&*^% School Calendar glitch for Christmas

[4daubers]

My dh and I work for different school districts as does the wife of the family we travel with. It's time to set school calendars for next year. We finally get our FW Christmas trip locked in for 12-20 - 1-3 and the dang school districts set their schedules more different than ever. The last day of school before the break is 12/19 and I have to be back at work on 1/2. I'm livid and cranky.

It's a 2 day long haul for us to get there. We definitely can't leave earlier than the 19th because of finals...dh is a principal. We've never tried driving through the night but considering it now.

Just venting after a bizillion ressie calls to get all the dates in for both families, wanting a long WDW adventure and well it just screwed up my plans.

Thanks for letting me whine.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm sorry

It just stinks that you can't rely on when school break will be from year to year, doesn't it? Life would be sooo much easier if you could actually plan your vacations and know everything would be ok.

 

[PolynesianPixie]

What a bummer! Can he take an emergency "personal" day or two? I know our principal takes days from time to time.

I have faith that you'll work it out. But I know it is still nerve wracking!!!

 

[4daubers]

He can't because it's the last day of finals. I guess I really shouldn't be whining because we do get to go and we do have great holidays through out the year...just not what I was planning. Only people who know WDW understand.

 

[chief19spixi]

Sorry to hear the bad news!!

 

[Millermouseketeers]

I feel your pain! We drive from the Dallas area and will leave at 4 a.m. on the 20th since the kids and I do not get out until the 19th. We have to leave on the 3rd also and then drag into school on the 5th! But it will still be an awesome Christmas trip! We have driven at night and it is long and tiring worse than driving most during the day. We drive pretty much straight through. We will probably stop outside of Gainesville for a few hours and then check in early on the 21st! Good luck!

 

[4daubers]

Millermouseketeers -

We've never driven straight through. We usually make it to Tallahassee the first day and then in to WDW the 2nd. We're thinking about either leaving as soon as school is out on the 19th and pushing as far as possible. We're game for the long haul to get us there.

Are you pulling/driving a RV. Do you take IH 20 and drop down to IH10 somewhere? IH10 is slow out of Houston through Beaumont. Last trip we took back roads home...and I do mean back roads.

Do you boondock in Gainsville?

 

[Millermouseketeers]

4daubers we are pulling a pop-up but it is a pretty good size, fleetwood niagara so it is not a small one. We sleep in a security patrolled rest stop in our full size van. That is definitely one of the draw backs of a pop-up not being able to stop and sleep in easily. We sleep for a few hours and then go on in.
Yes, we go 20 to Shreveport and then 49 to Lafayette to 10. The only way we make it straight through is if we leave by 4 am. This past Christmas we left at 4 am. and were in Orlando by 2 am with a very short sleep stop. We won't do that again as the fort would not let us in the overflow lot to sleep so we went shopping at Wal-mart at 3am! Not a good move on our part!

 

[Icale]

I just got back from WDW about 2 weeks ago. We drove down from L.I. New York 1190 miles door to door. About the same distance thus why I'm chiming in. We drove straight through took 18 1/2 hrs on the button and we stopped alot. I have 4 kids( 5,3,2 & 1 yrs of age) so we probably stopped for a total of 2 hours or so along the way for gas and bathroom. It's not that bad . We left at 9:30 pm friday and got to Disney at 4:00pm saturday. Checked in at BCV and were eating dinner over on Disney's boardwalk at 5:00pm .Walked around for a while and called it quits around 8:00 pm to get some rest for the remainder of the trip.

I would suggest to leave at night. No traffic and the kids sleep for most of the drive. I actually wanted to leave around 7:00pm ,wanted to get at least 12hrs in before the sun came up but it didnt happen. Driving through the night does get to you bit, but when the sun comes up you get a second wind and now you know your only about 6 hours away ( if you get a good 12 hrs in over night).

We packed everything under the sun as far as food/drinks for the ride so we didnt have to stop for breakfast or lunch which would have made the trip probably 2 hours longer. Definately if you have kids and don't have a DVD player in the car (Get one!!).I borrowed a 2 screen set up from one of my friends it was the best thing I could have done.

The trip home was the same though we left from West Palm Beach ( drove down there to spend a week with family after a week in WDW.) That added 2 hours to the ride home took 20 1/2 hrs to get home, left at 4:30 pm again on a Friday pulled in the driveway at 1:00 pm. Saturday.The worst part of the drive home was I had 20 hrs to think about going back to work ,that sucks.

hope this might help if you decide to drive straight through.

 

[AlyLynn]

DH and I definitely feel your pain! We are both teachers in the same district, but our children are in a different district. Because of snow days, we've had to change our June trip 2X already. (The kids lost days, we didn't!) We had to cancel our Easter trip because the kids have absolutely no vacation left, and it takes between 19-22 hours for us to get to FW! We are going for the first time this Christmas, but we are taking 2 Personal Days each. I understand Final Exams are causing a problem for the beginning of your trip, but could you take the days to save the end of your trip? Good Luck!