When to go when you have kids in school??

[danjoealexis3006]

I am trying to plan our next vacation to the world for my DH, DS 10, and DS 7. I am pulling my hair out because it seems we have reached a point were we have no choice but to go at the holidays (when crowds are at their worst). We cannot go in the summer because it is the busy time for my DH. We have pulled our kids out of school in the past to go to DW but my DS 10 has a hard time catching up (even with getting much of the work ahead of time before missing 3 days). I feel as if any trips to the world will be impossible until he is done with school. Is there anyone else out there that is faced with this? If so what did you do about it?

 

[Darcy03231]

Once our kids were in school we just had to go when they were off. We live in the northeast and in addition to the summer the kids get time off at Christmas, the last week in February and the last week in April. We found the weather to be iffy in February (one year we were in shorts and t-shirts and swimming and the next we needed pants, sweatshirts, and a light jacket) and thought it was much more crowded than it was in April (and the weather in April was better). I've never been at Christmas so I can't comment. If you have a spring break I would plan for that time of year.

 

[LadyShea]

Here's some ideas.

When do the kids go back after winter break? The week between Christmas and New Year's is very busy, however the week after New Year's day is not (we scheduled our next trip for this time). Our kids don't go back until the 6th, so we won't have a full week, but that's okay.

Also do you have any state or local holidays others might not have? We have a 4-5 day weekend for Mardi Gras, for example. Another state a lived in had a long weekend to celebrate the day they were admitted to the Union..

Spring break varies hugely around the country, the most crowded time is Easter week. Perhaps yours is not as common as others (you could check crowd predictions at a subscription site)

Do your kids start or end school unusually early or late? Some schools let out in mid May and start in early August, others start mid September or later, so there are some less busy weeks in both of those months.

 

[bellebud]

double posted...

 

[bellebud]

we've gone at Easter break a few times, and while things are definitely crowded, we avoided the crowds no problem. EMH's in the morning (parks open at 8am, emh's are at 7am) - the parks were practically empty. Hardly anyone gets up that early on vacation. Eating lunch at 11:30am and dinner early avoids crowds. Having all adr's we want for table service restaurants in place well ahead of time. We swam during the afternoons as soon as things got crowded in the parks, and did the parks at night sometimes too, using fastpass only. We never wait more than 15 minutes for any ride. But we also go for a bit more than a week (we have a week and a half for easter break). It helps a lot when a line is long you can pass something up and hit it again on another day. Of course easter is so expensive too, which makes going for a longer trip harder, but we save and do it because it's worth it to us.

another option is taking a couple of shorter trips in 1 year, instead of 1 long trip. Plan around a teacher's conference day (usually on a friday), and maybe take off only thursday. leave wednesday right after school, have thursday through sunday there. I'd only do 2 parks that trip, and leave the other 2 for another short trip. of course that's more airfare going twice.

it's definitely hard when we have to consider our kids school schedules. our kids go to a catholic school, and we have "catholic schools week" the last week of january, and a lot of people take that week off for vacation because they don't do much work. it's assemblies and activities almost the whole week.

another option is the few days before christmas maybe... I know in our school, they hardly do any work at all before christmas. they come home w/ christmas crossword puzzles, etc. Maybe try to talk to a 'nice' teacher who will tell you the truth on if there's a slow time that would be sort of ok to take the kids out. There are definitely times that lots of work is happening, and times when nothing is really happening.

good luck!

 

[SmallWorld71]

As a teacher I feel you pain. Honestly though, a good touring plan can solve most crowd problems during the busy times. Not sure about Christmas and Easter week, as those are really busy. But, I have been during President's week and following all the advice from here and other places, we were able to see what we wanted. Of course, when we veered from the plan...... If you have a spring break that doesn't fall at Easter, that's when I would go.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We like to go in early June since school is out before Memorial Day here.

The crowds still aren't too bad then.

We'll be going in Sept. this year so I hope DS can catch up on his work ok.

 

[TinaLala]

Our favorite time to go is the last week of August - it might be hot, but the crowds aren't so bad. With that said, I'd take my kids out of school without a thought - at least before high school. This is a very touchie subject with many people. A few years ago we took my DD8 out of first grade during December and my mother was furious with me about endangering her education. DH and I were like it's a week in the first three months of school. How much did it effect her? She missed a little and we worked with her to get back on course, but she wasn't scarred for life.

Do what you think is right for you family!!

 

[holly7347]

We had the choice between Spring break in March which was 8 days or a 6 day fall break in October. We decided to do the fall break in October and take DD out of school 1 day early to make our trip 7 days / 6 nights. going in the summer just doesn't appeal to us at all. I can't really stand the heat and DH isn't a big fan of crowds. We researched it a bit and found that March is generally busier than October so we decided on October. We didn't even really consider Christmas break, I think that might be a fun time to go but I wasn't really sure of the crowd level and I know flights are more expensive then.

