Shocked

[Jen0504]

We went Sept. 19th - Sept. 26th, and it was crazy busy! Not to mention we had quite a few issues with rude people. People were cutting in line, shoving my neice out of the way to watch Illuminations, etc. It was probably the worst Disney experience I have ever had. I don't know what the deal was?! Full moon perhaps? Needless to say, I don't know if we will EVER do September again.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

we just got back yesterday from 8 nights at wdw and the crowds were so low. At DHS tower of terror stand by was 10 min. TSM was high with a wait of 90 min, but other than that we did everything we wanted w/o waiting. We even got our pic w/ Lotso and were 3rd in line, and no one was coming behind us either, it was empty. Then when we got done we got pics w/ Stitch, no wait, Minnie and Pluto-2nd in line, Pinocchio-3rd in line, and Chip and Dale 1st in line. It was so awesome to get pics w/ all of them, oh and then w/ the Incredibles 2nd in line. That was on Sept 25th.

MK had very short waits for everything. My DH did Space Mountain, walk on, on Sun. We did Splash w/ no wait and BTMR too. It was great to see such low crowds. -oh and that was an EMH night too.

Epcot was great. We got there at 9am and rode Test Track, walk on. Soarin was 10 min. Donald's boat ride was walk on. So was Mexico and Norway's ride.

Our whole trip was like this, and at the waterparks too.. no waits for anything. We even went the day after the heavy rain and there was an empty park, the lot had about 5 cars!

On our last night, Sat October 2nd, we went to MK to catch the electric parade and then watch the fireworks. It was terribly crowded! It was like holiday crowds. We left after the fireworks b/c it was too crowded to do anything, plus we already did everything w/ no crowds. I definetly saw a huge rise in crowds!

 

[DisGirl23]

Our whole trip was like this, and at the waterparks too.. no waits for anything. We even went the day after the heavy rain and there was an empty park, the lot had about 5 cars!

Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach? We went to Typhoon Lagoon on Wednesday (day after the RAIN and MNSSHP). There couldn't have been more than 40 people in the wave pool and the beaches were deserted. But it was great for us!

 

[pooh4evr]

please tell me Oct isn't that busy all the time- we also have yr round school here (FWIW LOVE IT!) but due to budgets being what they are for schools the board is voting at the end of this month to change to a traditional calendar next yr (after 40 yrs of yr round) so our usual mid Dec trip (which has been a perfect time for us to go) will be changed to Columbus Day week -- i expect that weekend to be busy but what about the other days????
Oh and we are in the middle of our 3 week break too-

 

[maryj11]

Grammar and spelling were not my strengths, please forgive me. Give me a math problem instead. [/QUO:

 

[maryj11]

Meh...I missed the maximum number of days allowed (by law) every year in high school...some for vacations, some for outside interests, some as "mental health days." Judge me and my parents all you want. I still graduated as valedictorian and had a full ride academic scholarship.

WAY TO GO !!!!

 

[SSR]

WAY TO GO !!!!

Originally Posted by Aggiegrl View Post
Meh...I missed the maximum number of days allowed (by law) every year in high school...some for vacations, some for outside interests, some as "mental health days." Judge me and my parents all you want. I still graduated as valedictorian and had a full ride academic scholarship.

This is somewhat spurious and unfair. You're clearly extremely bright and probably smarter than 99.99% of the student population. You could afford to take the "maximum" days and still do incredibly well academically. I'm not sure that means, however, that it's appropriate to imply that because you could do it that it's OK for everyone else to miss the maximum days and be just fine.

 

[whitney6494]

I'm bringing my family in Dec. for 10 days. Yes we are pulling them out of school. They all know they have to work extra hard to make up the work. They are only young once and this is probably the only time we will ever go at Christmas time. People who judge have nothing better to do. Family vacations are awesome and are always cherished memories.

