Best time for teachers to visit?

Smallywood1

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
My fiance and I are both teachers, so our vacation schedule is pretty much limited to peak times in the parks. We are planning a honeymoon stop, and are trying to figure out what may be the better time frame. We have spring break at the beginning of March, but then we have a week off at the end of May (Memorial day week) before our summer school programs start up. In all of your wisdom, which season may be a little better for pricing/crowds?
 
Personally I would go with may as you still have half the country in school, March can run the gamut depending on when Easter is.
 
As I'm in the same profession, I totally understand where you're coming from. I've gone quite a few times over spring break. Yes it's busy, but we've done it a few times and have a pattern that works well for us and allows us to do what we want to do, but it's crazy busy and if you have "crowd-a-phobia" or "line-a-phobia" that wouldn't be a good time for you. The last week in May is also a good time when you're off. You'll have some Memorial day crowds, but not as bad as spring break weeks. I don't know when you get finished up for the year, but I've gone a couple of times the first full week in June AFTER I finished my workdays. Crowds were about a 7 out of 10 that week, but very manageable. That's always been a good time, at least for my family. And, last year, we hit the parks on July 4 and stayed for about 5 days. I'd heard about it being busy then, but in my opinion, it wasn't any worse that our June visits.
 
Teacher here as well...Spring Break is always first week in April. I think March would probably be a less busy time, but not sure. we also come the week of Memorial Day as soon as my postplanning days are done- but CRAZY hot!
 


My wife is a teacher, and we've gone twice in August. Crowds are low, costs are low but you're on the surface of the sun. Late summer, the crowds are lower than they used to be.
 
All times are busy these days but between the two I’d go with may since many kids are in school still and often aren’t pulled from school that close to the end of the year BUT March is good if Easter is end of April.
 
When do the Summer programs end and when do you go back to school? Is there a decent pocket of time between those two?
As mentioned above, August may work for you, depending on your start date and the way the calendar year falls. For instance, for schools that start after Labor Day, that holiday falls quite late in 2020 (the 7th of Sept) and 2021 (the 6th of Sept.). I realize teachers return before students, but if you had a school starting after Labor Day, for instance, then you might be able to go fairly late in August, when crowds tend to go down a bit due to the many schools that have already gone back.
 


When do the Summer programs end and when do you go back to school? Is there a decent pocket of time between those two?
As mentioned above, August may work for you, depending on your start date and the way the calendar year falls. For instance, for schools that start after Labor Day, that holiday falls quite late in 2020 (the 7th of Sept) and 2021 (the 6th of Sept.). I realize teachers return before students, but if you had a school starting after Labor Day, for instance, then you might be able to go fairly late in August, when crowds tend to go down a bit due to the many schools that have already gone back.
We end summer programs the last full week of July. Then there is typically a week off before we have to go back in to work. So looking at the 2020 calendar it would July 27-31 plus or minus the weekends.
 
Glad to see this thread. I was just about to post on this topic myself to get some insight from the always helpful disboards community. We’re relatively experienced Disneyland travelers, but haven’t been to WDW since our honeymoon 16 years ago. My wife is an elementary school teacher, so our options are essentially limited to Spring Break, Jun-Jul, or Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays. I don’t think we’re likely to choose holidays for a variety of reasons.

My issue boils down to weighing the crowds vs. heat decision. My general understanding is that Spring Break (ours is typically about 3rd week in March) is very heavy crowds, whereas the first week of June is somewhat less crowded. We’re under no illusions that there is ever a truly an un-crowded time at WDW or Disneyland, but all things being equal we certainly prefer to avoid heavy crowds. The downside to early June is the heat. We’re from Boise, Idaho, so while we’re familiar with hot summers (100+ is not uncommon), we’re not used to humidity.

We’re a family of four (Two girls = 10 & 7), definitely plan to stay on site, with resort pools being an important factor in our choice of lodging. We’re open to the strategy of spending our afternoons at the resort and morning/evenings in the parks, but even then, if it’s brutally hot by noon and stays that way until sundown, is it worth it? Naturally the parks are our main reason for visiting, especially since our kids have never been.

Here’s what I see as advantages to each:
Spring Break advantage(s): Cooler weather.
Early June advantages: Comparatively lower crowds; Marginally lower lodging expense (??); Great pool weather; option to stay longer.

If not for the heat issue, June would be the easy winner, especially if crowds are truly lower. On Spring Break, we’re working with a maximum of 8 nights, 7 park days. Whereas in June we could swing 9-10 nights and 8-9 park days.

I would greatly appreciate any insights or personal anecdotes.
 
I've gone the last week of June into July and then also in mid-August. They both were equally hot, but I found the crowds to be somewhat similar..maybe having less crowds in August than end of June. I also had more rainy days in June than I did in August, but that is most likely a random fluke thing.

I'm a teacher too and refuse to pay the sky-rocketed airfare during my spring break. We try to take as many breaks as possible in the heat, have the water mister fans, and drink LOTS of water. We also take a midday break from every park to enjoy the pool and take a rest before heading back in the evening hours. This worked well for DH, my 3.5 year old son, and myself. I'd prefer to have more ride experiences (going with lower crowds) and be hot, than waiting in longer lines and still being warm bc hey...its' still Florida. Next time we will be going in August again with a 6.5 and a 2 year old.
 
