Anyone there now ? Hows the weather and crowds ?

[Azree]

The weather is crazy hot. This is the worst we've ever endured in August. Even CMs are saying it's the hottest they've seen in several years. And the crowds this past week are heavier than years past, by far. We've been sticking to the recommended parks and the crowds have still been quite significant.

Hollywood Studios is a chaotic nightmare. Standby wait times growing quickly within the first hour of park opening, people everywhere. Rope drop is fairly useless at HS with the Frozen crowd draw at the moment.

We're having a good trip but it's been a lot different than past trips in terms of crowds. Getting a 4th FP for anything decent has been impossible. Most of the available fast passes after noon time are walk on rides to begin with (Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Dumbo, Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, Figment, Spaceship Earth, Star Tours, etc). Nothing worthy of a FP.

This is exactly the experience we had (Aug. 16-22). Everything just felt kind of chaotic, more people and lines than expected, decent FP's gone by mid-afternoon, etc. We had a good time, but I'd manage things very differently next time. (I'm a Touring Plans nut and have done very well with it in the past - not so much this time. I think FP+ is throwing things off a bit.)

Anyway, like I said, we rolled with it and had fun anyway. The heat was brutal, but we managed it by staying under cover and hydrated.

 

[maryj11]

Heat index today was between 112 - 120 and was reported to be closer to 120 in the parks.

Very HOT

 

[fbb]

Was at Epcot today. Was HOT...then a crazy storm came around 4:30pm and flooded the area outside Mexico pavilion such that you couldn't go in either direction without going through water that was about shin deep. Everyone seemed to be having fun taking off their shoes and sloshing through it. Our next FP was for Test Track. Got over there and found out that one of the incredibly loud thunderclaps we heard was lightning hitting the track. Wound up blowing out power to the entire ride. That ride has enough problems when it doesn't get hit by lighting...we gave up at 8pm when the ride still hadn't come back up. Gotta love Central Florida weather in the summer.

That was a very impressive storm. We were on Living with the Land and you couldn't hear the narration at all.

 

[DisMom829]

I also recommend the Mission Enduracool towels. Took one with is for my daughters first football game (cheerleader) and it was great! A lot smaller & very lightweight. We have both the Frogg Togg chilly towels and now the Enduracool towel, the Enduracool is much more portable! Check them out!

 

[mousefan73]

Wow. Just checked was it really 98 today?? So heat index must have been crazy. We arrive this fri. For 10 days. Hope it drops a few degrees!!!

 

[chicagogrl]

This is exactly the experience we had (Aug. 16-22). Everything just felt kind of chaotic, more people and lines than expected, decent FP's gone by mid-afternoon, etc. We had a good time, but I'd manage things very differently next time. (I'm a Touring Plans nut and have done very well with it in the past - not so much this time. I think FP+ is throwing things off a bit.) Anyway, like I said, we rolled with it and had fun anyway. The heat was brutal, but we managed it by staying under cover and hydrated.

We were also there on the 16th thru 20th. We just didn't do well at Hollywood Studios. We didn't have any fast passes there. The lines were long on some rides. My husband was hot and we left for lunch at The Boardwalk. We went to Epcot and had fastpass for Soarin and went on some rides, walked around the countries and had dinner.

 

[podgirl]

The crowds are definitely fairly low, but I've instructed my family to give me a quick slap in the head next time I start talking about coming here in the summer!

 

[maryj11]

The crowds are definitely fairly low, but I've instructed my family to give me a quick slap in the head next time I start talking about coming here in the summer!

 

[francie57]

We were there from the 16th to the 23rd. It was hot but we have been there when it was much more humid. We weren't complaining though since the summer in CT has been cooler than normal. We only had a 20 min. storm on Thurs night while waiting for the Epcot After Hours in Italy. We missed the storm yesterday since we had just arrived at the airport. We didn't find the crowds to be too bad. We went to the recommended parks and went to MGM and AK early to get their for opening. I do think that the fastpass plus is making the lines longer at most rides. We noticed that many of the rides have the separate entrances but now the lines merge (when before they didn't) and they let in numerous fastpass people and then maybe 10 people in the regular line. Also there were quite a few breakdowns this trip that we haven't had in the past. We were taken of Malestrom yesterday due to problems. On Mon. we were on the people mover and space mountain was completely lit up and had been evacuated. Our DD was on space mountain Fri. night and had to be evacuated due to it breaking down again. Also, when we tried to ride it on Weds. with our fastpasses it was closed due to problems. No problem returning later in the day and using our bands for the fastpass. We had a fantastic trip, had great meals, and can't wait to go back! Marathon weekend here we come!

 

[DOOM1001]

I was in Orlando Monday through Wednesday,crowds were definitely not light but not horrible either.I was at MK and DHS on Monday,first to MK to ride 7DMT without FP,about 45 minutes,then we did Splash and Big Thunder with FP,tried to make a change to my Space mtn FP to make it earlier but no chance,it was hot and getting crowded so we left without riding Space mtn and went to DHS.It was even more crowded at DHS,had lunch and pretty much couldn't ride anything since it was so crowded(all they had left for FP was muppets,really?? but since Idol was closing next week we saw a couple of shows and the finale,3 people in the finale,really?? might as well close it if you're not going to have enough shows to at least have 4 finalists.The heat was awful all day,saw the Frozen fireworks and went to DTD to eat.

