Shocked

[sam_gordon]

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

Speak for yourself. We're in KY, and fall break is a Fri-Mon for us and it's another week away.

 

[Allison]

What happened to school? There are lots of year-round schools that could be on a break, there are schools with traditional calendars that could be on a break, homeschoolers, etc. Lots of different reasons.

 

[Melanie230]

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

No doubt. But not this many.

 

[walkdmc]

OP, you are there because your kids are on break, right? Wouldn't it be fair to assume many other kids are on break? Sure, people pull their kids out of school for trips, but probably not that many, KWIM?

I understand the disappointment one would feel if they expected a low crowd visit and found the opposite. But why start a "taking kids out of school for vacation" schtick with "What happened to school?"

 

[goofy4tink]

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.

Yep...I have a friend there and she was at DHS yesterday..against her better judgement. I told her she was nuts but oh no, the girl she is with just had to see Fantasmic!!! So, they suffered. My friend, your trusty board moderator, told me it was a total nightmare.

I will be watching the next few weeks as far as crowds down there. I'm in the process of planning a trip for my dh and myself and another couple next Oct....waiting to see if Columbus Day affects the crowd level that particular week or if we're just better going the next week...16th or so.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

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

Your right I just checked and that doesn't start till friday.

Alot of the crowd calendars only reference time spent in lines and how long they are, they do nothing to predict the crowds in the park. Food and Wine is a great example of things that can really increase crowds but not effect ride lines.

 

[Millie12591]

While I'm sure school is important to every parent there, there's also an importance that is called family.
I think a family vacation can and should trump school every now and then, as long as the kids are doing well in school, and attendance is regular I don't see there being a problem.
Well, other than some people being upset because it's throwing off their way of vacationing.
I'm sure the parents there are capable of making the decision of when and how they want to have their kids taken out for a short family vacation, did anyone think it could be that their kids are also in year round school....or maybe homeschooled?
Good thing no one here is making any quick judgements about kids "being out of school " without thinking there has to be a good reason.

 

[Melanie230]

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!

I can understand that. however having a child in middle school there is no way we would do it. The amount of make up work is too extensive. We love staycations and weekend trips.

 

[Mickey's biggest fan]

While I'm sure school is important to every parent there, there's also an importance that is called family.
I think a family vacation can and should trump school every now and then, as long as the kids are doing well in school, and attendance is regular I don't see there being a problem.
Well, other than some people being upset because it's throwing off their way of vacationing.
I'm sure the parents there are capable of making the decision of when and how they want to have their kids taken out for a short family vacation, did anyone think it could be that their kids are also in year round school....or maybe homeschooled?
Good thing no one here is making any quick judgements about kids "being out of school " without thinking there has to be a good reason.

Amen to that! Well put!

 

[suzsaz]

We used to bring our kids down during Teachers Break from NJ. Our school only gave the two days off, we they always missed about three days.

Do I regret it? I felt very apprehensive about it at the time (we did it year after year). However, all three kids managed to get into college and are turning out to be pretty good people.

One thing is certain, I can NEVER get that time back (when they were young and I was alot younger).

If you have quality time at Disney, (or quality time anywhere), isn't that the most important thing? You and your kids don't live in a time bubble. They WILL get older and move on. Enjoy them while you can.

 

[Moxie Doll]

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.

Actually-there are still discounts available. I was able to get a room at POFQ this weekend with a FL Res Rate less than a week out. There are also AP room rates for this weekend still available.

 

[goofy4tink]

There is no one 'right' way to handle this. Many people quite successfully take their kids out of school, at various ages, and head off to WDW for vacation. Others think this is the worst possible scenario..and would never do it.
Basically, each family needs to decide, for themselves, what is going to work best for their family. No one here can possibly know what it best for someone else....and they really shouldn't try to make someone feel badly if they don't agree with someone else's opinion. I have made the choice to take my dd out of school on occasion. Other times, I won't do it. There are extenuating circumstances each and every time...I have to weigh my options and do what is best for my dd at that particular time. She is now a junior in high school and at this moment, she needs to be in school. However, she will miss the two days before spring vacation this coming April. Not losing any sleep over it.

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

Taking your kids out of school for a family vacation doesn't mean you don't value school. It just means that you have weighed your priorities, assessed the implications of your decisions and decided it is a good choice for your family for that week.

We made this decision numerous times with our children, including when they were in high school. They knew it meant they had to work hard before and after and that the responsbility to keep their marks up was their's. We always gave the teachers lots of advance warning (usually months) and never had any complaints.

 

[PlanningNextTrip]

With the race, the start of food & wine festival and MNSSHP, I really would expect to see crowds this past weekend and early this week. I know quite a few people that are there right now!

