August is part of North American summer. Most students in the United States are not in school during the bulk of August, but they begin returning later in the month. Like July, August is also incredibly hot, which keeps crowds from getting too excessive.
The net result of these two effects is that August crowds tend to be average to low. You can see the hotel rate table at MouseSavers. Below is a look at the most common standard room rates in August compared to some other periods of the year. This is a very crude analysis, as prices can vary if deals are available, or if you pick a certain room type or visit for example during a peak weekend in an otherwise boring month.
Once the value dates of January and early February pass, those prices never return. Summer, including most of August, typically sees a discount offer announced during the beginning of the year.
You can see historical Disney World discount information here. The end of August typically falls into free dining territory. August is a popular month at the parks. Lengthy ride refurbishments are uncommon during the summer months. Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach are both open during August, and they face almost no risk of closure due to cold temperatures a problem in cooler months. August is also one of the wettest months, with an average of 15 rainy days two less than July.
We have a post that talks more broadly about weather at Walt Disney World. August is the start of the core of hurricane season in Florida. Since , the Walt Disney World parks have had to close eight times due to Hurricanes. Two closures were in August, five were in September, and one was in October.
The closures ranged from 0. If these things become more common, we might see an August closure soon. On the safety front, hurricanes are predicted in advance, and Orlando is relatively inland on Florida. The weather might not be safe enough for theme parks to operate, but the structures at Walt Disney World will rarely be significantly threatened.
Our last August trip was cut short by a hurricane and it was an easy decision for us to leave because we had been planning to stay at Wilderness Lodge. The other big reason to leave Walt Disney World is that inland Florida is an escape for coastal floridians during the hurricane. Generally, they need the room and the boxed lunches more than you do. You might look into some form of travel insurance for this, but read the terms carefully. When our trip was cut short, we had booked as we almost always do through our travel agent, Lauren Quirk.
Lauren handled all our cancellations and refunds, which allowed us to focus on our reduced time on vacation. While hurricanes might sound scarier, heat is a significantly bigger actual risk. August in Florida is miserable. The heat and humidity make mid afternoons unbearable. There are two aspects of this to consider. All of this makes you feel like the parks are more crowded than they are in reality. One thing to look out for is Disney increasing theme park capacity again, which is possible by the time August gets here.
There is no beating around the bush…the weather at Disney World in August is terrible. The combination of extreme temperatures, humidity and tons of rain make it one of the worst months to visit.
August and July are comparable and by far the hottest months of the year. From the time you step out of the airport and that heat smacks you straight in the face, you will begin to second-guess yourself as to why you ever decided to choose August to come to Orlando. The problem is the high temperatures begin early in the morning and and last into the night.
The only time it cools down slightly is after am, when you are likely to be in bed. Thank goodness literally every indoor space at Disney World is air-conditioned.
If you end up going, make sure you drink plenty of water as dehydration and heat exhaustion are both possible. Swimming — On the other hand, if you plan on swimming a lot, August can be a great month to visit. We end up spending almost every afternoon at our resort pool as the parks get way too hot.
Use the mornings to your advantage to get on as many rides as possible, then head back to the hotel and get some rest by the pool. Rain — August is the rainiest month of the year at Walt Disney World.
In Orlando it rains approximately If you visit Florida in the Summer, just go into it knowing it will rain at some point most every day. Usually, they are just passing afternoon thunderstorms and after an hour or two, they sun will come back out and you can resume whatever you were doing. If there is a bigger storm system in the area, you might get rained out for a day or two during your trip.
You should have some alternative activities planned for indoors in case that happens. Though they are still rare, visiting during August and September are the likeliest times a hurricane will strike and you should know the risk first before planning your trip during this time of the year.
Daylight — The one nice thing about the weather at Disney World in August is the long daylight hours. On average, Orlando, Florida has 13 hours and 7 minutes of sunlight in the month of August. In fact, it has almost an hour more sunlight than September. Extremely high temperatures and humidity plus tons of rain and the hurricane factor all bring the whole month down.
