Tell me about late august!

[laluna]

We are setting about trip planning now for 2009 (going next Easter) and as my daughter is getting older, are restricted to school holidays really, although we could take her out for the odd day. Eastwer 2009 is out due to family committments so my husband really favours going for the last two weeks of August but I have a niggling doubt in my mind; I know that it will be hot and humid and the parks busy and just dont know how we will get one with my (will be) 7 and 3 year olds. I know you guys will convince me though!

 

[Tinkerbell1986]

Could you take her out of school for 1 week? Relatives of ours had a similar problem when booking their holiday to Florida but really didn't want to go in August. Instead they had 1 week before the October half term and 1 week during the half term so that their kids - 8, 12 and 16 - only had to take 1 week out of school / college.

Might be worth considering if 1 week out of school would be ok.

Otherwise August it is! An August Disney holiday is a million times better than no Disney holiday!

 

[mark&sue]

You will paying an awful lot of money to be very very hot. The humidity is unbelievable.

Its a real hard one. We have decided not to go back to WDW til our daughter leaves school in 2010 as we found it to be too much money to feel so miserable. However we have been 8 times, so we can just about manage two years without Disney. The other times we took an extra week at half term in October as our daughter was younger and the schools used to not mind.

The florida schools are back the last two weeks of August so the parks are not that busy.

Good luck and I hope you make the right decision for you.


Susan

 

[wayneg]

You can't really know how busy the parks will be, if Disney do free dining again then they will be busier.
We have no problem with the heat in August, everywhere is Airconned and love the sun, others struggle with it. Next year we have Easter and August booked so far, Easter will be too cold for us.
We have only started going in August since DS got to 12 year old. All thru Junior school and 1st year at High school we took him out for 2 weeks in Oct before the half term week making a 3 week holiday every year.
We were lucky having the backing of the school to do this and also having a very advanced child that could handle the time off no problem.
We have always done travel as part of his education, at 13 year old he has been abroad about 45 times to places like New York childrens library, ground Zero. Amsterdam to show him what drug misuse does to you etc etc. You can't get these experiences in a classroom.
For other children time out of school does not work, only you know your own child and your circumstances.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Sue and Wayne both make good points.

I completely understand your dilemma, my son is at school and my wife is a teacher.
Hence the last 2 years we went in August, with 6 weeks off it's the natural time to go.
To be honest our son found the weather extremely hot, late 90 degrees on many days hence next year we have switched to March.

Whilst anytime is a good time to be in Florida it can be hard work around the parks in summer, especially if you have children. It is likely we will at some point go back in August again, but in my opinion it's far from the ideal month to go. With that 6 week break from school, it is difficult looking at other dates sometimes.

It can also depend on your tolerance to the heat, to be honest I cope ok with it but Julie and Joshua struggle.

Crowds, are difficult to access. Historically the last 2 weeks of August are not bad at all, most of the US schools have returned by then. However as Wayne says the DDP has kind of made crowd levels difficult to predict, I wouldn't say it would be busy - but over the last 2 years when we went 'busier than normal'.

 

[iHEARTflorida]

we always go in August, we loved it!!!

 

[WiganTony]

Hi,

We went mid-August 2005 when daughter was 7, and again in mid to end August this year, and had no problems with her in the heat/humidity at all - indeed, this year we generally walked around 7-8 miles each visit at each Disney Park.

I guess the key is in the planning. We had a couple of days at Seaworld first of all, and spent quite a lot of time sitting at the shows out of the sun, before visiting Discovery Cove.

We then had five nights at CBR. When in the parks, we didn't spend the whole day there (except for Animal Kingdom) but tended to go around lunchtime, which still gave us around 9-10 hours, rather than being there at first light for EMH and/or evening EMH (which we avoided at all costs!!)

Crowd wise, it wasn't too bad, even with the free DDP - the only recommendation would be to make ADRs at the 180 day mark. We planned our days at each park using the various crowd calendars available, and then booked our Table Service meals around that.

Only unforseen problem was that they announced the Pirates and Princess Party nights after we had done our planning, and had to make some "tweaks" to our plans.

We also made sure that around every third day, we spent it a one of the water parks, and we took a long weekend in Clearwater after our first 10 days to visit Busch Gardens and also to chill out.

We then had a final 5 days back in Orlando, and again spent 2 days at theme parks, one day at water park, and final 2 days in theme parks.

I would also mention that many Education Authorities will be taking a tougher stand on holidays in term time from next year, and unless there is a valid reason for doing so (and cheaper flights/holidays will not be valid reason), then schools are being encouraged not to authorise holidays during term time.

Would also suggest that you do take a buggy for your youngest - then they can have a rest while you are still walking around the parks or if you are waiting for the evening parades/fireworks.

Hope this is of use.

 

[wayneg]

Welcome WiganTony

 

[WiganTony]

Thanks - I thought that as I had found so much useful information on this and other forums, it was time to give something back!!

