2018 trip: June or August?

[leebee]

I'm trying to decide when to go to WDW next year. I'm a teacher, so my travel time is pretty much limited to the summer. Would you go to Disney during the 3rd week of June, or the 3rd week of August? Would July be better? I know the base answer is "It's gonna be busy, and HOT" but which would you choose, and why? (I am planning on a 7-10 day trip, so we don't have to be Commando the whole time- it's just too darned hot to work that hard to have fun!)

 

[DebbieB]

I'm trying to decide when to go to WDW next year. I'm a teacher, so my travel time is pretty much limited to the summer. Would you go to Disney during the 3rd week of June, or the 3rd week of August? Would July be better? I know the base answer is "It's gonna be busy, and HOT" but which would you choose, and why? (I am planning on a 7-10 day trip, so we don't have to be Commando the whole time- it's just too darned hot to work that hard to have fun!)

June would be less likely of a hurricane.
August would most likely give you free dinning.

 

[leebee]

June would be less likely of a hurricane.
August would most likely give you free dinning.

Free dining is not of interest, but you have a point about hurricanes!

 

[Irish_Mike]

3rd week of August might be -slightly- less busy, as many schools begin to return around that time. So I guess I'd say that over June or July.

 

[beccasmom]

We have school commitments too, so normally travel in summer also. We visited in late July this year, but normally visit in mid-August. It is not a bad time to visit (except for the heat!); schools in many parts of the country have re-opened by then. I won't say it's empty, but we don't find it to be overwhelmingly crowded. Hurricanes are a concern (we just barely missed Charley, leaving for home the day before), so you may want to consider that.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

We've gone the past two years right after the 4th of July. Obviously it was hot, but the crowds seemed light and we had VERY little rain. Next year we are going to try the end of June.

 

[bluezy]

We've gone the 3rd or 4th week in June numerous times and we find it works very well for us. Since it's usually pretty hot, we tend to do rope drop, take a break at the resort in the afternoon, and then back to the parks until closing time (or close to it). I think June & July have the longest park hours during the summer so we don't feel like we're losing precious park time as we can still spend 8-10 in the parks even though we take a nice relaxing break in the afternoon. We've never gone in August, so I can't compare. I will say that there have been some June trips that we have a good rain shower every day and other trips that the showers only happened during the night so there was no impact on us. And we've had trips with real-feel temps in the low 100's and another trip where we had 5 days of temps in the mid to upper 80's. I would say on average, the temps are in the mid 90's with a few quick rain showers during the week. In general, we've never felt that it was crazy crowded -- I guess that could be because we don't really have anything to compare it to or we've become proficient at zigging while the rest of the crowds are zagging.

 

[jcvalenti]

We go in a big group with a lot of kids (and some teachers), so we've done trips in June, July and August. Honestly, they've all got a little something to recommend them, and you can't go wrong. June should be a little busier and SLIGHTLY less hot. August should be a little crowded. August isn't usually a concern re: hurricanes, though both June and August get a ton of rain - usually daily thunderstorms in the afternoon (which aren't bad, as they cool things off and clear out some crowds). Depending on how long your trip is, late August might get you a chance to see Epcot Food & Wine (which keeps opening earlier every year) or Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party - both of which are well worth seeing.

 

[BOST99]

We are also struggling with this exact question and don't care about free dining either.

I have been looking at late June and early July. I like the idea of going for the 4th and watching the fireworks but it is more crowded and hotel prices seem to be a little bit more expensive.

We have been in August several times and it is hot and humid but was manageable with breaks. The later in August is also usually a little cheaper but I'm worried about it being rained out.

We are also hoping to buy into DVC soon so if that works out, we'll go based on room availability.

Would love to hear what you decide

 

[McKenna]

We've gone several times in early June, and the heat isn't quite as bad as it is in August. Plus, the crowds are lower! We usually stick to early June if we need to go in the summer months.

 

[annemce118]

I would choose August. In June you will have lots of tour groups. Last year I went the third week of August and it was great! The crowds weren't too bad, and the heat wasn't either. This year I went at the end of July, and it was SO hot! I'm a teacher too, so mostly can only go in summer.

 

[davale4]

I love going the last two weeks in August. Yes, it's hot but it doesn't bother us...we just try and drink lots of water. This year I thought it wasn't as hot as previous times. I only felt it the last two days.

 

[LeahA]

We went in June 2015 and June 2016 and we're going again in June 2018. The weather won't be as hot as August and many schools are not out yet in early June, so crowds won't be as bad. Since your a teacher I'm sure you have to be back at work in later August when free dining starts.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

After going the last week of August for the last 7 years, I vote for JUNE! The heat this past August was UNBEARABLE and I don't think I could do it again. I've toured in crowds AND heat and I will pick the crowds at this point. Both will slow you down slightly, so I would rather take less heat and be able to stay in the parks longer. We planned our August days so we would hit the parks early morning and late afternoon and even then, there were days I didn't think I would make it through to get through our plans for the day.

 

[holden]

We went this year on 6/10. The weather was beautiful! Not too hot at all.

 

[DanielNYC]

We've gone the third week in August for two years in a row now. Works for us. Crowds are lower and there are many ways to easily beat the heat.

 

[Hootch]

We almost always go in June. The one exception was when we had a family get together in July at the beach with a quick stay at WDW.

We went in the latter part of week two and early part of week three. Most of the crowd calendars showed low attendance and they seemed to be correct. For the second week of June, The MK closed at 10M. The third week it was extended to 11:00 PM. The parks still did not seem crowded too much that third week.

 

[anniemae]

June for sure. Aug is incredibly hot, June is hot, but not as hot as Aug. Was crowded this past Aug. Lots of schools up North still in session 3rd week of June. And obviously, hurricane threat. Mid Aug to mid Sept is prime hurricane season.

 

[Ddaba1]

I love going the last two weeks in August. Yes, it's hot but it doesn't bother us...we just try and drink lots of water. This year I thought it wasn't as hot as previous times. I only felt it the last two days.

You didn't feel it because you didn't go to Animal Kingdom with us after baking all morning at Epcot hahhahaha I thought I was going to die!!

 

[kangamangus]

We went this past summer 8/20-8/27, yes it was hot and humid but the crowds were lowish and we enjoyed the water parks. Then again I think any week in Disney is better then not