Vacationing Over Major Holidays?

Joined
Dec 16, 2004
Do you vacation over the holidays...the major holidays of Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving? On the day of?

When the kids were in college, we did a Thanksgiving at Myrtle Beach, but that was the only time. There always seemed to be family commitments.
 
No, we spend all major holidays with my in-laws in another state (about a 3-4 hour drive) because they want to be with my grandmother-in-law who is in her 90s and cannot travel. Also, while DH gets major holidays off themselves, he has to work the Friday after Thanksgiving, etc.

The crowds and expense also keep us away on the actual major holidays. With trying to have the kids not miss school and having to be with extended family on Holidays, it does really limit when we can vacation, which is why it has been late June lately. This year is our first spring break vacation (but spring break is not on Easter for us)
 
I've never, but we are considering it an option for the future occasionally. I almost always host Thanksgiving but I can see that big changes are happening with my family and I am not going to sit around crying about it. I'm going to Disney World Damn it! lol
 


Never. Prices are more than other times during the year and places are typically more crowded as some people are limited as to when they can take off or their companies shut down during those weeks. We looked into doing a cruise over Christmas one year and with the jump in cruise price and airfare it was almost 3x what we paid to cruise the 2nd week of January.
 
I did it once, NYE at Disney and never again. I like being at home during major holidays because I really don't handle crowds well and the expense is much higher than non-holiday travel.
 
We've done two cruises over Thanksgiving week - sons had the entire week off, so it worked well for us. It wasn't horribly crowded on the ship overall - no worse than our summer cruises.
 


I did it once, NYE at Disney and never again. I like being at home during major holidays because I really don't handle crowds well and the expense is much higher than non-holiday travel.
I'm from Southern California originally, so when I was in college, I would usually travel back home over winter break. We did NYE one year at Disneyland (this would have been either December 31, 1999 or Dec. 31, 2000). I have never had a panic attack in my life, but I came close that night! We left before midnight. It was so bad that we complained and we did actually get tickets to use another time.
 
Never. Prices are more than other times during the year and places are typically more crowded as some people are limited as to when they can take off or their companies shut down during those weeks. We looked into doing a cruise over Christmas one year and with the jump in cruise price and airfare it was almost 3x what we paid to cruise the 2nd week of January.
Other than the expense, if I was going to travel over Christmas, I would want it to be a cruise because I figure at least the crowds aren't a problem compared to any other full cruise.
 
We did Thanksgiving at Disney in 2007. DH and our 4 kids and my brother, his wife and son. Had a great time.

Just DH, DD and I went to her soccer showcase at Disney in 2017 with just one day at EPCOT. REALLY missed Thanksgiving at home and my 3 sons who were not able to join us. Will never intentionally leave them to fend for themselves on a major holiday again. Just bothered me that our at the time 18 and 19 year old sons went to DH's step mother's sister's for Thanksgiving Dinner instead of having immediate family to celebrate with.

And I am the one who now hosts 20 plus people at our house for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so if I am not here to host, we all miss out on that big family tradition.

Easter-I work at our church. Easter is one of our busiest weeks and I have never been able to get out of the office at all for it. The kid's spring break was always the week before Easter and for their spring break, they got to go to a lot of church-not really fair, but it is what it is.

As my kids get older with their own careers and families, DH and I would consider traveling for the holidays, if I am not hosting a big crowd. Just have to see how life plays out.
 
Yes, we have sometimes. Did Thanksgiving week in Orlando 2018. Stayed at a Universal resort club level, had 2 rooms for the whole week and a third non-club room for Weds-Sun (added those folks to the club room reservation so they could enjoy the benefits also). We had a great time. My family is scattered so we don't see each other often. DS on the west coast chose not to come since he would be home for Christmas; DD on west coast came and her boyfriend came part of the week.

When the kids were little we liked to be home at Christmas and traveled once or twice to grandparents in Florida. We have vacationed Memorial Day week, 4th of July week, Labor Day week so people would have to take less vacation days from work. These are not generally Disney vacations though.
 
We went for our 18th wedding anniversary that happened to be the day after Easter one year. My parents didn't care, but my DH was afraid to tell his mother. He didn't want the guilt trip. I called and told her that we'd be away. She said, "oh, how wonderful for you!" DH avoided speaking to his mother until Easter Sunday from Puerto Rico. Because we were too far to make it to her house for dinner, she didn't pester him about it. She was already resigned to the fact. We had a wonderful time and the resort we like wasn't overly crowded. It was actually perfect!
 
LOVE IT! DH, DS and I spent this past Thanksgiving on Marco Island. DH and I got there on a Sunday, we flew DS in Weds night after he was done with his classes, and flew him back out again on Sunday night. We went home on Monday.

It was so nice having family time, the weather was glorious, and we had a fantastic Thanksgiving Dinner at a restaurant we really love.
 
I kind of have, in the sense that it was a major holiday at my destination but not for me. We spent Thanksgiving 2014 in New York; being Australian it was our first Thanksgiving and a pretty wonderful one at that! Watching the Macy’s Parade, eating a traditional Thanksgiving dinner place overlooking the ice rink at the Rockefeller Center then seeing The Phantom of the Opera.

I also spent New Year’s Eve 2017/18 at Disney. I was there picking up my sister from the end of her DCP. She was working at MK so I rang in 2018 totally by myself at HS. Wouldn’t really recommend (not that I ever do much for New Year’s!).
 
We are not Christian, so the ‘major holidays’ everyone else celebrates are not holidays for us. In the past we were on vacation inWDW over Christmas more often than not. We also had a long standing vacation over Easter. New Year’s Eve is spent in Epcot. We do travel to see family for thanksgiving.
 
Not really. Couple of New Years’ at the beach, which can be really affordable depending on the timing.
 
Yes, and we love it. We have very little family, and what little we do lives really far away, so we'd spend the holidays with just the 5 of us anyway. Doing Thanksgiving and Christmas at Disney have been awesome!!! Can't wait to do it again.
 
My Dad lives in the Orlando area, so ever other year we visit him for Christmas. You think we're flying all that way and not doing theme parks? :)

Next month, we are using Easter as a travel day for our return flight from London. It was cheaper, we don't have any family local to us, and aren't religious, so we figured why not?
 
I've been in Europe for the past 4 Christmases and it is wonderful! It's cheaper, fewer crowds, and the decorations are so lovely (no Santa). If I could, I'd spend every Christmas there!

I've done a couple of Easter (d/t spring break) and NYE cruises and those are busy but nice.

Thanksgiving 2016 was in NYC for DD's 16th and Macy's Day Parade. That, I will not repeat (expensive, crowded, not fun).
 
Yes! Love it! I'd travel over every holiday if I could.
It saves me from making a turkey and hosting 30+ people at my house for dinner. :)
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top