that most of the New York schools are getting the last week in April off in 2016. It was my first choice week but I'm scared that everyone is underestimating how crowded it would be? If "Jersey Week" is enough to jump the crowd levels up, shouldn't the last week in April now be a danger zone?

Is NY state enough of an influence on crowds? Or is President's Week a crowded mess because lots of schools around the country give it off?

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

Many schools in CT do and from memory Disney is crowded. Those that don't have at least a long weekend

 

[mom2rtk]

We don't get a lot of federal holidays off, but we do get that one off in our district in Missouri. I think most schools are out. The parks are crazy crowded for that reason.

 

[DaniMoon]

Pennsylvania here, and many years we are lucky to get the Monday of President's weekend off. We have the Fri/Mon as holidays, but most years we lose the Friday to make up a snow day and some schools will even take back the Monday to make up a snow day.

 

[rlovew]

In many areas of Florida everyone gets Monday off and students get Tuesday off as it is a teacher workday in many places. I have been in at least 1 county in Florida that got Mon-Wed of the week off.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm struggling why none of the crowd calendars (or any of the off-site rental/hotel rates) are reflecting the fact that most of the New York schools are getting the last week in April off in 2016.

I consider all of April to still be part of Spring Break nationwide, so assume it will be Spring Breaky.

 

[Lucius Best]

Massachusetts gets Presidents Day week off. Definitely very crowded.

 

[Mikie]

My part of Missouri, most schools are only off that Monday. My guess about April not showing any special crowd spike is that, like a PP stated, it's still part of Spring Break. However, I usually put spring break more around late March thru mud April, so late April should maybe still be responsive to the entire state of New York being off. (Why is that?)

 

[Jdismom]

If President's Day coincides with the same week as Mardi Gras (which seems to happen about every other year), then New Orleans, Mobile, and most of south LA has off that week too.

 

[HockeyMomNH]

The Princess Half Marathon weekend falls the next weekend too, so the parks are crowded all that week leading up to the races.

 

[Minniesgal]

Coincides with UK school holidays as well. Popular time for UK guests who do not want to travel in the Summer.

 

[dprincessmom]

I'm not asking for the reason you think I am I was under the impression that "President's Week" was primarily a New York thing and, that New York is a big enough state to cause large crowds in WDW.

If that is true, I'm struggling why none of the crowd calendars (or any of the off-site rental/hotel rates) are reflecting the fact that most of the New York schools are getting the last week in April off in 2016. It was my first choice week but I'm scared that everyone is underestimating how crowded it would be? If "Jersey Week" is enough to jump the crowd levels up, shouldn't the last week in April now be a danger zone?

Is NY state enough of an influence on crowds? Or is President's Week a crowded mess because lots of schools around the country give it off?

President's Day (in February) is crazy crowded; Never heard of President's Week - if this is something that historically has happened at the same time and there isn't a change in the crowd calendars then my guess is that while NY is a large state, not many people in NY can take that whole week off and they are just around the corner from Summer vacation so they work thru this week.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Yes we went this year over Presidents Day weekend into the week a bit. And it was very crowded!

We found out it was due to Mardi Gras, President's Day obviously and then even Valentine's Day fell on that Saturday! We couldn't even get a reservation at our offsite hotel that Saturday night, like in the regular hotel restaurant.

It was nuts.

 

[Lucius Best]

The Princess Half Marathon weekend falls the next weekend too, so the parks are crowded all that week leading up to the races.

Yes, I was surprised when Disney moved the Princess Half to the crowded weekend after President's Day. My wife ran it a few years ago when it was held the first weekend in March right at start of Flower&Garden Festival. We will most likely never do it again as long as it's that weekend in February, too crowded.

 

[Jennytoon]

The thing about February (and Jersey week) is that although not all areas get the week off, all the areas that get the week off get the same week, pretty much -- kind of "President's Week or bust".

For April vacation, pretty much all areas get a break but they all use different rules to set it. Sometimes these rules make the breaks overlap, and sometimes they get spread out.

• Lots of areas use the week after Easter, which in 2016 is on March 27
• Many New England areas get Patriot's Day week, which in 2016 is on April 18.
• New York gets the week of Passover, which in 2016 will be the week of April 22nd.

So in 2016 these weeks are all different ... but most years Easter and Passover overlap, and sometimes that overlaps with the New England week too ... here is an interesting article:

http://blog.touringplans.com/2015/03/05/spring-break-2015-crowds-walt-disney-world/

ETA: I see that I should revise my statement as apparently there is a similar dynamic with President's week and Mardi Gras.

 

[ariane37]

The thing about February (and Jersey week) is that although not all areas get the week off, all the areas that get the week off get the same week, pretty much -- kind of "President's Week or bust".

For April vacation, pretty much all areas get a break but they all use different rules to set it. Sometimes these rules make the breaks overlap, and sometimes they get spread out.