My trip starting Aug 8 has a max of 4-5 crowd levels according to TouringPlans. Late August dips into 2-3's and June July is 5-6.
 
My husband is a teacher, and we just did a trip to Disney World for Memorial Day week. I don’t know how crowds are the rest of the year, but our visit seemed fine. A few rides/waits were long (FOP, ToT), but with FastPasses and general planning, the longest we waited was around 45 for a few things (SDD).

It was hot as heck. But I’m told the weather is pretty much a crapshoot all the time.
 
I’m a teacher, and we usually go over Spring Break (last week of March). I have been during Fall Break (October) and the first week of June. My take is that the humidity was almost unbearable during the first week of June, at least when we were down there. (I can’t imagine August!) October and March are very pleasant in terms of weather (never once rained and 80 degrees for a high), but EPCOT, especially, during October was PACKED. A lot of people were drunk and cranky because of the Food and Wine Festival crowds. We didn’t want to go back during that time.

The weather during Spring Break is beautiful and the crowds are manageable. I never feel like it was ridiculously packed. We just planned ahead and got all the ADRs We wanted at 6 months out. We used Fast Passes strategically and walked onto most rides even without a FP. Only once we had to wait for more than 40 minutes and that was for Soarin, one of the most popular rides in all of WDW. I highly suggest March!

ALSO if you are NEA members, check out NEA Click and Save/Tickets at Work. They might have deals on tickets! (I am assuming AFT probably has something similar.)
 
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Glad to see this thread. I was just about to post on this topic myself to get some insight from the always helpful disboards community. We’re relatively experienced Disneyland travelers, but haven’t been to WDW since our honeymoon 16 years ago. My wife is an elementary school teacher, so our options are essentially limited to Spring Break, Jun-Jul, or Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays. I don’t think we’re likely to choose holidays for a variety of reasons.

My issue boils down to weighing the crowds vs. heat decision. My general understanding is that Spring Break (ours is typically about 3rd week in March) is very heavy crowds, whereas the first week of June is somewhat less crowded. We’re under no illusions that there is ever a truly an un-crowded time at WDW or Disneyland, but all things being equal we certainly prefer to avoid heavy crowds. The downside to early June is the heat. We’re from Boise, Idaho, so while we’re familiar with hot summers (100+ is not uncommon), we’re not used to humidity.

We’re a family of four (Two girls = 10 & 7), definitely plan to stay on site, with resort pools being an important factor in our choice of lodging. We’re open to the strategy of spending our afternoons at the resort and morning/evenings in the parks, but even then, if it’s brutally hot by noon and stays that way until sundown, is it worth it? Naturally the parks are our main reason for visiting, especially since our kids have never been.

Here’s what I see as advantages to each:
Spring Break advantage(s): Cooler weather.
Early June advantages: Comparatively lower crowds; Marginally lower lodging expense (??); Great pool weather; option to stay longer.

If not for the heat issue, June would be the easy winner, especially if crowds are truly lower. On Spring Break, we’re working with a maximum of 8 nights, 7 park days. Whereas in June we could swing 9-10 nights and 8-9 park days.

I would greatly appreciate any insights or personal anecdotes.

Idaho, couple of things for you to consider. If your spring break is CONSISTENTLY the 3rd week of March, take a look at when Easter falls. Many (not all) districts usually do spring break either the week before or week after Easter, and if you look at crowd calendars, the week before and after Easter are usually 9 or 10 out of 10. However, go out 2 or 3 weeks either side of Easter will show you a different story with significantly lower crowd numbers. In 2020, Easter is on April 12. You may be able to swing a visit on your 3rd week of March break without the higher prices and higher crowds. As for June and heat. Lets face it, it's hot in Florida during the summer, and with y'all being from Idaho, I'm betting that the heat and humidity of central Fla takes it's toll on you. If you go in June, just dress appropriately and drink a lot throughout the day and you'll be fine, IMO. I just went this past June, from the 16th - 23rd. The folks in the room next to us were from North Dakota. They were most definitely out of their element with the heat/humidity (they told me as such), but they just took their time, came back to the room for a rest/swim in the middle of the day, and just made the most of their time at WDW. They had a blast, but they also admitted to me that they wouldn't bring blue jeans to wear on their next visit :rotfl2:
 
DH and I are both teachers, and he is also a coach. The only window we ever have is the time between when summer programs end and before fall Varsity practices start. That leaves us basically 2 weeks near the beginning of August. This August will be our 6th trip with the kids, now ages 17 and 14. We always stay on property. This year we will be at WL.

The only disadvantage to August is the heat - but it is brutal. We take daily afternoon breaks at the resort to swim, nap, shower, etc. before heading out for dinner and the parks. Imagine the hottest you have ever been and then multiply it by 100.

August is significantly cheaper, crowds are average, and promos are available. We also do not feel like we have to rush and then get right back to work when school starts.

If we could go during holiday breaks (can’t - sports) everything would be more expensive, our trips would have to be shorter, and we would feel rushed.
 

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