 

[maryj11]

We went Labor day week last month , we have always gone Labor day week. Except our last vacations were a long time ago and it was not corwded. This year we went was more crowded then I have ever seen it during that time. The resort we stayed in was CSR, was not crowded but the parks were more crowded then the past.
Oh yeah I had my 8 year girl with me and a lady on the bus asked how did you get out of school to come here with a sarcastic sound to her voice LOL. Well we were INNOCENT I TELL YOU ! Because that was our county fair week and they are always off from school that week so HAAAAAAAAAA !!!!
Im planning on taking her out for 3 days in mid Dec, because we have never been during Christmas season and would love to go and not be in terrible crowds. So I have planned to take her out for 3 days, she is in 2nd grade and does well so I figure we can work on makeup work the day before we leave and maybe on the plane ride.

 

[dqpowell]

Every park is packed. We were here last year same time....about a third of the crowd then. It is shocking. Yesterday at 10:45 all fast passes for Toy Story were gone. Wait time was 130 min.

You clearly aren't making use of a crowd calendar. You can't say every park is packed on the same day. What's happening is that you are picking the worst park each day, maybe by coincidence. On touringplans.com's per-park crowd calendar, you can see this. On almost any given day you can find a park that rates an 8 or higher, and another park that rates a 2 or lower. The next day the same park that was an 8 might be a 1.

we just got back yesterday from 8 nights at wdw and the crowds were so low. At DHS tower of terror stand by was 10 min. TSM was high with a wait of 90 min, but other than that we did everything we wanted w/o waiting. We even got our pic w/ Lotso and were 3rd in line, and no one was coming behind us either, it was empty. Then when we got done we got pics w/ Stitch, no wait, Minnie and Pluto-2nd in line, Pinocchio-3rd in line, and Chip and Dale 1st in line. It was so awesome to get pics w/ all of them, oh and then w/ the Incredibles 2nd in line. That was on Sept 25th.

MK had very short waits for everything. My DH did Space Mountain, walk on, on Sun. We did Splash w/ no wait and BTMR too. It was great to see such low crowds. -oh and that was an EMH night too.

Epcot was great. We got there at 9am and rode Test Track, walk on. Soarin was 10 min. Donald's boat ride was walk on. So was Mexico and Norway's ride.

Our whole trip was like this, and at the waterparks too.. no waits for anything. We even went the day after the heavy rain and there was an empty park, the lot had about 5 cars!

See what I mean? That's somebody who visited the low-crowd parks almost every day. Except for one day:

On our last night, Sat October 2nd, we went to MK to catch the electric parade and then watch the fireworks. It was terribly crowded! It was like holiday crowds. We left after the fireworks b/c it was too crowded to do anything, plus we already did everything w/ no crowds. I definetly saw a huge rise in crowds!

Because you visited on a day when MK was busy, not because the whole resort was overrun with people as it is in a truly busy season.

David

 

[maryj11]

 

[mercydisney]

My oldest is in middle school and you can see we are leaving very soon. My school is sending all his homework and his work is expected back that first day of return. The same is expected of my 5th grader. You can miss school and go to Disney at the same time. We do homework in the evening when we get back, while dinner is being prepared. Our school also has a portal so I can see any additional assignmets that they might have missed, as well as test scores that have come out during our trip. I live in Pa so a staycation or an extended weekend doesn't make sense for us either. Taking your child to Disney, as part of a family trip or as an educational experience, has merit that extends beyond traditional education.

I find it insulting when I hear that education is very important when the complaining about the amount of kids in the park during off peak season. Education is important to every parent that I personally know. To log on and hear that people think that if you take your child to Disney that you are some how being remiss as a parent is an insult on many levels. Parents work different shifts, have down time during the year based on their occupation, or simply can't afford the peak summer season. We are all going to Disney to experience the magic, despite the time of year that works with our family calander.

Very well said!!!

I'm a SAHM, I have been homeroom mom for the past 9yrs. My sister is a teacher, my BIL is a principal, I have very good friends that are teachers. Not in the same school district. They are always happy when kids that making good grades take a vacation with the family. That is part of growing up. Well rounded kids are usually the ones who's parent will take them out of school to have a family adventure.
They only wish the kids that are not well behaved would be taken out for a vacation.

OP, I'm one those parents who take their kids out of school and ruin your vacation. I took them out for my B'day, MNSSHHP, and will be taking them out in Dec for our Anniversary.
I will also be taking my kids out in the end of Oct. but we will be going to Atlanta, AG Store.

