Vacation Strategies with kids

[eporter66]

We have been DVC members since 2003/2004. I had been to Disney once with my parents in 1981, pre EPCOT. So, when I met my wife to be, our first vacation was to WDW in 1998, and we made a few trips back prior to joining DVC. We were hooked, and we loved everything about WDW - parks, golf, restaurants and most importantly atmosphere. We tried different resorts, and there was always something about each one that we liked. Our stay at Wilderness lodge sealed the deal, and knowing we were starting a family, we joined at SSR.

We have now come to a difficult place in terms of vacationing at WDW. Our daughter will be entering middle school in the fall, and up to this point we have taken her out of school for our vacations. I am going to look at the calendar to see where we can string a few days together to maybe work out a 4-5 day trip, but it will be a bit of a bummer not doing the full 7 days.

I dont want to go to WDW during the school breaks, I dont think that would be enjoyable. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated - how have you vacationed with older kids?

 

[Tunseeker1]

If your schools do standard tests look at a Thursday to Monday weekend after the testing. Schools usually load up coming into testing and it's easier to miss after them.

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

We string together vacations over teacher workdays, which means using weekend points(gulp), and pulling her out for a day or two. For example our Oct/Nov trip starts Oct 29 and ends Nov 3. Nov 2 and 3 are teacher work days, and our district does block scheduling so she'll miss one day of each block on Thurs and Fri of prior week. DD grade 9 Honors student, and to date has managed to catch up fairly easily or done the work prior to leaving.

 

[tasha99]

If your school starts a few days after Labor Day, you could do an end of August early September trip. Even the actual holiday weekend has surprisingly low crowds.

 

[Julylady]

We have been going during school breaks for the past five years. It is very enjoyable! As DVC members we know all the tricks to avoid lines and crowds. Would I rather go in November? Yes. But, when we travel on school breaks the kids are much less stressed. They did not like missing school even in grade school. They didn't like doing homework in the hotel at night or on the plane trip home or having to catch up upon return. The only thing I don't like about Summer is the heat, but I have learned to cope.

 

[alldiz]

I hear Ya my daughter is now in middle school and I also used to take her out of school for a week.

This year I am taking her out 2 days and going wed-mon over thanksgiving.
Last year we went a few days Xmas break before and after a cruise.

We just changed our strategy. Get there for rope drop and go back to hotel and swim/relax when park gets busy afternoon. Then go back at night for dinner and use our prebooked fastpass. Haven't done a full week at crazy busy times yet.

Stinks having to use more points at busy times but knew this time was coming:-( Reason I added on a while back figured I would need busier times and maybe bring one of her friends.

Go and enjoy.... Plan a little different to accommodate crowds/heat and you will have a great time
Kerri

 

[Brian Noble]

I dont want to go to WDW during the school breaks, I dont think that would be enjoyable. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated - how have you vacationed with older kids?

My kids are now in high school. Since the day the oldest was in Kindergarten, we've missed a grand total of one school day for vacation---and we regretted that one.

We restrict our vacations to school breaks that give us at least a week wherever we are going---Disney or not. Sometimes, those fall on weeks that are not popular with many other families, but sometimes they do. We've been at WDW at low-to-moderate times, but we've also been there for Christmas and Easter--the busiest times of the year. With a bit of foresight and planning, even peak times are enjoyable.

One thing we have learned over the years: it's easier to deal with crowds than with heat. So, we use our summer vacations to go to other places, and use school breaks for WDW.

 

[El&Asmom]

In the same boat. They grow up too fast. We took the kids on a Disney cruise this past October. We started at WDW Friday and Saturday. Cruised Sun through Thursday. They get off for Columbus day and the Tuesday after so they only missed 2 days. I think we will do the same in 2017. We just came back from China to adopt our son and our girls missed 2 full weeks of school. I was so stressed out about it, but with our oldest being in 6th grade and the other two in grade school it ended up being no big deal. They got way more out of the trip to China and being there to meet their brother for the first time than being at school. That being said, we won't skip any school next year and will wait till the following year to go back to Disney. It will also allow our son to be a bit older before we take him.