August

[HelloKitty27]

Hi I was wondering if any of you have any advice or tips about going in August? I am limited to going in the school holidays, and have been at easter twice before so am considering August to have a bit of a change. Is there any issues with the flights due to the weather?

Thanks

 

[stkf]

August is hot, hot, hot. You can expect rain as well - but not the cold, miserable kind we get in Scotland.
Never heard of flights having issues due to the weather but you can get some very impressive thunderstorms.
We are also limited to school holidays and always go in July and August.

 

[lpereira]

Hit the park first thing. Leave early afternoon and come back in the evening. Unless it rains then soldier on cause everyone else will leave the parks then.
Btw if you want an advance taste of what it generally feels like take a hot wet towel and put it in the dryer. When its only halfway dried pull it out and wrap the towel completely around your head. Try to breathe. Coastal SC has just about the same summer weather as orlando so it isn't an issue.

 

[OldKeyWelsh]

We went in August for the first time last year and will be going again this August. It was hot, but we were expecting it to be more uncomfortable than it actually was. It rained quite a bit, but only for short bursts and then it soon cleared up.
The weather really wasn't an issue for us and, short of a hurricane, I wouldn't think that any flights would be affected either.

 

[jen_uk]

August is my favourite time of year to go. As others have said it is hot but it is manageable, take water bottles to the park with you and keep filling up from the fountains, you can get iced water for free in the parks as well. Try to go into air conditioned places as much as possible during the day and take plenty of rest breaks. The end of August tends to be quieter than the start as the USA schools have gone back so thats a good time to go

 

[cliveywolves]

August is my favourite time of year to go. As others have said it is hot but it is manageable, take water bottles to the park with you and keep filling up from the fountains, you can get iced water for free in the parks as well. Try to go into air conditioned places as much as possible during the day and take plenty of rest breaks. The end of August tends to be quieter than the start as the USA schools have gone back so thats a good time to go

Yep I'm with you good points made,
Were going last week August/first week September this year and according to many friends who have been then it is a lot quieter than most other summer weeks.

Heat will be an issue its very warm when we normally go June and you get storms/showers on the afternoons then, so August will be new on us, but we did do two weeks in Turkey last August it was above 40* everyday then too.

 

[fairytale]

Were doing August next year for the first time ever.

This year and all previous years we have visited in October. Whilst we were there in Oct 09 they recorded record highs and many of the locals were commenting on it been very similar to August, which wasnt as bad as I had anticipated August to be

I'm really looking forward to trying August and hope that its not going to be as crowded as I fear.

As a previous poster has suggested, we are going from the 12th onwards and hope that the majority of the US visitors have been and gone by then due to the schools re-opening.

The down side is that I understand the parks do close early from mid - August.

 

[MrsSparrow..]

Another August veteran here! All the tips so far have been great. This year we are going the last two weeks of August and I think a lot of American schools this year are back to school by then! So we are expecting it to be even quieter than normal.

Crowds are still heavy but manageable. And yes it is very hot, and usually you get the afternoon thunderstorm around 4pm, we usually go and have an early dinner for this time and aim to miss them!

August is my favourite time of year to go! The only problem I've had with weather was in 2004 with Hurricane Charley. However, it was absolutely fine and everything was up and running by the next day. They are used to these kind of things and I imagine the flight situation wouldn't have been too terrible if there was a backlog of one day.

Good luck with all your planning It's not long to go now

Edit: just read you have been at Easter. In comparison, IMO Easter crowds are MUCH worse! But that isn't to say August crowds are still busy.

 

[loobzuk]

we're going in August for the first time this year due to sticking to the rules and going in school holidays (we've previously gone April or May time). Now the children are older (10 and 7) I'm hoping they will be better able to deal with the heat. I just keep thinking it can't be as wet as it was when we went in May 09 - I'm sure it rained for the whole of our second week there.

Thanks for everyone for your comments on going in August - I've been a bit worried about it so you're taking some of that worry away for me.

 

[HelloKitty27]

Thank you for all the advice. August sounds like a good time to go. I was just worried about the flights being really bumpy due to bad weather as I really hate flying!

 

[starrysky]

The only issue flight wise we had a that time of year was having to fly around some bad weather which added about an hour and a bit onto our flight. The rest of the time it was HOT HOT HOT.

The crowds at that time are low as pps have said and we noticed a big difference from the low crowds in aug to being high in october.

 

[pigby]

We are going in August again - have been about 3 times at that time of year before - off on 20th August - slightly later than usual - we find park crowds fairly light (compared to the times we have been in July). The weather though can be hit and miss - in 2008 we had TS Fay which put a dampner on things - literally (and didnt fare so well the year after when we went in May) - still we are giving August another go - I can cope fine with the heat - not so much with the wet.

Make sure to prebook your TS meals - free dining both for UK and US so even though parks will be manageable, restaurants are often very busy. We are also going to Universal right at the end of our stay and hoping that will really be quiet.