Would you take your 6 year old out of school for 7 days

[KirstyJ2025]

Hi all, we really want to do a once in a lifetime holiday to Disney Florida. We plan on booking 11 nights, some of the days go in to a half term break. We do however have to take our little one out of school for 7 days. She’s in year 1. We know we will go over the unauthorised 10 occasions and will be charge £80 per parent, but we will save over £1,500.00. We have been told to ring in sick for a few days to avoid the fine, but I don’t think schools a silly and they will just work it out haha, so we are thinking honestly is the best policy? Would you agree?

Only thing I’m worried about it that if you have any other unauthorised absences within a 3 year period, I believe we can be prosecuted. Tbh, we aren’t planning on doing it again. We also don’t want our school giving us a hard time over it. It’s actually our honeymoon trip too.

just wondering what others have done in this situation.

:-)

Seriously. If you think a 2 year old gets more out of Disney and has better memories than a, say 10 year old, then crack on but it’s clearly not true.

The middle of August is a fantastic time to visit Florida. May half term, October and Easter are the most expensive and often mean kids have to miss out on school. If you shop around and spend the time to do your research there are some brilliant deals.

I’ve had a look at travel republic, sky scanner and Disney website. ATM in Aug it’s still working out £2k more. Maybe I’ve just got good deal. £5,100.00 with TUI package for 11 nights, Disney park pass for up to 14 days, express dining. Trust me, I would prefer not to take her out of school. Aug holidays would be ideal as we would save on childcare too for 2 of the 6 weeks :-)

That’s expensive for outside of the school holidays!

I wouldn’t use a TUI package unless it was an absolute bargain but even putting in 18th August for 2 weeks brings it up £4800 with Disney dining and 14 days park passes. You could get a decent deal cheaper than this by booking separately but it’s a bit soon for the flights IME.

If you would save 2 weeks of childcare surely that’s quite a lot too?

Is that including flights, luggage and transfers too?

We booked BA flights then a disney hotel with the full dining plan with tickets via AttractionTickets.com. Whilst Lightning Lane isn't "cheap" we didn't use it everyday just once for 3 of the parks and didn't stand in a queue all day so in my eyes worth it. August is like walking around under Satan's armpit with huge storms. May was hot but we had no rain for the 1st 8 days then just a couple of short showers. This trip my daughter was also year 1 and she doesn't stop talking about the trip even did a diary after which she took into school with pictures and a write up of what we did each day which I'll treasure forever. My youngest was 2.5yo and she loves looking at the pictures of us there. It can be enjoyed at every age!

Its too soon for the best August prices currently but for a start your Disney Tickets would be cheaper in August in comparison to May. One Skyscanner check will not give you the best prices at all. If i was you as a first time visitor with a wee one i would be going for 14 nights at the end of August returning as late as you can in to September. Its hot and its tiring so give yourselves as long as possible to enjoy it. There is also the benefits of not needing childcare if you travel Aug/Sep. What hotel are you hoping to stay at?

Yes, that’s the TUI price. So probably like for like. But again, wait a while and you’ll get better prices. It’s too soon. If you add the 2 weeks saving on childcare and deduct the couple of hundred fine from May you’re already saving loads and the parks are much nicer in August. It’ll be heaving in May and you’re having to take her out of school whilst still paying more than those who don’t take their kids out but wait until August.

It does come up around the price you’ve mentioned but that doesn’t include the Disney tickets. You have to add them on and they are an additional £1,600 on top. x

Yes you book it separately. You’ll save a lot that way

I didn’t go all the way through to the end but now I have and I’m getting it at just under £5700 with the £300 off code. So deduct the £160 fines and you’re left with about £400 extra which I assume you pay at least that for 2 weeks childcare.

That said, I still would not book with Tui flying into Melbourne and paying the extra to go with their package.

I don’t know your airport and it’s really quite soon to be booking the flights for the best price but I’ve quickly priced up direct virgin flights (adding one large case) for 14 nights to Orlando. Plus 14 day Disney passes and a choice of several hotels with pools and breakfast around Disney with free shuttles to all parks eg Villas at Sheraton Lake Buena Vista. The current price for all of that is £4579. Deduct the £160 fine you’ll save and it’s just over £4400. What does 2 weeks childcare cost you? Deduct that too and you’ve got a longer holiday and your daughter doesn’t have to miss school.

