Shocked

[Melanie230]

First week of Oct and the park is Packed. I can't believe the number of kids here. What happened to school?

 

[PatsMom]

First week of Oct and the park is Packed. I can't believe the number of kids here. What happened to school?

Probably the same thing that happened to your kid's school!

We took my niece two weeks ago and a couple of people asked us if she was homeschooled. We told them she was for "this week only"!

 

[walkdmc]

What happened to school, indeed.

<<<<stare>>>>>

 

[Jennasis]

ISn't Colombus day next Monday? Maybe they are taking an extended vacation?

 

[Melanie230]

Probably the same thing that happened to your kid's school!

We took my niece two weeks ago and a couple of people asked us if she was homeschooled. We told them she was for "this week only"!

No actually my children are in year round school and are on their 3 week break. School is a priority in our family. Disney is great but we plan our trips around their school schedule not the other way around.

 

[dixiegirl]

Alot of UK schools have a fall break in Oct which could account for some of the add'l volume. We run into quite a few UK folks when we come down in mid-Oct.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

My kids are on fall break this week (east tennessee). They get a full week and we are a regular (not year round) schedule type of school. Isn't this week part of the blackout period for all the discounts? That's usually a pretty good indicator it's going to be busy.

 

[Melanie230]

ISn't Colombus day next Monday? Maybe they are taking an extended vacation?

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.

 

[GovieMom]

Disney is great but we plan our trips around their school schedule not the other way around.

 

[Melanie230]

My kids are on fall break this week (east tennessee). They get a full week and we are a regular (not year round) schedule type of school. Isn't this week part of the blackout period for all the discounts? That's usually a pretty good indicator it's going to be busy.

No this is free dining week and a low crowd week according to the calendar.

 

[suemom2kay]

No actually my children are in year round school and are on their 3 week break. School is a priority in our family. Disney is great but we plan our trips around their school schedule not the other way around.

Hmm... year round school. Sounds interesting.

I took my DD the first week of September (over labor day weekend). She missed 3.5 days of school for a 9 day trip. So sometimes with careful planning around a day off from school one can plan an extensive trip without sacrificing much school time.

I'm curious, which park are you at that is really crowded or are they all crowded. Did you go to EMH parks or avoid them. Did you arrive early or late? A lot of the above can effect how crowded a park is.

 

[Melanie230]

Hmm... year round school. Sounds interesting.

I took my DD the first week of September (over labor day weekend). She missed 3.5 days of school for a 9 day trip. So sometimes with careful planning around a day off from school one can plan an extensive trip without sacrificing much school time.

I'm curious, which park are you at that is really crowded or are they all crowded. Did you go to EMH parks or avoid them. Did you arrive early or late? A lot of the above can effect how crowded a park is.

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.

 

[wtccheermom]

Here in KY we are having fall break which last for a week.

 

[dixiegirl]

Alot of UK schools have a fall break in Oct which could account for some of the add'l volume. We run into quite a few UK folks when we come down in mid-Oct.

 

[suemom2kay]

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.

WOW!!! OH, you went to DHS yesterday???? That is one reason for crowds it was EMH AND a Fantasmic! nights. With so few F! it has truly become the park to avoid on those days.

 

[bytheblood]

A lot of kids are homeschooled these days - mine included.

 

[TandLMommy28]

A lot of kids are homeschooled these days - mine included.

Mine, too. We met sooooo many home school families on our trip. And besides that, the kids around here are also on fall break which is only a long weekend (4 days) but I figure a lot of parents pull them out for one day on each end and only miss 2 days of school to get a week in at Disney.

 

[RMulieri]

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..

 

[DISdreamin']

No actually my children are in year round school and are on their 3 week break. School is a priority in our family. Disney is great but we plan our trips around their school schedule not the other way around.

It is fortunate for your family that you can do this! Unfortunately for our family, my husband and I both work in jobs where we cannot take time off - we get set days/times off, and other than that we only get sick days; none of the days off actually coincide with when our children have school breaks either. We absolutely value school (pretty obvious since DH and I each spent more than two decades there...from K-college ), but we also value vacation/relaxation time together as a family.

So our choice is to either never take a family vacation or to take one when the kids are (or more accurately should be) in school. This coming year we will be taking the kids out of school for a week in January to go to WDW - it was either that or no vacation at all next year. We don't even have any time off in August - we used to get one week then and I was planning to go during that time, but early last month we found out our schedule for next year and learned we only have three days off in August instead of the 10 days we used to have (we lost a week of summer vacation, basically). ~sigh~ Thus a trip to Disney was born...during my and DH's January break.

So those of you with flexible vacation time, or vacation time that coincides with your kids', count your blessings!

 

[SSR]

We were there last week and it was the most crowded September we've seen in 10 years, by far. Full buses, etc. Lots of international travelers. We even rope-dropped and avoided EMH days. MK on Friday wasn't too bad, but DHS and Epcot were busier than we remember them. Looks like the Sept/Oct "secret" is out...