Mid-July vs. Mid-August Visit

[ashaway12]

Good morning, I am new here so if this is posted in the wrong forum I apologize in advance. I originally booked a WDW vacation for mid August (August 11th to the 17th to be exact) because my wife works in the school system and it seemed that the middle to late part of August crowds start to decline as kids go back to school. I considered July because July is much lighter in terms of my work schedule but decided with August because of the crowds. Recent crowd calendar updates (for what they are worth) have the two time periods closer than I thought they would be though. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the worst the parks we would do in August have the following crowd levels Epcot (6), MK (6), and MK (5) with “Overall” levels on those days being 7,6,6. Looking at July we would be seeing levels of Epcot (2), MK (5), MK (7) with overall levels being 3, 5, 7 on those days. Does anyone have experience with going in July vs August? Am I wrong or is the difference in those levels not much at all? Going in July would be easier logistically

 

[Darklord77]

We have went middle July, late July, and middle of August. I've have not noticed a significant difference in crowds or weather. I don't even look at crowd calendars anymore.

 

[schumacher]

Our family has done both. I don't think the crowd levels will differ significantly. The only real problem is the heat, if that bothers you. August can be really warm.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Having a thought out ‘plan of attack’ is far more important than any crowd level predictions. Use this forum to help you plan FPs and guide you.

 

[beccasmom]

Mid-August always seems less crowded to me because many schools return before Labor Day so that seems to thin things out a bit. We changed our timing a bit last summer and visited the first week in August and it was very crowded (we assumed it was due to Free Dining being offered at that time). Summer is not as crowded as it once was IMHO.

 

[brockash]

Good morning, I am new here so if this is posted in the wrong forum I apologize in advance. I originally booked a WDW vacation for mid August (August 11th to the 17th to be exact) because my wife works in the school system and it seemed that the middle to late part of August crowds start to decline as kids go back to school. I considered July because July is much lighter in terms of my work schedule but decided with August because of the crowds. Recent crowd calendar updates (for what they are worth) have the two time periods closer than I thought they would be though. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the worst the parks we would do in August have the following crowd levels Epcot (6), MK (6), and MK (5) with “Overall” levels on those days being 7,6,6. Looking at July we would be seeing levels of Epcot (2), MK (5), MK (7) with overall levels being 3, 5, 7 on those days. Does anyone have experience with going in July vs August? Am I wrong or is the difference in those levels not much at all? Going in July would be easier logistically

We've done both and actually prefer July because we've had much better luck with weather. It's going to be extremely hot during both but we've always had much less rain in July. Honestly we didnt3notice a difference in crowds. In my opinion to notice a difference you'd really have to go the last week of Aug. and even then summer crowds have never been terrible.

 

[NMF]

My family always goes then. Either one is fine, mid/late August crowds are *relatively* better. Heat is brutal, though. (But honestly, who cares, you're in DISNEY WORLD!!!)

 

[westie55]

The heat is brutal in July as well, but August has a higher number of tropical storms. I would do July especially if it's more convenient for your work schedule. I've done both July & August and noticed no significant differences.

 

[maryj11]

Not much of a difference except August seems to have more thunderstorms roll in for a couple hours or less in the middle of the day.

 

[Kaadk]

Haven't done July, but on our trip the last week of Aug, '17, we wrapped up just before 4 different hurricanes rolled through Florida. Last year Dorian hit right around that same timeframe too. Since July works better for you logistically anyways, I think you'd be better off then to avoid hurricane season.