*******Official August 2017 Countdown Thread ~ Feeling hot, hot, hot!!!******

[mnmhouston]

Probably a lot of schools started in the last 2 weeks and other schools are due to start after labor day.

Yes, this has been the case for us in the past when we travel the last week of August. Just seemed like the wait times dropped off drastically!

 

[DisneyFan119]

Flight leaves Monday morning! But I still have a ton of work to do this weekend, and I'm trying to stay focused so I can be productive. Instead I find myself stalking the wait times on the MDE app and imagining myself walking down Main Street! (Oh and spending time on these boards...)

Bonus: I was just able to secure a SDMT FP+ for Monday! I literally squealed. Now I'm just holding out hope for a FoP one!! I'm feeling the Disney magic already!

 

[momma2ethan]

I THINK we are all set to go. Got DS registered at his new school yesterday, all school supplies and clothes have been purchased, last bit of swagbucks gift cards have been converted to Disney GC, all electronics are charged, suitcase packed, carry on bags packed, all bags are in the car, checked in for our flights. I have 5 more hours left at work and have to pay the power bill tonight on my way to my sister's for the night. I can almost taste the Dole whips already

 

[TJDisneymama]

We're home.
I checked in yesterday for todays flight and got C13 boarding, I cant even imagine getting A or B. Every single time we go to WDW our flight is sold out, so I think it just depends on how full the plane is. Ours is always full, so obviously more people that pay for the EB checkin. Anyways,

I still need to post about the rest of our park days. I will do it later.

As for the heat, I REALLY dont think I will do summer again. OTOH, thats exactly what I said the last 2 times I went in summer, lol. I think the years lessen the bad memories so maybe after a few years I will consider again. But, OMG that heat.....just constantly soaked head to toe. But I bought all moisture wicking clothes this time and it really made a huge difference. Ive always worn cotton in the past and of course they always got soggy and gross. These clothes were great! I didnt know what I was missing all this time sticking to cotton!!

I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of rain. I expected downpours every day (happened on a previous august trip, each afternoon, sometimes into the evenings). But of 5 park days, we only had 2 rain events and they were practically nothing. Didnt need ponchos, just an umbrella one time and nothing the other time, and didnt last more than an hour or two.

 

[mnmhouston]

As for the heat, I REALLY dont think I will do summer again. OTOH, thats exactly what I said the last 2 times I went in summer, lol. I think the years lessen the bad memories so maybe after a few years I will consider again. But, OMG that heat.....just constantly soaked head to toe. But I bought all moisture wicking clothes this time and it really made a huge difference. Ive always worn cotton in the past and of course they always got soggy and gross. These clothes were great! I didnt know what I was missing all this time sticking to cotton!!

I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of rain. I expected downpours every day (happened on a previous august trip, each afternoon, sometimes into the evenings). But of 5 park days, we only had 2 rain events and they were practically nothing. Didnt need ponchos, just an umbrella one time and nothing the other time, and didnt last more than an hour or two.

Worried about the heat too. Have been several times last week of aug but as we get older it's harder to take. Checking Sunday armed for parks with baby wipes (cucumber:green tea infused...sounded refreshing lol), small personal aluminum mist sprayers, travel size baby powder, and water bottles. Looks like it's been overcast, that had to help a little.

 

[TJDisneymama]

Yes, huge relief when the sun would go in. Seriously, when the sun is beating on you, it feels like standing on the surface on the sun. Thankfully, theres so much shade in the parks, between being on the rides, or in the queues, or in a shop, we very rarely were directly in the sun except the couple minutes walking from 1 attraction to the next.

Sharing my souvenirs with ppl who will appreciate them, lol.

My newest dooney:


The pearl I picked at epcot:

 

[ariane37]

Been wait times on MDX in anticipation of our Sunday check-in. Seems like wait times have dropped drastically in the last week. Anyone there, can confirm?

I can't confirm for this year since we've been back since the 12th, but the last 3 years our trips have been after the 20th and crowds are always lower than they were for our earlier Aug. trip this year. In general late Aug. does have lower crowds since the majority of schools are back in session.

I checked in yesterday for todays flight and got C13 boarding, I cant even imagine getting A or B.

Ok lol, I say this a lot on the boards but I just don't get SW! I would hate to not have my seats until 24 hours before we leave. We always fly Jetblue; we pick our seats when we book and that's that!

