April vacation V. Memorial Day weekend

[vanessapas]

Hello everyone,

I'm in the process of planning my family's first trip to WDW. I have been several times, but need help on picking a time to go. I'm a teacher in MA, so I can only go during vacation times. I need help deciding between April vacation and Memorial Day weekend. I've done some research and it seems like Memorial Day is slightly cheaper for flights and hotels, but not enough to make a big difference. I have been a few times during April vacation so I'm familiar with those crowds and strategies to avoid them. Has anyone been at both times that can comment on crowd levels?

 

[sponica]

I think you'd get more TIME during april break. Memorial day weekend is a blink and you missed it trip, unless you get the friday before it off.

April break next year won't have easter in either of the weekends, so that should help slightly with the pricing compared to this year.

Personally if you can brave the heat, I'd do mid to late August. I did that one year with my teacher family.

 

[ArielDreams]

I’m a teacher in MA too and we will be going during April break next year since it won’t be Easter week. Haven’t been Memorial Day weekend but I personally wouldn’t want to cram everything into such a short window. My district is also stingy around granting extra personal days around a long weekend... As previous poster said, it’s hot but the last week of August is super low on crowds - we have gone for the last 2 years. But we also started school after Labor Day so not sure if that would work where you are.

 

[vetrik]

We did April vacation last year (not near Easter), and it was wonderful. The weather was perfect, and I found the crowds pretty moderate (much better than our trip before that during Veteran's Day/Jersey Week/F&W). We didn't plan April this year since it's Easter week and we didn't want to deal with that craziness. We were talking about Memorial Day for this year, and we were warned away if we could do another weekend....my daughter has a Friday off earlier in May, so we're doing a quick weekend trip that week to avoid the crowds. I have a feeling that as long as it's not near Easter we may end up in April again when we plan our next big trip.

I've also definitely thought about the end of August too, although I know it is hot (I've been in mid-August and mid-September).

 

[bigbabyblues]

I would go for the longer trip. However, we always get out of school the Friday before Memorial Day, and if that is the case, I'd pick the week starting M-Day weekend instead spring break.

 

[saraheliz]

I think part of it will depend when Easter is. This year and next, Easter falls during April vacation (I'm in MA, too, and married to a teacher) so that will likely increase crowds. I have many friends across the country that have spring break around Easter whenever it is, so when that collides with our April vacation (which quite often doesn't include Easter) that definitely impacts crowds. We decided not to do this April vacation (went last year instead) and not to do next year (probably 2021 instead) because of the Easter issue (if it was totally up to me, I'd prefer summer/late August but two of my family members do not do well in heat).

 

[sponica]

I think part of it will depend when Easter is. This year and next, Easter falls during April vacation (I'm in MA, too, and married to a teacher) so that will likely increase crowds. I have many friends across the country that have spring break around Easter whenever it is, so when that collides with our April vacation (which quite often doesn't include Easter) that definitely impacts crowds. We decided not to do this April vacation (went last year instead) and not to do next year (probably 2021 instead) because of the Easter issue (if it was totally up to me, I'd prefer summer/late August but two of my family members do not do well in heat).

Easter is April 12 next year, Orthodox is the 19th though. Patriots Day isn't until the 20th, so most MA schools should have that week off.

 

[blackpearl77]

Our school calendar is out for 2019-2020 and April vacation is Friday, April 10 (Good Friday) to Friday, April 17 (Easter is the 12th) so we get an extra day off with Good Friday. We live in CT. We usually have the same vacation as MA but not this time.

 

[saraheliz]

Easter is April 12 next year, Orthodox is the 19th though. Patriots Day isn't until the 20th, so most MA schools should have that week off.

Well what the heck calendar was I looking at!? Actually now that I think about it I remember thinking that first weekend would still be busy but maybe better during the week. Clearly my memory is failing me.