In that respect, you are better off going in the very beginning of Summer, or waiting for the Fall when things cool down some. What should you wear to Disney World in August? Since the temperatures are super high, you obviously will want to dress as light as possible during the day and also most nights.
In fact, the summer months are probably the easiest to pack for at Disney World and you will have fewer clothes in your suitcase.
Your go-to outfit is going to be shorts and a t-shirt or tank top. We do recommend women bringing a light sweater or jacket for dinner since most of the restaurants are just short of being in a freezer with the amount of air conditioning that is used.
Of course, before going to Orlando you want to check the forecast for your trip. The weather can change rapidly and you should pack according to the forecast. Swimsuits are a must in August and you will likely spend a few days, or parts of days sitting by the pool and swimming.
Rain is likely to happen every day as well as strong thunderstorms so bring appropriate gear to help you stay as dry as possible. We recommend buying some cheap ponchos back home and bringing them with you. Again, this will save you a ton of money as they are easily x the price at Disney World. No matter the season, you are going to need a good pair of walking shoes at Walt Disney World. Unless you are already training for a marathon, this will probably be the most you walk in a day all year long so make sure your feet are as comfortable as possible.
Our average is miles per day and even getting as high as 12 miles at times so good sneakers are a must! For the most part since the reopening, theme park hours in have been reduced compared to what they normally are. On average, park hours have been cut by hours each day. Thankfully, this too has been slowly coming back to normal and Disney has increased the theme park hours to accomodate the increase in guests.
Park hours are way up from and this should only continue into the fall with the 50th anniversary coming up. This makes it much cheaper than the spring months and even June and July. With kids going back to school in August, Disney usually offers lower pricing to entice travelers to come down for a late-summer visit.
August is usually the start of the popular Disney Free Dining Plan promotion, though with limited dates. These discounts and relatively cheap pricing for Disney World standards is one of the only reasons we would recommend going in August. These prices are before taking into consideration extra promotions.
Below are the prices for a standard room per night at 3 different Walt Disney World Resort hotels. We chose one from each hotel tier, Value , Moderate , and Deluxe. The prices show the base prices during the various seasons of the year compared with August:. You can see from the chart that August is below average for resort hotel prices with some of the months falling into the Summer and Value categories.
Almost all other times of the year are more expensive than the second half of August. Friday and Saturday nights are also more expensive than Sunday-Thursday. Again, these are just the base prices, and you might even find a cheaper rate depending on what special promotions are available. Do keep in mind that September is also the height of Orlando's rainy season. You should prepare for daily afternoon thunderstorms and possibly even more rain.
The days after Thanksgiving leading up to the week of Christmas are also a good time to visit Disney World, although not as good as they used to be. With the popularity of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party or this year's Disney Very Merriest After Hours, which is held on select nights in November and December, and other factors, those days are also getting busier. Some days in January, and some in February, are also great times to visit.
The least crowded time we have ever experienced was in January, the week after the Walt Disney World Marathon. The big drawback to visiting at this time is reduced park hours and often scaled-back entertainment. While there isn't much rain, there are cold fronts that can make swimming chilly but still doable most of the time. Finally, this is when many rides go through refurbishment. When it's earlier, you can expect a shorter, more intense "spring break" season — and therefore, more crowds at Disney World.
When it's later, there is generally a longer but less intense season as school districts vary more on when they let kids out. In , Easter fell on April 4. In , Easter falls on April For this reason, we expect an overall more crowded but shorter spring break "season" in than in Let's hop over to the holidays. These are popular times for families to make trips to Disney World, and rightly so.
The Christmas holiday season especially, which runs from mid-November through the first of the new year at Disney World, is a wonderful time to visit because the parks are decorated and there are many fun special events. Many families love the atmosphere around the holidays, even with the extra crowds. The parks are most crowded around the following holidays:. If you're thinking of visiting during these times, be sure to check out our tips and tricks for visiting during spring break , Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The other holidays also see an increase in crowds, although they are less pronounced than the ones above. Let me throw out a caveat though: All of the following holidays will likely be busier than normal in This is because most Americans who want a vaccine will have gotten it, and it's possible that many travel restrictions could be lifted as a result. Well, there you have it — the best times to visit Disney World in and Let us know your favorite time of year to visit Disney World in the comments below!