In my opinion, the Sheraton is a much much better option that the Disney all star sports/music etc. It’s like hell on earth eating there.

Well no you won’t save the fine but I mean add it to your previous total to show the difference. Sorry I’m rushing but hopefully you get the picture. You can get some great August deals to Florida. Just keep playing about with it

Thank you very much. This is very helpful x

I wouldn't kids get loads of school holidays. It's not fair on the teacher when your DC falls behind and the teacher has to try to help them to catch up. Your DC is bound to talk about the holiday once they as r back too.

Take him out of school, save the money and the queues will be much shorter. The best times of year to visit IMO are April/May and September/October. I have been 8 times, including a 3 week stay on our honeymoon, and taken the kids twice, and trust me when I say if you’re visiting in August then expect to also pay hundreds extra for fast passes or wait 2 hours queueing for the good rides. Check out a crown calendar to give you an idea on how busy the parks will be and this could give an idea of when spring break etc is, and consider a Disney hotel for the early entry (though be aware there is some chatter about this being discontinued and we’ve always loved having a villa).
As far as I’m aware, it’s £80 for the first extended period, £160 for the second and it’s the third within 3 years where you can be prosecuted… so if you haven’t had any other unauthorised holidays you should be ok? Ask the teachers for the material you will miss whilst you’re off and have an amazing time!!!

PS Sorry just realised your little one is a girl. Read some of the other comments, not all - She absolutely will remember it, and at that age it’s still magical! Check out Crystal Palace, our favourite character dining :)

Thank you for all your comments, they are extremely helpful. I’ve also heard the weather can be really humid, hot and even hurricane season in Aug :-)

You've heard correctly. A hurricane may not appear but it's a guarantee that you'll be dripping with sweat all day and the Disney parks require a lot of walking outdoors. Even so, it's still crowded as pretty much all American children will be on summer vacation until late August.

I'm not going to lecture you on the potential downsides of having your child miss school, either for your family or for the greater good of society. If you're going to do it, consider mid-December. It's some of the best weather in Orlando and the period between 10th Dec and 20th Dec is one of the least crowded in the year as most American children will be in school the first three weeks of December. Also, your child will miss less "academic learning" as the last week of the autumn term in primaries is usually dominated by Christmas activities, e.g., rehearsing for plays or concerts and making artwork to decorate the classroom. The flip side is that your child will miss the fun activities, but Disney is probably adequate compensation.

Why not? Our local high school have a Disneyland trip every year and it’s organised by their maths department for pupils in the S3 and S4 years (equivalent to GCSE years). They have lots of maths based tasks and challenges to do around the parks. Great way to engage the young minds and show the importance of maths in places they may otherwise never consider. (Calculating heights, distances, breadths, speeds, frequencies, footfall, stock, time etc are just a few that come to mind).
When you put your mind to it you can find learning in any holiday.

I’m sure your daughter will love the holiday but speaking from someone who worked as a TA in a school, it’s a bloody pain in the arse for school staff (and the rest of the class to be honest).
They’ll miss a huge chunk of learning and possibly a whole area of English and maths. They’ll have no clue what the teacher is on about and so the TA would need to do 1:1 to try and get the child back up to speed as quickly as possible. That then means that the other 29 children don’t have TA support. I often worked with the lower children who needed a huge amount of adult support, so if the teacher then had to sit with them, the other 20 odd kids went without.
So it does annoy me when people are more worried about a fine, rather than their child’s education. Oh and school staff can’t take term time holidays. We either had to save, or go without!

You knew that when you took the job though. Parents have children knowing it’s possible to take them out if they wish.

Holidays are discounted out of peak travel periods rather than hiked. Lots of businesses have a peak /off peak model.

many tourist places make their entire money for the year during peak summer and close over winter as nobody goes there.

holidays are a luxury item rather than a need. Social media has made us think we need to be doing XYZ

I would do it. But just be aware, I think the firms are now per day, so not just £80 per parent in total

I'm in Scotland so no fines but do they actually do anything the last week before summer? Have you priced up what taking them our early then would be - weather will be variable though.

If you really want her to remember I would wait till she is 8 or 9 personally.

That’s not really a good enough argument. Parents also know that school is compulsory when they decide to have a child. Unless they choose to homeschool of course.