So, I'm taking family on a trip in July, haven't done Disney in the summer in nearly 20 years, help!

[fractalpotato]

So some background, girlfriend and I are seasoned Disney visitors. We go in the off-ish seasons, we stay at moderates usually, we hit rope drop most days, rest in the pool or nap in the afternoons and aggressively nail rides. This combination is very fruitful! Between lower crowds, rope drop and FastPass we tend to end up with lots of calm downtime to fill in other random stuff because we hit all the rides we wanted (including re-rides). I am an annual pass holder and she's about to become one.

That said, we're taking a trip outside our wheel house. My cousin is graduating high school this year and for years now she's been saying she wants to go Disney World for her graduation. So we are making that happen, we are taking her and her brother... in July! Also, they are of course, not morning people . This was the only time that was available for all four of us. My aunt and uncle can't come for a variety of reasons. Now then, I haven't done Disney in the summer since I was 12! I know it's going to be hot, I know it's going to be crowded, and I know rope drop is going to be a tough sell. I also recognize we will just simply not get as much done as I usually get, and I'm okay with that, as is my girlfriend. Especially because we're going alone in May and November (free flights and annual passes are dangerous!) so this trip is really for the kids.

My questions, how do you all recommend maximizing fun? That's not necessarily the same as maximizing rides, I want to avoid burning the kids out (figuratively and literally) and spending all of our time in line. I'm generally on board with the afternoon break plan most people recommend for the heat, but concerned about mixing it with a late morning start.

We will have a car, we are staying at All-Star Music, we have an ADR for BoG, plans to get ADRs for Liberty Tree Tavern and 50s Primetime, all at the request of the cousins. Our goal here is family fun, obviously, without too much stress.

Alrighty, go!

Matt

 

[Surgie2]

Your trip sounds awesome and how nice to treat your cousins! Being a RD person, it is hard to wrap my mind around not doing it that way. But I think your attitude is great - you want this trip to be for them and you have two other trips to do things your way. Have your cousins said they definitely want to sleep in and have later starts to their days? Sometimes "sleep-in" people want to get up and go at WDW! So if you've communicated about their wants and sleeping in is something they want then I'd figure out what time you can likely be out the door each day. If that's 11:00, then I'd have FP for 11:30, 12:30 and 1:30 each day. That way you can use them up and try for 4th, 5th FP.

The benefit of starting park days later is that you can likely stay later into the night and July would have some later hours. Another option for you and your gf if you feel comfortable doing it is to get yourselves to the park at RD and have cousins meet up with you later. Start your FP once they arrive. Since they will have bus transportation from the resort that would be very doable. We have friends who routinely do this. Husband is an early bird and is at parks at RD. Wife likes to sleep in and have her coffee leisurely so she meets him around 11:00 and it works great for them.

Have fun planning and I'd get all your ADRs now since you're within 180 days. Can always cancel later.

 

[Klayfish]

We're long time summer veterans, it's an awesome time to go, IMO. My viewpoints on it may be different than yours, but here goes...

It's not as crowded as I suspect you feel it is. We're AP holders, so we've been during various times of the year, and summer is far and away the easiest time for us to do FP+ and nail a bunch of rides.

If your party aren't morning people, don't sweat (pardon the pun) it. In our opinion, rope drop is a total waste of time from a productivity standpoint. We never do it, I have zero desire to get up early on vacation. I am very confident that we do as many rides in a day as a rope drop person. The key is FP+. In summer especially, probably 75% of the rides we do are via FP+, and the other 25% are rides that don't need it at all or don't have it.

Afternoon breaks are utterly unnecessary, unless it's what you want to do. We do them sometimes, but not because we're trying to avoid the heat. Remember, the majority of rides in WDW are in the a/c. So if you use a little common sense you can plan to hit longer a/c rides in midafternoon. Things like Philharmagic or CoP or Laugh Floor are perfect heat of the day rides....Speedway isn't.

So, IMO, enjoy. Do a late morning start. If you know how to use FP+ well, you'll be every bit as "productive" as a rope dropper.

 

[yaya74]

"Having Maximizing Fun" is all about your mind set, not about what you do. As long as everyone is there to "have fun" no matter what, you will have a great trip!!

 

[Penmac]

I have only been to Disney in the summer, besides one trip in May 2015 & it was just as busy in the parks as July and August on our other trips. In fact, Epcot was WAY more crowded in May due to the garden festival.

Our days sound much like yours. We do rope drop, and utilize FP+ all day. We generally take a break in the afternoon, and still manage to re-ride everything we want. The only day that's ever been problematic from a crowd standpoint was July 4th in Magic Kingdom. We still did all of the rides we wanted to check off our list, but it was insane. 35 minute FP+ line for Splash Mountain. We had a rider swap for that one we didn't even use because of the long lines. We will be there over July 4th this year and will not be at a park that day. We will swim and maybe hit Disney Springs.

