First Post! (be gentle) Teachers Best Times to Visit

[The13thLetter]

I am sure there are multiple discussions about this but I figured I would ask anyway since I am a newbie.

We just returned from this years trip to Disney World, not a normal week for us to visit as my wife is a teacher and is normally in school by now. But this year she was on maternity leave so we took our little one before she goes back to work and were not disappointed at all with the small crowds that the calendars have suggested this week would have (although the heat was another story).

My question is though, we normally go either the last week in August, when a lot of southern schools have already begun classes (we live in NY) or we take a quick trip during Rosh Hoshannah since she gets 2 days off for that and recently it has been a mon/tues or thurs/fri, which gives us a nice 4 day weekend. However, we have always wanted to visit at different times of year (flower festival, mickey's Christmas, etc.) and now that we have our first child we definitely want to change up the times of year we go to explore more things.

The issue is that we can only go during school breaks, since my wife cannot take off days from work other than the ones the school is officially closed for (except for 2 personal days) and I am fearful that those times are obviously the busiest. I looked at the crowd calendars and to my surprise it seems that the February break she gets for presidents day/week looks wayyy more busy that the week off she gets for easter. My question is, is that normal? Do a lot of schools not have off a week in April for Easter (when it falls in April)? Is that the best time to go during the school year for someone with that teachers schedule? I know not all school districts are the same but any help would be appreciated.

Also, I know that those 2 weeks off wont get us to see any Christmas related stuff, so I guess my second question is how crazy is it really that week between Christmas and new years? Is it something that you should do at least once? Or is it just too much?

Thanks! And sorry if I am doing something wrong with this post, its my first day

 

[FCDub]

Welcome to the DIS!

 

[ClapYourHands]

I am sure there are multiple discussions about this but I figured I would ask anyway since I am a newbie.

We just returned from this years trip to Disney World, not a normal week for us to visit as my wife is a teacher and is normally in school by now. But this year she was on maternity leave so we took our little one before she goes back to work and were not disappointed at all with the small crowds that the calendars have suggested this week would have (although the heat was another story).

My question is though, we normally go either the last week in August, when a lot of southern schools have already begun classes (we live in NY) or we take a quick trip during Rosh Hoshannah since she gets 2 days off for that and recently it has been a mon/tues or thurs/fri, which gives us a nice 4 day weekend. However, we have always wanted to visit at different times of year (flower festival, mickey's Christmas, etc.) and now that we have our first child we definitely want to change up the times of year we go to explore more things.

The issue is that we can only go during school breaks, since my wife cannot take off days from work other than the ones the school is officially closed for (except for 2 personal days) and I am fearful that those times are obviously the busiest. I looked at the crowd calendars and to my surprise it seems that the February break she gets for presidents day/week looks wayyy more busy that the week off she gets for easter. My question is, is that normal? Do a lot of schools not have off a week in April for Easter (when it falls in April)? Is that the best time to go during the school year for someone with that teachers schedule? I know not all school districts are the same but any help would be appreciated.

Also, I know that those 2 weeks off wont get us to see any Christmas related stuff, so I guess my second question is how crazy is it really that week between Christmas and new years? Is it something that you should do at least once? Or is it just too much?

Thanks! And sorry if I am doing something wrong with this post, its my first day

Many southern schools have Spring Break in March, as they typically get out of school in May. If Easter falls in March, their spring break will coincide with Easter, but if not, they'll get off a week in March and then just Good Friday for Easter in April. Easter is usually very crowded, though. President's day is very busy because it's a federal holiday, and everyone has it off, no matter where they are. Not everyone has the whole week off, so you might notice lower crowds later in the week, though it will be packed on the actual holiday weekend.

 

[CamperMouse]

In my small district in the South, we have Spring Break in March. We have been many times during Spring Break due to sports and school schedules. It is crowded and expensive. Easter is usually a Monday and Friday break if we do not have any makeup weather days. Between Christmas and New Years it is crowded and again, expensive. We have followed the school schedule, but now I am retired. We are ready to select inexpensive dates and lower crowds.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

Yes it's typical. "Spring Break" at Disney basically starts at President's Day and goes through the week following Easter. There will always be schools that time off in that block.
You are seeing the lower crowds right now because it's early in the school session for most people. But there are not really big differences in the crowd levels anymore. The big holiday weeks will always be the most crowded and every other time is just slightly less crowded. I wouldn't overthink it or stress about it based on that and just pick dates that work with your schedule.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I'm always going to suggest Thanksgiving if you have the whole week off.

 

[MinnieMom85]

Most Florida schools do not get easter break. Spring break is usually in March.

 

[michellej47]

I am a teacher, and we always plan our trips around those 3 or 4 day weekends. Last time, we went President's day weekend. Took 1/2 a day on Wednesday to drive down, did parks Thursday-Sunday with a 4-day PH, and drove back on home on Monday, which was a holiday.

 

[SteveH]

Does your wife have the option to bank personal days, if she even has such a thing in her School District? While we haven't done it often, two years ago my wife banked a couple days that held over from one year to the next, then worked with her principal to take off a week in late January, he approved the time off and we were able to take a week off to go to WDW & Clearwater Beach. She woudn't try to do it every year, but every 2-3 years might work out. Just a thought...

 

[The13thLetter]

I'm always going to suggest Thanksgiving if you have the whole week off.

She usually only gets that Weds-Friday off, plus Sat/Sun, but I assume that Sat/Sun is very very busy.

 

[The13thLetter]

I am a teacher, and we always plan our trips around those 3 or 4 day weekends. Last time, we went President's day weekend. Took 1/2 a day on Wednesday to drive down, did parks Thursday-Sunday with a 4-day PH, and drove back on home on Monday, which was a holiday.

