End of August crowds- anyone with experience?

[palmtreelover08]

Hi everyone- my family usually does disney the last two weeks of August. Because we know to get there early and how to use fast passes we were fortunate to not wait in lines longer than twenty minutes. Being new-bies at Universal- what can we expect for wait times -- if we are planning on arriving at opening and staying late? Do you recommend front of the line access passes for the end of August or would I be waiting my money? Thanks for any tips.

 

[Metro West]

Hi everyone- my family usually does disney the last two weeks of August. Because we know to get there early and how to use fast passes we were fortunate to not wait in lines longer than twenty minutes. Being new-bies at Universal- what can we expect for wait times -- if we are planning on arriving at opening and staying late? Do you recommend front of the line access passes for the end of August or would I be waiting my money? Thanks for any tips.

By the end of August the vast majority of summer crowds are gone which will greatly reduce wait times. That said...the parks will still be busy especially Transformers which opens next week. You should wait until you are at the park and see what wait times are like before spending the money on EPs. They are non-refundable and park and date specific.

How much time are you going to spend at Universal? One day? Two?

 

[palmtreelover08]

We are planning on two days- both parks each day. Figuring on starting at a different park each day to hit their headliners early. We are not much for shows and DD is now terrified of tornados due to the recent tragedies- so we will be skipping the storm chasers ride and most of the shows (dd-9). Good idea about waiting to add on the express pass- . Can you ad on the unlimited express the same day or the one time use only express pass?

 

[NC Disney Fan]

I would say the park was a bit less crowded since many school systems do start in August. However, I think many northern schools still begin after Labor Day so you still have crowds. We always wait until the 3rd week of September to go which gives us lower crowds and free dining. By waiting just a couple of weeks, you could do Disney with free dining which is huge.

I have never used this site but others have, maybe it will help.
http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/08-august-2013-crowd-calendar/

This one I have reviewed before and find it helpful.
http://**************.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/2013-Disney-World-Crowd-Calendar-v2-1-13-13.jpg

Hope this helps.

 

[RMulieri]

We are going the 18th ( staying onsite though).Of the 2 crowd calendars I have used, they both still say moderately heavy crowds that week.the following week looks less crowded

 

[glocon]

If you would consider booking one night at an onsite resort, your family of four would have unlimited express passes for two days. Might be cheaper than buying one time use passes for four for two days...

 

[palmtreelover08]

I will check out the one night stay- cost/benefit-
I wouldn't have thought of that- thx! If that doesn't pan out- I guess I will see how the crowds are that day.

 

[glocon]

I hope it works out for you- your family will have a theme park vacation experience they will never forget!

 

[Metro West]

We are planning on two days- both parks each day. Figuring on starting at a different park each day to hit their headliners early. We are not much for shows and DD is now terrified of tornados due to the recent tragedies- so we will be skipping the storm chasers ride and most of the shows (dd-9). Good idea about waiting to add on the express pass- . Can you ad on the unlimited express the same day or the one time use only express pass?

Yes...you can add on the unlimited EP but you can only do that at the park. You can purchase the regular EPs ahead of time if you desire but I really think you'll be OK w/o spending the money.

 

[palmtreelover08]

Thanks for info everyone!

 

[Seeker615]

I went the last week of August and I had no problems. We were offsite and had 3 day park to park tickets.

We usually started at one park and then at some point walked through city walk and went to the other park.

I had no long lines at either park. The longest was for Forbidden Journey but we used the single rider line quite a few times.

 

[pigletto]

We've gone in the end of August 3 times (last week). Crowds aren't bad. We did get Express passes one time but they were a waste pretty much. I felt they were too expensive for what we got out of them. If you are going to pay for Express passes I would just stay onsite one night and get two days of FOL. The ones you buy only give you one ride each on the rides where FOL is unlimited so it works out to be a much better deal IMO