July crowds this season

[SarahC97]

Disney just released a free dining offer for arrivals from May 28 through August 21.

Yes, the crowds will be lighter than normal this July.

Are you talking about the one quick service meal per night?

I, too, am hopeful this means that crowds are going to be like they were the past couple of summers.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Are you talking about the one quick service meal per night?

I, too, am hopeful this means that crowds are going to be like they were the past couple of summers.

I bet it will be. Disney Visa holders got regular free dining offers this AM for 8/1-8/21. Flexible people may go for that instead of the lesser June & July option.

 

[SarahC97]

I bet it will be. Disney Visa holders got regular free dining offers this AM for 8/1-8/21. Flexible people may go for that instead of the lesser June & July option.

I can't find a link to that Visa offer -- I have one. Do you happen to know where to find it?

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I can't find a link to that Visa offer -- I have one. Do you happen to know where to find it?

I don’t have a direct link. I saw it on Disney Food Blog

 

[Penmac]

We have gone the past four years in a row- once in mid-May, twice in early July and once in late August. We even went to Magic Kingdom on July 4th in 2016. It was very crowded that day, but we were still able to ride everything we wanted utilizing FP & rope-dropping Mine Train. We didn’t stay for fireworks, (did 8am-7pm). I am sure the crowds during fireworks were really intense.

Our second most crowded park day was during our May trip, in Epcot during flower and garden. It was a zoo the day we were there. We ended up leaving early and missed a lot of the park that day. It probably didn’t help that is was 100 degrees out that day, too.

Aside from those two days, I haven’t observed any difference in crowds during those 4 separate trips and felt like each park was totally manageable. It always seems overly crowded in the walkways to me, but we are able to do all of the rides we want with wait times under 30 min, while using FP & also rope drop for the big ticket rides.

I think the summer gets a bad reputation for being a really crowded season at Walt Disney World. But, I follow some WDW Facebook pages and also frequent these boards. From what I have read about different spring break or holiday trips, I do feel like the summer is probably bringing in a lighter crowd. I can’t speak about random weeks in January etc. since I haven’t been during the winter, but with all the long weekends, half-marathons and events planned during down time, I think we would all be hard-pressed to find a slow season.

We also do most of our vacations in the summer because I coach a competitive dance team that runs the full school year. It’s just easier to take big family vacations when everyone is out of school and on a break from extracurricular activities.

We are going again this August. One thing I found with our summer trips is that I enjoy going in August more than early July. Champagne problem, but on our July trips I spend the remainder of the summer going through Disney withdrawal and missing my favorite vacation spot. So do my kids! The year we went in August was perfect because we had the entire summer to look forward to the trip and then as soon as it was over we were all back into the school year routine and everyone was too busy to miss Disney. Well, at least not too much.