Second week of August - crowds?

[DLPDreams]

Wondering if many of you have been at this time c. 9-11 August week. I believe most of the US kids go back to school around this time, but some are still off this week, so according to a few sites (and the Unofficial guide to WDW), this is still quite a busy week .

We'd ideally like to go for 3 weeks but I am beginning to wonder if it's a good idea to arrive say Sun 9th August ('15), when that first week could be busy. We, like others, are quite limited and couldn't really push it any further back as we couldn't fit 3 weeks in before coming back to the UK. We could possibly push to Mon 10th, meaning our first day in the parks won't be til Tues 11th. Likewise, on the end of the holiday, we'd have an extra 'quiet' day on Mon 31st before travelling home..... Doing that though, it means the kids will only get one day (and part of that will be travelling from the airport) before back at school.

What would you do:

Still stick with Sun 9th and just accept it's going to be busy (most places have said crowd levels of around 7 which is 'summer' crowds)

Change to the Mon 10th, leaving another day at the end when it is quieter

Go for less time - believe last two weeks of August are much quieter. We could do something like a 16 night holiday...? So slightly longer than 2 weeks but only cutting into the end of that second busy week in August?

Sorry this is so long, and if you have read and understood to here, you deserve a medal .

 

[2Tiggies]

Your last two weeks will be quieter than the second week, BUT you have to decide if you are going to shy away from crowds and let that be the dominant factor in when you go.

While lower crowd levels are always more pleasant there are trade-offs for every advantage so as soon as you get out of peak time you can expect: shorter park hours, parades etc that may be showing twice per evening while schools are out will be reduced to once per evening, weather won't really be any different at all and you can expect announcements closer to the time of attractions being down for refurbs.

Crowded times aren't all bad. I think you need to decide if you want to go for 2 weeks or 3 weeks and base it on what you want to do and see while there and not on trying to miss a few days that might be busier than the latter part of your trip.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if the last year has shown us anything, it's that there really isn't a 'quiet season' at WDW anymore.

Pick your battles, that's all I'm saying

 

[Elise79]

I wouldn't let crowd predictions change how long or when I went.

With 2 or 3 weeks you will be able to see everything you want (not absolutely everything) to in the summer.

As has been said WDW doesn't have quiet times anymore - you just have to plan to be up early and make the best use of FP that you can.

I personally don't think having one additional less busy day in a 3 week holiday is going to make any difference.

 

[paul_toria96]

We are going 7th to 29th and we are probably only going to do 2 weeks in Disney so kinda have the same decision to make, can't decide whether to do WDW on the first day or the last day

We did the same time in 2010 and didn't really notice any difference in the queue times

 

[DLPDreams]

I hear you all. We want to do Universal, DC and Seaworld too so perhaps 16 or 17 nights wouldn't be long enough.

I think I'll try and talk to DH and see what he thinks. I guess if it is horrendous in the parks we could just do the pool etc. We might even switch around and do Universal towards the end of the first week as looking at the possibility of staying at a universal hotel for one night to get early entry/FOLP which would help with crowds. And possibly DC as that's limited nos anyway. We'd have to shuffle car around for that though!

I hear you about crowds too. It's the same at DLRP. Past few years even off peak has been feeling busier!

 

[Elise79]

The is no dramatic decrease in crowds as some states don't do back until Labour day now anyway.

You are probably looking at 5 to 10 minutes off the lines at peak times. You are not looking at going from hour long lines to being walk on.

It honestly won't make that much difference.

 

[catherine]

We were there 9th Aug - 30th Aug last year and I can tell you the first week was heaving! The first week we tried to do the things that we wanted to do away from WDW, Discovery Cove, SW etc. The days that we did go to the WDW parks we just picked a few rides to go on each day for the first week. The last week was so much quieter than the first and we got so much more done. In fact we probably got as much done in the third week as we had in the preceding two weeks.

 

[joolz1910]

It's such a shame that the 1st September is a Monday in 2015, as although this will be an INSET day in most schools, it does suggest that schools will be back in on 2nd or 3rd.

We too are thinking about when to go. I am considering 16 nights so that we can go to Universal for 2 nights and perhaps have 2 'chill out' days at the end of the holiday when we can't access the parks with our Ultimates.

