Need help from those who regularly go in the summer....

[kangaroodle]

We just booked OKW for July 24th-August 1st. ADR window opens on Saturday! ARGH! Lots of planning to do in the next 2 days! Any suggestions from any of you who regularly go in the summer? I've been to WDW over 20X but only once in the summer! lol This time going with another family for a group of 10.

Do most of you go to one park in the morning, take a break and go back to another park in the evening? Trying to figure out where to make my ADRs. If I use the crowd calendar, those predictions are mostly for the days, not the evenings. I know it will be hot and mid day breaks are a must!

HELP!

 

[daisyduck123]

Do most of you go to one park in the morning, take a break and go back to another park in the evening?

Yes, this exactly.

We hit a park at 8am or 9am. Stay til Noon or 1pm at the latest. Then back to the resort to spend the afternoon poolside. We almost always follow with a TS dinner.

 

[Plan Man]

Well We have not gone as many times as you have but many times in the summer.

We always go at rope drop. We try to do as many rides as possible until it gets crazy busy which is sometime around 11ish. We then may do another couple of non busy attractions. Then leave for lunch (sometimes we do lunch in the park and then leave) go back to resort, swim, nap and head back in to whatever park we want - mostly to walk around and enjoy the atmosphere at a slow pace and watch the evening attraction like illuminations etc.

It has worked every time - not sure what it will be like to manage ten people but if you can get them on this page they will have a great time - do every major ride/show and have a relaxing evening.

 

[xlsm]

Everyone has given you basically the same advice that I would! We have kids in school so we're pretty limited to the summer months.

I have a TR from our trip last August in my signature that shows how we did things last summer at least. We're headed back in July, so as you can see, we're gluttons for heat ,humidity, and afternoon rain, LOL.

Going with a group of 10 is more daunting to me than Disney in summer. You are brave!!


(oh, and as for ADRs, just make them where you want them! If we have a seated lunch, it's in the park we're in for the day. If it's a dinner ADR, we just head over after a swimming and shower break. That's why we love our park hoppers)

Have an awesome trip!!

 

[mshanson3121]

We're the oddballs that are going to stay in the afternoon heat. We have children that are younger, (8 &5), and they do NOT handle late nights well. If we tried to stay until 9 or so each night, and then be back up and at the parks for 9 the next day, they would be a flat out wreck. So we plan on being there from 9-5 each day. However, we plan on doing all our biggest rides (FP+ etc...) as early as possible. Have lunch in the park, and then spend our afternoon during the worst of the heat doing indoor shows and rides that allow a bit of a breeze, splash pads (Splash Mountain etc...) etc...

 

[IndyRnRfan]

We just booked OKW for July 24th-August 1st. ADR window opens on Saturday! ARGH! Lots of planning to do in the next 2 days! Any suggestions from any of you who regularly go in the summer? I've been to WDW over 20X but only once in the summer! lol This time going with another family for a group of 10.

Do most of you go to one park in the morning, take a break and go back to another park in the evening? Trying to figure out where to make my ADRs. If I use the crowd calendar, those predictions are mostly for the days, not the evenings. I know it will be hot and mid day breaks are a must!

HELP!

We park hop everyday(minimum 2 parks and about half the time 3 parks) and take a quick break before we head out to dinner. We are at the parks around 9am and stay until closing with the exception of going back to the resort to freshen up for dinner, 14 hour days in the park are usually a minimum with us. It will be hot so my best advice is drink plenty of water in the morning and the night before. Their summers are really not any hotter than ours so if you get the opportunity, start spending some time outside a week or so before you go and you should be good to go. There really isn't much difference in the parks during the summer months. It will be crowded at all the parks. Some will be slightly less crowded but it really doesn't matter. We have lucked out sometimes and the rides are not super busy in the evening and other times they are ridiculously crowded for no reason.

1 tip, if you like TSM then get there at rope drop and schedule a FP for later in the day so you can ride it twice/day. In '13 the wait time for TSM was over 2 hours by 10 and 3 hours by lunch and it was like that for the 2 weeks we were there in July/Aug.

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

Agree with PP who say to arrive early. We always get to the parks 1/2 hour before rope drop and take afternoon breaks. I would suggest frogg toggs to help keep the body temperature down. We go every August so for us, frogg toggs are a must.
Enjoy your trip. We'll be there again this August