Talk to me about summer trips

Calee

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
We are that family that went for our "first and probably only" trip sept 2016.

We went back again in early may 2018. We went to the MK for a day trip in Oct 2018 (given free one day tickets)

I clearly have the disney bug lol. We had said we were waiting til 2020 for our next trip but with GE opening in Novemberish I'm terrified that summer/fall of next year might be extra slammed and no discounts. Thoughts on that?

So I'm tentatively considering this summer. I'm terrified of summer crowds though. Is there a "better" time in July or early August to go?

My oldest starts middle school this year and as that is a new transition I am hesitant to pull him out of school in late august/September/may like weve done before which is why I'm looking at summer. School starts August 15th. Other than that we are flexible on dates and even days of the week as we have summers off.
 
Don’t be afraid to do summer. I had heard horror stories of crowds and tour groups in the summer. We went this past July 12-18 and were pleasantly suprised that crowds were lighter/VERY manageable. The only day that was above a 6 on the 0-10 crowd scale was Saturday the 14th and I am assuming it was due to Floridians coming in on the weekend. That being said, that same Saturday my son and I stayed for Disney After Hours and MK was virtually empty!!! The entire trip we were able to book hard-to-get ADRS at 180 out with ease and all the tough FPs were way easier than we expected to snag! It was melt-your-face-off hot, but if you hydrate, sunscreen, bring cooling towels, and alternate between outdoor/indoor attractions you will be glad you went in the summer. Plus, park hours are longer making for a no-brainer to break for a swim midday! I say if summer is the best time for you GO and ENJOY!!!!
 
I saw somewhere that the week of the 21st is expected to be lower crowds than the week of the 28th. Anyone know why that might be? Is there an event the week of the 28th I'm not aware of?
 
July and August are really hot, that is the only thing that would give me pause about a summer trip. Although, your September trip might have been just as toasty. So if you don't mind the heat, I would go for it, I think its just generally more crowded now, regardless of when you go.
 
I would avoid July 4th week. It will be hot and crowded, but I always enjoy a summer trip. I'm a crazy person who loves the sunshine and heat though.
 
We are huge summer at WDW fans. We've been there the past 4 summers in a row, for 2+ weeks each time, and probably a total of 8 summer trips since 2004.

WDW is always busy, so it is what it is. But within that realm of busy, summer is actually a "slower" time than many others. There is no better or worse time to go. We've been in weeks ranging from Memorial Day to late July and everywhere in between. July 4th is a fairly busy week, but honestly it's not really all that bad. The only crazy parts about that week are July 3rd and 4th at night in MK, which gets nuts. Beyond that, it's a great week to go.

Don't bother with the crowd calendars or "predictions". You may as well throws darts at a dart board, it'll be just as accurate. Nobody knows for sure what the crowd will be.

Here are some thoughts about summer:

We love it because not only can you hit the theme parks, it's also a wonderful time to hit the water parks. They are spectacular and worth the visit. They aren't as crowded as the theme parks, even in summer, but there is no FP+ so rope drop (10am) is key.

It's hot and humid, but it's summer in central Florida, so it's to be expected. Many people swear by mid-day breaks because of it. Nothing wrong with that if you want to do it, but you absolutely do not need to. Just use common sense. Ride the outdoor rides with no a/c in the early morning or at night. Things like Tomorrowland Speedway or Teacups. During the worst heat of the afternoon, it's the perfect time to do things like Philharmagic, Nemo, Pixar Films, Muppets, RnR (via FP+ so you're not outside), Kali, Bugs Life. You can spend almost the entire mid-day hours in a/c, except for walking between attractions.

All QS places give out free ice water. It's filtered, so it's clean and refreshing.

As I said, it's summer in central Florida, so it can be stormy. It may t-storm daily, it may not t-storm for you at all. We've had trips where we got a t-storm every day for a week straight. We've had trips where we literally only got stormed on twice in 17 days (it did storm more, but overnight). You just never know. The good thing is that a total washout day is uncommon. Not impossible, but not likely. Usually it's sunny, then if a storm rolls through it's nasty and then the sun comes back out. It could be storming like mad in AK but sunny in MK. Seriously. Just be prepared.

The 15s come to WDW in July. If you're not familiar, those are the (typically) South American tour groups. They're composed of anywhere from 20-70+ girls all 15 years old (it's a big b-day for them) who tour the parks. They all wear the same t-shirts and chant loudly as they go through the park. They're annoying if you get stuck with them, but don't have a huge impact on actual "crowd size".

Evenings are fabulous. The sun is down, but it's still really warm. Love it.

FP+ are plentiful. We go through 7-10 in a normal day.
 
We went in August and it was hot but there are so many place to cool down at Disney. They are misters different places and you can always go in souvenir shops for air conditioning. Go back to your hotel for the pool. I really enjoyed it.
 
