How bad is the end of August?

[MomTo3PrincessesInNJ]

H & I recently purchased a new (to us) RV, so of course I insisted we bring it to Fort Wilderness**ASAP.

We are usually Jersey Week travelers, and we already have a reservation for the Wilderness Lodge in 2015, and this will be our first experience with the Florida heat. I'd be telling a lie if I said I wasn't nervous about the heat. Crowds we can handle, heat? I'm not so sure.*

This will be a very different Disney trip for us. We usually get the dining plan and have lots of sit down meals, but we'll be eating 2 meals a day in the RV. I hope that doesn't ruin the Disney magic for us.

Right now we have a reservation from 8/22-9/5 but we'll cut it down to 1 week once we find out what day the kids go back to school.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

It is hot. Like everything in the camper will be damp 24/7 even with the A/C on hot and humid. Be prepared to take it slow, rest a lot, and drink a lot. The heat/humidity combo can be dangerous even for healthy people if you don't pace yourself.

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

Hello! We LOVE August. We always travel at the end of August. This year it will be August 20-September 2nd. We find that the crowds are better and since we're in Ontario, we don't have to be back for school until after Labor Day. However, we are prepared for the heat.
1- we bring water bottles and drink lots! We drink in lines (for rides, while waiting for Disney transportation, while waiting for park to open ...) Just keep filling those water bottles (plus a Dole Whip to cool us down helps)
2- we arrive at rope drop. We tour all morning and accomplish a lot. Then we return to resort room around 2ish and spend the remainder of day/night at pool, dinner etc or we refresh and return to park around 6ish with FP+ saved for evening rides.
3- take a break around 11ish for lunch or snack... gives us energy to go for a few more hours.
4- FROGG TOGGS We purchased Frogg Toggs for each member of our family several years ago. We bring them every trip. We keep them around our necks and 'dampen' them every couple of hours. It's amazing how it keeps your body temperature down. We keep large ziploc bags in a backpack to put the Frogg Toggs in if we are not using them (but really, we have them around our necks almost all of the time).
As long as you are prepared, you will be fine. Take pool breaks, water breaks, step into a show or store for 10 minutes if you need to ... have fun

 

[ekatiel]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I live in the Houston area, which has temps and humidity very similar to central Florida. So, here's my (not so cheery) input: It will be hot and humid. If you've never experienced Florida in August, go sit in a sauna for a couple of minutes, then imagine that for 12+ hours at WDW. It does not get cold or even cool at night. It will still be hot at night. Does your RV have A/C? If not, then you should definitely NOT even consider an August trip. RV's that have A/C also don't seem to cool adequately for the 95+ degree temps that you will encounter. We have a Pop-Up camper, and the A/C does OK for temps in the 80's. 90's or 100's?! No way. It will be miserable if you are in the hot parks all day and then can't even get cool at night when you come back to your RV. Also, have you priced out the difference in gas prices b/c you get lower mileage pulling the trailer or driving the RV? Sometimes, it's actually cheaper to stay in a hotel than lug an RV across the country. Could you stay in a value resort and get free dining during that time? The cost might even out since the dining will be free, and you would at least be able to get cool in the evenings.

 

[MomTo3PrincessesInNJ]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I live in the Houston area, which has temps and humidity very similar to central Florida. So, here's my (not so cheery) input: It will be hot and humid. If you've never experienced Florida in August, go sit in a sauna for a couple of minutes, then imagine that for 12+ hours at WDW. It does not get cold or even cool at night. It will still be hot at night. Does your RV have A/C? If not, then you should definitely NOT even consider an August trip. RV's that have A/C also don't seem to cool adequately for the 95+ degree temps that you will encounter. We have a Pop-Up camper, and the A/C does OK for temps in the 80's. 90's or 100's?! No way. It will be miserable if you are in the hot parks all day and then can't even get cool at night when you come back to your RV. Also, have you priced out the difference in gas prices b/c you get lower mileage pulling the trailer or driving the RV? Sometimes, it's actually cheaper to stay in a hotel than lug an RV across the country. Could you stay in a value resort and get free dining during that time? The cost might even out since the dining will be free, and you would at least be able to get cool in the evenings.

Thanks fir the dose of reality We have a motorhome, so nothing to tow. It gets 10 miles a gallon (fingers crossed gas stays low!) We plotted the trip on a site that totals gas & tolls round trip and it's still less than half of 5 round trip flights. We don't know how cool it gets, we'll definitely have to check that before we leave because we will have our dog with us and she'll need to be cool while we're in the parks. Leaving her home isn't an option so hotel rooms are out.

 

[anniemae]

Just be very cautious and drink tons of water. It is so very hot and humid. We saw a woman pass out from the heat/dehydration this past Aug. It was unusually hot last Aug and we were told it was not safe to be outside for too long. Bring tons of sunscreen, the sun is brutal, even into the early evening when I thought it would ease up, it did not.

 

[ArwenMarie]

The heat in August in Orlando is really hot. Hotter than the hottest hot. Like walking into a wall of heat. It's nothing like NJ (we live in NJ too). The days also end up being cut short due to the daily storms as well, which often have lightning.

I don't know anything about the RV side of it, but even staying in a hotel, August is not for everyone. I would be a bit worried about leaving a dog in an RV myself...what if the air conditioning broke while you were out touring?

Anyway, just my thoughts, don't want to be negative....as I've said we've had many trips in August and it was just this last trip that made us really re-think summer trips.

 

[autumnpalm]

We were there from August 26-September 2 last year and had a great time. It was definitely hot, but we were able to manage really well with long afternoon breaks at the pool, as many AC stops as possible and planning most of our touring in the early morning and evening. We are from Canada, so definitely not used to the heat and humidity, but with good planning you can still have a great trip! I was really concerned about the heat before we left but realized it was a lot better than I had expected.

 

[Farps]

We did a BB offer last Aug.20-26 and it was very hot. With that said we were still able to have a great trip, we did rope drop hit most headliners early then took our time doing indoor stuff when possible (POTC, HM, Peter Pan etc.). Used our fast passes wisely, drank a lot of water even in the hotel and before we got to the parks, took some afternoon breaks (we do not normally take breaks) and hit it hard after dark. Once again it was hot but when we think back about that trip we always remember the good time that we had...