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Old 07-23-2012, 07:09 PM   #1
notjustamom
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Tricky WWYD..??..[take kids out of school? + peak season? + March/April 2013 advice]

DH just gave me the green light for a 2013 trip but I'm facing a dilemma. Here goes: DD will be entering Middle School in Sept. Our district does not condone missing school for family vacations, that said I have always taken my kids out for WDW trips. The district will not give missed work before any vacation. So it seems logical for us to go when DD has a school break, right? Here's the conundrum, my DS is autistic and I fear will have a hard time during high crowd times, i.e. Presidents Week / Easter Week. Summer trips are put since DH will never agree and we all like escaping the NY winters WWYD? Take the kids out of school for a few days? Go during peak times? Also, if you were to pick March or April 2013, what do you think is the best week to go?
TIA for any and all opinions!
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Old 07-23-2012, 07:16 PM   #2
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Have you considered Thanksgiving break? It is not as bad as Easter/Presidents Day/Christmas for crowds.... The weather is nice and the crowds are managable.... Just a thought.....
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Old 07-23-2012, 07:56 PM   #3
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How long is their winter break? I definitely wouldn't look at the week between Christmas and New Years, but maybe right after New Years until they have to be back in school?
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Old 07-23-2012, 07:53 PM   #4
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Well, you know DS better than we do. My own DS, on the spectrum but quite high functioning, does fine with the crowds. We always go in the summer, but if your DH won't do that, that's that.

If you can get DS a GAC, perhaps you could use alternate entrances. That's often the Fastpass entrance, so that might help him.

All that said, when my DS started middle school, I stopped considering taking him out of school. In our area, the homework load was quite a bit more, and I wouldn't think of making him make all that up, or do it on the trip.

With my own child, I would talk to him and see how well he/we thought he could handle crowds.

There's no perfect scenario here. Get your advice, weigh your options, and go with what seems the most reasonable option.
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Old 07-23-2012, 07:57 PM   #5
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We're looking at around the same time but it's just DH and I. I have kind of narrowed it down to the first week of the Flower and Garden Festival in March or the middle week in April. For the March week, the good thing is that it is early enough in the month to not be as crowded as later in the month with the spring breakers and the flowers are always beautiful. For April, it is after Easter and so spring break crowds should be lower and it is cheaper than March. Still can't decide which week will work best for us - good luck choosing your week!
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Old 07-23-2012, 08:18 PM   #6
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I have a DD 9 and a special needs son 7. I also work part time and only have so many vacation days which I like to use when my kids are off school. We go the last week of August into Labor Day. It’s perfect.

My son would never make it through the busy crowds of Christmas, Easter or even the busy summer season. We went that week two years ago and most of the time could just walk on rides had easy time finding seats at a restaurant or a spot for the parade. The school district down south starts in mid-August; here in the Philadelphia area we don't start till after Labor Day.

It is warm, but not much warmer than Long Island this summer. We are at the park at open and take lonnnnggg pool breaks at the resort to keep cool.

We are going again this year that same week (34 more days) and have been lucky enough to get free dining both time too!!
If your school doesn't start until after Labor Day its a great week to look into.
As a fellow mom I wish you luck.

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Old 07-23-2012, 08:37 PM   #7
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Have you considered Thanksgiving break? It is not as bad as Easter/Presidents Day/Christmas for crowds.... The weather is nice and the crowds are managable.... Just a thought.....



If not Thanksgiving, I would choose sometime either at the very beginning of summer or very end of summer break. I know you said DH wouldn't love it, but sometimes there has to be a little compromise. My DS is starting middle school this year too, and we scaled back our annual Oct trip to where he will just be missing one day (a Friday) so we can still do the MNSSHP with minimal days missed. I honestly don't think I could handle the crowds of Easter/Christmas break, so I can understand why you would be concerned about your DS.
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Old 07-23-2012, 08:42 PM   #8
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I say take them out of school!!!
Life is too short and school is not that great
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Old 07-23-2012, 08:45 PM   #9
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It depends on when your spring break is. Easter in 2013 is March 31st. Our spring break is the week leading up to Easter Sunday so I wouldn't go then, but in 2009, when spring break and Easter were separated by a couple of weeks, it worked out fine for us. I thought crowds were pretty manageable.

I am in somewhat of the same situation. My DD is starting high school. She isn't autistic, but her first year of high school, I don't want her missing school. I guess it might depend on how your DS will handle all the homework when you return.
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Old 07-23-2012, 09:26 PM   #10
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It depends on when your spring break is. Easter in 2013 is March 31st. Our spring break is the week leading up to Easter Sunday so I wouldn't go then, but in 2009, when spring break and Easter were separated by a couple of weeks, it worked out fine for us. I thought crowds were pretty manageable.
This is what we do. I am a teacher and cannot go at any other time than school vacations. As long as you get a little distance from Easter, the crowds won't be that bad.
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Old 07-23-2012, 08:56 PM   #11
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I was going to suggest the week right after New Years. We don't go back until the 7th and the crowds should be pretty low, but if not then, around Thanksgiving should be a good option.
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Old 07-23-2012, 09:00 PM   #12
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I would start to contact the school and promote the unique learning experiences your child would get from a trip to WDW. There are endless possibilities for learning things that she would never be able in that short of time at school. Maybe a constant,but gentle barrage of letters,and maybe a barter of some "chaperone" time will change their minds.
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Old 07-23-2012, 10:15 PM   #13
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I would start to contact the school and promote the unique learning experiences your child would get from a trip to WDW. There are endless possibilities for learning things that she would never be able in that short of time at school. Maybe a constant,but gentle barrage of letters,and maybe a barter of some "chaperone" time will change their minds.
I doubt it would change their mind. While I think some teachers see some value in learning experiences at WDW - it really is a family vacation and most schools won't buy the "educational value" compared to what is being taught in the classroom. I think the real issue is how far behind students fall when being taken out for a week which gets considerably harder as they get older.
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Old 08-11-2012, 10:40 PM   #14
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As a middle school teacher, I have always had to be careful when planning trips in order to minimize MY absence from school on days when students were present. Therefore, I always looked at the school calender and checked out when there were "No Days," "teacher workdays," or other kind of student holidays adjacent to weekends. Then we added a day or two to the beginning or end of that time. That way, we missed as little school as possible. I also learned that vacations don't have to be Sat to Sat. We have had some great trips that were Thurs to Tues, or Wed to Sun, etc.

This year our trip will be the week of MLK Jr. day. That is because Mon is a holiday, and the Tues & Wed after that will be teacher workdays for the end of the semester. Therefore, we are able to take a Sat to Sat vacation, but we will only technically miss two days of school (Thurs & Fri).

Therefore, I suggest to check out the school calender for the year (you can probably find it online at the district or school website) and see where the natural breaks occur that aren't major holidays. It has worked really well for us for the past few years.
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Old 07-23-2012, 09:12 PM   #15
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We like january for the low crowds and low(er) prices. As mentioned, you could go after New years.

I would take them out of school too, they are kids for such a short time. If your teachers won't give them the work they missed , maybe your daughter can ask a friend in her class to pass on the assignments that are due, and she can borrow the notes and any hand outs, and photo copy. Our home printer copies.
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