Summer break, Spring break, or Fall break

[Bon1423]

I'm curious, you're talking about planning around school and not wanting to take them out twice, but... aren't your kids still in school the first week of June? Most schools don't let out until the 2nd or 3rd week.

By the 2nd or 3rd week of June it'll be 7/8 crowd levels. The last week of June leading and first of July leading up to July 4th will be 8/9. It's busy. But doable. My *guess* is spring break might be a bit less crowded than the end of June, depending on when your break is and how close to Easter it falls. The weather would also be a bit better, less hot/humid.

However, if you can actually indeed go the first week of June, then that would probably be less crowded than spring break.

Our school always gets out the Friday before Memorial Day and school returns like the last Wednesday of July. So the first week of June (I would not go Memorial Day week unless that would be advised but I would think not) would be our second week of summer break. Spring break the last few years has been the week before and the week after Easter. Fall break is the week before and week of Columbus Day.

This is typical of the schools in a couple counties around here but I know the city schools have a different schedule, getting out more like second week of June and returning in mid August. I wasn't sure which was more prevalent nation wide.

Great news that most schools aren't out until June!

 

[MainMom]

I'm curious, you're talking about planning around school and not wanting to take them out twice, but... aren't your kids still in school the first week of June? Most schools don't let out until the 2nd or 3rd week.

By the 2nd or 3rd week of June it'll be 7/8 crowd levels. The last week of June leading and first of July leading up to July 4th will be 8/9. It's busy. But doable. My *guess* is spring break might be a bit less crowded than the end of June, depending on when your break is and how close to Easter it falls. The weather would also be a bit better, less hot/humid.

However, if you can actually indeed go the first week of June, then that would probably be less crowded than spring break.

I dont know about the OP, but my kids last day is June 3rd. And they don't go back until the first week of September.

 

[Shanti]

I'm curious, you're talking about planning around school and not wanting to take them out twice, but... aren't your kids still in school the first week of June? Most schools don't let out until the 2nd or 3rd week.

Many schools in the South, such as Texas, where I live, let out at the end of May or first few days of June. We go back to school in August.

 

[madge]

Many schools in the South, such as Texas, where I live, let out at the end of May or first few days of June. We go back to school in August.

May 25 here ... should've been May 20, but we have a couple of snow days to make up. First day back is Aug 4.

 

[anniemae]

Would do early June in a heartbeat.

 

[mshanson3121]

[QUOTE"madge, post: 55511603, member: 1894"]May 25 here ... should've been May 20, but we have a couple of snow days to make up. First day back is Aug 4.[/QUOTE]

Lucky! School goes till June 24th here, teachers go till June 30 and go back August 22. Students ho back Sept 6

 

[halssister]

So my question is, when people say NO WAY to spring break, when is your spring break? We are on spring break right now (freezing our butts off in Chicago, looking at pictures all my Facebook friends are posting of them at WDW and thinking we should switch our next year's trip from July to spring break)! But it seems like most people have spring break in March - ours is always the first week of April. Wondering if that would make the crowds not as bad!

 

[abja09]

So my question is, when people say NO WAY to spring break, when is your spring break? We are on spring break right now (freezing our butts off in Chicago, looking at pictures all my Facebook friends are posting of them at WDW and thinking we should switch our next year's trip from July to spring break)! But it seems like most people have spring break in March - ours is always the first week of April. Wondering if that would make the crowds not as bad!

It seems all states have different spring breaks. There was a poll on here back in February and breaks were through out the month of March and some in April to coincide with Passover.
I live in NJ and I know next year Easter is April 16th so our spring break is April 10-17.

I was in WDW last week during my spring break. The weather was beautiful but it was crowded in the parks. So it's not that you can't go but you have to be prepared for the crowds. We went a couple days before a DCL cruise so it was just a bonus but personally I'm not sure I would go back again during that time.

 

[kappyfamily]

Yep another vote for early June. Once you start getting to like the 10th or so it gets nuts. Be prepared for rain though. It will be super warm and muggy but potential for alot of rain. We got dumped on when we went that time of year. Either way, have fun!

 

[ArielSRL]

We are going first week of June (4th-11th). I teach in GA and the students' last day is the Wednesday before Memorial Day and ours is the Friday before Memorial Day. I love that we can travel before a lot of other schools are out. I haven't ever been then but I've heard lots of good things from people who have. 7-9 crowd days and probably hot (though we are used to it in GA), but we plan on rope drop, midday break, then back in the late afternoon/early evening.

 

[SeeDisney]

where do you get the information on crowd level? We are planning a trip in mid-October.