 

[Bear and Honey]

The first week of June has been our time to go!
My family has always been the type that enjoys the resort just as much as the parks. No rushing, vacation is for relaxing!!
Just can't break down and take my kids out of school, love WDW, but just can't do it!!

 

[momtwo4]

We have gone over Thanksgiving break (crowded by mid week)
Mid December (empty, but this was before kids were in school)
June (hot, but manageable)

Our next trip we looked at the kids school calendar, and chose a week that they have Mon & Fri off for teacher days/conferences and a holiday another day. They be missing 2 days of school, but I don't think they will have too hard of a time catching up.

Have fun planning your next trip

 

[srwarden1928]

As teachers, DW and I can only go when school is out. We went in March this year, which was the week before Easter. It supposedly was VERY crowded. We had good touring plans, waited only very reasonably, and saw everything we wanted to. I would not hesitate to go in June or October with the touring plans either. The older children get, the harder it is to make up/catch up. My parents took me out of school in elementary school (through sixth grade) and it wasnt that hard to make up the work, but I would not have wanted to miss that much school after that. Students in high school sometimes never recover and fail courses because of too many absences.

 

[SweetPeasMom2]

DS will start school Aug 7 this year. He has a 3 day break in Oct and again in Feb. We are looking at those dates for a possible trip. I'm ok, at this point, taking him out for 2 days. He will be in 1st grade. However, he had perfect attendance this year and that is not something I ever though my kids would get (I didn't and he was sick every year prior). So I would say look at long breaks that aren't during normal holidays.

 

[danjoealexis3006]

Thanks guys for all the advise I like the idea of going the last week of December and maybe in the fall. I just learned that they will be have a teacher inservice on Oct 7 and parent teacher on Oct 12. That sound like an ideal time. Now I will have to get my schedule at work to cooperate
It's always something!!

 

[rt2dz]

Well, you have already decided you can not, will not pull your kids from school, so now you have to look at the breaks you have and figure out the lesser of the evils. I know we don’t get fall breaks. As a matter of fact, we get two days off at Thanksgiving, a week at spring break, and the week of Christmas with a few days before and a few days after to equal two weeks. We don’t get many other days off at all once we start. Kind of stinks.

If you get a full week after new years, like a pp suggested, that might be your best bet in crowds. If your spring break isn’t near Easter and you don’t have time after Christmas that might be your best bet. If your kids get out in May, the beginning of June might be the least horrible. Or maybe the end of August if your kids don’t start until September. Or possibly do a short trip if you get a long weekend. It will all depend. I would avoid mid June through mid August.

I would actually concentrate more on having a good plan. You might want to look into TGM or UG sites. I really think planning, and planning well, is the best thing you could do.

 

[HelenePA]

Next year We'll be going may 31-June 7th. We get out of school mid may. We went this time in 2006 and it was a great time to go IMO. Plus they usually have discounts at this time...

 

[LadyShea]

I like the idea of going the last week of December

That's the very busiest week all year (December 22-31). They've actually closed parks that week due to being at capacity.

You would want to go the first week of January or the week before December 22, depending on your schools winter break schedule.

 

[mickeymousemom]

We go during Fall Break(and in June--offsite) so the girls miss less school. So far, the schools have been fine with this. I love to go in October, even though the crowds have picked up somewhat. It still isn't as bad as when we went the week before Christmas.

 

[danjoealexis3006]

We don't get many days off so were almost stuck with breaks. I was thinking that maybe we could go Jan1-Jan 5 so DS would only miss one day of school. I have also thought about going just before Christmas. This year they get out the 22 so maybe leave on the 17th and stay until the 23. This would give him plenty of time for make up work. I am just upset because I see 3 teacher in services that are in the middle of the week! Spring break is in line with Easter and they don't get out until June 12th (with no snow days). Has anyone gone during the December time frame?


Oh I don't have anything against going in the summer but that is DHs busy season! Also I would love to go for a short weekend but we live in Michigan and airfare is not cheap! Trust me if we lived closer we'd be there more!!!

 

[shelly3girls]

We have made the same decision that we are no longer comfortable taking the kids out of school. Our oldest DD always handled it just find but this year we felt it impacted our middle DD. We now have a trip planned over Labor Day and Christmas. I know that Labor Day should be manageable but HOT. Christmas will be a mob scene but we will get up early and leave the parks by lunch. We may even visit other places during the trip that we would not normally see. Fortunately we go enough that we do not feel the need to see and do everything. It will be a little bit of a bummer but DD's education is our #1 concern. Also our older DD is at an age where she would miss soccer while away which would really upset her.