Which trip (ime) would you take?

[flash828]

Currently we have Thanksgiving week 2012 booked (sun-sat). We initially booked that because the kids, ages 9 and 7 at the time of the trip, would miss the least amount of school days...just 2. Plus wife would also only have to take 3 days of vacation. Now am 2nd guessing that trip....worried about the 860 mile trip back with holiday travelers, the fort being packed and of course the parks at capacity. We only plan on 2 days of parks so the plan would be to hit those on Monday and Tues. We had to go up to a full site because we would be worried about empting the pop-up cassette toilet (no open sites during that week.

So what would you do??
Stay with thanksgiving week...least amount of days out of school and off...more full..and bit more $$ (also get dark earlier)

Go in first week of June right after kids are out (we did this in 2010). Not too bad at the fort or parks...just Hot

Go in early Nov. Same price as June, temp better but kids and vacation take a hit.

 

[2goofycampers]

It's 80 degrees sunny and beautiful here right now. And not real busy at the parks. Need I say more?

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

We did Disneyland a few years back on Thanksgiving break. So, I cannot speak to the east coast, but the drive back on Sunday from Los Angeles to Sacramento, early afternoon, took us 12 hours. It is usually 6 hours. So, a few years later, we went to San Diego on spring break and vowed to come home on Saturday instead of Sunday. It was still many hours longer than normal.

I would be hesitant to do the drive, unless you are very, very patient and have lots for the kids to do; mine enjoy the extra time in the car because they get unlimited videos and video games...something they don't usually get at home.

I, personally, would go early November...love the holiday decorations. Unfortunately, hubby is a teacher, so we don't get that opportunity. Though, we did have him take 2 days off last year at Halloween and went down to Disneyland and it was spectacular. We rode all the rides (something we were unable to do at Thanksgiving) and went to Mickey's Halloween party. I have very fond memories of that trip.

 

[bama_ed]

Currently we have Thanksgiving week 2012 booked (sun-sat). We initially booked that because the kids, ages 9 and 7 at the time of the trip, would miss the least amount of school days...just 2. Plus wife would also only have to take 3 days of vacation. Now am 2nd guessing that trip....worried about the 860 mile trip back with holiday travelers, the fort being packed and of course the parks at capacity. We only plan on 2 days of parks so the plan would be to hit those on Monday and Tues. We had to go up to a full site because we would be worried about empting the pop-up cassette toilet (no open sites during that week.

So what would you do??
Stay with thanksgiving week...least amount of days out of school and off...more full..and bit more $$ (also get dark earlier)

Go in first week of June right after kids are out (we did this in 2010). Not too bad at the fort or parks...just Hot

Go in early Nov. Same price as June, temp better but kids and vacation take a hit.

We've been over Thanksgiving and late May-early June. Our Thanksgiving experience was too cool to swim in the pools (we're from Alabama) and a wreck on a remote section of the interstate caused traffic to back up and it took an hour just to creep to where I could make a u turn in the median (towing a pop-up by the way) and back road it around the accicent. I suppose the accident could have happened any time though.

Late May was warm and pleasant (right after Memorial Day) and not too crowded.

I'd pick either one of those dates above. If you have this month already scheduled I would keep it and use it. Early November might be nice but that's a whole 12 months away (!). Doing the parks on Mon/Tue is better than Thu-Sat by far although will still be crowded.

Bama ED

PS-in the future go ahead and get a Partial. You don't need a Full just to get the hook-ups. The Fort may be full but people check in and out every day and I never had trouble finding an empty site to "borrow" just for a few minutes.

 

[flash828]

Thanks for the responses! It's been 13 years since I lived in Daytona and I don't remember if Early Nov would be good swimming weather. We went to fort (cabins) in Fed '09 and the kids went in for about 15 min...too cold for me and DW. I guess it could be hit or miss.

PS...anyway to edit my title, it's suppose to say Time...not ime

 

[KristinU]

We did Disneyland a few years back on Thanksgiving break. So, I cannot speak to the east coast, but the drive back on Sunday from Los Angeles to Sacramento, early afternoon, took us 12 hours. It is usually 6 hours. So, a few years later, we went to San Diego on spring break and vowed to come home on Saturday instead of Sunday. It was still many hours longer than normal.

I would be hesitant to do the drive, unless you are very, very patient and have lots for the kids to do; mine enjoy the extra time in the car because they get unlimited videos and video games...something they don't usually get at home.

I, personally, would go early November...love the holiday decorations. Unfortunately, hubby is a teacher, so we don't get that opportunity. Though, we did have him take 2 days off last year at Halloween and went down to Disneyland and it was spectacular. We rode all the rides (something we were unable to do at Thanksgiving) and went to Mickey's Halloween party. I have very fond memories of that trip.

The traffic thing seems to be universal across the coasts. Traffic is my only consideration for you, as we got burned on the way home from Thanksgiving in 2008. Not sure why I thought we'd be the only ones traveling up the NJ turnpike on the Sunday evening after Thanksgiving! Live and learn...and we now add an extra day onto any holiday weekend travel. So I'd do the Thanksgiving trip, but I'd keep the kids out that Monday and avoid the traffic if you can. Also, use something like Tour Guide Mike or Touringplans.com to make the most of the heavy attendance days. Well worth the $ when we've traveled during school holidays. The beauty of going to the Fort is the ability to get away from the big crowds and just kick back