What the crowd like from dinner time till closing?

[yaya74]

As the title says, are the parks usually packed at night in mid August?? I have younger kids (8 and 4). My strategy is to visit park in the morning (not at rope drop though), have early lunch then go back to resort and return to park for dinner (around 5:30pm) and stay as late as they can. I wonder how long the lines would be in the park in the evening. TIA.

 

[stinkpickle]

Depends on the park. The last hours at AK are good. MK, maybe not so much.

 

[mousegear]

I agree with AK but rest of the parks are pretty busy at night since Aug is hot and people take afternoon breaks and get back to park at night as well.

 

[Dis703]

It depends on the day and park, but many people stay to watch the fireworks so evenings can be pretty busy. AK usually gets quiet later on in the day but now with a new closing show starting soon that may change.

 

[Alesia]

As the title says, are the parks usually packed at night in mid August?? I have younger kids (8 and 4). My strategy is to visit park in the morning (not at rope drop though), have early lunch then go back to resort and return to park for dinner (around 5:30pm) and stay as late as they can. I wonder how long the lines would be in the park in the evening. TIA.

That is exactly what most people do. You can expect large crowds.

 

[Accident]

the parks are never empty, doesn't matter the time you go.

 

[yaya74]

Thank you all!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I disagree with most posters so far. Crowd levels are always variable, but my short answer is PM crowds in August are SUPER! After dark hours are your friend!

August is a funny month because many schools go back before Labor Day. More people = more hours, esp for MK, but the timing of sunset also changes between Aug 1 and Aug 30.

Number one variable though is ALWAYS weather. August is prime season for daily downbursts. No downburst = more crowds. Post downburst = less crowds. Storm o'clock is variable. 4-5pm is common. Duration is also rather variable: often 10 min, but sometimes hours. Believe it or not, we've also encountered unexpectedly cool evenings in August! Some afternoons are hotter than blazes. But one trip we wore long pants after dark most of the week! We shivered at the pool! August rain is HEAVY! I suggest quality water-tolerant walking shoes! POST-rain parks are often empty and very comfortable. During lightning pools, all boats, and many rides also close!

IMO, the WORST part of the daily heat is usually 11am-1pm. Every minute gets hotter and more humid. The mistake that many folks make, is toughing out the afternoon heat. Come 5pm, they are exhausted and drenched! (Rain or not)

I suggest keeping a close eye on weather reports!

 

[yaya74]

I disagree with most posters so far. Crowd levels are always variable, but my short answer is PM crowds in August are SUPER! After dark hours are your friend!

August is a funny month because many schools go back before Labor Day. More people = more hours, esp for MK, but the timing of sunset also changes between Aug 1 and Aug 30.

Number one variable though is ALWAYS weather. August is prime season for daily downbursts. No downburst = more crowds. Post downburst = less crowds. Storm o'clock is variable. 4-5pm is common. Duration is also rather variable: often 10 min, but sometimes hours. Believe it or not, we've also encountered unexpectedly cool evenings in August! Some afternoons are hotter than blazes. But one trip we wore long pants after dark most of the week! We shivered at the pool! August rain is HEAVY! I suggest quality water-tolerant walking shoes! POST-rain parks are often empty and very comfortable. During lightning pools, all boats, and many rides also close!

IMO, the WORST part of the daily heat is usually 11am-1pm. Every minute gets hotter and more humid. The mistake that many folks make, is toughing out the afternoon heat. Come 5pm, they are exhausted and drenched! (Rain or not)

I suggest keeping a close eye on weather reports!

mickeyluv'r, thank you very much for the information!!! I know the heat and humidity in August is brutal but I am sooooooooo looking forward to be melted in the heat, especially living in the North East with the freezing winter weather!!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Well...I say plan for heat, but it might not be quite as bad as you think, especially after dark.

Florida is a peninsula, so there's no mountains/large land mass to trap in the heat if there is any breeze.

Daytime temperatures peak around 90 degrees, then it rains. That is hotter than the NE, but the NE sometimes gets that hot.

I further suggest acclimating yourself to summer heat as much as possible before you go by avoiding air conditioning. We accidentally did before a trip and it really helped. Later I came across a scientific article on the subject. It takes about two weeks of exposure for our skin to fully adjust. Afternoon walks are perfect.

 

[yaya74]

Well...I say plan for heat, but it might not be quite as bad as you think, especially after dark.

Florida is a peninsula, so there's no mountains/large land mass to trap in the heat if there is any breeze.

Daytime temperatures peak around 90 degrees, then it rains. That is hotter than the NE, but the NE sometimes gets that hot.

I further suggest acclimating yourself to summer heat as much as possible before you go by avoiding air conditioning. We accidentally did before a trip and it really helped. Later I came across a scientific article on the subject. It takes about two weeks of exposure for our skin to fully adjust. Afternoon walks are perfect.

