Are we nuts to do WDW in August?

[KKB]

weather too risky? Miserable weather even w/o tropical storms? Huge crowds?

I just found $200 RT airline ticks but I gotta decide by tomorrow!!!

Also, kids are 11, 8 & 6--will 6 year old be too short to ride many rides? He is big for his age, but will be MAD if he cannot ride everything.

We were considering the last week of October 2007 (we have a cruise booked this Oct.) or the third week of January 2008--trying to avoid bad weather, crowds & an unhappy youngest.

What do you all think?
Thanks,
kristin

 

[KTSMOM]

We are going in Aug this year. Never been before this time of year but I hear it's hot and humid. We're going the 3rd wk of Aug and from what I can tell the crowds will be low. So that's a plus.
Your 6 yr old should be plenty tall for most rides. My DD is 5 yrs old and 45" and can ride almost every ride. So that should be no problem for you. I believe allearsnet.com can give you more info on the heigh restrictions for the rides.

 

[jchice2]

My wife and I have been down there a few times in August, it gets hot! I do not remember heavy rainstorms when we were down there beside the 5PM shower that seems to happen everyday for about 20 minutes anyway.

 

[eliza61]

We go the last week in August every year, Yes it is hot. The parks are a little less crowded and the are open longer so it leaves us plenty of time to chill out during the heat of the day. Go for it.

 

[CrazyChik]

Yes it is very hot and humid and there are thunder storms but we had a great time in August and are going back in August.

p.s ask my mum for her planning tips we didn't even notice the crowds when we went and the thunder storms never affected us

 

[beachblanket]

Downsides of mid to late August at WDW:

Heat and humidity and the possibility of regular thundershowers We've done this period twice, the first time it rained like clockwork every day between 3:30 and 4:30, last year, it only rained twice during the course of a 9 day stay that started on 8/16.

Upsides:

After 8/15, resort rates DROP.

Crowds shrink DRAMATICALLY below late June through July levels. If you plan your park touring carefully and make efficient use of fastpass, you wait in line for nothing. Repeat, NOTHING - we walked on to the Tower of Terror at 2pm on Friday afternoon, etc.

Park hours and entertainment schedules are still close to peak season levels. This makes me laugh at people who go on and on about how great October or late January is - when many shows don't happen at all, and park hours are incredibly short.

Guest demographics improve - all the South Ametrican tour groups (the bane of the high season summer periods at WDW) are gone, as well as the massive sunbelt crowd (all their kids are back in school). They are replaced by the minority of northeners who can deal with the heat, and a lot of people from the U.K.

 

[Braque]

Thanks for the summation, beachblanket - we will be there 8-16-8-27 this year! Did we forget the possibility of Hurricanes?

 

[munchkin bunchkin]

No your not nuts ,we're going also 8/27-9/4!We,re used to the heat and humidity just not used to daily rain showers ,but what the heck a little rain never hurt anyone!

 

[onelumiere]

I hate to say this because I do not want to ruin your plans but it is INCREDIBLY HOT in august. I went one time and swore i would never do it again. We go to disney every year and either go feb. or early december. Any time after June 1 it is crowded and HOT. I love disney but it is very hard to stand in a line, that is especially outside, and wait for an hour or more for a ride when it is in the 90's with 100% humidity. The animal kingdom seems even hotter than the other parks for some reason so that could make for a long day. Again, I am sorry to tell you this but I would rather be honest than have you go and be upset.

 

[PoohGal05]

If you're crazy then we are too. We booked our trip for the last week in August. The last two trips we have taken we have always booked them the third week in July and it was hot then. After we booked our trip, I discovered that we had booked our trip right after value season started. I definate bonus. We couldn't get the free dining though, but that's not any bid deal to us.

Last year, there were a lot of South American tour groups in July.

It does rain every afternoon for about 20 minutes, which also didn't stop us. We always had our rain ponchos or umbrellas with us.

 

[byoung]

And you get free dinning in late August.

 

[kimberh]

We went late Aug 2 yrs ago and it really wasn't bad. Flordia is hot and humid but you adapt and we are going back this year. July is when I will never go again. The crowd is unmerciful!

 

[Rella Bella]

We did mid-August in 2004. Landed in between two of the hurricanes. I think that may have cooled it off some. The weather was really nice in the morning and evening. It got hot mid afternoon... we just stayed by the pool. Rain is no problem, never lasts long... just bring your $1.00 poncho and wear your Croc's!
Crowds weren't too bad and although I thought it would be miserable it really was a great vacation!

 

[Disney Crazy Debbie]

We went in mid-August 2004 and we also found the weather hot and humid but the nice thing was that we hardly noticed because we kept moving. Seldomly did we have to wait in long queues and as someone else said, the rates are lower. It must not have been bad because we are going back this year in August (18 - 24 with cruise to follow).

 

[beachblanket]

Thanks for the summation, beachblanket - we will be there 8-16-8-27 this year! Did we forget the possibility of Hurricanes?

If you look at hurricane tracking sites that show history, you quickly realize that the statistical likeihood of a major hurricane affecting the Orlando in any single specific given year is very, very low. Yes, it's been hit once seriously and once mildly by hurricanes in the last few years, and that skews people's common sense - they forget to keep the big picture in focus (e.g., the odds are for you in not getting a hurricane in Orlando).

 

[beachblanket]

I love disney but it is very hard to stand in a line, that is especially outside, and wait for an hour or more for a ride when it is in the 90's with 100% humidity.

With all due respect, anyone who is going in mid to late August and standing in lines for an hour or more anywhere at WDW is simply not doing proper planning.

If one spends time in advance of the trip doing their homework, makes appropriate ARs and uses fastpass intelligently, they will not wait in line for anything during the post 8/15 period in August (beyond the queues in fast pass lines or to wait for the next "batch" to go into a show attraction; both those waits are inherent to any WDW experience). I know this is true, because we've had that experience twice.

 

[tkitty]

From one nut to another, go and enjoy. whats a little heat - your at WDW- how can that be bad!

 

[BillyFeat]

We must be nuts too! We are heading to Disney August 16-23. By the way, our DD, age 6, went on BTM, SM, Soarin' and TT last June.

 

[Jules224]

We bought the water spray bottles with the fans on they are great for cooling you off when it's hot, the only thing that would put me off is the chance of a hurricane, i know it's not high risk but we were out there for one and lost two days of our holiday because of it then another day and a half because i had food poisoning from no electricity and the humidity then dodgy ham and mayonnaise nobody else ate it they said it tasted off but me being me (not fussy with my food) ploughed through mine and there's and yes they were right it was off. We are going jan/feb next year now out of hurricane season, we always save really hard for our holidays and don't want to chance losing more days out there when we could be having lots of fun in wdw instead, if we hadn't been caught in a hurricane i wouldn't think this way because i never have before when we've been.

 

[Thinktinknpixiedust]

We are going Aug 12-24 and can't wait! All the people that complain wont be there and so there will no crowd and more room in our resort pool to hang out in the afternoon!! We went last July and it was crazy crowded... totally looking forward to smaller crowds!