Curious how busy Disney World will be when you plan to visit? Check out our Crowd Calendar. I'm doing a project for school about the best times to go to Disney World based on the number of people there monthly. I was wondering where I can find discrete data from the parks about how many people visit the parks monthly to use for my project. Any suggestions on whether I should do Sunday or Monday?? We'd recommend going on Monday based off wait times from the past couple of weeks, as well as the fact that Very Merriest will be taking place on Sunday night so you would be getting an additional hour in the park since it's not closing early on Monday.
I see you don't have marathon time Jan listed as worst time to visit. Are you expecting this coming marathon not to impact crowds as much as in the past? Thanks for pointing this out - we've shifted our dates accordingly! We definitely expect the marathon to increase crowds. I am looking to schedule for our family to go to disney world next you but it would have to be summer time as kids are in school.
I was looking at going around June , is that time frame still going to be busy or is that before the big rush? Also any thoughts on weather at that time of year? While you should still expect crowds, early June is better than later in the month, July or the first half of August. By June, the weather will be hot, humid and rainy unfortunately, there's no way to avoid it in the summer but July and August can reach even higher temperatures.
So a summer vacation during early June would be your best bet! Alternatively, you could also consider the second half of August if your kids are still out of school. Thanks for all the helpful information! Is it only because of the crowd level or also because some rides would be unavailable because of the half marathon happening that week? THanks again for your input! It'll be busy because of Presidents Day weekend earlier in the week and then the Princess Half Marathon later in the week, but most rides should be available unless they're under scheduled refurbishment.
The race shouldn't affect or cause any ride closures since the races start early in the morning, but transportation might be the trickiest with road closures so we'd suggest to account for extra time and maybe Uber or drive yourself to the parks if you want to rope drop.
Looking to take a 7 day Disney trip in either April or May Which week would have the lowest crowds? Crowds will be fairly similar, though you might start running into Memorial Day Weekend crowds on the last day or two of your proposed May trip.
April would have the better weather as well, so we'd go with April! At this time, we aren't aware of any discounts for seniors - but you can see all of our discounted ticket rates here! Hi, we are planning our trip to Disney March Is this a good time or will it be too crowded? Should we change it to September? You'd be catching the first week of the spring break season, so it may be more crowded than the previous weeks leading up to it, but there won't be peak spring break crowds just yet since local schools have spring break scheduled for the following week, March Hi, I'm booked to go 14thst Jan , why is this in the worst dares to go please?
US and UK kids are in school as I understand it and there's no major events other than 50th anniversary. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day falls on Jan. Generally, it's not as busy as the holidays, but any time there is a national holiday, crowds tend to increase over the long weekend. Obviously there is something special about going during Christmastime and since I'm such a fan of the holiday, I'm worried that going in February will leave something to be desired.
However, I'm afraid this December will be extra crowded due to "revenge travel" and the 50th anniversary- making it less enjoyable.
Do you think the possibility of lower crowds early February makes it worth the consideration? I'm really having a hard time getting my brain off of Christmas at Disney, but there is something nice about having a trip planned during the depressing wintery month of February. Have you been during this time and what are your thoughts? It ultimately depends on what you prefer more — Christmas festivities or lower crowds!
In previous years though, early December has been one of the best times to go during the holiday season, as it's right after Thanksgiving but before Christmas vacations begin. While it is toadally possible that it may be busier than usual due to the 50th anniversary, we could still say the same thing in late Jan. If you've got your heart set on Christmas at Disney, we'd say go for it! Do you have any suggestions? Thank you! You'll likely see higher crowds toward the end of your trip because of Presidents Day Weekend, and that is usually the busiest time during February.
