Looking at 2nd-3rd week in August, is it as bad...**decision made, page 5 #81**

[Dan Murphy]

...as I think it is? Heat? Humidity? Crowds?

All my many trips have either been in the spring, late April/early May, or after Thanksgiving, late November/early December. Either times, great weather, nominal crowds, relatively speaking. I've taken 2 recent spring trips with my daughter and her 2 boys, 2 of my grandkids. But now they are getting older and don't think taking them out of school is a good idea.

All I know from reading here the past 18 years regarding summer is heat, humidity, crowds. Weather would be better at spring break, Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas, but crowds even worse. And airfares at those times are horrendous.

Thoughts from anybody? Tips?

Thanks much.

 

[beccasmom]

It will be very hot and humid for sure. The deeper into August the lower the crowds as schools across the country return to session. The crowds are hardly non-existent, but nothing like early summer. Take note though that park hours shorten as well.

 

[randumb0]

You will be there around the hottest time of year

 

[holden]

Crowds will be lower but the heat and humidity are unbearable to me. We've gone at the end of August a few times and after the last trip I decided we wouldn't go in August again.

 

[Dan Murphy]

It will be very hot and humid for sure.

You will be there around the hottest time of year

the heat and humidity are unbearable to me.

So far does not sound nice.

 

[Accident]

It's going to be crowded like any other week you might pick. It's going to be really hot and humid on top of that. It's a time of year I really spend very early and very late in the parks and in the middle is table serivces and places with a/c and ways to cool off without standing in a huge queue to do it and naps..

Crowds are relative.. If you've only been to WDW when school holiday's happen, it's going to be similar. If you've gone during xmas, nye, eastern or thanksgiving, it'll be lower. If your used to what it was 10-15 years ago, it's going to be much more crowded than you remember.... If you've never been, it'll be like shopping at the mall for holiday gifts..

 

[anniemae]

It is unbelievably hot. It is surface of the sun, relentless heat. It rains just about every day and it is hurricane season. If you go, you must be diligent about drinking water constantly. We saw people pass out from heat/dehydration. You will sweat and everyone smells, and I mean everyone.

 

[Disneylover99]

We love our August trips! This will be our eighth year in a row. Yes, it's hot and humid and rainy mid day most of the time, but we don't find crowds bad at all mid August. We go for over two weeks from the middle of August til the end. Crowds do get lighter towards the end of August, but parks and pools stay open to a decently late hour. Go to the parks early in the morning and early evening. Enjoy!

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

I've been twice in August, including once when temps went over 100. Obviously it is necessary to drink lots and lots of water. But the heat did not bother us much.We walked the usual 12,000+ steps a day.

 

[caliope]

We are going in August for the first time this summer. I am not a fan of heat or humidity but we are willing to give it a try. We have APs this year and got decent rates on resorts plus flights. So, we decided, why not? We know it'll be miserable but we are early morning park people, afternoon resters, and we have been enough to not need to over do it. It can't be worse than our east coast MLB trip a few years ago when daily temps were 100+ with 100% humidity in NYC, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. At least we will be at Disney rather than sitting in a sweltering ballpark!

 

[Dan Murphy]

We've never done a water park? Any preference and/or tips at that time of the year for a water park visit?

 

[kbmartin]

Since you are asking, it is probably worse than you think it is. Imagine walking on the surface of the sun from the moment you wake up for rope drop until 11 pm - 12 am. August is doable, but you need a serious plan to make it work. I'm a teacher, so I don't have a lot of convenient times to go, either. I get it. My DH and I have been doing August the past three years, and we know how to make it work pretty well now.

Go as late as you can in August - the crowds get lower and lower the further into the month you are. We've done it in the past that we come back home the night before I go back for teacher work days/orientation. It's always very depressing to go back.

Wear light clothing - athletic gear is great. Make sure to have cooling towels and wet them constantly. You can see one on my DH's shirt in my picture. Mine blended in a little more - it's more like a "necklace." Bring a refillable water bottle and fill it with ice before you set out for the day. It won't take long for it to melt. Get more ice and water constantly from kiosks. You need to drink water constantly or you WILL get sick. I've gotten heat sick twice on our trips, and it was miserable.

I see you're in the Chicago area, too. Certainly, there are hot days in our area, but it's NOTHING like what you'll experience. Walking several miles during the heat of the day during the days leading up to your trip might help to acclimate you, though.

Afternoon breaks are incredibly important. You won't be able to stay out all day - noooo way. Wake up early for rope drop, get in some attractions, and move on. Take a nap in the AC or go to the pool at your resort, and come back later. Since you're a veteran, you've probably seen just about all of the parks at this point, which is good because you probably won't get to do everything. We've taken breaks in hotel lobbies when we didn't want to go all the way back to our resort. (The Swan/Dolphin lobby was so nice in between mini-golf and HS...)

Try to stagger outdoor queues with indoor queues. Make Fastpass choices based on the attractions with long outdoor lines so that you don't have to deal with them. For example, in MK: Splash Mountain, BTMR, Seven Dwarfs. It's tempting to do Space Mountain, but trust me, you will be so thankful for the A/C...

I know this probably sounds dramatic, but I'm just trying to be real about what it's going to be like. My first time in August, I didn't realize how bad it was going to be and learned a LOT. We're August veterans now, so trust me when I say you can do it, but have a GOOD plan that is based on getting breaks in the A/C. Don't be disappointed if you or someone you know needs to call it quits for a while because they're drained due to the weather.

