Welcome, fellow Augustian!
We will be at WDW on the 7th (BCV) then move to BWV on the 8th, then move to SSR on the 16th, then head home on the 20th. VWL and OKW are the only places we AREN'T staying this trip (although we do have plns to eat at WC while we're there!)
If you are doing MK and a water park, my main suggestion -- you may want to focus on TL instead of BB -- BB ain't called Blister Beach for nuttin. No shade, and in the August sun, yikes! And yet, that's the water park that will fill to capacity quickly. Every day when we were there, BB was filled, and TL still had "room". II wanted to know why so I bent the ear of an astute and freindly bus driver/CM at WDW on our last August adventure. He lent me his profound bits of wisdom. He figures the newness and thrill factors of BB make it popular, however, he contended, for August, TL was the better choice, hands down. There's no where to run/hide at BB and the sun is pretty intense! And all that glaring white everywhere too just magnifies the problem. We have small kids with us, and his feeling was if they don't wear sunglasses and sunscreen religiously, they will come home fried from the experience on a bright August day! Maybe he was exaggerating, or maybe he wanted my crew to feel better about going to TL, or maybe it was his job to recruit folks away from a crowded BB -- who knows? But we took his directives by heart and got an umbrella, chairs, and a great day at TL in the bargain, so who are we to complain! Try to put your water park visit at the earliest part of your trip, in your case -- they tend to get more crowded as the week progresses (namely, Fri-sat-sun). Not sure if it's Floridians with annual passes or just that there are folks there for a week that then save the water parks for "last" after they hit the 4 main parks -- either way, aim early! We did a Friday and it wasn't too too bad, but this trip we will hit both parks (and see if that driver was right or full of Hoo-Ha!) and we have them roughly slated for BB on a Monday and TL on a Thurs or Fri.
As for doing the parks in August -- to be honest, we found August crowds to be better than the week prior to xmas, definitely better than October, way way WAY better than July 4th or the week including xmas, but not quite as good as the first weeks of January. HOWEVER -- trouble with January is we have real puddle-ducks for kids, and last time we did a Jan. trip, it never got above 50 degrees! Brrr... No water parks THAT trip! My DH actually commented that he thought August was a pretty great time to be there, all thngs considered, as long as you focused on water (in ya and on ya!) (What can I say, he's the Senoir PuddleDuck I guess!) That said, however, it seems with all these promos and packages, crowds in general have picked up at Disney year-round so I'm not sure WHAT to expect. If you got a 1br this close in at VWL, however, maybe it won't be too bad! Schools start down south around Weeks 1 and 2 of August, so THAT helps. It's a terrible thing to admit, but I am hoping for ZERO dreammaker pkgs, or Visa perks, or whatever for August! I am a greedy lil'
DVC'er, what can I say, and have been spoiled by the low park attendance!
If it IS crowded when we go, we plan to just take it in stride -- early in, early out, and back to the villa to swim and relax, then back in later in the afternoon / evening for dinner and night shows.
