July Crowds

[ktkerber]

We have been to WDW many times but have never been to the water parks. We have a trip planned in July, right now we are planning to be there July 4th week.

We are normally November/December visitors so we are not as familiar with summer crowds. College schedule has forced us into the summer now so we are trying to make the best of it. Based on Touring Plans predictions, it seems there really is no slow time in the summer that fits our daughter's college schedule. However based on Touring Plans historical info, it looks like July 3-4 are crazy, but there is a significant drop off in crowds after the July 4 holiday. Touring Plans seems to be predicting high crowds. Kenny the Pirate is predicting insane crowds the whole week with no drop off after the holiday.

We did get a free dining bounce back for this trip. So that leads me to believe Disney is not expecting high crowds or they wouldn't have offered the free dining bounce back then.

Just wondering if there are some July veterans who have an opinion?


Thanks,

 

[Klayfish]

I don't follow the crowd calendars, I think they're silly...at best. But we are many, many time veterans of July. Sure, 4th of July week is somewhat busy, but that's to be expected. The only truly crazy crowd is 4th of July itself in MK. Beyond that, it's frankly a good bit less than Nov and Dec, especially during Christmas season. We normally get 6-8 FP+ on a typical summer day, in only 5 or 6 hours of being in the parks.

It's hot, and humid. But just be ready for it. I don't subscribe to the theory that midday breaks are "necessary". Nothing wrong if you want to do them, but not necessary. Just use common sense, and do rides in a/c during the hottest parts of the day...plenty to chose from.

July is very popular for the "15s", the South American tour groups. They're a bit of a pain, but you can learn to deal with them. Just imagine groups of 40, 50+ girls all 15 years old touring the park together and you get the idea.

Water parks are fantastic, awesome, phenomenal. We go to each one 2 or 3 times during a summer trip.

We LOVE summer in WDW.

 

[wdw&sonny]

All summer is crowded. July 4th week is the peak with crowds similar to Christmas/New Year's week.
July is HOT!!!
If you are not used to the Florida summer weather, you will need a mid-day break. It will be in the 90s with high humidity.
Go the the water parks early and you can get it done by mid afternoon.

With that said, we love/prefer summer. I would much rather a 95' day than a 65' day. We follow the big three commandments: Rope drop, make ADRs and FPs.

 

[Klayfish]

All summer is crowded. July 4th week is the peak with crowds similar to Christmas/New Year's week.
July is HOT!!!
If you are not used to the Florida summer weather, you will need a mid-day break. It will be in the 90s with high humidity.
Go the the water parks early and you can get it done by mid afternoon.

With that said, we love/prefer summer. I would much rather a 95' day than a 65' day. We follow the big three commandments: Rope drop, make ADRs and FPs.

I have to respectfully disagree with a few points. We've done Christmas/New Years week twice, including just last week. The 4th of July crowds aren't even close to Christmas...only exception being MK on 4th of July itself. In my opinion, they're significantly less. I saw crowds last week (and in my prior Xmas week) that we never, ever see during 4th of July. Getting extra FP+ was much harder last week than any time in July.

Nothing wrong with rope drop if you want to do it, so don't misunderstand me. But it's not necessary at all. We never do it...usually don't even show up at the parks until 9:30 or 10:00am, and we get tons done. Again, rope drop isn't wrong, but not a must.

Totally agree on the FP+, that's how we get so much done without rope drop. Never wait in a line more than 20 minutes, always use FP+.

Totally agree it's hot. Very hot. Many different ways to beat the heat.

And like you, we LOVE summer...couldn't agree more that we'd rather a 95 degree day than a 65 degree day. We had a few of those 65 degree days last week, some were even chillier...I do not enjoy a cold Disney anywhere near as much as a hot Disney!

 

[hakepb]

If you are a sucker for special fireworks, then July 4th is definitely worth it.
The 3rd and 4th at MK will be crazy. (Same July 4th fireworks)

July has usual thunderstorms in the afternoon ... which can mean outdoor ride and pool closures for a few hours if there is lightning within a few miles of a park or resort.

The waterparks are a lot of fun.

July 4th week had been unusually low crowds the past 2 years ...like lower than old October wait times.
Part of this is the tiered ticket peak pricing, seasonal tickets for locals (both discouraging July 4th) and fewer International tourists (Brazil’s economy had been down)

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I was there July 4th week this year. I will very much second @Klayfish’s comments above. Well said on all accounts, from my perspective.

I did a few trips in 2017 during a variety of busy and slow times. I rank July as just about our favorite, all things considered. It was also pretty much our cheapest from a resort rate perspective.

 

[mousestruck]

We found ourselves in the same situation when my son went to college a few years ago. After annual trips in November, we suddenly had to go in the summer. We went twice in July - once the week of July 4th due to a dance event for my daughter.

Surprisingly, we have found the crowds to be very manageable. In fact, we returned first week in November last year and thought the crowds were far worse than July - even week of July 4th! We avoided the parks on July 4th and enjoyed the day at our resort, which was great. We watched the fireworks from the Polynesian - and they were spectacular!

Big difference for us is the heat. In July, it is very hot and humid with lots of showers, so you have to be prepared. We found that a mid-day Break was very helpful. We’d tour in the morning and return after lunch for pool/rest time, then headed back out dinner time.

We’ll be back for July 4th week in 2018!

 

[ktkerber]

Thanks for all the info!! We were just there last month the week before Christmas (Dec 15-Dec 21). The crowds that week were awful compared to our prior trips. We will normally go when the free dining promotion is so in most recent years that is either the week before Thanksgiving or the week before Christmas. We had trouble getting FP and there were days that we could not get FP for anything decent once we had used our original 3. We found that we had to be on MDE and keep refreshing hoping for something to be dropped so we could pick it up. Some days it worked and sometimes it didn't. We also found that we really could only ride everything one time where as on past trips we rode everything a few times.

So, thank you, I was worried that the next trip would be a repeat of the last. Your comments were more positive than I was expecting.