Disney in August...would you go??

[dennisnlisab96]

We are planning our next trip to WDW...we are thinking of going at the end of August (16-26). If you have been to Disney in August would you do it again? How were the crowds? We are planning on doing the parks in the morning and then again after dinner. How bad was the heat and humidity?? We always go in April or Oct/Nov.

Thanks

 

[goofy4tink]

Well, I've been in late Oct, early Nov, mid-Dec and mid-Aug(twice). My favorite time is Nov. August crowds aren't too bad. The parks are open a little later. The time frame you are looking at is when they start to shorten the hours. The heat/humidity are pretty bad. Aug '03 wasn't nearly as bad as this past Aug. But we checked into the CR on 8/13....as did Hurricane Charley. The whole week after that was horrendous as far as humidity goes. Brutal. Would I do it again? Probably. But, I would sure be giving it a lot of thought.

 

[D&R love Disney]

It's hot! For us, we enjoy it. The crowds are down but last August was a terrible start to hurricane season. We lost out on our Labor Day trip. We were at US/IOA 8/19 - 8/22 and it was high 90º's every day and extremely humid.

 

[MrsJ Henry]

I don't think I would ever be able to stand the heat and humidity that time of year. We just got back and we thought Nov was quite warm. Don't get me wrong we loved it and it was so sunny but 80's was about all I could take. Especially when going to Future world in EPCOT where there is no shade to speak of.

 

[RescueRanger]

I would not because of the three H's....HEAT, HUMIDITY, and HURRICANES. I am from Southeast Texas and I'm used to the high temperatures and humidity. It's miserable to me so I can only guess that since you are from the north it could only be worse. The hurricane seasons lately have been very active. I have been at WDW when Hurricane Floyd closed the parks, it was a major headache. This is just my opinion of course. Others may love to travel there during that time, but it is definitely not for me.

 

[Noah122898]

We were there this past August 28th- September 9th and got stuck there for Hurricane Frances. At first I said, never again at that time of year, but when I think about it, the crowds were so small, no waiting for anything. The weather was hot but not unbearable. So I would probably do it again.

 

[Leota]

We went in late Aug 2001. I loved it & would do it again in a heartbeat - Actually, will probably be doing it again this coming Aug -
Yes, it's hot & humid (which I like) But, you are in & out of air conditioning all the time, so it's rare that you are stuck sweltering (except AK, that is pretty tough to bear for very long unless you spend alot of time on Kali)
We also learned ways to deal with the heat & toured accordingly. I am used to going off-season, so I really loved the longer hours.
The crowds thinned out tremendously from the third week into the fourth & ride wait times were minimal. We also got great AP rates on resorts.
I have to say tho, in contrast to my loving it, DH hated it & refuses to do Aug again (hence, the Spring Break trip this year) My son would rather not do Aug, but will go with me because being in WDW is better than not being there, no matter what time of year it is.

 

[steveanddonna]

We always go in fall and winter, but DH insisted on an August trip this year. I expected the worst, but was pleasantly surprised. We were there the first week (3 days before the hurricanes began) and the parks were more crowded than what we're used to, but mostly in the afternoon. We hit the parks early, left around lunch time for some relaxation at our resort, then returned to the parks in the evening, and we used e-ride night at MK to do all the major attractions there. We also did some of the non-park things we never have time for otherwise, like exploring the other resorts, mini-golfing, shopping, etc. I would definitely go again in August, but with the understanding that we wouldn't do the parks commando style.

 

[Miffy2003]

If it's a choice between going in August and not going at all then yes, go!!

We've been twice in August and are booked again for 05. Yes it's hot and yes it's humid but the crowds aren't bad (last two weeks) and the evenings are lovely

The hurricanes are another story, obviously!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

No, we always went in august, but this year we tried april and I asked the 3 ds when they would rather go and they said april, so we are going again this april for their spring break. Last aug. we just had too much rain to put up with and the storms always ruined their swimming time etc. And now with oldest ds being a lifeguard all summer we have pretty much figured august is out of the question now. This trip even dh didnt have the temperature tantrums and middle ds asthma did well too without all that humidity. So we are converted august to april visitors now.

 

[Bratmania]

I personally wouldn't unless only date I could go. It is too hot and too crowded for my family. We never seem to have as much fun when we are hot and hetic. We always go in Nov or April

 

[MichaelH]

The heat and humidity are pretty bad in August. You can survive it if you just take things slow. We went in August and we stayed at the parks till 2:00pm and then went back in the evening. Leaving at 1:00 would have been better. Just be sure to drink plenty of water also.

 

[cmonroe]

dennisnlisab96,

Those were our exact dates for our trip this past August.

- It was hot.. averaged low to mid 90's everyday

- The humidity was bearable if you are from New England

- It was not the worst I've seen, but very crowded

- It rained almost everyday in the afternoon from about 2 til 5.
This actually supplied a good break though...

Having said all of the above:

We've been in August before. I don't know if it is me just getting older, but I'm going to try to avoid going again that time of year. The HHC (heat humidity and crowd ) index was still too high for me.