• Lots of areas use the week after Easter, which in 2016 is on March 27
• Many New England areas get Patriot's Day week, which in 2016 is on April 18.
• New York gets the week of Passover, which in 2016 will be the week of April 22nd.

So in 2016 these weeks are all different ... but most years Easter and Passover overlap, and sometimes that overlaps with the New England week too ... here is an interesting article:

http://blog.touringplans.com/2015/03/05/spring-break-2015-crowds-walt-disney-world/

ETA: I see that I should revise my statement as apparently there is a similar dynamic with President's week and Mardi Gras.

New York here We do not get the week of Passover off; we always have the week BEFORE Easter including next year. All surrounding school districts are similar, with a couple doing the week after Easter. I am sure though that not ALL of NY is the same as we are.

As for Presidents Day "week" we normally only get that day and occasionally the Fri. before like this year. For instance, in 2016 the kids go a half day the Fri before & are then off Mon. in our district. We went over Presidents Day in 2014 and didn't find it unbearable; however we'd already been there for 9 days with very decent crowds so that's probably why the increase didn't bother us. We still got a lot done on Presidents Day and the day before.

 

[Jennytoon]

New York here We do not get the week of Passover off; we always have the week BEFORE Easter including next year. All surrounding school districts are similar, with a couple doing the week after Easter. I am sure though that not ALL of NY is the same as we are.

As for Presidents Day "week" we normally only get that day and occasionally the Fri. before like this year. For instance, in 2016 the kids go a half day the Fri before & are then off Mon. in our district. We went over Presidents Day in 2014 and didn't find it unbearable; however we'd already been there for 9 days with very decent crowds so that's probably why the increase didn't bother us. We still got a lot done on Presidents Day and the day before.

Are you in New York City or elsewhere in the state? I grew up in the city and my parents have both been teachers there for the past 20+ years, and as far as I am aware the last year that the city did not get the week of Passover off was in 1986. It's true I assumed it was the same for the whole state. Usually it is not noticeable that the week is Passover and not Easter as the two coincide almost always.

http://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/24/nyregion/judge-orders-schools-to-open-on-passover.html

 

[puffkin]

PA here...we usually only get the Monday off for President's Day and it is a snow make up day so usually they don't get off because they have days to make up. We also get the week before Easter off as our "spring break" but usually lose most of that for snow make up days as well. Very rarely do we get the whole week.

We have family that lives in New England. They usually get President's Week off. It's a big thing up there, lots of families either head south or ski. They also get a Spring Break in April that does not always coincide with Easter. We have already been to Disney during New England spring break and it is CRAZY busy and everyone has a Boston accent, lol. It's similar to Jersey week in November for the Disney crowds or the Mardi Gras crowds from the Gulf coast. Whenever a part of the country always gets a period of time off, you will see large crowds at Disney, especially when they coincide with other more national holidays.

 

[wdwjeffc37]

Our kids only get the Monday and sometimes the Tuesday(if it is a "teacher inservice" day). I really think the thing that affects crowds more is whether the Florida schools are out. I think that other states' school holidays can affect crowds at Disney but only significantly if it a holiday that all schools are out for, i.e. Thanksgiving, Christmas, the whole Spring Break season, etc. I don't think that the odd long weekend or week off, i.e. Mardi Gras, Jersey Week, etc., that doesn't coincide with school systems nation-wide contributes to very much larger crowds. JMHO. Lately it has been pretty crowded all the time. Cheers!!!

 

[JimmyV]

I was under the impression that "President's Week" was primarily a New York thing and, that New York is a big enough state to cause large crowds in WDW.

If that is true, I'm struggling why none of the crowd calendars (or any of the off-site rental/hotel rates) are reflecting the fact that most of the New York schools are getting the last week in April off in 2016.

Can you clear something up here. Are you talking about February or April? President's Day is in February, and historically, much of the Northeast got the whole week off, calling it President's Week. The reasoning was that this was statistically the week with the highest fuel costs, the highest teacher and student absentee rate, (due to cold and flu season), and a week that was very likely to suffer from school closings anyway due to winter storms. So the school systems decided to simply "punt" and close for the whole week. Save some money. Let people get healthy without infecting others in a closed environment, etc. However, the recent trend has been to want to end the school year earlier so the vacation week has either been cut back to the single Monday Federal Holiday, or, in some cases, a Friday or Tuesday is tacked on to make it a 4 day weekend. This has also been caused by a rash of large Winter storms closing schools in the northeast at times other than February, resulting in the school year dragging out until the third or fourth week of June in some circumstances. So, whereas 5 years ago one might have a pretty solid idea about "Red Sox and Yankees" nations all being in Florida during President's Week, this has become less predictable.

Now...if you are talking about a President's Week in April, I have to confess that I have no idea what that is.