I'm happy to give more advice about August if you have more questions!

 

[Disneylover99]

We've never done a water park? Any preference and/or tips at that time of the year for a water park visit?

We did the waterparks last year for the first time. No preference, but our timing was bad. We didn't arrive til almost noon and we stayed til park closing. Both parks were understandably packed. We're going to try to hit the waterparks at opening this August to see if we enjoy it more than last year.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Since you are asking,..........I'm happy to give more advice about August if you have more questions!

Thanks for helpful details, kb, very helpful.

We did the waterparks last year for the first time. No preference, but our timing was bad. We didn't arrive til almost noon and we stayed til park closing. Both parks were understandably packed. We're going to try to hit the waterparks at opening this August to see if we enjoy it more than last year.

Thanks, 99, for the water parks info.



Sure sounds hot and uncomfortable!!

 

[Arden01]

Since you are asking, it is probably worse than you think it is. Imagine walking on the surface of the sun from the moment you wake up for rope drop until 11 pm - 12 am. August is doable, but you need a serious plan to make it work. I'm a teacher, so I don't have a lot of convenient times to go, either. I get it. My DH and I have been doing August the past three years, and we know how to make it work pretty well now.

Go as late as you can in August - the crowds get lower and lower the further into the month you are. We've done it in the past that we come back home the night before I go back for teacher work days/orientation. It's always very depressing to go back.

Wear light clothing - athletic gear is great. Make sure to have cooling towels and wet them constantly. You can see one on my DH's shirt in my picture. Mine blended in a little more - it's more like a "necklace." Bring a refillable water bottle and fill it with ice before you set out for the day. It won't take long for it to melt. Get more ice and water constantly from kiosks. You need to drink water constantly or you WILL get sick. I've gotten heat sick twice on our trips, and it was miserable.

I see you're in the Chicago area, too. Certainly, there are hot days in our area, but it's NOTHING like what you'll experience. Walking several miles during the heat of the day during the days leading up to your trip might help to acclimate you, though.

Afternoon breaks are incredibly important. You won't be able to stay out all day - noooo way. Wake up early for rope drop, get in some attractions, and move on. Take a nap in the AC or go to the pool at your resort, and come back later. Since you're a veteran, you've probably seen just about all of the parks at this point, which is good because you probably won't get to do everything. We've taken breaks in hotel lobbies when we didn't want to go all the way back to our resort. (The Swan/Dolphin lobby was so nice in between mini-golf and HS...)

Try to stagger outdoor queues with indoor queues. Make Fastpass choices based on the attractions with long outdoor lines so that you don't have to deal with them. For example, in MK: Splash Mountain, BTMR, Seven Dwarfs. It's tempting to do Space Mountain, but trust me, you will be so thankful for the A/C...

I know this probably sounds dramatic, but I'm just trying to be real about what it's going to be like. My first time in August, I didn't realize how bad it was going to be and learned a LOT. We're August veterans now, so trust me when I say you can do it, but have a GOOD plan that is based on getting breaks in the A/C. Don't be disappointed if you or someone you know needs to call it quits for a while because they're drained due to the weather.

I'm happy to give more advice about August if you have more questions!

We've been twice in August and are going again this summer. I agree with everything said here. Drink more water than you think you need and take breaks during heat of day.

 

[davale4]

We have gone in March, April, May, June, July....August is our favorite month. We don't mind the heat or humidity and we are from the north. It all depends on your tolerance. We do take a mid break and go to the pool or eat at a place with air conditioning and return back to the parks. We have been going on the last two weeks of August for the past 8 years and we love the crowd levels.

 

[Tomh]

...as I think it is? Heat? Humidity? Crowds?

All my many trips have either been in the spring, late April/early May, or after Thanksgiving, late November/early December. Either times, great weather, nominal crowds, relatively speaking. I've taken 2 recent spring trips with my daughter and her 2 boys, 2 of my grandkids. But now they are getting older and don't think taking them out of school is a good idea.

All I know from reading here the past 18 years regarding summer is heat, humidity, crowds. Weather would be better at spring break, Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas, but crowds even worse. And airfares at those times are horrendous.

Thoughts from anybody? Tips?

Thanks much.

HOT, yup check, Humid . . . check, Significant possibility of a strong storm every afternoon . . . check, and it'll be crowded too. Now that we have that out of the way, the farther you go into August, the easier the crowds become to manage.

The heat and humidity are pretty bad, but they are manageable. Mid to late August is actually the time I visit every summer. I find it to have a fantastic balance of manageable crowds, and long park hours, which allows us to get a lot done.

 

[Minnesota!]

August is our favorite time to go.

The heat is HOT, the humidity is THICK, but a quick dip into a store or attraction with a/c, or a bathroom for a wet paper towel...it's all good. Just keep the water flowing, bring sunglasses, sunscreen, and extra deodorant

 

[LuvDaisy&Minnie]

Where do you live? I'm from Mississippi and was expecting it to be much worse than it was. It was hot, but it was more hot/humid at home. Not my number one choice as a time to go, but I would not hesitate to go if it was the only time I could. If you aren't used to heat/humidity, it may be completely miserable for you. We did take midday breaks which is not something we usually do.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We've gone the last week of August twice now and I plan to go again. It's hot but definitely doable. We do RD, midday pool breaks and PM park with FP+. We always have a fantastic time. There are tons of rides and attractions to take a break from the heat. And the crowds are lower!

We come from NJ so by the end of August we are used to the summer heat so it's not a complete shock on the system.