Considering August--am I crazy?

[Meghatron]

We are considering our first real WDW trip in 2015. There are multiple paths open to us right now in terms of where we would be living/what I would be doing after I finish my master's, but all of them have a hole right in the middle of August that coincides with my son's birthday, is right before my birthday, and the summer after I finish my masters degree. It is the perfect intersection of low rates, lower crowds, and pretty much guaranteed vacation time.

The only thing I'm balking at is the weather. How bad is the heat going to be? I grew up in the south, so I remember how intense the humidity is going to be, but my husband and kids are fully born and bred in SoCal. I also know that a 6 year old and a 3 year old are not going to be the best at putting aside heat complaints in favour of the fun stuff. I would love to go on another DCL cruise but the prices are just stupid now and since this would be a special occasion trip I don't want to wait until last minute for the *GT rates to come out.

I know the plan of attack that consists of park morning-resort afternoon-park evening. We're planning to stay at an Epcot resort. We considered a monorail resort but we'll have a car and being regulars at Disneyland, we're going to spend less time at MK than the average small-child family. When we toured WDW before our last cruise we loved the whole Crescent Lake area, much more than being on the monorail.

Is this a disaster waiting to happen? Does spending the middle of the day at the resort make a huge difference? Will my family hate me at the end of our trip?

 

[dworldlovers]

We've visited WDW during August a couple of times and being from New York State, the heat wasn't all that bad!! We love Beach Club and their pool 'oasis' is a great place to relax any time of day! Having an entrance to EPCOT within walking distance is a very nice perk too!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We did the last week of August in 2011 and our plan for 2015 is the last two weeks of August and staying at BC hopefully.

Yes it's hot but for us it's worth it. The crowds are a bit lower and our kids aren't in school so we can do a long trip.

August is probably when we will keep going until the kids are out of school.

 

[minnie1012]

We are going in August too for the first time. I am worried about the heat but we are going to skip Animal Kingdom and not rush the other parks so we can build in pool breaks. I am hoping it's not going to be super crowded and that will make up for the heat. Although when I checked the crowd level for my week it is a "6". I was hoping for lower.

 

[Disneylover99]

We will be heading to DW for our fifth August trip in a row this year. Yes, it's HOT but easy to pack for. No need to bring pants, jackets or long sleeves of any kind.

 

[monorailsilver]

Love August, the later the better (well I like the 3rd week best).

Like the pp said, no coats are needed, pants, long sleeve shirts. Just pack shirts, tanks, t-shorts and bathing suits!

We did 10 days this past August. I want to go for 11 or 12 if I can but I would t add another park day. We do 5 park days, no park on arrival or departure days and do a max of 2 park days and then we have a pool/relaxing day.

I want another relaxing day from the water park! That pooped me out.

Actually, I would do 10 again.

We do the early entry park, have lunch and go back to our room. The first time I took my dd after she was done with naps at home (she was 4) we went swimming while my almost 2 yo napped. She passed out in Epcot that night in her stroller. So after that there was no mid day pool break, it was nap time in an a/c'd room!

We don't do the dining plan but that is our preference. We bring breakfast to save $$ and time and eat in our room. Dh and I can shower while the kids are waking/eating.

Then like I said, the ee park, have lunch, return for a nap, shower again (we are sweaty) put on clean clothes and then return to the park for closing. Yes my kids all made it til 10 or so and woke the next am for the park but they had a good 2-4 hour nap mid day.

We live in CT and it gets hot and oppressive here so FL is nothing different. There is just a/c everywhere.

My kids get soaked. They are 12, 10 & 7. I took my 7 yo to the bathroom and I came out to my 10 yo dripping wet, then my 12 yo was just as drippy and my 7 yo had to get in the action. They were in their clothes and I was good with that. They do that all the trips they have gone to Disney.

We do our sit downs on our non park days and I limit to 3 max but we normally do 2.

Drink, drink, drink! Finally we had real water (ok it was bottled vs the well we have at home). My kids each had their full size double insulated thermos that they bring to school and dh and I had the soft insulated bike water bottles. Let's just say my kids bottles were great!

I filled them fully with ice at about 7am, slowly added refrigerated water, more ice, etc... We brought more water bottles with us as back up. Mid day, I did t empty them but at 4 or so when I went to fill them up again for the evening hour, there was still ice! They had nice cold water in that hot sunny fl weather. Dh and I are getting them for our next trip!

Anyways, it can be done. I have gone a few different times but when I go to FL I want it to be hot because it is Fl after all. I don't want it to be below 80.

 

[North of Mouse]

We are considering our first real WDW trip in 2015. There are multiple paths open to us right now in terms of where we would be living/what I would be doing after I finish my master's, but all of them have a hole right in the middle of August that coincides with my son's birthday, is right before my birthday, and the summer after I finish my masters degree. It is the perfect intersection of low rates, lower crowds, and pretty much guaranteed vacation time.

The only thing I'm balking at is the weather. How bad is the heat going to be? I grew up in the south, so I remember how intense the humidity is going to be, but my husband and kids are fully born and bred in SoCal. I also know that a 6 year old and a 3 year old are not going to be the best at putting aside heat complaints in favour of the fun stuff. I would love to go on another DCL cruise but the prices are just stupid now and since this would be a special occasion trip I don't want to wait until last minute for the *GT rates to come out.

I know the plan of attack that consists of park morning-resort afternoon-park evening. We're planning to stay at an Epcot resort. We considered a monorail resort but we'll have a car and being regulars at Disneyland, we're going to spend less time at MK than the average small-child family. When we toured WDW before our last cruise we loved the whole Crescent Lake area, much more than being on the monorail.

