Shocked

[disneymagicgirl]

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.

me too!

 

[bytheblood]

No doubt. But not this many.

You would be surprised at how many people homeschool. Go to a homeschool co-op and it will amaze you how many kids you see there..it will look like the local public schools are closed.

Also, MANY schools get fall holiday and the UK has holiday right now as well. And some parents don't think twice about pulling their kids from school to go to WDW.


I would not think the crowds would be as high as you described, but the free dining and good promos are doing what they were created to do - bring in the people.

 

[Amy&Dan]

To me the issue is the crowds, not the personal decisions families make as to what is best for their kids/families/family time/vacations/school attendance/take your pick.

DHS as others have said is a Nightmare Fantasmic on the days Fantasmic is shown. If it was EMH too, that makes it even worse. I HATE the way Disney has done F! with this reduced schedule and it what it does to touring that park.

We will be at DHS on Sunday October 24th, when that park will have the same scenario of hours and nighttime entertainment it did for you yesterday and we are going to see Fantasmic and that is it. We'll go back the next day to do the actual park and last I looked Touring Plans had that next day at a crowd level 1 or 2. I am sure that if you went back to DHS today, it would be a much better place to be. Toy Story Mania is also not a good crowd indicator overal. Its not a ride that handles tons of people, its still new, anyone of any height can ride it and even on a low crowd day, the fastpasses will almost always run out.

Free Dining is also this week which is always a great way for Disney to pack them in. The fact its about to black out until the 22nd also means some people may have shuffled their trips to fall in this time frame. Food and Wine is starting and the race was also going on so all things that pack WDW just the way Disney desires it to be.

OP, my kids were on year round school all through elementary and now have a fall break for a week. We have had anywhere from one to three weeks off in October since 2001. We began doing Disney this timeframe in 2003. All that said, each and every year its gotten worse until you get to that last week of October when it begins to thin out considerably.

Between home schooling, fall breaks, discounts, the UK schedule and who knows what else, October can get very crowded.

Fall breaks are very common and most of them happen in early October. Ours is the last week, it used to be earlier but they changed it. Maybe somebody in my district is a Disney fan and was looking out for them and me!

 

[mjkacmom]

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.

While I agree I don't like to take my middle or high schoolers out, you do realize that you are blessed that your kids have breaks at slow vacation times. My kids get a couple days off for Thanksgiving, a week at Christmas, President's week off, plus a spring break in April, like the majority of schools. I pulled them out in elementary.

 

[ancestry]

I agree with everyone who said that this is a decision that each parent must make for his or her own family. I see nothing wrong with most children missing school for a family vacation. There have been many times that I know my children have learned more during our vacations that they would have sitting in the classroom.

 

[PatsMom]

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.

School is a priority in my family too. That is why I am working still - to pay for college. My daughter managed to get admitted to university. And actually had several to choose from. And was in the top 10% of her graduating class. This was despite being taken out of school regularly for Disney trips.

Taking your children out for vacation doesn't mean school isn't a priority. It just means you have made a decision that your child can miss a week of school in order to make some great family memories. My brother and his wife just made that decision for my niece who travelled with us last week. She had some awesome mother time that she doesn't get enough of because of a severely handicapped sibling. You can't replace that will all the third grade book learning in the world.

And if you were to ask my daughter now did graduating with a 3.8 GPA instead of a 4 matter she would tell you no. Especially since my husband is in declining health and I am battling cancer. Those family memories all of a sudden become more precious than ever.

 

[Heidi Loves Disney]

I'm curious if the OP is on vacation with her kids, or is this a parents only trip for you.

 

[SSR]

I'm curious if the OP is on vacation with her kids, or is this a parents only trip for you.

She answers this question in post 5. Her kids are on break.

 

[Snape]

A travel agent friend of mine said the resorts are also pretty booked the week after Thanksgiving which is traditionally a slow week. I guess the secret is out.

And who really cares if she pulled her kid out of school. It's her kid.

 

[Allison]

And who really cares if she pulled her kid out of school. It's her kid.

Exactly. But it's the OP who appeared concerned about other people pulling their children out of school making for higher crowds than she expected and setting up the responses received.

 

[Heidi Loves Disney]

I don't care if anyone pulls their child out for school. In fact, I'm pulling my son out for our Nov trip. My DH can't get vacation in the summer.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

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.

I love your last two paragraphs. We hve 2 girls in their 20's (one rcently married) and a junior in high school. We homeschooled the entire time and enjoyed many trips both to Disney and elsewhere. I will admit we have been very spoiled to take last minute 2 week cruises and travel with DH's company paying hotel a lot of time and we just went along to sightsee while he worked. Once the girls started college, it was harder to go so much. Now DD has a great job in addition to college and we leave her way more than this mom is happy with.
Enjoy Disney with your kids now--they will grow way, way, way too fast.

 

[beansmom]

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!

Not so sound snarky but...your argument for missing a bit of school now and then would hold more water if your post was grammatically correct.

 

[tinkandpete]

I think it depends on the child, my DS is in second grade he will miss 2 1/2 days for Disney. We are off from school for some teacher development days. in couple of weeks and he is reading 2 grade levels above.I am not concerned at all.

 

[figmentgirl]

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.

Agreed. The phrase "every park is packed" always makes me raise an eyebrow. How can this be known unless we go to all four parks in one day? Even when we go during spring break there are always parks with high crowds and others with low crowds.

 

[bakenatj]

Not so sound snarky but...your argument for missing a bit of school now and then would hold more water if your post was grammatically correct.

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

 

[Dash7]

Not so sound snarky but...your argument for missing a bit of school now and then would hold more water if your post was grammatically correct.

Grammar police, proofread thyself.

 

[ccgirl]

Grammar police, proofread thyself.

 

[Aggiegrl]

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.

 

[DisGirl23]

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!

This.
We were just there from 9/26 - 10/3. The majority of our trip there were very low crowds. Wasn't even an issue Thursday at DHS with 2 Fantasmic showings. The only long wait we had was TSM. Fastpasses were gone so we just waited the 90 minutes. No biggie for us.
Once the weekend came, so did the crowds! But, I knew that would happen since Food & Wine didn't start until that weekend.
Honestly though, we got a lot done in our last few hours yesterday at MK. One last round on all our favorite rides, found a great spot on Main Street for the parade, said my "goodbyes" and "see ya real soon!" and called it a vacation.