My newest dooney:

I really like that one! I didn't see it earlier this month, did you get it in one of the parks? I should post a picture of the one I got, the only place we saw it was in our resort gift shop (WL).

 

[CuseWazowski]

Been wait times on MDX in anticipation of our Sunday check-in. Seems like wait times have dropped drastically in the last week. Anyone there, can confirm?

Just got home last night. Wait times were very manageable. And we found them to be consistently lower than listed on MDX - if it was listed at 20-25, it was usually more like 10-15.

 

[TJDisneymama]

Ok lol, I say this a lot on the boards but I just don't get SW! I would hate to not have my seats until 24 hours before we leave. We always fly Jetblue; we pick our seats when we book and that's that!

it doesnt bother me not having assigned seats. me and DD were able to get seats together both ways, even with the high C boarding. a few times we've had to sit a row or two apart when theres been more than 2 of us travelling.

I really like that one! I didn't see it earlier this month, did you get it in one of the parks? I should post a picture of the one I got, the only place we saw it was in our resort gift shop (WL).

yes, the jewelery store on Main st. in MK. I think it came out a few months ago. which one did you get?

 

[TJDisneymama]

Just got home last night. Wait times were very manageable. And we found them to be consistently lower than listed on MDX - if it was listed at 20-25, it was usually more like 10-15.

I agree. we didn't wait more than 10-15 minutes for anything. the longest wait posted for us was Navi river which said 25, but was more like 10. Oh, and meeting olaf.......the wait time said 35 and I thought it was probably a lot less than that (because everything else was), but it ended up being right around 35. i was so annoyed.

 

[JackOliva07013]

Our first full day behind us. It's been in high 80s with some rain - kids (5 & 7) surprisingly loved the rain. We got done everything at Epcot. Advise: plan, plan and one more time have a plan in place but be flexible and change it on a fly if needed. I think dinning reservations or in our case only dinners allowed us to do more our first 2 days. And final advise - search web for Disney deals before booking - it's our first CL trip and it makes a pleasant difference. We would never be able to afford CL without the deal. We used Segway with twenty promo code to get our groceries.

 

[McFlea]

We're home. Boy, did that go by fast. Overall, we had a great time! Surprisingly saw almost no rain - the only rain occurred while we were on the bus to AK, and it stopped before we got there. Packed rain jackets and several ponchos, but didn't use any. That's the secret - bring lots of rain gear and it won't rain! The majority of the time the sun was blazing and brutally hot. However, I didn't really mind it - I recall thinking that if I were that hot at home I would have been miserable, but somehow it didn't bother me on vacation. Really, there is plenty of indoor spaces to cool off in, and even covered outdoor spaces for shade.
Crowds were a bit higher than I was expecting, but lower than on previous trips (at other times of the year). Wait times weren't bad, mostly shorter than posted. The longest line we waited in was for TSMM and that was about 45-60 minutes standby. We did not have FP+ for HS because we were doing AK that evening and scheduled them for that park. Speaking of which, when I booked at 60 days I was unable to get FOP, so booked NRJ. The family wasn't too disappointed because we didn't like the Avatar movie, and I personally was a bit concerned about motion sickness. Well, I kept checking anyway, because hey, there had to be a reason the ride is so popular. Lo and behold, about 45 days out, a FP popped up and I grabbed it. Even while in line, I still wasn't sure about riding myself, but my kids insisted. Wow, am I glad I did it! That ride is amazing! And absolutely zero motion sickness. I can't wait to do that one again. We ended up skipping NRJ, as that wait time was over 90 minutes and we were exhausted after a long hot day. Next time.
POR is where we always stay, so no surprises there. It was fine. Food court was hit or miss with crowds, depending on our timing - overall not too bad. I sent a fax a few days before we left explaining how excited we were to be returning, especially this year since hubby and I were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary, the same year POR turned 25, and that we had stayed there the same year it opened on our honeymoon. We are a family of 5, so always stay in AB - our only request was to NOT be in any building in the 30's. Guess which building we got? 36. Could not have been further away from everything. I wonder if they even got my fax. Oh well. I got the email with our room assignment while we were at MCO, my family couldn't care less where we were so I decided to roll with it. We didn't interact with the front desk once. Which in hindsight was a bit odd, as if something was missing. Next time I'll check in with the front desk upon arrival, even if I do online check-in. It just kicks off the vacation for me.
Well, time to do the laundry...