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We are going first week in June this year. It has been a very long time since I've done summer at WDW. We have a very diverse group going...my parents who are in their 60s, dad hasn't been in 21 years, my 20 year old cousin, who it's her first time, my 15 yr old step son, also first time, my 19 month old son, also first time, my DH, 2nd time, and me.
What I like about summer are the hours...my last two trips have been in mid January and mid February. Hours are short, daylight is short. I'm looking forward to some later nights. I also like the idea it'll be daylight early. We have multiple days of PPO breakfasts to get into parks early, then break in the afternoon, then evenings everyone gets to do what they want. I like that I have that scope of time to work with in planning. Here's hoping they lengthen some of the evening hours even more.
 
We did our "first and probably only" trip this summer (although hopefully not our only!). We went the last two weeks of August, for several reasons:

1) Summer = not having to pull kids out of school, so we can stay longer.
2) Kids didn't go back to school until after Labor Day, so we could go at the end of Aug, when many other districts (including FL) were already back.
3) Wanted to skip the large tour groups we've read "wonderful" things about....
4) Wanted to skip super large July 4th crowds.

We knew it would be hot and humid and FL did not disappoint. We bought wetting towels and drank water constantly and spent as much time as we could in the A/C. Rope drop was a must, to get stuff done before it got too hot (like TSL). As far as the rain...it rained almost every day. Some days it was a light sprinkling, other days it felt like a monsoon. There were very few days where we didn't at least see gray clouds. The GOOD news is that for the showers that hit in the afternoon, it really cooled things off and the rest of the day was more manageable. We didn't do the water parks but did spend several evenings and free days at the pool.

The crowds were fine. I've been at Disneyland the week of Thanksgiving and been unable to move down Main Street in the afternoon. WDW in August wasn't like this at all! The only major crowd we got stuck in was the night we stayed for fireworks at MK. Other than that, I was really surprised at how manageable they were. We got every ADR we wanted (and something I found out, because I had signed up for *********** notifications, people really do drop ADR's the day before, so you still have a good chance of getting what you want even if your trip has already started.) We had no problem getting FP+ that we wanted.

Honestly, were it not for the sweltering heat and humidity, I would probably only go in the summer! (After walking in a sauna for 10 days I found that I had lost 5 pounds! :cool1:)
 
Hi we have been doing summer trips now for about 6 years since my DD got into middle school and now in High School. I enjoy the summer months I love the heat, the longer daytime hours, the water parks and you can swim at the resort. I agree with the tour groups in July. I would not go over 4th of July week. Personally we have gone the last week of July and the beginning week of August and have enjoyed it very much. I would certainly go for a summer trip. I agree taking kids out of middle and high school can be a big deal.
 
I have only been on summer trips both with my family as a teen and over the last several years with my own family. Summer trips are fine. Florida is hot, and there's always the chance of rain. A hat and sunblock are essential for a day in the parks. Other than the heat though, the crowds are manageable, at least IMO (and this includes several trips over july 4th week). Being a rope dropper helps - you can get a lot done before the huge crowds hit and before the peak afternoon sun.
 
We've done summer and Christmas which are both extremely busy times. Summer isn't as bad as everyone says. It's hot. If you don't like hot it's not your thing. There's a few key points when doing summers in WDW. Plan, plan, plan. Do rope drop as much as possible. It's usually a little cooler and the local crowds don't come until later in the morning. You'll be surprised how much can be done when you're there first thing in the morning. Stay hydrated, drink lots of water. Disney will give you free water with ice from the quick service restaurants. We carried our resort mugs with us and filled them with water whenever we could from the QS restaurants. There are lots of attractions with A/C that last much longer than the rides to get out of the heat like Mickey's Philharmagic, Carousel of Progress just to name a couple. It's a great way to cool down. And my last piece of advice, is take a break in the middle of the day and go to the resort and swim to cool off. Go back to the park around dinner time. Parks are open later in the summer so it's easier to take a few hours away from them and go back to the resort for some much needed down time in the heat.
 
We did our first Summer trip this past June. We used to pull our kids out of school, but our oldest is now old enough that we can't just pull her out without causing a huge ordeal, so we are now sticking to school breaks. We were nervous about crowds, but it really wasn't bad. The hardest part was the heat, but we took breaks in air conditioning when we needed it, and we watched all of the air conditioned shows. We drank tons of water, rope dropped, and always ate lunch inside of an air conditioned restaurant. We did go at a bit of a slower pace because hot can equal cranky people. Surprisingly the kids did well- it was an adult in our party who seemed to be most cranky by the heat. We also visited the water parks for the first time and we had just as much fun there as in the regular parks.
 
Our favorite thing about summer is the lack of festivals in Epcot and parties in the magic kingdom. It’s so much easier to plan your days when you’re not trying to plan around these.
 
We love visiting Disney in the summer! You already got a lot of great advice, so I’m just here to say don’t be worried about a summer trip.
 
