Planning advice please

[MckynzieV]

Hello Everyone.
I am thinking two different trips and would enjoy your candid advice.
1. Mid to Late August.
We are worried about hurricanes and the heat. Looking at the trip more of a resort pool/water park/night time parks type of trip?

2. Thanksgiving vs. Christmas
We have been to Christmas the past two years it is more expensive and it is crowded.
Never been during Thanksgiving.
Any thoughts or advice for us?
Many Thanks

 

[CAQDaddy]

With room rates and crowds being lower, we prefer late August. If you follow the schedule you suggested I think you will enjoy August.
We like doing mornings in the parks as well. If it gets too hot we head back to the resort.

 

[Micharlotte]

I do first week of September every year. Our first year was 2015 and it was disgustingly hot, but we loved it! We got hit by a hurricane and just went with it. I’m not sure I could handle the crowds of Christmas or thanksgiving, but we just take breaks in the heat and drink lots of water.

 

[MckynzieV]

Soooo would nine days be too long in the summer?

 

[dansdad]

Soooo would nine days be too long in the summer?

Not for us. We prefer 10-12 night trips.

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

We were there August 17-25 last year. It was really hot and humid, with brief rain almost daily. Pools/ water parks and early morning or evening park time will help you avoid the worst of it.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We've gone to WDW the last week of August for the past 8 years and will go again this summer. Yes, it's hot, but the crowds are low and it's fun! There is occasionally some torrential rain, but we just deal. In the past 8 years, we've only been affected by a hurricane once and that is when Hurricane Isaac hit up north, where we live, and we just dealt with it by flying to WDW one day earlier than we had planned, so it was a total win for us!

Edited to add: We've also gone Christmas week in 2015. I don't think we'll ever do that again, but we'll definitely be back in August!

 

[The13thLetter]

We have never done Xmas or Thanksgiving, although we plan on trying it once to see how "bad" it really is, but we almost always go in late August/Early September and have not regretted it (going back mid august again this year).

 

[cmorris303]

We're going late August this year and it will be our 5th time going in August. It's really hot and humid, but we love it. The crowds are lower and the heat forces us to make pool time that we don't do other times of year. It rains, but we've never felt like it put a damper on our trip. We've stayed 10 days in August before and didn't feel it was too long. It was great because if the heat was getting us we didn't mind heading back to the resort because we had plenty of park days.

 

[jbehr12]

Hello Everyone.
I am thinking two different trips and would enjoy your candid advice.
1. Mid to Late August.
We are worried about hurricanes and the heat. Looking at the trip more of a resort pool/water park/night time parks type of trip?

2. Thanksgiving vs. Christmas
We have been to Christmas the past two years it is more expensive and it is crowded.
Never been during Thanksgiving.
Any thoughts or advice for us?
Many Thanks

If you can deal with the heat, August. Like you said lines will be better and it’ll be cheaper. I went last summer and assumed I’d be very uncomfortable but if you dress for the heat and are constantly drinking water or taking quick air conditioning breaks in gift shops and ride queues it really isn’t bad. By the 4th day I was back to my hot espresso outside at noon while we were walking.

The rain is spuradic and very heavy. Along with dressing for heat, have some ponchos or umbrellas because it WILL RAIN. As much as it sucks, some of my most memorable nights are while it was raining and rides were walk ons. This was 20 years ago but it still happens.

I wouldn’t worry about hurricanes until later August, and you should have some sort of advanced idea if something like that is going to happen.

To me, Christmas decorations are fun but if you’ve seen them a few times already you’ve seen them enough, and they’re not worth being shoulder to shoulder in the parks for.

Last thing, prices are unusually cheap for this coming August thanks to GE opening later in the fall. Most people are holding out for that so discounts are significant. We have CL at the GF booked from August 5th-12th and it’s only $501 a night... pretty much every hotel has big discounts for mid/late summer.

 

[DisMommyTX]

Free dining promo is also out now for Aug.