As for RD, we do this with a mid-afternoon break. We head back in the evening because my kids LOVE the parks at night. Riding Splash Mountain during fireworks is their favorite thing to do. But, this can be hard to do for each park day with kids because it involves early mornings and late nights. Usually, we need a late start day worked in somewhere to give them some recovery time. On those days we just stay all day with no break.

Kids are generally good at compromise... Maybe you could tell the teenagers that they should experience one RD day- perhaps the MK Welcome Show? They can probably manage to get up early one day. Not like they are going to school! And since you are taking them on a vacation (amazing BTW), I am sure they will be appreciative and not expect to sleep until 11 each day. That would personally drive me crazy since I wake up early and I would be itching to go. I know teens need their rest, though, so I would definitely leave them in the room to sleep for a while and go to the parks in the AM. You will likely be back from your early morning stop at the park before they are even showered.

Have fun on your trips and good luck with the planning!!!

 

[Mome Rath]

I think you'll be fine as a veteran. Nothing really changes in the summer except perhaps later park hours and/or later showtimes for fireworks/night shows. The only added bit of advice I'd have is that there are certain stretches in EPCOT's WS where there is like zero shade, so you just don't want to get caught there in the blazing early afternoon sun. Maybe make sure to drink a bit more water.

It sounds like you have the right attitude toward the other travelers' style.

 

[Penmac]

I think you'll be fine as a veteran. Nothing really changes in the summer except perhaps later park hours and/or later showtimes for fireworks/night shows. The only added bit of advice I'd have is that there are certain stretches in EPCOT's WS where there is like zero shade, so you just don't want to get caught there in the blazing early afternoon sun. Maybe make sure to drink a bit more water.

It sounds like you have the right attitude toward the other travelers' style.

Agree. This happened to us in World Showcase on our May trip and it was brutal.

 

[mousehouse23]

Take advantage of the later evening hours, especially after the fireworks shows.

Try to hit a lot of shows in the afternoon to keep you inside and air-conditioned when you're able to.

Bring a cooling towel--they really do help.

Stay hydrated.

Eat your weight in ice cream.

Will your cousins have PH tickets or Base tickets? If they have Park Hoppers, I'd still be tempted to take a small afternoon break--either to rest or swim--then hop to another park after dinner, and stay until closing.

A water park visit is never a bad idea in the summer. Or you could spend some time hopping around other resorts. Having a car makes that a lot easier.


I'm sure you'll have fun, no matter what you guys do!

 

[GillianP1301]

It sounds to me like you've already set yourself up for a successful trip by acknowledging the difference in touring style of the people travelling with you and being willing to accommodate that for their benefit. That right there will help to keep any stress in check. Because you are dealing with teenager/young adults and knowing sleep will be important and accepting that RD is not in your plans, you can really take advantage of evening and later night touring which can be awesome. Because it's summer, I would definitely build in some pool/relaxing time as well. I would avoid breakfast ADRs so you don't have to worry about getting people up earlier than they want to. Book your fastpasses for late morning/early afternoon and get the headliners you want done during that time. Take a few days to have pool time by heading back mid afternoonish and then have dinner ADRs and then hit the parks hard in the evening picking up 4th + fastpasses where possible. I don't think you need pool breaks every day, so maybe do some days where you stay in the park all day and then head to a dinner show for some evening entertainment.

 

[DisneyFive]

I would pretty much go with your same plan but shift your FP's to late morning.

Something like this:
FP1 = 10am -11am (This gives you all the way until 11am to get up and ready and to your first FP in the morning)
FP2 = 11am-12pm (but go on the early side of the window)
Grab QS lunch
FP3 12-1pm (go anything lunch is over)
Book more FP's

Head back to resort in the afternoon and rest.

Come back to parks for dinner and rounding out the night

If that is all still to early, shift all of your FP's even a tad later. Maybe start the first at 10:30 or 11am.

Dan

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

So some background, girlfriend and I are seasoned Disney visitors. We go in the off-ish seasons, we stay at moderates usually, we hit rope drop most days, rest in the pool or nap in the afternoons and aggressively nail rides. This combination is very fruitful! Between lower crowds, rope drop and FastPass we tend to end up with lots of calm downtime to fill in other random stuff because we hit all the rides we wanted (including re-rides). I am an annual pass holder and she's about to become one.

That said, we're taking a trip outside our wheel house. My cousin is graduating high school this year and for years now she's been saying she wants to go Disney World for her graduation. So we are making that happen, we are taking her and her brother... in July! Also, they are of course, not morning people . This was the only time that was available for all four of us. My aunt and uncle can't come for a variety of reasons. Now then, I haven't done Disney in the summer since I was 12! I know it's going to be hot, I know it's going to be crowded, and I know rope drop is going to be a tough sell. I also recognize we will just simply not get as much done as I usually get, and I'm okay with that, as is my girlfriend. Especially because we're going alone in May and November (free flights and annual passes are dangerous!) so this trip is really for the kids.