 

[JackOliva07013]

We went to AK yesterday. At 11am it was 79 degrees. I couldn't believe it. We stayed from 10am to 9pm. Pandoras crowds were crazy but everything else manageable. Kids survived the park because it wasn't hot.

 

[TJDisneymama]

W would have be
POR is where we always stay, so no surprises there. It was fine. Food court was hit or miss with crowds, depending on our timing - overall not too bad. I sent a fa..

this was our first time at POR and I was super annoyed about the crowds in the food court. I don't mind waiting in a long line for my food, but when I then have to go and wait in a long line to PAY for my food......after which time my food is COLD.....that is unacceptable to me. Especially when there's 8 registers and they only have 3-4 of them open. I'm not sure it's a POR thing but more a Disney cutting staff everywhere thing, but I was pissed. The prices they charge for food, I expect to eat it while it's still hot. I swear, in the future if I encounter that again, I will be getting my food and skipping the cashier line. I wouldnt mind if they had all registers going and it really was just that crowded, but when the crowds are due to them being cheap and cutting staff, screw it.

Aside from that, everything else was fabulous. Hot food getting cold is one of my biggest pet peeves, I get irrational about it, lol.

As a side note, we went over to FQ for lunch one day. Now the food court is tiny, but there was like NOBODY there! It was right between 12-1:00 so prime lunch time, I expected it to be packed. I wonder if it's always like that.....

 

[TJDisneymama]

We went to AK yesterday. At 11am it was 79 degrees. I couldn't believe it. We stayed from 10am to 9pm. Pandoras crowds were crazy but everything else manageable. Kids survived the park because it wasn't hot.

wow, that must have been nice! as always, on our AK day it was (seemed like) 50 degrees hotter than everywhere else in Orlando, lol. I loved this trip , esp. all the swimming we got to do, but boy do I miss our winter/spring/fall trips and walking around the parks in nice COOL (i.e., under 90) temps.

 

[Disneylover99]

As a side note, we went over to FQ for lunch one day. Now the food court is tiny, but there was like NOBODY there! It was right between 12-1:00 so prime lunch time, I expected it to be packed. I wonder if it's always like that.....

Yes, it's pretty much always like that at POFQ. That's one of the reasons why it's my favourite moderate.

 

[TJDisneymama]

Yes, it's pretty much always like that at POFQ. That's one of the reasons why it's my favourite moderate.

From our quick trip over for lunch and to swim a bit, I decided I preferred it to POR (although POR has a much better pool). I look forward to staying there some day!!

 

[Mika02]

this was our first time at POR and I was super annoyed about the crowds in the food court. I don't mind waiting in a long line for my food, but when I then have to go and wait in a long line to PAY for my food......after which time my food is COLD.....that is unacceptable to me. Especially when there's 8 registers and they only have 3-4 of them open. I'm not sure it's a POR thing but more a Disney cutting staff everywhere thing, but I was pissed. The prices they charge for food, I expect to eat it while it's still hot. I swear, in the future if I encounter that again, I will be getting my food and skipping the cashier line. I wouldnt mind if they had all registers going and it really was just that crowded, but when the crowds are due to them being cheap and cutting staff, screw it.

Aside from that, everything else was fabulous. Hot food getting cold is one of my biggest pet peeves, I get irrational about it, lol.

As a side note, we went over to FQ for lunch one day. Now the food court is tiny, but there was like NOBODY there! It was right between 12-1:00 so prime lunch time, I expected it to be packed. I wonder if it's always like that.....

We loved the food at POFQ we pretty much ate there our whole stay when we ate at the resort. But we love our room at POR so I pretty much know if we go back I will stay at POR but eat at POFQ.

 

[TJDisneymama]

We loved the food at POFQ we pretty much ate there our whole stay when we ate at the resort. But we love our room at POR so I pretty much know if we go back I will stay at POR but eat at POFQ.

@Mika02 did you find the food court at FQ generally not too crowded?

 

[Mika02]

@Mika02 did you find the food court at FQ generally not too crowded?

I never went the POFQ and had to fight for seating or wait in too many long lines (half the time I had move line to line due to my 3 children's 3 different taste) and even when they gave the little pager thing to pick up our food it wasn't ever very long before they called us. I think the longest wait was for me hopping around for Breakfast one morning but I went for dinner at once at a regular evening time and once at a really late evening and we had no issues either way. We went to the food court at PORS once or twice for food and mostly at night for drinks (Drink choices are better at POFQ as well) and it was always packed always.