 

[SeeDisney]

Our kids first trip to WDW was last October during their fall break. Our MK day was crazy crowded and I believe it was TP that ended up giving it a 10/10 for crowd. It was the only non party day at MK that week and we just HAD to take the kids to the fireworks for their first trips. Bad planning, we knew, but it was still projected to be moderate (7) crowds. It was an awful day full of really long wait times, MDE that was down, and rude CMs.

This year we are going in September, but I'd like to go in spring/summer of 2017 as opposed to fall. However the kids will miss school for the September trip and I would hate to pull them twice in one year. So we have to plan around the school schedule.

The first week of June 2016 is listed as a 7. Not having to plan around party crowds is really appealing to me, as the parties do not interest is at all. Using the non party day last year as a baseline (hopefully you all know what we are talking about) would you do spring break '17, summer break '17, or wait until fall break of '17 again? If we went first week of June, despite the projected crowds at 7, should we expect those crushing level 10 crowds every day? I keep reading a 7 one year is a 9 another year...

I can see the parks are projected at around 7/8 for fall break and early June, and a little higher for spring break so mentally I'm kind of excluding spring break. But given the moderate crowd predictions for our October trip and our kids desire to stay in park for fireworks, I'm starting to think June might be most pleasant.

We will be traveling as a party of 8 (4 adults and kids 8, 5/6, 3, and 1/2) if that matters. To us we try to eliminate days of school if possible as priority one and low crowds as second priority. We do love resort days and the last trip plus this one we have 8 days with only 4 park days. Swimming is crucial to my crew We plan to stay deluxe, possibly monorail if it will be of enough benefit (our Sept stay is at the Poly so if that seems helpful may do it again) but my group would also love AKL if that has an impact.

Thanks for any insights I hope this isn't a dumb questions. Like I said I've checked the calendars (for '16 as '17 is not available), just hoping for some anecdotal experience.

may i ask you, when did you go in October, I am planning a trip to WDW this coming October.

 

[MainMom]

So my question is, when people say NO WAY to spring break, when is your spring break? We are on spring break right now (freezing our butts off in Chicago, looking at pictures all my Facebook friends are posting of them at WDW and thinking we should switch our next year's trip from July to spring break)! But it seems like most people have spring break in March - ours is always the first week of April. Wondering if that would make the crowds not as bad!

Our spring break is always the third week of March. I looked into going to WDW during spring break this year, but it coincided with Easter so I said no way! I would consider it other years though when not during Easter. I think ours may be a bit early compared to most states.

 

[MainMom]

where do you get the information on crowd level? We are planning a trip in mid-October.

Check out Josh's crowd calendars on Easywdw.

 

[Jess30]

We went last year from 5/25-6/6 and while it was busy, it was definitely manageable. The weather was good. I mean, it was hot, but it was nice in the evenings. As we got more into June, it definitely got more wet. I would seriously consider going at that time again.

 

[Bon1423]

may i ask you, when did you go in October, I am planning a trip to WDW this coming October.

We were there Columbus Day week, which I believe is typically the busier of October weeks if I'm not mistaken

 

[aretha30]

We go in early August every year, right before I have to be back at school. This year we will be there from the 2-12. We love the parks being open late, there is nothing like MK at 1 am! I won't go during the school year (during breaks), I hate having to think about what I have to worry about at school. Summer is hot, if you plan to take breaks you will be fine.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I have been to WDW:

the last week in July (hot and semi crowded but totally fine with rope drop and a touring plan)

the first week in June (a tropical storm stalled over Florida and we had torrential downpours for 2.5 days, plus it was more crowded than I thought it would be)

the week after Easter (super crowded but not as hot as summer, totally doable with rope drop and a touring plan)

very beginning of December (the absolute best time we've been, not crowded at all and the weather was perfect)

 

[Disneyliscious]

I have been in the months of:

June 1988 - NEVER again, heat and crowds scar me to this day
June 1989 - same as above
July 1997- same as above
August 2004 - crowds were lowest ever but it was a fluke because it was the day after Charlie hit. The heat was miserable enough to make us never want to go back in August.
October 2009 - Absolutely GORGEOUS trip. Excellent weather and crowds (the week after Columbus Day).
October 2015 - Another gorgeous trip. A noticeable increase in crowds ONLY in MK on a non party day (it was a miserable crowd) but nothing that would make us change our plans. We went the 3rd week of October and also attended a MNSSHP event where crowds were zilch (except for parades and fireworks). We rode the rides back to back all night.

Because of higher crowds the week before and after Columbus day (this time frame has gotten more popular with school breaks since our 2004 trip), we now go the 3rd week in Oct and had a great trip. I will take my son out of school for our 2017 trip for an entire week (2 weeks after his Fall break) and have pulled my kids out of school before. I do always ask for his assignments before we leave on vacation so he can have them done when he returns to school.

I am another vote for Fall break.