However, the week before should see moderate crowds, as the first half of February is generally a great time to visit. We'd stick with your original dates, especially considering your large group and how difficult it would be to change vacation days! You list Jan as being one of the best days to visit in Will the marathon not impact crowds? And I noticed that October is still listed as a great time to visit in Worries about crowds then too?!
Great catch - thank you for bringing the Marathon to our attention! It definitely will impact crowds, and as such, our recommended dates have shifted in to Jan. As for October, while we think that the beginning and towards Halloween will be busy, we still expect weekdays to be pretty manageable albeit busier than a usual October.
Hope this helps! Probably only 2 park days, during the week. Which timeframe is most likely less busy? We'd go with the week of Feb. Those dates will fall right before the spring breaks for colleges March and public schools March in the area. Generally, the spring break season is from the beginning of March to the week following Easter, so any week could have potential for crowds. But the most crowded times during the spring break season are usually when local schools are out and the weeks before and after Easter, which will be later in April.
Any week in October won't be the best time to visit unless you like crowds. It's going to be crazy at Disney in October! Any suggestions? Early March or late April would be our recommendation in - it may still be a bit chilly at night, but overall, the weather should be enjoyable. Have fun!
My wife and i are planning a trip this year and visiting the 4 parks from Nov 7thth. I have been to Disney a few times and this will be her first time visiting the parks. I'd hope she really enjoys the time there and i hope this isn't too busy of a time for us to go. Any suggestions about these days? You can see a breakdown by day on our Crowd Calendar. Have a great time! We plan to visit Disney World the 1st week of March next year and wanted to know when should I purchase park tickets?
At this time, the Theme Park Reservation Availability calendar is showing open availability for all four theme parks that week, so you don't have to worry about jumping on it right now. But do keep in mind that the first week of March usually marks the start of the spring break season, so it wouldn't hurt to get your tickets at the earliest you're able to, as you cannot make theme park reservations until you have your tickets.
Me and my partner were looking to visit Coronado Springs for 10 days in May The two dates we were looking at were the 11th May to the 21st, and the 15th May to the 25th. Either is fine! May in general is a great time to go since it's between spring break and summer vacations.
If we had to choose, we'd go with May 11 to 21, as some families schedule around Memorial Day Weekend with extra days before and after the holiday weekend, which may affect the last couple days of your trip. We will be at Universal Studios on Oct. Are the crowds OK? And the rest of the week until Friday we will be at Disney. Is that OK? We'd suggest switching the days for Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios to maximize your time. Universal Studios would close early 5 p.
Columbus Day Weekend is busy since it's a holiday weekend, but the rest of the week usually has moderate crowds. Is there a chance of parks shutting down? Will crowds be impacted by recent Covid changes and Disney mask mandates being reinstated?
Do the frogs have any ideas? Since the Disney Parks have reopened, Disney has kept a close eye on CDC recommendations and continues to update their policies accordingly in an effort to keep both guests and cast members safe and healthy. We unfortunately can't predict operational changes in the parks, but we do anticipate that guests will continue to visit, especially as we reach Our best advice is to plan a vacation that YOU are comfortable with - and know that your ticket never loses its value in case you'd like to be flexible with your plans : Of course, if you have any questions related to a purchase, please give us a call at 1 - we're hoppy to help!
I could use some advice on when to go for Problem is our Spring break is the week leading up to Easter, so probably a crazy busy time. What would your advice be to my indecisiveness? We think it depends on which will bother you more: crowds or heat. April would be cooler, but since you'd be going right before Easter, it would likely be more crowded than summer, which is still busy but crowds are more spread out.
If you decide on a summer trip, then we'd suggest June early June is best, if possible over July. We have tips to help you beat the heat or manage spring break crowds.
So how would May June 1 be as far as heat and crowds? It would have Memorial Day weekend right in the middle. Any advice very much appreciated!!! But Memorial Day Weekend will be busy with higher level crowds. However, if heat is ultimately your deciding factor, we'd still stick to April.
