October 2020 vs. January 2020

[DarthVader]

I'm stuck between the horns of a dilemma.

I'm looking at our next trip and I was leaning heavily towards 01/22/2020 through 01/26/2020). Since I'm pulling the kids out of school, we would fly out Wednesday the 22nd (late afternoon) and then fly home Sunday evening. That means only losing 2 days of schooling. Now I'm thinking doing 10/07/20 through 10/11/20 or 10/21/2020 through 10/25/2020. All time frames are Wednesday though Sunday.

Pros for January
Lower cost
Lower crowds (potentially).
The vacation is sooner then later

Cons for January
Weather - cooler then desired for a FLA trip.
Weather - possible winter storms to delay/cancel the flights

Pros for October.
Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party
Epcot food and wine festival
Halloween theming in the parks
More time to save up for the trip

Cons for October
Higher crowds
Higher cost

At face value, it seems we get more bang for our buck with October but I'm liking the idea of January from the perspective of not being incurring crushing crowds. I am nervous about planning a January vacation and then have a snow storm roll up the NH coast and ruin our plans. I know insurance will help recover the costs, but that doesn't negate the impact on our plans.

Any thoughts, or opinions for or against January in comparison to October?

 

[CLEtoWDW]

That’s a tough dilemma. Having been to WDW in January I’ll say this: be prepared for COLD weather. I remember one evening walking back from EPCOT to the BC and wearing a sweatshirt and jeans and still being cold. If I recall correctly the temp that evening was in the high 30s! I’m not sure we would go in January again as our kids enjoy swimming and other water activities and in January that may not be an option.

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

How old are your kids? It’s tougher to pull them out of school the older they get because of so many reasons. We’ve never been to WDW in January but have been in October numerous of times and I love it.

 

[DarthVader]

How old are your kids?

Teenagers

It’s tougher to pull them out of school the older

No argument, we did that a few years ago and my daughter struggled mightily in catching up. We pulled them out for a week, and that was just too much. Its not like us adults who just have to plow through a weeks worth of emails. They lost out on knowledge and the class moved on without them. Granted it was only a week, but it was painful on return.

That's why I think its safer to only miss out two school days. I don't know if its more advantageous to do that near the beginning of the year (Oct) or in the middle (Jan)

January again as our kids enjoy swimming

Yeah, that's another though and good point, which I failed to cover in my OP. Swimming, they do love spending time at the resort and swimming

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

If the kids play any high school sports some coaches get upset more than teachers if you pull the kids out. Some coaches will sit a kid out of a game or games for missing practices.