Am I woried I am labeled a bad Mom? Nope. DD10 just got Terrific Kid, againjust got her progrees report and has all A's . DD15 and a sophmore is getting all A's and is in all AP classes, she has exceeded her# of service hrs by 300hrs.

OP, I think you are naive if you think because others take their kids out of school they don't take school seriously.

 

[Shreggor]

I don't know. We met a family that their kids have been in school one week and they took them out for 6 school days.

My mum used to take us out for 3 to 4 weeks every year for trips to WDW and Vegas... we turned out just fine. Heck, we even graduated from college and everything. Not everyone is you.

 

[FosterA]

To the OP, I'm sorry that the crowds were more than anticipated...especially since you've been at this time before and didn't have that problem. We are planning our first trip during what I "think" will be a fairly uncrowded time but I'll prepare myself to be surprised just like you were. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised by low crowds yet assume they'll be crowded versus the other way around. We'll see. It's our first trip.
HA! I was just thinking today that I haven't seen a "take kids out of school" thread in awhile along with all the drama that comes along with it. Low and behold...here we go again.
A previous poster said it well. The taking kid out thing varies from kid to kid and school to school so it's very hard to say what is right anyway. WE will take our two out for 5 days (5th and 9th grade). We value an education obviously but I painstakingly chose dates that I think will be a low work load, will notify teachers ahead of time, will work hard before and after, etc etc. Other kids seem to miss school all the time for sniffles,allergies,orthodontist appts, and the way I look at it is that my particular kids rarely get sick (Thank you God!) and we're pretty tough about not letting them stay home for every tiny sniffle they get so when it's all said and done, I think my kids missing 5 days during a school year is still way less than most kids miss a year. If your kiddo struggles or tends to get sick often, than you obviously don't want to waste days on a trip. It just depends from kid to kid. Nowadays kids are rushed to grow up, pushed to do harder school work every year (my 4th grader is doing stuff we learned in 6th grade!), pressured to get into the best college, be a top athlete, do 15 extra-curricular activities a night...all to grow up and get a job! work work work, pay for your big house and big SUV and then die. Just like the saying "you can't take a U-haul to Heaven". You also wont remember that you got a "B" in math instead of an "A" back in 6th grade when you went to Disney World and missed a few assignments but you WILL remember and have photos of your family trip. Memories and family time will stick in your mind alot longer than your stupid grade from elementary school. yes...you can choose to go to the World in the summer or doing a break but we aren't because we'll only go once in a lifetime (husband not interested in Disney and it's so expensive) and I want it to count. We are going in November before Thanskgiving break because all of the breaks we have will either be roasting hot or shoulder-to-shoulder.
Family time is on the decline whereas work/career/money is where all the focus is nowadays (in my opinion). I choose to have my little guys miss 5 days of school because we rarely rarely do vacations and I think a super fun trip like WDW during the nicer weather/low crowds outweighs missing a week of school. Just my opinion folks, wrong or right. Just comes down to weighing the pros/cons of each individual child/school district.

 

[princessmom29]

As a matter of fact, it IS our right to see to our children's education (I'm leaving God out of it). As we are the ones who have been with them every step of the way through their entire school career, through homework and art projects and science projects and reading practice and so on and so on.

I pull my kids out of school for vacation trips without thinking twice about it. My DD is in grade 12 and has always been on the honour roll, in the honours math program, and her only non-A mark ever was in phys ed. My DS is in grade 6 and is near the top of his class and finds school "easy", so it is nobody else's business whatsoever if I believe it is my right to pull my children out of school. My parents are both teachers, as are my DH's, and they don't have a problem with people taking their kids out for family vacations - they just give them the assignments etc they missed when they get back, and expect them to do it and hand it in after they get back.

It doesn't sound like you have a very 'to each his own' attitude when you post comments like above - but it really SHOULD be to each their own, as every child, family, etc are different. And yup, I go during the off-season. It's more fun for the kids and for us, more relaxing, and it's nobody else's business but mine

I don't have a problem with parents pulling children for trips, quite the contrary. I am doing it myself over Thanksgiving. My problem is with the attitude that what the school policy is doesn't matter because the school sohuld have no authority over the children they are teaching and that parents sohuld be the final authority on absolutely everything that goes on at school. Parents who teach this at home and thier children are one of my biggest headaches as a teacher as this attitude extends to more than just attendance. I get "my Johnny didn't feel that this assignment was helpful, so I told him he didn't have to do it. Please excuse him from it" or "My Johnny should not be required to do homework as i don't believe in it" or "Johnny will not be serving detention for ______ today because I don't believe you saw him do it" Seriously, real emails form parents.