As for taking children out of school, I am a firm believer that not only is education very important, but so is family time and making memories. I don't think it's fair to make comments about children at the park.

 

[bakenatj]

Taking your kids out of school for a family vacation doesn't mean you don't value school. It just means that you have weighed your priorities, assessed the implications of your decisions and decided it is a good choice for your family for that week.

We made this decision numerous times with our children, including when they were in high school. They knew it meant they had to work hard before and after and that the responsbility to keep their marks up was their's. We always gave the teachers lots of advance warning (usually months) and never had any complaints.

I agree. To say school is "all in all" isn't correct. While attendance is something that should be taken seriously, it has more to do with Government funding than a principle in life that is being taught to our children. "The Family" is something that is taken way to lightly in today's society and we are seeing the results of it now.

I always say that if I can afford to miss a week of work there is no reason my children can't miss a week of school. If you prepare correctly they shouldn't miss anything. A little lesson they can learn that they don't in school.

Not to get off subject from OP, but that is not what I wanted to hear. I leave in 19 days and by all the crowd calendars we were looking forward to empty parks, not large crowds!

 

[Trinityloo]

While I'm sure school is important to every parent there, there's also an importance that is called family.
I think a family vacation can and should trump school every now and then, as long as the kids are doing well in school, and attendance is regular I don't see there being a problem.
Well, other than some people being upset because it's throwing off their way of vacationing.
I'm sure the parents there are capable of making the decision of when and how they want to have their kids taken out for a short family vacation, did anyone think it could be that their kids are also in year round school....or maybe homeschooled?
Good thing no one here is making any quick judgements about kids "being out of school " without thinking there has to be a good reason.

Absolutely agree! I don`t understand the purpose of the OP`s post. Is it just to criticize others who take vacation during the school year or is she just upset because she isn`t the only family vacationing at this time of year?

 

[aurorae]

I don't think using TSM to judge crowds works very well.

I just checked lines to see how much different DSH is today from yesterday.

DHS is not really that crowded (like a 1 or 2) but Fastpasses for TSM are all gone (at 2 PM, actually they were all gone at 11:30!) and the standby wait is over 60 minutes.

This is on a day when the standby for RNR is 30 minutes, single rider is 8 minutes and fastpasses are available with a return time in about 30 minutes, and the wait for TOT is 8 minutes.

I guess what I am saying is that TSM is always a madhouse, regardless of whether DHS has small or large crowds.

 

[aenelson]

I agree that taking time off of school does not mean that school is not important. My soon to be DH and myself take time off of school a lot to go on vacations, we just work extra hard before and after. We have a 3.8 GPA, so I have to stay it really does not affect us.


With all that said, how busy do you all think it will be Oct 18-27?

 

[Sugar Jones]

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.

My kids were in school for one week before we pulled them out for a week at Disney. School is a priority for us, along with family, finances & work.

A Disney trip in September the most responsible decision for us. I'm sure all the people at Disney right now with you took all that into consideration when they booked their trips.

Sorry it's busier than you expected, but there's no reason to get huffy with people who pull their kids out of school

 

[ccgirl]

I do take my children out of school to go to WDW. My 2nd grader will be missing 7 days in December. Was her teacher happy about it? I doubt it. However, I was well within the handbook to take her out for this time. The only time she can't miss is during standardized testing (currently now). If I said she wouldn't miss anything, I think I would seriously look at changing her schools. I know she is going to miss something (heck...she is missing 7 days of school) and we both will have make up work to do - I don't think it's fair to slap it all in front of her and tell her to go to town. I will help her thru it. She will get 7 days to make up the homework so she will be doing double homework for those 7 nights. I am very fortunate that she is a great student. Currently, her homework takes her 10 minutes and she hasn't gotten below a 90 on any test so I don't hesitate to take her out. However, when my son is in school, it may be a different story. I feel every child is different. It is up to the parent to decide, not someone to decide for them. I have heard everything on these boards from you only live once to it is going to be so detrimental to the child. I love the PP that stated they pulled their children out and they somehow managed to make it thru college; some of the angry posts I read (not on this thread) might think that is a miracle. I seriously doubt a child missing a week of school is going to scar their academic career for life. My DD's school has a policy to not give the work ahead of time. Rather, it all sits in their bin for their return. I agree with the policy. I really think people need to stop judging others. Everyone should make the decision they feel best for their family. And.....everyone should have a blast when they go to WDW!!!

OP - sorry it is more crowded than you expected and it is interfering with your vacation. I hope you are having fun and making wonderful family memories despite the crowd level.