When When When??? Help!!!

[themudd4]

OKay, I am not a newbie, but the older our kids get the harder it is to find the time to go with out conflicting schedules. My DD13 is a str8 A student, and sports queen....She lives to play basketball, softball, volleyball, run track, cross country...this does not count her Jr. Honor society. (before someone says anything...I do not push her to do anything! She decides what she wants to do and as long as her grades stay up, and she stays out of trouble I will not stop her...also were we live, her friends live several miles apart...so not like they can just run around on their bikes or anything.) She does still have plenty of time to be a teenager!
My DS7, is now starting to get serious about baseball and WRESTLING... another for me! He too makes good grades A's and B's. (I really am blessed to have such great kids!!!)

Anyway...the point behind all of my rambling: Were trying to figure out a good time for our 2008 trip. The kids don't want to miss school or their sports. I understand that. That leaves us with a time frame of maybe 3 weeks in the summer (last two weeks of July, first week of Aug.) All I can think is HOT!!!! All my DH can think about is crowds !

I have read the tour guides, but I wanna hear from my DIS family...How bad is it really? No sugar coating...
Is it bad enough to skip it and pull the kids out for about 4 days (plus a long weekend in April) and let them just be mad!?

 

[megnsamsgracie]

In our town, they allow you to miss 5 days of school for family vacation and not have it count against you. My kids are still a bit younger. My son is 10 and wrestles too (5th year) and plays baseball. We are going the end of Nov and early Dec so he will miss 2 days of wrestling. In school I have have one in 5th, 4th, 1st and my DS is in an elementary school Pre_K class. So they will miss some school. Thankfully my kids do well and I will give the teacher a heads up and get all work before we go. I will make the kids do their work while we are away so they arent behind while there. We took 2 weeks a few years ago for disney, 3 total weeks of school and my kids missed like 8 or 9 days. School knew and we got all our work ahead of time and they did it. I hated going in summer and loved going in Oct!

 

[CoralCayTownhome]

Hi I can understand your problem. We have had to consider similar issues for our DD11 when we have visited WDW - and travelling from the UK means it is a 2 week trip.

How about staying somewhere where the kids can keep up their fitness levels - ie. somewhere to go for a run or a fitness area. As far as school is concerned they probably wont miss too much over a week and if you get the work to be covered catch up shouldnt be a problem for straight A students.

Our DD is a gymnast and we contacted a gym club in Orlando so that she could keep up her skills and fitness - she trained there for 5 nights (4hrs a time) on our last trip due to the fact that she had major competitions shortly after our return. It certainly helped (so her coaches said) and she made lots of friends and has been invited back any time we are over there

Sorry I can't give specific advice about July but it is a busy time for visitors from the UK (school holidays here).

Good luck with what you decide on

Tracey

 

[eliza61]

Don't know when your kids go back to school, we've had really great luck going the last week in August. The southern state kids have already started school so the crowds usually die down. The heat is still intense but I can deal with the heat more than the crowds!

I don't allow my kids to skip school for vacation (school first, play second) so it's always a bit of a challenge. Does your state have teacher in service days or conventions that you can take advantage of? New Jersey, we have Jersey week in November. The kids are off of school usually the 2nd week in November because the NJ teachers unions hold their convention, so this year we are going down during that.

If they are really going to be mad, I wouldn't do it. Would you really want to drag 2 unhappy kids around? You're going to have enough battles about really important stuff and I think it's great that your kids want to keep their obligations. I love, love, love disney and usually go every 16 months but it's just a vacation.

 

[michygoomy]

I don't take my kids out of school anymore so I only go in the summer. I've done early June or late August. Both are very crowded, but can be manageable with proper planning. We live for early mornings, come back to the room (the toddler naps and the kids swim) when it gets super hot and crowded in the parks, and go back in the evenings. You can also pick up the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and try their touring plans to minimize your wait in line. We also stay 10 days now because having a toddler doesn't work well with "commando" touring.

When we go on vacation, I want it to be a real vacation, and I don't want them to have to do any homework on vacation or cram it in at the beginning or end. We're leaving the day after school ends!

(My kids are: DS13, DD11 & DD2)

 

[Jill in Chicago]

Pull them out of school now. Once the kids hit high school they miss way too much school work to pull them out. (They'll be taking advanced classes and even college level classes. Just being sick a day puts them so far behind.) So go now!!

That said, talk with the coaches. Find out what the rules are. If it is early in the season can they miss a week of practice?. I understand that later in a season if you miss practice usually you can't play in a game. I'm sure they all have their own rules.

I would go during the off season, when it is not so busy. It will be so worth it for your family to have an easier time touring and the hotel costs will be lower.

 

[pepe of ohio]

That's a tough decision, my own opinion, and what we did when our children were young, was to go to Disney right when school let out, first and second week in June, just as WDW summer season started, MK used to stay open until midnight. We did do a few mid summer vacations but that was in the early eighties and not alot of people going to Disney then, we liked the heat, being from northeastwern Ohio and resort pools was a part of our stay. That being said, we now wouldn't think about summer, heat, crowds etc. Nothing worse than being in Disney, paying a ton of money to stay ankle deep in lines with huge crowds and extreme heat, not much of a vacation.

We now go in the fall, best time, decorations are up, whole different experience with those up. Our children are all grown up but the memories we have, and the ones they remember, of going to WDW, are priceless to all of us. They still go with us or meet us there when they can but they grew so fast, weren't mere teenagers, then off to college and then marriage. We seem to have them until they are 18 or so and its the empty nest syndrome, enjoy those pre-teen years, make allowances for those WDW vacations, arrange homework to do on the way and enjoy thier youth, we did and have no regrets.