 

[j&j620]

I honestly didn't interpret the op as judging anyone who takes their kids out of school to go to Disney World.

I just thought the op was expecting crowds would be somewhat low because many schools are back in session after a summer break.

That's how I interpreted it, too.

But I guess I've always been a "glass half full" kind of girl...

 

[goofy4tink]

I didn't read all the replies because they will be the same bit over and over. There are a few things at work here:

1. Fall breaks of various kinds
2. homeschool
3. Parents who believe it is their God given right to pull thier children out of school at any time for any reason, and want to travel in low cost, low crowd periods. I have seen "I don't care what the policy is or what the school says it is my child and I will do what I want" here more times than I can count. Personally, I don't care for that attitude, but to each his own.

In our town, we are very fortunate...at least at the high school level. We get up to a set number of days off, for any reason...vacation, mental health, illness. They are unexcused absences. BUT..once you go over that number, you're in trouble. So, we always make sure we check in at the doctor's office for anything that requires more than a day out....if you have a doctors note, it's an excused absence and they don't count.
The school realizes that sometimes families need to go away. Teachers are not expected to provide work ahead of time and there are parameters for handing in the work that was missed.
That is our school policy.

 

[princessmom29]

In our town, we are very fortunate...at least at the high school level. We get up to a set number of days off, for any reason...vacation, mental health, illness. They are unexcused absences. BUT..once you go over that number, you're in trouble. So, we always make sure we check in at the doctor's office for anything that requires more than a day out....if you have a doctors note, it's an excused absence and they don't count.
The school realizes that sometimes families need to go away. Teachers are not expected to provide work ahead of time and there are parameters for handing in the work that was missed.
That is our school policy.

Same here, and this is what we do. Not disputing that at all. I really should have included a 4th category for that.

 

[eeyoreland]

Add me to the list of people who takes their child out of school to go to Disney. I did not read all the posts, but I was on during the day and the page I read was definitely full of negative remarks about people who take their children out of school. So happy to log on tonight and hear some voices of reason. You know what? It's an individual choice to do what you want. There is no need for hostility one way or the other. Considering Disney is "the happiest place on earth", these boards don't always reflect that.

Anyway, like I said, we have taken DD16 out of school every time we've gone to WDW. Probably 6-7 times including her Freshman and Sophomore years, and soon her Junior year of high school. She's on the A honor roll and knows she has to work hard to make up her work for the opportunity to go to Disney during the slow time. She's willing to do that. One year she missed some additional days of school due to a non-school related sport she participates in and my sister told me if she missed more than 10 days of school she would have to re-do that year. I just about freaked and immediately contacted her homeroom advisor who told me in no uncertain terms that that was not the case. His exact words were "Family time is important. Go. Have fun". And that's what we do.

 

[jojomoore]

Lots of us pull our kids out of school.I do it and don't feel bad about it (she is only in 1st grade)and whenever DH and I can get vacation time we go.We both are in the medical field and work MOST of the holidays so we go when we can.Not sure why we are being so judgemental about kids being out of school..

I agree with you. I don't feel bad either. I have read my daughter's school handbook and missing days for a family vacation is allowed as long as you abide by a few rules. My daughter is going to miss 3 days this year, and, yes ,she will have to make up a little work. However, I believe it will be worth it to her to go to WDW. She has missed days in the past for vacations and sickness and we have always been able to make up her work without incident. The school she goes to is one of the top in the state in which we we live and she takes advanced classes. I believe she works hard enough to deserve a little break. She was also a competitive dancer last year and between school and dance, I felt like she had too much pressure on her to only be in 4th grade. So this year, we gave up competition dance. Instead, we decided to take dance classes and of course focus on school. IMHO, taking my DD out of school for a few days doesn't mean that we aren't concerned about her education.