Where did all these people come from?

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

Kurt: we choose not to pull our kids out of school, but not because it has a material impact on their overall education---I suspect it does not. Rather, we limit our 4-5 weeks of annual vacations to the ~15 weeks of school vacation each year because of the message that it sends. We want our kids to take care of business before having fun, because that's our philosophy. But, if you work hard and get things done, there is plenty of time for vacations as well. Naturally, different families make different decisions about this, but that's what works for us.

Absolutely -- you have made decisions that work for your family, and that's the way it should be. However, I really have a problem with other people telling me that I put schooling "in a back seat" if I dare take my kid out of school for an occasional vacation.

There are other things that my family prioritizes, such as avoiding extra-curricular school/sports activities that take place on Sundays, because Sundays are for church and family activities in our household. But I would certainly never tell another church member that I thought they put God "in a back seat" if they chose to have their kid play on a Sunday morning basketball league (for example). It is simply no business of mine, and what works for one family does not automatically apply to another family.

Kurt

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

I was just looking at that Disney attendance chart, and I can't account for the week prior to Christmas. Under "lowest attendance" it goes up to "mid-December" which I'm calling the 15th. And then under "highest attendance" it lists "Christmas week". What would "Christmas week" be exactly? It can't be everything from the 15th until the 25th, right?

(Since we are going the week before Christmas, and Christmas is on a Saturday this year, I'm just wondering what to expect the crowds to be like that week prior!)

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

See, opening timeshares up to non-owners, and renting stuff out for less than a maintenance fee, helps fill them up.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

See, opening timeshares up to non-owners, and renting stuff out for less than a maintenance fee, helps fill them up.

LOL.

Actually this is not an exchange for me either.

I'm here on open season rates but at least I am a member now. I didn't see anything I wanted in last call with RCI this time so I guess you're right.

As a matter of fact when I was looking at the last calls there was not even one single one in all of Florida for quite a few days when I was looking before I booked with HGVC. So you see Jim time to dump the mugwump swamp TS
like the wife says.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

We checked out of Tuscany on Sunday and we had the same problem last week when we got back late from dinner. It was really busy. The traffic getting out onto I-4 or going toward The Crossroads or Downtown Disney was crazy.

Lynn

DTD traffic wasn't too bad and neither was Crossroads today. Maybe because it's only Tuesday and everyone was in the parks. The Boardwalk was pretty empty but we couldn't get a dinner ressie at Cape May til 9pm so we went to Golden Corral instead. Oh well it was still pretty good.
Now I'm so stuffed I'm staying in tonight. We did have a great dinner
with my cousins who live here in Orlando. Lucky them.
Living so near the mouse.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Christine: there's a reason that the Disney resorts charge more during the P-Week through Easter season than they do in the summer.

I was in Beach Club last year during President's week and somehow it didn't seem as crowded as Tuscany is this year. Maybe it was an illusion or maybe Tuscany needed to do under the building parking. I don't like how they do the parking lots here. They should have copied Animal Kingdom and put the resort up one level. You'd still have that great lake view. But I guess it would have cost more money to do it that way. I don't get the parking garage at the end of the units. No one was in it anyway. Bad design if you ask me.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

So you see Jim time to dump the mugwump swamp TS like the wife says.

I keep telling you we own at Slimey Slough.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I keep telling you we own at Slimey Slough.

Sounds like a dreamy vacation spot right up there with mugwump land.

[wwomant Member Find all posts View Profile Close wwomant]

What amazes me is that whatever month we go to Disney the park is crowded with children. This trip must be a priority for most families with school taking a back seat. I don't think there are that many home schoolers.

Joyce

In addition to the 2 million students being homeschooled, don't forget that an additional 3 million students in the US are on year round schedules, meaning they get random months off during the year instead of summer months. My son gets June, February and October off, but goes to school in July and August. In our very large district at any given time 25% of the students are off on vacation. So you really can't assume that when you see children on vacation during the traditional school year that they're missing school.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I was one of those blessed kids whose Dad would take us out of school to spend a few days at Ft. Myers beach or Disney World.

Lucky for us he didn't seem to be the least bit concerned about us losing out on anything and since Dad died when we were kids, I am so glad I have those memories of our family vacations. If we had only followed the herd, we probably wouldn't have gotten away as often.

I think Dad's legacy to me was, he made me a bit of a gypsy vacationer.

We stayed at LaHaina and Island towers before they were timeshares.
I'm So glad they were converted to TSs so I can go back and relive my childhood. Otherwise they would have become a fancy high rise.

[wwomant Member Find all posts View Profile Close wwomant]

As a parent and a public school teacher I always say more power to parents who choose to take their kids out of school for vacation if they can make it work for their kids.

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

If we had only followed the herd, we probably wouldn't have gotten away as often.

I guess I don't see why this is necessarily so. My kids have something like 15 weeks off each year. Even allowing for "must visit family" weeks (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the weekend of the 4th) that leaves plenty of time for vacations. We take between three and five full week (or longer) vacations every year, and haven't missed a day of school yet. Add in a few road trips over the three-day weekends, and we keep a pretty decent vacation schedule.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

As a parent and a public school teacher I always say more power to parents who choose to take their kids out of school for vacation if they can make it work for their kids.

I agree, and that's what I always did. Never had a problem.

[longtimer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close longtimer]

My DH is a school teacher, so we can only take vacations in the summer. If the trend continues with more kids visiting during non-summer months, maybe the parks will be a little less crowded during the summer.
BTW - Vacations can be learning experiences also. I'm all for taking kids out of school if they can keep up with the work. Some children really struggle in school and I'm afraid that parents sometimes give the wrong message if they imply that it doesn't matter if vacation negatively affects learning.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

We stayed at LaHaina and Island towers before they were timeshares.
I'm So glad they were converted to TSs so I can go back and relive my childhood. Otherwise they would have become a fancy high rise.

Wow! They were converted back in the late 70's and early 80's. My first visits to FMB were also pre-timeshare.

Our first TS stay there was L Inn, on the wrong side of the road, and the wife of the couple that now goes with us in January was with us. That was the beginning of that tradition, now around 20 years old.

Timeshares in SW FL began in 1974, with Sanibel Beach Club, developed by Keith Trowbridge, who moved there after graduating from Ball State University. SBC was the first purpose-built timeshare and 1974 is also the year RCI Started.

Little did he know that those resorts, some of the oldest in all of timesharing (keep in mind many were already old when they were converted), would become some of the hardest to get into January-April. I have been searching for them almost every day for the last 12 years.

http://www.execq.com/documents/ARDA%...v%20Lennon.pdf

I find this interesting because some of my fraternity buddies from Moo U also went to Florida at the same time, to find their fame and fortune, and a couple of them did. Their companies are named US Homes and Hooters.

Here are TSing pioneers. Who is missing?

http://mcmullendevelopment.com/blog/...ing-Part-1.pdf

What were we talking about?