How hot does it get in FL in the morning say around 10am?? Does it get up to at least 80F? We bought tix for water park. I heard it is less crowded in water park if we go in the morning. But I don't know if the water would be too cold in the morning. My kids are 8 and 4 and they don't handle cold water well.....

Thank you for the tip on getting used to the heat. The AC kicks in at 77F at our house in the summer. We were gonna go to Hong Kong this summer so I was training my kids to the heat last summer. I think they will be okay in the heat..

 

[AFwifelife]

If you check out Wunderground, you can pull up the history of past August's weather. It could always be different but you can get an idea of what the weather is usually like. In the summer, Florida is never cool no matter what time of the day. Looking at 8/15/15, the minimum temp of the day was 73 and it got to it's hottest at 3pm with a steamy 91.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

In the summer, Florida is never cool no matter what time of the day. Looking at 8/15/15, the minimum temp of the day was 73 and it got to it's hottest at 3pm with a steamy 91.

I'm not tryin to start a debate, but I disagree a bit. I suppose we should define 'cool.' Some folks define 50+sun as warm! While others say air conditioning set to 70 degrees = feeling rather cold.

It is also important to consider the 'real feel' temp. High humidity +no breeze = 90 feels like over 100. That happens in Florida! No argument from me.

Truly, I didn't expect WDW in August to feel cool, but there we were, shivering with strangers while waiting in line for one last run down the Beach Club water slide!

Multiple days in a row when the afternoon storms blew in from the coast, the temps dropped very rapidly, and it stayed breezy all night. Probably a big part of why it felt cool at night was the dramatic change (temp + wind+ no sun). Put those together, and low 70's feels a bit chilly to me.

Another August trip we had multiple hot nights in a row in August. We stayed in the US parks until close, and even at park close, it was still so hot that we didn't want to walk! There was no breeze and no rain.

 

[AFwifelife]

I'm not tryin to start a debate, but I disagree a bit. I suppose we should define 'cool.' Some folks define 50+sun as warm! While others say air conditioning set to 70 degrees = feeling rather cold.

It is also important to consider the 'real feel' temp. High humidity +no breeze = 90 feels like over 100. That happens in Florida! No argument from me.

Truly, I didn't expect WDW in August to feel cool, but there we were, shivering with strangers while waiting in line for one last run down the Beach Club water slide!

Multiple days in a row when the afternoon storms blew in from the coast, the temps dropped very rapidly, and it stayed breezy all night. Probably a big part of why it felt cool at night was the dramatic change (temp + wind+ no sun). Put those together, and low 70's feels a bit chilly to me.

Another August trip we had multiple hot nights in a row in August. We stayed in the US parks until close, and even at park close, it was still so hot that we didn't want to walk! There was no breeze and no rain.

I'm from Orlando. I never felt cold at night during the summer but it is all relative.

 

[SgtTibbs]

Depends on the park. The last hours at AK are good. MK, maybe not so much.

By August Animal Kingdom will have night time hours and the new Rivers of Light show. So your mileage may vary.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I'm from Orlando. I never felt cold at night during the summer but it is all relative.

Fair enough, I'm not trying to claim it was snowing. Let me try a more objective description:

I live a healthy flight north of FL.

Our August highs are just 3 degrees less the WDW. Our PM low temps are the same as WDW!

It surprised me that the summer difference is so negligible, because right now WDW is over 40 degrees hotter than here!

 

[tinkerbella16]

During busy months, I would think it would be crowded. We always go in mid November and even though it is much busier than it used to be now.. The evenings of my trip this past Nov were my favorite because the parks, MK and AK especially were the complete opposite of busy on the evenings we went. It was nice to just walk around with no one in sight and walk on almost everything. I can't imagine that being the case in August though, unless maybe the last week of August. We do the same thing on every trip- rope drop and enjoy the mornings in the park, until around 12:30pm when the crowds get thicker, head back to our resort for a swim/nap, and then head out to the parks for the evening.

 

[addiln]

That is the same time we normally go as well and the crowds are not he worse that I have seen. You can expect some lines but nothing like the middle of the day. People will start crowding around for the parade and wishes as well so some of the lines will get shorter due to that.

 

[maryj11]

We were there the middle of August this past year. The best time to ride rides at MK is during the fireworks and until closing. Crowds dropped off a lot during that time. Another thing that lowers the crowds is a good rain storm. For AK crowds did start thinning out after 3:00 but with the new Rivers of Light and other night time activities I doubt that will happen now. But hey maybe it will make MK less crowded
It was crowded but not as horrible as I thought. If you have a good plan, use FP and make time for resort breaks, air conditioned shows or meals you will be fine.
What we did was go at rope drop and ride rides with not much wait then used FP+ for the our favorite popular rides. When crowds picked up around noon we had reservations at a restaurant then went back to the resort for swimming. Came back to the park in the evening, we found that right before closing wait times were less at all the parks.

 

[Boopuff]

It's unbearably hot during the day. You can expect nice late night hours. We found that touring at night is really nice.