As many have said in here and on other threads, the cliche of 'busy times' is more or less a thing of the past. It's always busy! lol... The biggest thing about going in summer is the temperature differential. Once you factor that into your plans I think it is just like most trips. The best temps for me were in mid feb. Very comfortable and even maybe a sweatshirt or hoodie at night! But its Florida, its hot a humid all year haha. I think over the past few years we have been at most times of the year Feb was good but more things were closed so people were diverted to other rides so the perception was it was just as busy, but numerically it probably wasn't. I know some have conspiracy theories as to whey Disney does this on purpose lol but thats what it felt like.

All in all, go at the best time and the bets price for you.
 
I only go in the summer. I prefer August over July though and later August but with my kids sports schedule and my old work schedule that hasn’t worked in a few Disney trips!

One of the things I love about summer is that you don’t have to wonder what the weather will be and bring multiple seasons of clothes. Shorts, shirt sleeve shirts and bathing suit. No long sleeves, pants or coats of any kind.

We go early. If the park opens at 8, we are there no later then 7:30. With TSL, one day we were there at 6:20 since we had a car and the other day we walked (that was not fun) and were here by 6:30. We leave the parks once we have lunch and rest. August was the first trip since I had kids that there was no nap. When we went in 2013 my kids were 12, 9 and 7 so mid day we took a rest in the room to cool off, nap and then shower. In August there was no napping and we went to the pool although my dh hung in the room a bit and my 17 yo did lay down since she is the one that needs a nap still!

We also only drink water on park days. No soda allowed, unless you are at the pool and filling up your resort mug. We had a big huge container that we used in 2008 but it stayed in the stroller and we filled it with tap water...gag...so it was difficult to drink. 2013 we shipped water and each kid had their own thermos bottle as did dh and I. 2018 we went to super target and did a grocery run for breakfast, some snacks and water. We carry extra water on us and replenish when we do evening park time.

Like i said, we go early. We have lunch in the park and then return to the resort, shower (again) and return to the park for the evening.

I don’t do dining, it just doesn’t work out for us. We were able to split some meals.

Non park days are vital. It’s hot but in reality everything has a/c (just about) so it’s tolerable. Normally I plan about 3 non park days. When we went in 2013, we had 5 park days, 2 travel days, a water park day and 2 non park days. It was t enough rest, lol! So when we went in 2018, we did a park every other day. Arrival day was a pool day and then we started the encrypted day with a park. I wish I had one more non park day because we went to a water park and it was actually relaxing sicne we rented a cabana (or whatever they have at blizzard beach).

So you are probably hearing the groans my kids made for our 2018 trip as I reminded them we were leaving at 6am for DHS “why so early” but I reminded them every other day they could sleep in. My older 2 wanted to go back to TSL and SDD and RnR so I told them the only day it would work was moving day and we’d have to leave at 6 again and they were fine with that. That is the day the bait wasn’t running so we walked. We ride SDD and they were in RnR by 7:05. They could of went on again but though I would of said no (I waited for them) and we were back on the boat by 7:30.

The only day we were sweltering was a morning we did Epcot. We did future world and wanted to see voices of Liberty. It was so hot...it was too mid day for me! I couldn’t wait to jump in the pool!

So basically drink water and rest!
 
We love going in the summer! Yes, it's so very hot, but if you plan it right, it's totally tolerable. We rope drop, take advantage of EMH, take a long mid-day break and go back for dinner and the night. We usually go at the end of August and it's not super busy, but I wouldn't hesitate to go earlier in the summer. I'd choose Aug over July, but that's just because that's what works for us.
 
We go every summer. If you could go in early June I find its not quite as humid, but weather is unpredictable so that may not always be true. Its hot. I hate hot. Actually I hate humidity. I do fine. Get to the parks at opening. Drink water even if you think you aren't thirsty. Wear a hat. Tons of sunscreen. We don't take breaks anymore but when the kids were younger we did. I think the crowds aren't that bad. It seems like most people leave around lunch (1-4pm is the HOTTEST) so the crowds thin out. If it rains, people leave. Don't leave! The lines are shorter! People come back to the parks after dinner, so I feel evenings are busier.
 
I've only been in the summer once....twice. Back in 1987 as a graduation present and back in 2000 to take my mom, sister, and her three daughters. Don't remember much about the 87 trip, but the summer 2000 one wasn't bad at all. Yes it was hot, but we drank lots of water and would duck into rides or shops to cool off if we got too hot. We usually left the parks around 1 to go back to the hotel to rest and would return in the evening. Lately, we've been going during spring break and I enjoy that time as well. The only reason I chose summer for this trip was because at the time I was planning it, I didn't know if my son and I would have the same spring break. I teach in one district and he goes to school in another. This year we do have the same spring break, but we chose to keep it a summer trip because the trip is supposed to be a congratulations on making it to 6th grade trip! party::cheer2: I'm REALLY looking forward to it this year as I've read here that the summers are actually a bit "slower" than they used to be. Even though I've lived in FL since 1994 and have become accustomed to the obnoxious hot weather, I've chosen for my son and I to go in June instead of July. We'll be there the second week.

Have fun! Don't panic! You'll be in Disney! :hug: :jumping1:
 

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