My questions, how do you all recommend maximizing fun? That's not necessarily the same as maximizing rides, I want to avoid burning the kids out (figuratively and literally) and spending all of our time in line. I'm generally on board with the afternoon break plan most people recommend for the heat, but concerned about mixing it with a late morning start.

We will have a car, we are staying at All-Star Music, we have an ADR for BoG, plans to get ADRs for Liberty Tree Tavern and 50s Primetime, all at the request of the cousins. Our goal here is family fun, obviously, without too much stress.

Alrighty, go!

Matt

OK this trip sounds really cool and how lucky are your cousins to have your expertise!! We (family of 4 with two young girls) are a RD family however on our most recent trip (planned two days before we hit Disney) was put together so last minute, we had a day where RD was not an option. We tackled it with trying to get the best FP+ we could, which we did pretty good for just a few days out planning. That solved our afternoon planning easily since we did most FP+ from about 1pm-5pm. We managed to squeeze in lots of 15-20 min wait rides and we even did a resort break back to our room to check in. We made it back to MK and got in some more FP+ and made it to 12am close which was awesome since we could pretty much ride anything with little to no wait. If you all are willing to stay till close or evening EMH, you will get a great opportunity to hit up the popular rides. And given you are planning with enough time out, you will get great FP+ and have more time for your plan of attack for each day. Also, summer is crowded but IMO it's not the most crowded times for sure. We prefer our summer and February visits over any other time of year for lower crowds. We've never been (yet) in Nov or Dec but have been every other month and our February (around President's Day) and late June/early August visits have been the least crowded. We also will plan lunch at a QS with indoor dining or have an ADR booked to escape the heat and recharge, that helps some. I think with what you already know, you will have a great trip even without RD any of the parks.

 

[fractalpotato]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I'm going to address a few points directly but I appreciate all the feedback, super helpful!

Have your cousins said they definitely want to sleep in and have later starts to their days? Sometimes "sleep-in" people want to get up and go at WDW! So if you've communicated about their wants and sleeping in is something they want then I'd figure out what time you can likely be out the door each day. If that's 11:00, then I'd have FP for 11:30, 12:30 and 1:30 each day. That way you can use them up and try for 4th, 5th FP.

To be fair, I haven't yet asked but, but I know them very well I will bring it up but there's a very real possibility they'll agree to it now and then not get up easily anyway! They can be like that...

Have fun planning and I'd get all your ADRs now since you're within 180 days. Can always cancel later.

I am, we are just locking down which parts we want to be in on which days so we know which days to book each restaurant!

We're long time summer veterans, it's an awesome time to go, IMO. My viewpoints on it may be different than yours, but here goes...

It's not as crowded as I suspect you feel it is. We're AP holders, so we've been during various times of the year, and summer is far and away the easiest time for us to do FP+ and nail a bunch of rides.

This quite surprises me! I would have expected the dead of summer to be the worst for FPs!

Kids are generally good at compromise... Maybe you could tell the teenagers that they should experience one RD day- perhaps the MK Welcome Show? They can probably manage to get up early one day. Not like they are going to school! And since you are taking them on a vacation (amazing BTW), I am sure they will be appreciative and not expect to sleep until 11 each day. That would personally drive me crazy since I wake up early and I would be itching to go. I know teens need their rest, though, so I would definitely leave them in the room to sleep for a while and go to the parks in the AM. You will likely be back from your early morning stop at the park before they are even showered.

Have fun on your trips and good luck with the planning!!!

I think this is a great idea, we can mix rope drop with sleeping in, I think I can get their buy in on that no problem!

Take advantage of the later evening hours, especially after the fireworks shows.

Try to hit a lot of shows in the afternoon to keep you inside and air-conditioned when you're able to.

Bring a cooling towel--they really do help.

Stay hydrated.

Eat your weight in ice cream.

Will your cousins have PH tickets or Base tickets? If they have Park Hoppers, I'd still be tempted to take a small afternoon break--either to rest or swim--then hop to another park after dinner, and stay until closing.

A water park visit is never a bad idea in the summer. Or you could spend some time hopping around other resorts. Having a car makes that a lot easier.


I'm sure you'll have fun, no matter what you guys do!

The cooling towels really help? They always seemed gimmicky to me, I will have to try them! Evening hours will definitely be put to use, how do the crowds fair at the late summer hours?

Unfortunately due to a weird medical condition of mine, water parks are right out! Too bad, I used to love them when I could go!

Matt