 

[gigi1313]

Originally posted by Noah122898
We were there this past August 28th- September 9th and got stuck there for Hurricane Frances. At first I said, never again at that time of year, but when I think about it, the crowds were so small, no waiting for anything. The weather was hot but not unbearable. So I would probably do it again.

hey, we were there right along with you... almost the same dates!

would i do august/sept again? absolutely! for us it's the best time of year due to super-low crowds... even hurricane interference did not dampen our disney spirits, we made the best of it and had a great time in spite of it! LOL!

yes, it's hot and humid... but it's no worse than july... imo w/a little careful planning it can be quite enjoyable... disney does everything they can to keep you cool, including air conditioned lines, lots of shade and great shows that you just want to come inside for!

ps's were a cinch to get... lines were non-existent... hotels were at their lowest rate... even rental cars were a bargain!

in the words of the old tv commercial... try it, you'll like it!

 

[Pinboys]

We have gone a couple of times the last week of August and found the crowds not bad at all. Don't kid yourself....it is hot and it is humid with showers popping up somewhere in the land every afternoon. The showers pass and it is pretty steamy. However, we just ducked into the air conditioning when ever we can and kept on going. Still, this is a great time to go.

 

[Rozzie]

Originally posted by gigi1313
hey, we were there right along with you... almost the same dates!

would i do august/sept again? absolutely! for us it's the best time of year due to super-low crowds... even hurricane interference did not dampen our disney spirits, we made the best of it and had a great time in spite of it! LOL!

yes, it's hot and humid... but it's no worse than july... imo w/a little careful planning it can be quite enjoyable... disney does everything they can to keep you cool, including air conditioned lines, lots of shade and great shows that you just want to come inside for!

ps's were a cinch to get... lines were non-existent... hotels were at their lowest rate... even rental cars were a bargain!

in the words of the old tv commercial... try it, you'll like it!

i just spilled my diet coke after reading this, do you mean august has non existent lines? I am deferring my 30th bday trip to nov because i am too chicken to go in august, I've had some horrible august trips, but that was many years ago? hotels low? I thought UOG said this was an "8"???? please elaborate..........!

 

[Greg_NY]

We were there this past August and went through hurricane Frances. Never again! The stress and disruption are simply not worth taking that chance again.

We have been in the last two weeks of August many times and besides the stifling heat and humidity, the parks close earlier and the hotel pools close earlier. We were OK with it knowing that the crowds were slightly less. But after the three hurricanes last year, we will avoid August and perhaps go in July.

 

[Goofy's Muse]

We went the last week of August this past year and would do it again. Yes, it is hot and humid, but there are lots of cool-off options to be found. We were lucky to have squeezed in between hurricanes and actually didn't even experience showers every afternoon, though we did expect them. We thought the crowds were quite reasonable -- didn't even resort to FastPass all that often.

I expected the worst given all the August horror stories I'd heard, but given our circumstances with 3 school-aged kids, I'll do it again next summer!

 

[gigi1313]

Originally posted by Rozzie
i just spilled my diet coke after reading this, do you mean august has non existent lines? I am deferring my 30th bday trip to nov because i am too chicken to go in august, I've had some horrible august trips, but that was many years ago? hotels low? I thought UOG said this was an "8"???? please elaborate..........!

didn't mean to make you spill your diet coke... sorry!

we were there the last few days of august and the first week of september and the crowds were low, low, low, rarely a line (dh tried to calculate, but i think he said in mk for two full days we waited just over one hour in line TOTAL due to other guests, we did not add in time that we waited 'cause we just got to a show as the doors closed, etc)... it could have had something to do w/the hurricanes, but our experience in other years (2001, 1999) at the same time (end aug/beg sept) was exactly the same! we were given our choice of room locations at check in... had $55/night specials at value resorts... got crt for two different dates only a few weeks before... etc...

personally, i'm willing to take the risk of a hurricane (which disney handled VERY WELL) to get the low crowds and cheap rates (did i mention cheap airfare too?!)... we really did not find hurricane frances to be too disruptive at all... we were ready for a relaxing "off" day by the weekend anyway!

 

[djm99]

I've gone every August for the last 3 years. Going back next August 1-14. I like it during that time. Its usually crowded, but not as bad as I've read about Easter Week. Here is a run down over the last few years.

In August 2002 - it was hot, but it rained mid day almost everyday - then it kind of cooled off after the rain. Wonderful trip!!! Lines were 20 minutes on most rides.

In August 2003 - it was exceptionally cool - in the 70's. It was a hurricane near Orlando, but it didn't hit Orlando. This made Orlando very nice. One day - even too cold to swim (for me anyway). I can't remember the exact dates but it was the same week that New York had that black out. I remember because the news made a comment about this possibly being an attack, and Disney might close for the day. While, of course Disney didn't close. No long lines- really!!!!

In August 2004 - The month of hurricanes. Hurricane Charley visited the Orlando 2 days before we were to leave and kind of put a damper on our vacation. NO GAS, NO ELECTRICITY - FOR LOTS OF BUSINESSES, ANIMAL KINGDOM CLOSED, OH AND NO ICE!!!! Need I say more. Prior to Charley it was rather warm and humid. It didn't rain nearly as much as they predicted. In STL the weather people are pretty accurate, but in Orlando, they are way off!!! Only Magic was crowded. All the other parks - besides the water were almost empty - especially Epcot. Animal Kingdom was empty to me too.

August 2005 - praying for some nice, clear, none hurricane weather!!!!!