Tuesday was the best day,again super hot but no rain in sight,we went to Aquatica and all I can say when it's this hot the waterpark is the place to be.Great day and going in and out of the water all day it never felt hot at all,who knew it was 95 with a heat index of 110.Thoroughly enjoyed my day,left at closing at 7pm and headed over to Universal to see if I can get in line for Gringott's,not happening,they had closed the line as the queue got to 2 hours long.Did ride the Hogwarts Express and a few other rides and saw the nighttime show.Ate at the new Breadbox sandwich place in Citywalk which is like the Universal version of Earl of Sandwich and although I had heard some not so positive reviews I thought the sandwiches were great,I'll be back.

Wednesday went back to Universal to get on Gringotts,as much as I wanted to finally ride this ride I almost decided to go back to Aquatica for a few hours,yeah waterparks on 96 degree days rock,but I chose against it.Went straight to the Gringotts line,it said 120 minutes,yikes!! But it wasn't that bad,the line moved continuously,had a lot of fans outside and was cold inside.It also broke down for 20 minutes but even with the breakdown it ended up being 100 minutes,20 less than what it was supposed to be.Ride was a bit better than I expected so we made the line later in the day in the singles line,the line didn't move and took 70 minutes and felt longer than the standby line,but the ride was worth it.It felt even hotter than Monday and Tuesday but staying out of the sun in the lines made it tolerable.Ate some bangers and mash at the Leaky Cauldron and took the Hogwarts Express over to IOA to ride a few other rides and left before closing to go to the outlets for some shopping.In the end the summer is brutally hot but it wasn't that bad between the waterpark and staying out of the sun as much as you can,I think for next years summer trip I'll be doing multiple waterpark days.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Here now. Crowds medium to low. using fastpass a lot and only waited in line longest about 20 minutes.

It rained the 23rd at 4:00 PM torrential downpour 30 minutes. They were squeegeeing all over Epcot.

It rained the 24th today at 4:30 torrential downpour for fifteen minutes.

The 23rd closed test track. Todays closed nothing but outside rides at MK for about 45 minutes.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Here now. Crowds medium to low. using fastpass a lot and only waited in line longest about 20 minutes.

It rained the 23rd at 4:00 PM torrential downpour 30 minutes. They were squeegeeing all over Epcot.

It rained the 24th today at 4:30 torrential downpour for fifteen minutes.

The 23rd closed test track. Todays closed nothing but outside rides at MK for about 45 minutes.

Squeegeeing Love it !

 

[maryj11]

I was in Orlando Monday through Wednesday,crowds were definitely not light but not horrible either.I was at MK and DHS on Monday,first to MK to ride 7DMT without FP,about 45 minutes,then we did Splash and Big Thunder with FP,tried to make a change to my Space mtn FP to make it earlier but no chance,it was hot and getting crowded so we left without riding Space mtn and went to DHS.It was even more crowded at DHS,had lunch and pretty much couldn't ride anything since it was so crowded(all they had left for FP was muppets,really?? but since Idol was closing next week we saw a couple of shows and the finale,3 people in the finale,really?? might as well close it if you're not going to have enough shows to at least have 4 finalists.The heat was awful all day,saw the Frozen fireworks and went to DTD to eat.

Tuesday was the best day,again super hot but no rain in sight,we went to Aquatica and all I can say when it's this hot the waterpark is the place to be.Great day and going in and out of the water all day it never felt hot at all,who knew it was 95 with a heat index of 110.Thoroughly enjoyed my day,left at closing at 7pm and headed over to Universal to see if I can get in line for Gringott's,not happening,they had closed the line as the queue got to 2 hours long.Did ride the Hogwarts Express and a few other rides and saw the nighttime show.Ate at the new Breadbox sandwich place in Citywalk which is like the Universal version of Earl of Sandwich and although I had heard some not so positive reviews I thought the sandwiches were great,I'll be back.

Wednesday went back to Universal to get on Gringotts,as much as I wanted to finally ride this ride I almost decided to go back to Aquatica for a few hours,yeah waterparks on 96 degree days rock,but I chose against it.Went straight to the Gringotts line,it said 120 minutes,yikes!! But it wasn't that bad,the line moved continuously,had a lot of fans outside and was cold inside.It also broke down for 20 minutes but even with the breakdown it ended up being 100 minutes,20 less than what it was supposed to be.Ride was a bit better than I expected so we made the line later in the day in the singles line,the line didn't move and took 70 minutes and felt longer than the standby line,but the ride was worth it.It felt even hotter than Monday and Tuesday but staying out of the sun in the lines made it tolerable.Ate some bangers and mash at the Leaky Cauldron and took the Hogwarts Express over to IOA to ride a few other rides and left before closing to go to the outlets for some shopping.In the end the summer is brutally hot but it wasn't that bad between the waterpark and staying out of the sun as much as you can,I think for next years summer trip I'll be doing multiple waterpark days.

I have never been to Aquatica before. Water parks would be a nice way to spend a hot day. I wonder how crowded the Disney water parks were.