Mom0012 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I need something to look forward to and it looks like Disney has had homeschool days in September. Has anyone participated in it? Is it a great deal? When does registration usually take place? There is nothing on the Disney website about September homeschool days right now. Thanks! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 (edited) Our family just attended the homeschool days in January. I received an email from the youth education department stating October will be when it happens again. It is a very good deal. Our tickets were about $600. We did a 4 Day park hopper for all 4 of us. We are within driving distance so we didn't have to fly. We stayed at a Disney value resort and got rooms for $62 a night. That deal may have been because it was January. We use a Disney reward credit card regularly and pay it off each month, so we had enough reward dollars to pay for our room and about half of our food. I would recommend that you contact them and get on their email list. The number for the youth education department is 1-877-939-6884. We were able to purchase our tickets a couple of months in advance, but they weren't available before that. I kept going to this link. Edited February 15, 2011 by mom31257 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Our family just attended the homeschool days in January. I received an email from the youth education department stating October will be when it happens again. It is a very good deal. Our tickets were about $600. We did a 4 Day park hopper for all 4 of us. We are within driving distance so we didn't have to fly. We stayed at a Disney value resort and got rooms for $62 a night. That deal may have been because it was January. We use a Disney reward credit card regularly and pay it off each month, so we had enough reward dollars to pay for our room and about half of our food. I would recommend that you contact them and get on their email list. The number for the youth education department is 1-877-939-6884. We were able to purchase our tickets a couple of months in advance, but they weren't available before that. I kept going to this link. Thanks, Amy, I will call and get on their e-mail list today. October sounds even better to me because it might not be so hot. How was your stay at the value resort? We've never actually stayed at Disney, but I've wondered about the quality of the value resorts. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Thanks, Amy, I will call and get on their e-mail list today. October sounds even better to me because it might not be so hot. How was your stay at the value resort? We've never actually stayed at Disney, but I've wondered about the quality of the value resorts. Lisa I think staying on Disney property is definitely worth it. You get free parking at the parks or you can take the resort buses. I personally think those add a lot of time to the process of getting in the park, so we don't use the buses. You might benefit from using the bus for Magic Kingdom. You have to park and get on a monorail or boat to actually enter that park. When you stay on Disney property, you also get extra Magic hours that non-Disney guests don't have access to. Sometimes those are in the morning and some are in the evening. You just have to show your room key to get on rides during those hours. We had 3 extra hours in the evening at 2 different parks. The lines were shorter during that time. We even got to do Toy Story Mania again. The resort itself isn't a big deal to us, because we don't really do anything there but sleep. We are in the parks the WHOLE time. The rooms are not very big, but the beds are comfortable. There is no microwave, coffee pot, or refrigerator. I think you can pay extra for a refrigerator. The pools are very nice at the value resorts. We asked to be switched to a preferred room and really regretted it. It puts you closer to the pools and restaurant area, but further from the parking lots. The food at the resort is pricey, but good. There is a big variety, too. We only ate one meal there the whole time. For breakfast, we take a hot plate and make oatmeal in the room as well as have some fruit. We do buy a couple of resort mugs to get free refills at the dining area such as coffee, hot chocolate, or soda. If you have any other questions, let me know. We LOVE Disney! We can't wait until we can go WITHOUT the kids! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yucabird Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Amy, how crowded was it during the homeschool days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey Mom Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Thanks, Amy, I will call and get on their e-mail list today. October sounds even better to me because it might not be so hot. How was your stay at the value resort? We've never actually stayed at Disney, but I've wondered about the quality of the value resorts. Lisa It is very hot and humid in October. If you want to come to Florida when it's less hot, then January is the way to go. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Amy, how crowded was it during the homeschool days? Well...considering the entire nation of Brazil was at Hollywood Studios one day :D... Seriously, it was much more crowded than we thought it would be. We arrived on a Friday night, and Saturday was somewhat crowded at Epcot. We went to HS on Sunday and it was very packed. It is the smallest park, which doesn't help, and it was the only day that Fantasmic was showing the whole time we were there. We went to AK and MK on Monday and it was crowded, but tolerable. Tuesday morning we went back to MK and it was GREAT. We were getting on rides and getting right back on. I guess that during the week is better and the weekends are worse. We spoke with a man from Brazil. It was their summer vacation, and he said their economy is doing very well, so it's cheaper to travel here to the US than within their own country. Most were traveling in tour groups, too. I think Disney must be more crowded because of all the deals they offer now. We went to Disney the 2nd week of December about 5 years ago and it was not crowded at all. My best friend went this past December during the same week, and it was packed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yucabird Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Thanks, Amy. I hate crowds, and try to go during off times. We were there in December a couple years ago and I think the longest we waited for any ride was 10 minutes :D. At the time it seemed about half the visitors were British. I was outlet shopping in Orlando about a month ago and was surprised at the number of tourists speaking Russian. Guess the Disney specials attract a serious number of international visitors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 It is very hot and humid in October. If you want to come to Florida when it's less hot, then January is the way to go. :) Hot actually sounds good! The last couple of years we've gone to Disney, it was in February and we had to wear our winter coats it was so cold. Now would January generally be warmer than February? This was the end of February that our last two trips took place. I think it was unseasonably cool, but still. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 We have gone for HS days. We got the 5 day hoppers with 4 vouchers to the water parks or Disney Quest for around $730. We stayed off-property for $199 for 7 nights at a 2 bedroom condo. We used easywdw.com for crowd calendars and hints/tips. We were/are usually able to avoid large crowds by looking at the crowd calendar.....which will help you figure out when certain parks will be busiest due to extra magic hours, special shows and events certain days, etc..... We prefer January because of the weather....September can be brutally hot! Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Our family just attended the homeschool days in January. We were there, too! Did you attend the Big Cats presentation at AK Monday morning? (sorry to hijack :D) Were you there for the tornado warnings?! It was much more crowded this year in January than last year at the end of February. Our Hollywood Studios day was Thursday and I think we were there a max of 2 hours. We left, hung out at the condo, went to dinner, and came back for Fantasmic. Thankfully, it appeared all of the BTGs (Brazilian Tour Groups) went to the 6:30 Fantasmic show. It was impossible to move if you got swept up in a swell of 2 or 3 BTGs :001_smile:. I held extra tight to my kids' hands for fear they'd be lost in a sea of giggling teen girls! To the OP, Homeschool Days is a fantastic deal for tickets. We paid less than $600 for 5 day, one park/day passes. It's about half the price of regular tickets. We stayed off-site in a condo at Windsor Hills and ate most of our meals there. It really makes Disney affordable. The weather in January was perfect for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Well...considering the entire nation of Brazil was at Hollywood Studios one day :D... Seriously, it was much more crowded than we thought it would be. We arrived on a Friday night, and Saturday was somewhat crowded at Epcot. We went to HS on Sunday and it was very packed. It is the smallest park, which doesn't help, and it was the only day that Fantasmic was showing the whole time we were there. We went to AK and MK on Monday and it was crowded, but tolerable. Tuesday morning we went back to MK and it was GREAT. We were getting on rides and getting right back on. I guess that during the week is better and the weekends are worse. We spoke with a man from Brazil. It was their summer vacation, and he said their economy is doing very well, so it's cheaper to travel here to the US than within their own country. Most were traveling in tour groups, too. I think Disney must be more crowded because of all the deals they offer now. We went to Disney the 2nd week of December about 5 years ago and it was not crowded at all. My best friend went this past December during the same week, and it was packed. YES! I agree. We were there the last wk. of Jan. and we've always gone that wk. (we go every single yr.) Never again. Never. Hoardes of tour groups with fast passes getting in line in front of those of us just waiting in the stand by line made for a miserable wk. One morning, Pirates of the Caribbean had a 45 minute wait. We have never, ever waited for that ride. We heard more Spanish that wk. than English. We will never again go in Jan. Early Nov. is nice, and most importantly... NO TOUR GROUPS WITH FLAGS ON STICKS! We don't expect Disney to be empty. Disney does a remarkable marketing job, but we'd at least like a fighting chance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamedesignmom Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Have you ever heard of the Ultimate Field Trip? We were going to do this in 2009 before dh lost his job. It's a national get together of sorts for homeschoolers at Disney World, which takes place for one week every September. It is sponsored by 3D Travel Company, which is run by homeschoolers and exclusively works with Disney vacations. What's great is the packages are extremely reasonable, and you get the FREE dining plan with your package...PLUS all kinds of extra activities and goodies during the week. The only downside is that it is only for one week. Visit www.theultimatefieldtrip.com for more information. Have fun! ______________________ GameDesignMom married to Game Programmer Dad Playtester 1 dd 7- S.F. Math, ACHOTW history, mix of lang. arts curr. Playtester 2 ds 6- Aspie, ps kinder coming home in two months Future playtester ds 3- enjoying planes trains and automobiles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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