August.....whats it like/.....

[peanut1967]

we are looking at 2009 Middle August to begining September.

So whats the crowds like?
Whats the Weather like?

Anything else I should consider?

A

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Same time we usually go.

Weather - extremely hot and humid, temps in the mid 90s a lot of the time.
Getting to the parks early is a must as well as planning plenty of rest days too, it's just too hot to spend hours and hours walking around all day.
Taking breaks indoors and drinking plenty of water is essential.
I suppose it depends on how many days you visit the parks and what time you visit, to be honest we just spend a few hours in the morning, I don't mind the heat that much and certainly would prefer it hot than cold, but Julie and Joshua struggle a bit so we need to be careful.

Crowds - generally quieter from the middle of the month as many of the US schools return. However, Disney (in their wisdom) introduced the DDP , Disney Dining Plan (daft dining plan I call it), which has kind of made crowd levels more difficult to predict.
There will be less crowds than say July but not as quiet as it would have been pre-DDP days.
For many people the DDP is great, but Josh isn't a big fan of eating out plus summer being the only time we can go means it's expensive and very hot as I say above.
The fact the crowds were not that bad was a plus point as heat & crowds personally I find hard work, the DDP has kind of put a 'spanner in the works' as whilst it's by no means busy it's definitely busier than it used to be.

 

[Dimplenose]

Some parks are better than others in the heat. We found AK very very humid and just spent a couple of mornings there. Epcot was also unbearable in the middle part of the day due to the vast expanses of concrete reflecting the sun, so we tended to do that in the evening. We did it once after a thunder storm and that was good.

The water park paths get very hot so some sort of aqua shoe is a good idea - and get your family to help with the sun cream before you get dressed in the morning. I managed to miss an area ner my arm the size of a £2 coin and it burned quite badly at Blizzard Beach.

That said we only felt unwell once, on our first trip, when we hadn't been drinking enough. We learnt our lesson that day.

 

[Shazzie B]

We went last week Aug 1st week Sept last year and we got on OK. We didn't find parks too crowded-before we've been May/June time twice, 2 weeks before Easter & 2 weeks before Christmas.

We do plan what parks we are going to, and get there for opening. As the kids get older they can cope with the heat better-I notice yours are teenagers too. We did have a few 'stormy' evenings-where we just stayed at the Hotel, but that was OK as it was early in the hol and we hadn't planned much as still adjusting to time difference, other than that not much rain.

We are going again last 2 weeks of Aug this year.

It might be worth delaying booking until early Sept, if you intend to stay on Disney, as if they offer free dining plan again thats normally when it's on sale.

 

[Lisash]

We've done a couple of August trips and as Johnny says found that crowds do lessen from mid month when the kids go back to school in the States. The weather can be a bit unpredictable. It's worth bearing in mind it is hurricane season so there is always the outside chance you could get caught up in one (we were there for Charley a few years ago - an experience we'll not forget ) It is very hot and humid but as long as you keep topped up with water & sunscreen it's generally not a problem & I'd recommend buying one of the water spray fans. They really help especially if you top them up with ice during the day. Most of the rides have covered queue areas which helps protect from the fierce mid-day heat. You often get afternoon storms with torrential rain (fortunately usually over quite quickly) but having said that last August we did the whole two weeks with not a single drop of rain