Yeah when the jewish holidays fall on a mon/tues or thurs/fri it has been awesome because it is always in Sept or Oct and we get Halloween and Food and Wine. She doesnt really have many other 4 day weekends though except memorial day weekend and thanksgiving. The rest are all 3 day weekends or the long weeks off (xmas - new years, feb break, easter break).

 

[The13thLetter]

Does your wife have the option to bank personal days, if she even has such a thing in her School District? While we haven't done it often, two years ago my wife banked a couple days that held over from one year to the next, then worked with her principal to take off a week in late January, he approved the time off and we were able to take a week off to go to WDW & Clearwater Beach. She woudn't try to do it every year, but every 2-3 years might work out. Just a thought...

Unfortunately no, she can only bank sick days, not personal. And her district is sort of strict with taking a personal day attached to an already official day off, so she couldn't really add a day to MLK Day or Columbus Day to give us a 4 day weekend. Although she does have tenure so maybe she could push back a little more haha.



Thanks for all the advice everyone! Next year we are definitely still going back to the last week in August (we already have reservations at 3 resorts holding our spot haha) but in 2020 i think we will look into one of those breaks in the first half of the year and it looks like the one around Easter week might be the best, although I do agree that it seems to be getting busier and busier all year long so really we should just choose what works best for our timing and the events we want to be a part of at Disney.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Choosing what works for your family is probably the best strategy. Then make plans with the predicted crowds in mind. You can have a fun time with a combination of good strategies and realistic expectations.

It looks like 2024 and 2027 are the next years that Easter will fall in March. If current crowd patterns hold (no guarantees), those will be great times to go later in April when your wife's district is likely to have spring break.

 

[The13thLetter]

Choosing what works for your family is probably the best strategy. Then make plans with the predicted crowds in mind. You can have a fun time with a combination of good strategies and realistic expectations.

It looks like 2024 and 2027 are the next years that Easter will fall in March. If current crowd patterns hold (no guarantees), those will be great times to go later in April when your wife's district is likely to have spring break.

Thanks for that info! Yeah things may change quite a bit with our timing for the next couple of trips anyway with Galaxy's Edge, Tron, Ratatouille, Guardians, Mickeys Runaway and all the 50th Anniversary stuff going on. Those are gonna add to our timing decisions too.

 

[NiceOneSimba]

We have a lovely Midwinter Break in February. It's the whole week of Presidents Day. We've headed to Orlando the last two years, and will be back again this year. I just can't deal with the summer heat, and my daughter's spring break and mine don't always line up. It's not empty, by any means, but we've been able to accomplish what we wanted to do without too much trouble.

It's so hard when districts don't let you take a personal day before or after a break or holiday! We just started to be able to do that two years ago, and it's been amazing.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Keep in mind, even if you go in a busy time, if you have a good plan, you can have a great vacation. Busy doesn't have to equal miserable, but it does take some advanced work and maybe some early mornings.

With little ones, your days of sleeping late are done for about 10 years, anyway, so making a Rope Drop (RD) won't be hard for you. Afternoons, (aka naptimes anyway) are when it's most crowded, so you can take a break from the parks and return later on.

Many people are in your shoes... can't take vacation any other times than school breaks. It can be great.

 

[The13thLetter]

Keep in mind, even if you go in a busy time, if you have a good plan, you can have a great vacation. Busy doesn't have to equal miserable, but it does take some advanced work and maybe some early mornings.

With little ones, your days of sleeping late are done for about 10 years, anyway, so making a Rope Drop (RD) won't be hard for you. Afternoons, (aka naptimes anyway) are when it's most crowded, so you can take a break from the parks and return later on.

Many people are in your shoes... can't take vacation any other times than school breaks. It can be great.

Yeah first trip with a child (4 months old!) was a much different experience, but overall amazing. I am usually good with all our fast passes and restaurant reservations ahead of time so you may be right, the busyness may not affect us as much as I am fearing it will, now that we aren't going RD to fireworks every day like we did before

 

[nkereina]

Around here in upstate NY, most schools have a week off in April, but it tends to vary. Some districts give the 3rd week of April off no matter when Easter falls. Some are off the week leading up to Easter. Some are off the week after Easter. I think because of this, its less busy than February break which is typically always the third week when Presidents Day falls for all districts.

A friend of mine is a teacher and she opted for her April break next year due to the chance of slightly lower crowds, plus beautiful weather. August and sometimes even October around Columbus Day can still be very hot and sticky. February can sometimes be cold. But April seems to have the right mix.

 

[Micca]

Welcome to the Dis! Lotsa good stuff here, I might suggest that you search for some previous threads on your topic. Best to settle in with a beverage, put your feet up and dig in.

 

[tex1989]

Welcome to the DIS! I feel your pain as my wife worked in a school for 13 years. It was even worse because she was the registrar/attendence clerk and she went back well before the teachers and left a week after they did which limited us even more. Being in Texas we tried to go her first available week in June because Northern schools were not our yet but with you being in New York that is probably not an option. August seems to be your best fit. Holidays (which we have done 1 Thanksgiving and 1 Christmas) are nuts. We did get the full Thanksgiving week off and found that from Saturday before till Wednesday before was very nice but the rest of the break was very crowded. Prior to Christmas day till Christmas Day was manageble but starting the day before Christmas till after New Year was impossible. Good luck it's hard to do with a teacher in the family. My wife retired last year and now it is wonderful. I get six weeks vacation a year and we can go at any time (and do) with AP's and try for at least two to three trips a year.