Mid-summer WDW trip(?)

[jmako]

I’m wondering how many souls have braved the heat & humidity of WDW in the summer so as to avoid the crowds during other times of the year? Dare I say it, I’m tempted. We try to visit every other year. Our usually M.O. is to head down sometime between the last week of Oct and the 2nd week of Nov. This is usually to take advantage of the kids school calendar (1-early release day, 1–teacher prof dev day & 1 holiday – Veterans) & to also hit the Food & Wine Festival. Our next trip window is Fall 2020, my daughter wants to run the Fall Fest 5k. I should note, we live in the north east so this is also a decent time to get away weather wise. But the crowds. The Fall crowds used to be tolerable, even including Jersey week! Last Aug we spent 2 weeks in UT & AZ visiting the National Parks. Amazing trip, and yes, hot. It was doable because we had a plan; up really early, breakfast on the go, hit the parks early and get off the trails before the heat of the day. Then hit the pools & have downtime before dinner followed by a late afternoon hike/exploring. This has me thinking, can I apply the same strategy to WDW during the summer? I’m certain folks have tried this before, I’m just curious to hear they’re story. What worked, what didn’t? Pros/cons. Financially I think it’s better to try and visit during the summer. I’m just trying to make my decision prior to the 2020 dates being released. Any feedback welcome. Thx, John!

 

[AllieBoo]

We always go in June, and we apply the same strategy you mentioned. We hit the parks early, take a long lunch/swim break and then return to the parks in the evening. It's worked great for us. The parks are usually open later in the summer, so we can take a long midday break without worrying about missing too much park time. I should mention we are from the South, so we are used to the heat.

 

[cbeeindisney]

We always go in the summer since I'm a teacher. Usually mid-late July and we've gone several times early-mid August. Like previous poster, there are a lot of perks- like the parks staying open later. We have taken breaks and we haven't, but if we had kids with us a break, would be a must- I would recommend to definitely plan for one, especially with a family. Go back, swim, shower, change and spend the rest of the long night out to dinner and in a park. Dress very cool- drink lots of water- cooling bands, hats, suntan lotion.

I'm from NJ and my husband and I always say that it's really hot during that time, but it's also hot and muggy in NJ and we'd much rather be in Disney sweating than back home. I'm not going to lie though, we have a few days where it was so hot, we cancelled the rest of the day and swam but that didn't happen often. It's definitely doable and I feel like the likelihood of heat scares some people away, because the last few times we've been, the crowds weren't too bad! Just for reference, we are planning to go back next July- so it hasn't scared us away yet!

 

[tinkerhon]

We always go in the summer since I'm a teacher. Usually mid-late July and we've gone several times early-mid August. Like previous poster, there are a lot of perks- like the parks staying open later. We have taken breaks and we haven't, but if we had kids with us a break, would be a must- I would recommend to definitely plan for one, especially with a family. Go back, swim, shower, change and spend the rest of the long night out to dinner and in a park. Dress very cool- drink lots of water- cooling bands, hats, suntan lotion.

I'm from NJ and my husband and I always say that it's really hot during that time, but it's also hot and muggy in NJ and we'd much rather be in Disney sweating than back home. I'm not going to lie though, we have a few days where it was so hot, we cancelled the rest of the day and swam but that didn't happen often. It's definitely doable and I feel like the likelihood of heat scares some people away, because the last few times we've been, the crowds weren't too bad! Just for reference, we are planning to go back next July- so it hasn't scared us away yet!

Same here ! We are from NYC and always go to wdw in July - it's no worse than NYC in the summer !

 

[jmako]

Thanks!
I guess another perk travelling in the Fall is, getting away from the cold to someplace warm. But if the crowds are smaller and the rates cheaper during the summer, I might give it a go!

 

[Sara_H]

It is definitely hot in summer but clearly doable. We always make sure we have spray fans with us (at least 2 of them) that we buy at Target or Wal-Mart. We also freeze bottles of water so they melt during the day. One thing to be aware of that time of year is the mid-afternoon rain...usually doesn't last long but when it's over the humidity tends to go up. However, sometimes the rain can help clear the parks a little.

 

[KSR0330]

Yes! Early to parks, mid day break and back out worked great for us. We also took hand held fans which helped a lot. I would totally do it again! Crowds weren't bad and we saved a lot of money!

 

[disneycat321]

We did it for our honeymoon, and we're doing it again this summer, so it must not have traumatized us too much. Your plan is exactly what we (mostly) stick to. We like nights at the parks the best, so that works for us. We do a lot of TS reservations so we can have long air conditioned breaks. Plus we just like the food! We're from CA, so humidity is not a thing for us, though we do have the heat (NorCal). I'm a teacher, so summer is by far the cheapest and easiest time for us to go.

Side note - I think I'd be a lot more hesitant to do the UT national parks in the summer! They're not horribly far from us and DH really wants to visit them, but I've told him it's gonna have to be during a spring break or it's not happening. I can't imagine actually hiking in that weather. At least at WDW there are some air conditioned indoor breaks between all the walking. I think if you handled that and had a great time, you can handle WDW!

 

[anorman]

We have done WDW in August multiple times and survived. The first time we went in August I was very worried about the temperatures as I do not do well with heat at all. Being from northeastern Canada, our summer days are usually around 75 to 78 degrees at most. Since my DH is a teacher, we were limited to summer to visit WDW. Yes, it is hot. Yes, it is humid. But it is very do-able. Go early. Stay hydrated. We personally do not take afternoon breaks as we find it to be too time consuming and a hassle to go back to the resort or rental. We go for rope drop and stay until around 2 or 3 pm taking advantage of air conditioned attractions in the middle of the day. Then we head back to the resort or rental to enjoy a nice relaxing evening with no need to return to the parks. We usually get extra park days to be able to have one or two days to just do evening attractions like fireworks, etc. You will be fine....go and have fun!

 

[jmako]

I think we’ll give it a go. I priced out the trip as if we’d be going this year, and the savings on summer vs fall were a little over $1300! Awesome! In the past we never hit the water parks because it was never quite warm enough to warrant going there vs the resort pool. However we can definitely pencil them in for a summer trip. What’s the feedback on the water parks?