Is this a disaster waiting to happen? Does spending the middle of the day at the resort make a huge difference? Will my family hate me at the end of our trip?

I am a southern girl and the summer heat and humidity are 'killers'!

But, we have gone in August and have had good trips, but my dh says never again. I know people say go early/take off middle of day/come back late strategy, and that will work. I say, it doesn't really matter - the heat and humidity are so constant that a few degrees either way will not matter much. Expect mid-high 90's with very high humidity!

If that's the only time you can go - I say go for it - but expect some grumbling and whining.

 

[tzolkin]

We decided to try August our last trip.

DH and I grew up in FL, but have lived for 14 years in an area where there is no humidity and it usually only gets up to about 80 in the summer. Honestly, I was really dreading and stressing over the August trip. I thought we were all going to be sweaty and miserable (well, me especially ) but our oldest is in HS and we felt that we really couldn't take her out of school anymore for two week vacations.

It wound up being wonderful.
Yes, it was hot. But it wasn't nearly as bad as I had worked myself up over. (We went to FL the following April for a non-Disney trip and there were times where we were more hot and uncomfortable than we had been in August).

We have been going to Disney since my youngest was under 2 (and needed a long nap), so we have always continued the tradition of the afternoon break to relax and get out of the crowds and heat. When the kids were younger we would go to morning EMH and leave around 11. We would then go to a park from around 5-8 or so. The August trip was really fun since the kids were older because we avoided the heat by staying out at night more. Several evenings we stayed out until well past midnight with evening EMHs.

I know every family is different, but no one in my family has ever complained about returning to the resort for several hours in the afternoon. We all enjoy the break from the parks and it's the major factor for us to stay onsite. If our trips were just a few days, perhaps we would do away with the breaks to maximize our park time, but for a longer trip being in a park for 3-4 hours at a stretch is plenty for us.

 

[arihillfarm]

We've been in Aug. twice before and also July and June. I don't think August was noticeably hotter or more humid than July or June. At some point it's just plain HOT and a few degrees one way or the other isn't that noticeable. The bonus is that WDW is great for keeping queue lines, and many rides and shows shaded, misted or just plain air conditioned which is nice.

-Astrid

 

[Paradise18]

We've been in August a few times and going back in August again this year. I like the heat, but I could do without the humidity. August works well for us because of school and being a good time for vacation requests at work.

 

[mm1971]

We are considering our first real WDW trip in 2015. There are multiple paths open to us right now in terms of where we would be living/what I would be doing after I finish my master's, but all of them have a hole right in the middle of August that coincides with my son's birthday, is right before my birthday, and the summer after I finish my masters degree. It is the perfect intersection of low rates, lower crowds, and pretty much guaranteed vacation time.

The only thing I'm balking at is the weather. How bad is the heat going to be? I grew up in the south, so I remember how intense the humidity is going to be, but my husband and kids are fully born and bred in SoCal. I also know that a 6 year old and a 3 year old are not going to be the best at putting aside heat complaints in favour of the fun stuff. I would love to go on another DCL cruise but the prices are just stupid now and since this would be a special occasion trip I don't want to wait until last minute for the *GT rates to come out.

I know the plan of attack that consists of park morning-resort afternoon-park evening. We're planning to stay at an Epcot resort. We considered a monorail resort but we'll have a car and being regulars at Disneyland, we're going to spend less time at MK than the average small-child family. When we toured WDW before our last cruise we loved the whole Crescent Lake area, much more than being on the monorail.

Is this a disaster waiting to happen? Does spending the middle of the day at the resort make a huge difference? Will my family hate me at the end of our trip?

We started last year with August trips since we stopped pulling the kids from school. It's hot, but not unbearable as some tend to note. All of the rides are air conditioned, stores and restaurants as well. If you need a break, you can take one. We usually spend the mid day at the resort pool and plan morning and nights at the parks to keep form getting too tired/hot. We are going back again this August and the lower crowds are pretty nice.

 

[3PrincessesAndaFrog]

The last two times we went, we went in late August. The weather was hot but we loved it. The lines are shorter late August, and with kids in school its too hard on them to take them out now that they are older.

Most of the lines are in the shade, we drank plenty of water and carried cheap plastic rain coats for the 3 pm rain. We also planned the indoor shows in the afternoon. A lot of the sit down shows didn't have long lines and we could enjoy the air.

 

[Meghatron]

Thank you, everyone. This has all been very helpful. Of course, today I figured out that SWW would start right after I graduate, so I'm thinking of going in May and making it a graduation trip. Alternating between Star Wars and eating my way through Epcot sounds like the perfect way to celebrate, LOL.

Sent from my Tricorder using DISBoards

 

[ajwolfe]

We did WDW in August pre kids and remember it being crazy hot. We are from the Midwest and used to humidity and heat, but with all the people it just seemed to intensify it. Plus seemed like we had a pop shower almost every day. Now that being said maybe when are kids are older and complain less we will try it again, but for now we are sticking to cooler months. lol

 

[Manders77]

August is hot, I used to live in Orlando and avoided WDW in August, actually I hated going outside, unless we had visitors. But after we moved and vacationed down there, when did we go - AUGUST, lol. We are thinking of going in 2015 as well, and I am debating Spring Break (week after Easter) or mid August (kids go back after labor day). My kids are young and I was thinking taking them out of school but they are in the special programs for delays so school is important. DH wants spring break since its cooler but I think the crowds will be extremely heavy. I want August because I think crowds will be manageable, DH hates crowds and heat so he loses with either one. But since both of my kids still nap 6 & 3 we would go back to the hotel mid day for naps and/or pool time. Lots of decisions. But I suggest trying Agust - yes its hot but if go in the morning and take a midday break either in hotel or restaurant to cool down, you should be fine.