Decisions, decisions

 

[DLPDreams]

The is no dramatic decrease in crowds as some states don't do back until Labour day now anyway.

You are probably looking at 5 to 10 minutes off the lines at peak times. You are not looking at going from hour long lines to being walk on.

It honestly won't make that much difference.

As labour day is 7th September, it sounds like there are going to be quite a few US kids around then .

We were there 9th Aug - 30th Aug last year and I can tell you the first week was heaving! The first week we tried to do the things that we wanted to do away from WDW, Discovery Cove, SW etc. The days that we did go to the WDW parks we just picked a few rides to go on each day for the first week. The last week was so much quieter than the first and we got so much more done. In fact we probably got as much done in the third week as we had in the preceding two weeks.

You see, this is what I am talking about (and what the Unofficial Guide has mentioned). I couldn't work out from your post whether the second week was much better?

I think this is a possibility - doing the non Disney things the first week, in the hope the second week the crowds die down slightly. But labour day being a day or so later than some previous years concerns me. I suppose on the day where we do SW for example, we could always go into the parks later that night if we wanted to . As we'll probably be staying at Disney for most of the first week, we'll be on the DDP (hopefully) so could have our evening meal there.

It's such a shame that the 1st September is a Monday in 2015, as although this will be an INSET day in most schools, it does suggest that schools will be back in on 2nd or 3rd.

We too are thinking about when to go. I am considering 16 nights so that we can go to Universal for 2 nights and perhaps have 2 'chill out' days at the end of the holiday when we can't access the parks with our Ultimates.

Decisions, decisions

Agree Joolz - it is difficult making the decision especially as we both know the flights/accom packages will be out very soon and so we need to have it sorted by then really.

It is a shame re return to school. Appears my girls are back Wed 2 Sept but for us that means a realistic departure of the Sunday as we don't back into Manchester until early Mon am then have an almost 3 hour drive home. We couldn't do that Tuesday with the girls at school Wednesday - it wouldn't be fair to them.

 

[catherine]

You see, this is what I am talking about (and what the Unofficial Guide has mentioned). I couldn't work out from your post whether the second week was much better?



The crowds weren't as bad toward the end of the second week, but were noticeably smaller at the beginning of the third week!

 

[DLPDreams]

You see, this is what I am talking about (and what the Unofficial Guide has mentioned). I couldn't work out from your post whether the second week was much better?



The crowds weren't as bad toward the end of the second week, but were noticeably smaller at the beginning of the third week!

Thanks Catherine It appears the last week could be the bonanza week.

 

[JintyB]

Your last two weeks will be quieter than the second week, BUT you have to decide if you are going to shy away from crowds and let that be the dominant factor in when you go.

While lower crowd levels are always more pleasant there are trade-offs for every advantage so as soon as you get out of peak time you can expect: shorter park hours, parades etc that may be showing twice per evening while schools are out will be reduced to once per evening, weather won't really be any different at all and you can expect announcements closer to the time of attractions being down for refurbs.

Absolutely. We've been a couple of times in August (I'm a teacher), last year for all three of these weeks. Whilst we only really found the last week a bit quieter in terms of ride queues, it was noticeable the other things that had been cut back on when compared to the earlier weeks. We much preferred the buzz when it was a little busier.

 

[DISWolves]

Have done most of August for our last 12 visits and the last two weeks are definitely less busy that the first two. Also consider that the park opening hours will start to reduce,

 

[meldud]

We have only been twice before.

The first time in 2010 in the last two weeks of August and the second in 2012 in week 2 and 3 of August.

Week 2 was definitely the busiest, but everything is on such a huge scale that it wasn't particularly noticeable.

It is all so much more spread out than in the UK that we didn't feel cramped until we were at Magic Kingdom.

We just resigned ourselves to the fact that some of the headliners would be busy and tried to plan when to do those rides (ie at the crack of dawn or by fastpass).

We also took someones advice regarding the DVC. And booked up a time to go and look. They pick you up and drop you off wherever you want to be and for the sake of a couple of hours, the kids got to play on the Wii while we looked around, got ice cream and 3 instant fastpasses for each of us. Well worth a nosy to see what else is out there too. DH is of course now seriously considering an investment!