Crowds in August vs Christmas

[Scutapipig]

I'm looking for the seasoned veterans to offer their suggestions, please.

After reviewing school holidays and value seasons and touring plans, we are trying to decide if the last week of August (Aug 27th thru Sept 1st), or the week just before Christmas (Dec 17- Dec 22) would be best for us. (We currently have ressies for Dec 17-Dec 22 at Pop Century, but are contemplating changing them to August.)

Background: Mom, Dad, two children ages 8 and 10. We mosey thru the parks due to the fact my 10 year old can get quite worked up in the attractions, so we take it slow and easy.

We'll only be making two table service ressies. The rest, counter service.

According to Touring Plans, crowd levels will be identical either week.

We've been in early September so we're familiar with the heat/humidity factor we would encounter in August, and we've been in December, so we've seen the World decked out for Christmas.

Illuminations, Fantasmic, and Wishes are all "no-go's" since it will be too intense for my son, so we plan on being in our rooms relaxing for the evening instead of late nights at the parks.

We hate crowds. We would love to go when the parks are less crowded, but that school thing gets in the way and our children are at the age where we prefer to not pull them from school.

So, with that all taken into consideration, does anyone have further insight or suggestions on which date to choose?

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

Well, let's see. I don't know if I'm a seasoned veteran or not, but I've been twice the beginning of Dec. and once at the tail end of August, though we are going for two weeks this Aug. (19th-Sept 1).

I could be wrong on this, but, I would think that week in Dec. would be a little more busy than the last week in Aug. Although, either one isn't "packed".

This last December we were there from the day before T-day until Dec. 11th. After Thanksgiving, the crowds did clear out a bit, but from what I had read on here(and from our trip before), I thought it was going to be much less crowded. And the crowds keep growing from there until the actual Christmas week. I would think by the 17th-22nd (especially toward the end of that week), the parks would be pretty busy. DEFINATELY doable, though.

Ofcourse, the December weather is great. Maybe not great for swimming everyday and night, but highly enjoyable.

Since you've been either time, it's a hard decision. Unless you want to see WDW at Christmastime again, I think I would let the budget rule. Wouldn't it be cheaper in Aug.?

I wasn't much help, was I?

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

August has less crowds than Christmas for sure. But August is very rainy and can also be very hot and humid. So I guess it just depends on which bothers you more, bad weather or bad crowds. LOL

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

But, the week before Christmas will be much less crowded than the week of Christmas. So if you go the week before that would be my first choice!

 

[Scutapipig]

Oh, you all are doing great! This was exactly the discussion I needed, since we're at that 50/50 split on which month to go.

More opinions, please!

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

But, the week before Christmas will be much less crowded than the week of Christmas. So if you go the week before that would be my first choice!

Right......what was I thinking??!! YOU should go in December! EVERYONE should go ANY month except AUGUST! (shameless attempt to try and have WDW all to myself )

 

[kors]

As school vacations keep getting longer...I would go in August. Up here in Illinois most schools, except Chicago Public Schools, start around Aug. 20th. More schools are starting before Labor Day, so if you can handle the heat...by all means go in August! Just my .02!!! Have fun either way!!

 

[Scutapipig]

That's where we're lucky here in Michigan...sort of. New legislation requires schools to begin the school year after Labor Day, so that means we can vacation when most schools around the country are already in session for the year.

Mom of S,B,BD....no worries! I would be doing the same thing by encouraging others to go when we're not. LOL

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

We went in late August, crowds weren't bad but the weather was really yucky. Hot, sticky, and it rained every day. Not the light rains like they have in the spring, these were dark, miserable, heavy rains with puddles that were deep. It's hurricane season. If you go that time of year definitely invest in some waterproof shoes and a good poncho. Personally, I'd wait until December. The weather is beautiful and since it's the week before Christmas everyone's kids are still in school.

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

We went in late August, crowds weren't bad but the weather was really yucky. Hot, sticky, and it rained every day. Not the light rains like they have in the spring, these were dark, miserable, heavy rains with puddles that were deep. It's hurricane season. If you go that time of year definitely invest in some waterproof shoes and a good poncho. Personally, I'd wait until December. The weather is beautiful and since it's the week before Christmas everyone's kids are still in school.

Oh, yeah, I like the December weather much better. My kids preferred the other times we had gone because they could swim at night after we got back from the parks. This past December my kids couldn't swim because it was too cold. They DID swim the week earlier on Thanksgiving week............it was 80 degrees on T-day!

It's funny, I always hear about the rain in the summer and I've seen it when I was younger for myself. But in 2004, the week we went was right before Hurricane Frances..............I think it rained at night and once when we were in eating somewhere, but other than that, it was beautiful. HOT, but beautiful. I kept wishing it would rain because the humidity level was crazy. (It was the low from the Hurricane)

Even as we were leaving and Orlando was like a ghost town (everything had closed up except for WDW), we were saying, what a beautiful day........you would have never known what was coming. Ofcourse it made for AWESOME touring the day before..........but I wouldn't wish that on Florida again for anything!

 

[vsimeone]

Interesting discussion! We're going BOTH!!! We have an adults only trip planned for our 20th wedding anniversay (we honeymooned at WDW so we're returning ALONE!) and then again with the kids and extended family for Christmas. We've been both time periods before also and I like them both for different reasons. Hubby and I just plan to eat our way through the world and will take some time at the hotel pool during the day but the kids want to GO GO GO so we'll do more of that at Christmas. They are old enough that they understand the crowd deal at Christmas and we have all learned to just enjoy the atmosphere and do what we can!

So, my ultimate vote would be - go BOTH times!!!

*Ok, I didn't really offer much advice here. Just wanted to share my story!