First week in Aug?

[dmaz]

I was searching for rooms jic my dsis decides to join us on our trip and was surprised to see availability, in almost every single hotel, at every single level. That combined with the fact that there are only 2 nights for fantasmic that week is leading me to believe attendance might be lower.
Is this always the case? We were expecting high crowds. I also had no trouble getting adr's. Is this just wishful thinking on my part?

 

[fla4fun]

A lot of people traveling in August probably booked the second half, when the free dining promotion begins. I remember hearing last year that the week before free dining was not crowded at all, but the first week of free dining was. I'm going 8/4-8/14 and hoping for at least medium size crowds instead of wall to wall people.

 

[mrsswat]

We are going the 5th till the 12th - so that would be just fine for us!

 

[Letsbgoofy]

Also, since FD hasn't started yet many people stay offsite. I'll keep my fingers crossed for low crowds for you - and for us the 3rd week off FD too.

 

[dmaz]

Thank you!
Hopefully coming your way too. 3rd week of fd is when our kids go back to school - NY too. So very few will be pulling their kids out from here.

 

[lovindonald]

We are going the 5th till the 12th - so that would be just fine for us!

Us too!! We will probably see you there. I just made my ADRs 5 days ago and I had no problems at all. Hopefully everyone was waiting for free dining. I was looking for buy 4 get 3 free instead!! We prefer dinners off site at some favorite places. Have a great trip!

 

[dmaz]

Yes 4/3 was $900 cheaper for our family than the FD!

 

[Peanut&Piglet'sMom]

We got in on the 4/3 deal as well. We'll be there Aug. 9th -16th and I'm sooo hoping it's not that crowded. Got ADR's easily too!

Now I'm wondering if I should try and switch from ASMovies to POP. When we first booked POP was booked solid - so they said!

 

[dmaz]

You should try - Values are a better deal on FD than 4/3 so maybe some people switched.
Never hurts to ask, the worst they can tell you is no more rooms on that rate.

 

[CindyandBrice]

We will be there Aug 6-13 on the 4/3 package as well. I am looking forward to light to moderate crowds. We usually go at Easter - busy. I know the weather is the concern for this trip. IF they hot weather is going onnow, maybe we will luck out and have light crowds and tolerable heat.

 

[M2DD's]

I was messing around with the WDW website and also noticed that there were room opening in every category till the 16th when FD starts. I have been waiting for an AP rate the week of August 8th till the 16th and still nothing yet. I'm hoping with all the room avail. They will release them soon
Also I just made a few dining resie yesterday and was able to get all my favorites

 

[dmaz]

Did you think about booking the room only rate? Not as good as the AP but pretty close. Usually the AP rates would be out by now. It is strange though with so much availabiltiy that they wouldn't have released them.
I usually get an AP for our trips but 4/3 was too good to pass up.

 

[kellydizfan]

I hope the crowds are light - we are going from 7/28 to 8/4 then move over to the Nick for 2 nights before heading back home!

 

[ctpooh]

I hope so too.. We are going to be there 8/1 - 8/15 for our honeymoon! It would be nice for crowds to be moderate.

 

[mommykds]

Looking forward to lower crowds since you can pretty much depend on the heat!

We will be there 7/29-8/9.

Last summer we were at wdw for 2 weeks, 2 week before FD & the week FD started. The week of FD was more crowded than the week before.

 

[RachaelRol]

We'll be there from 8/2 to 8/11, CBR, Pirate-Standard for 7 nights and 2 nights at AKL at the end.

We did the 4/3 then used the "savings" for AKL.

Anyway the unofficial gide has this time listed as 6 of 10 for crowds. I had the same experience with ADRs. Missed the 90 day and called around day 85 and got most everything I wanted and also got Wave, Chef Mickey and Ohana last week...

Hoping the crowds stay decent as predicted.