August: last week vs 2nd-to-last week

[Seabean]

Not sure which forum this should go, so I'll try here. If this question has been asked before, please post any links of previous threads.

We usually go for about a week ...I have heard from a few sources that the last week of August is fairly good for diminished crowds, as everyone is either back in school, or getting ready to go back to school.

Unfortunately we are also in "get ready for back to school" mode the last week of August... which leaves us more likely to go the second-to-last week of August.

So how do they compare? Is the second-to-last week of the month of August almost as good as the last week? Or is it dramatically more crowded?

(Thanks in advance.)

 

[Seabean]

Ok my question was too verbose, here's a quicker version..



Are the crowds for the third week of August almost as good as the fourth week?

 

[tzolkin]

No experience with the last week, but we did our first August trip last summer.

We were there the second and third full weeks (13-24th) and it really was not bad. Maybe the third week was slightly less crowded but it really wasn't a noticeable difference. Our other trips have always been at off times (May and late Sept/Oct) so we were expecting it to be significantly more busy. At the height of the day, there were a lot of people, but by that time we wanted to head back to the resort to get out of the heat anyway. This was the first trip we enjoyed several late night EMHs and they were wonderful.

We wanted to go the last week to avoid crowds as much as possible, but I work for a university that started back on the 27th so that wasn't an option for us. With my research I was worried that before that last week was going to be super busy, but with our experience I would not hesitate to do a mid-Aug trip again.

 

[Seabean]

Thanks, that's encouraging. I guess with a lot of schools (particularly Florida) restarting school the last week of August, they're probably using the second-to-last week as their "get ready" week.. which is probably why things start to wind down that week.

 

[pattibehan]

we went the 3rd and 4th weeks of August last year...3rd week was a bit more crowded, but not by much. We did all of our school supply and uniform shopping before we went, just got new shoes after Disney. It made for a relaxing trip to have it all done when we got back less than a week before school started. We are going the same two weeks this year !


Posted from DISboards.com App for Android

 

[aimeeinohio]

Last year we went the 2nd week of August. In 2009, it was the 3rd week. I don't remember much difference. It seems to me that by August most have already taken a vacation, so the parks aren't super packed.
We are going the first week this year, due to the kid's schedules.

It is HOT, though.

 

[Seabean]

Just wanted to bump this...

We eventually went the first week of August and we were almost shocked at crowded it wasn't

We're signed up with touringplans.com/Lines and this was supposed to be a 9/10 crowded time... but it didn't seem like that at all. There were times when it even seemed less crowded than our Feb/Mar trips (and we avoid Prez weekend/spring break)

Even the CM's at the BWI CL were saying that the crowds seemed a little off that week.

What's up? Was anyone else out there who's reading this there the first week of August? Or how about this 2nd week of August?