When would be ideal? Traveling with kids ages 10,7,5. It's tough to have it all, but early September is one of the least crowded times of the year. If you are planning for , Disney World's 50th Anniversary Celebration would still be going on — it starts Oct. I was wondering if you could expand more on why you say Feb will be one of the worst times in ?
We were hoping to go in that time frame for my birthday. I know President's day weekend is the start of that, but why through to the 27th?
It is mainly for the Presidents Day weekend you'll see the biggest crowds during the long weekend , but some families stay for a few extra days during the week. For best times in , you have Jan Feb. Why is Feb th not included in the "best times"? Will President's Day affect that date? Yes, you're exactly right! Presidents Day Weekend is typically the busiest weekend in February, and it can affect the week leading up to it and a few days afterwards though the weekend in particular can bring in the largest crowds.
Thank you for all your great information! I noticed you mentioned that parks are often operating on more limited hours in January. I was wondering how limited?
Will places like the magic kingdom still be open from 9am-7pm or will their hours of operation be even shorter? Thanks for hopping by! This can differ slightly from year to year, but hopefully it gives you a good idea of what to expect :. Thank you for the awesome site! We had to cancel our December trip and have rebooked for Jan st! We have three boys ages and will also be bringing along our Moms.
Just wondering what other tips you might have for this particular time of year? Thank YOU for hopping by! Winter in Florida will most likely feel warmer to you, especially since you're coming from Minnesota! However, the weather in January can be very unpredictable. We'd recommend layers that you can easily take off during the day when it gets warmer. But if you happen to be here when a cold front passes through, it can reach high temps in the 50s and low temps in the 30s, which may require more layers.
There really isn't too much of a difference, in terms of crowds at least. Hope this helps you narrow it down! How to manage the heat and humidity?
We have a post about staying cool at Disney World that may help you beat the heat! Disney transportation is easy and convenient but not always the most reliable.
We definitely recommend factoring in plenty of transportation time into your day. Though you are going at a less crowded time, so you may not have to wait as long as you would during a peak time.
I am booked the week of January nd, Why is that marked as not a good week? This will be our first and probably only WDW trip. Thank you. Since there is a long weekend with Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the 17, crowds will likely be elevated. We are planning a Disney trip for We would like to go when there are less crowds but still be able to go swimming. Should we go the first week of May or the first week October or would there be a better time to go?
Thank you for your help! We think that either option would work just fine. In terms of crowds, they're pretty similar. We also like to consider the weather and any events hoppening. In terms of weather, May would be better as mid-October marks the end of the wet season in Florida, but for events, October has the advantage with fun Halloween decor and festivities.
Both will fall during the 50th Anniversary Celebration though, so you won't miss out on that! Ultimately, the final decision comes down to your preferences, but we hope this helps you weigh the two options! My partner and i are looking into going from the 5th to the 13th of November. We are planning on going to the parks from the 6th to the 9th.
How busy would you think the parks would be. I understand that the weekend would be a bit busy but what about that Monday and Tuesday? Thank you so much for your help! As you mentioned, weekends will be busier than weekdays, but overall, it looks like a great time to visit mostly 4s and 5s!
You can see a day-by-day prediction on our Crowd Calendar. We are planning a trip to Disney World with a group of ten at the beginning of January I recently read that Disney has unofficially set dates for the Disney Run during the time we have reservations. Instead of just one weekend, like in the past, the run is scheduled for a whole week.
All of us want to enjoy time at the parks and at the resort. Do you think we should reschedule for the end of January when there will be fewer crowds?
Or isn't there a big difference from the beginning of January during the Disney Run and the end of January? Thank you for your thoughts on this.
The Disney Marathon weekend does bring some elevated crowds than perhaps other weekends in January, but you would likely see the impact more with hotel reservations, dining reservations and transportation particularly in the mornings , rather than inside the parks. Some are there solely to run, while others do stick around. The races themselves start very early in the morning, so most of the running events do not have a large impact during park hours, except for Epcot where the full marathon ends and transportation in the mornings if you want to rope drop.
0コメント