Only another 22 months until we may (will be!!) returning

 

[paulh]

Welcome tony,were abouts in pie land.were on the crust in tyldesley
Paulh

 

[team harris]

We were there this year 18-31/8 and despite my concerns prior to going, we had a great time. The American kids had mostly returned to school and I did not think that the queues were that bad. We made full use of the fast passes and although we did a theme park every day, we used the water parks as rest days. Drink plenty of water as it is hot. i know you can't arrange the weather and we did have a few storms, but nothing that spoilt the day and we did not miss out on anything due to the weather. We were on the free DDP and made plenty of ADR's as soon as we were able and although I was a little concerned being tied to certain places at certain times it worked really well. We have also been the week leading up to our Half Term and the week of half term and as far as I can remember although the weather was cooler I honestly think we queue longer for rides and shows. Go for it!

 

[fizz13]

I've done late august twice now and I would say that the parks are totally manageable crowd wise, not too bad at all, even with free dining, its the restaurants tht are crowded and if you make your ADRs early then there is no problem there. The real problem lies in the heat and humidity, you will be craving air conditioning and shade, it makes watching mid day parades or castle shows near impossible to stand, so if you tour early morning, come out in the afternoon and go back when it cools down its a lot better. Don't try to tour World Showcase in an afternoon for example.
I would say go for it, to be honest, you might be pleasantly suprised, but book a hotel with a good pool

 

[Dimplenose]

We've only ever been in August. It's hot and humid but we've found it managable by doing one park in the morning then having a break somewhere airconditioned (restaurant, hotel or cinema) then doing another park for the late afternoon evening. We didn't have any rest days but on the other hand we never spent a full day in a park.

First time we went we had to hurridly buy over priced water shoes as we found the paths at Blizzard Beach to be very hot to walk on.

As Claire said World Showcase is very hot in the afternoon, there is so much concrete and so little shade that the heat reflects from it, we had the same problem at DTD. But if you drink plenty of water and pace yourselves you should be OK.

Libby

 

[WiganTony]

Welcome tony,were abouts in pie land.were on the crust in tyldesley
Paulh

Hi Paul,

Just off pie-filling centre in Aspull.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Before the kids were at school I went in March and May, both were great,

Then when they started I did October with a week out of school and half term, the weather was great, the queues not to bad and Halloween as well.

But the school told me off, even though apart from the 5 ( or 4 days with teacher training day one year)they had 100% attendance and I gave advance noticed and asked for extra homework,

Then I went in August, it is very hot and humid, I did get headaches, the queues late August are bigger than October, but less than July and early August, free DDP, has an effect though.

As an alternative, have you considered Disneyland California? The flight is longer, but the parks less busy than WDW, and whilst hot, its not humid and a good alternative, there are plenty of other parks close by, with the original Universal studios park, legoland Seaworld San Diego etc.

 

[wayneg]

As an alternative, have you considered Disneyland California? The flight is longer, but the parks less busy than WDW, and whilst hot, its not humid and a good alternative, there are plenty of other parks close by, with the original Universal studios park, legoland Seaworld San Diego etc.

We have been for the past 2 Oct half terms, crowds a lot busier than WDW, last year 30-40 minute lines for Counter service food. Not quite as bad this year due to fires and bad air quality but still worse than WDW in Oct. Parks way more spread out the Florida and ridiculously busy roads, 1 hour to Universal 2 hours back.
Can't comment on August but I would not do Cali as an alternative to Florida, we do it in addition to Florida but if it was a choice between the 2 it would be Florida.
Maybe August crowds are better than Oct, and there are differences in the parks that are good to experience.

 

[DisneyJo]

We've always gone mid August and we've coped fine, yes it's hot but get to the parks at rope drop get loads done before heading off for a swim and chill out then go back late afternoon. We're going again this August so honestly it's not that bad. Oh and drink lots of water

 

[Sweet Pea UK]

Thanks for this thread - we are considering the same time but 2010 - stayed at the poly this year and now can't imagine staying anywhere else so need to save for an extra year!!!

I understand about the heat and humidity but can anybody say if they have experienced hurricanes or lots of rain etc? Isn't it hurricane season then?

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Thanks for this thread - we are considering the same time but 2010 - stayed at the poly this year and now can't imagine staying anywhere else so need to save for an extra year!!!

I understand about the heat and humidity but can anybody say if they have experienced hurricanes or lots of rain etc? Isn't it hurricane season then?

Yes it is the rainy season, never experienced a hurricane but afternoon storms are very common. Though often they do not last very long.

 

[wayneg]

Thanks for this thread - we are considering the same time but 2010 - stayed at the poly this year and now can't imagine staying anywhere else so need to save for an extra year!!!

I understand about the heat and humidity but can anybody say if they have experienced hurricanes or lots of rain etc? Isn't it hurricane season then?

We have been last 2 Augusts with not much rain at all, but few years back we had the worst storms almost every day for 4-5 hours every day.

Been there thru a hurricane in Oct but never August.