Anyone at WDW last week? (Aug 8--)

[Maleficent_vf]

What was it like at WDW last week (August 8 - 13)? Did the weather and the crowd levels make it impossible to have a good time?

My BFF was there with her family for the first time. It sounds like their visit was less than magical...the heat, the thunderstorms, it was crowded and general family crankiness seem to be the causes. While Disney has no control over any of the issues she listed it obviously impacted their impression.

While I've been urging her to go for years, I did so with some trepidation because I had a feeling the trip might go awry for one reason or another. Alas, my fears seem to have come true (at least to a certain degree). I just enjoy going so much, it's hard to think that someone could have a bad time there...or even a so-so time.

[faline]

We left Disney on August 3rd. I can say I'm glad it wasn't my first visit. It was extremely hot and humid. During the time we were there, there was very little rain. Crowds were sporadic - some things had long lines; other things did not.

[Daisy'sMom]

And it's still hot and humid! I can't wait til Nov, hopefully we will get relief.
Dh wanted to drive over to Epcot on Saturday, I told him to call when he gets there

[mermaidmarian]

We were at WDW from the 9th to the 16th. Some members of my family traveled on the 6th, and I understand that the weekend was not great weather. Beyond that though, I did not find the weather to be a substantial factor. There were afternoon thundershowers (typical for August) most days, but only one afternoon would I consider a washout with thunderstorms and heavy rain well into the evening. As far as humidity, we have been very hot and humid here in New England all summer, so it felt no different than what I am already aclimated to.

I don't think the crowds were that big of a deal either. I understand from my family members that arrived ahead of us that they experienced nearly walk on at MK on Saturday the 7th. For the balance of our trip, I thought that crowds were average or as expected. We had no problems getting and using FP to make sure that we were able to ride our favorite attractions. We also use single rider stand by when available. The only attraction related annoyance was that Splash was down for the evening 2 nights that we were at MK. We also were able to dine TS at Artist's Point, Boma, Biergarten and Cape May WITHOUT ADR and with no wait.

In my experience, there are people who love going to WDW and people who just don't get it and don't really like it. I actually have some of those kinds of friends (go figure!) It's possible that your friend (or the members of her traveling party) just don't get it.

[kakn7294]

We were also just there Aug 7 - 15. We had more rain than in the past but other than Sunday, Aug 8, most days the rain was the typical Florida afternoon showers. The weather was also typically hot and humid although that was worse than expected by the end of the week - the heat index was 118 - 110 on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Aug 12 - 14. Crowds were definately there but less than I have experienced in the past and less than I expected, especially in the mornings. I could easily see how the high heat and humidity could have made for a less-than-magical experience for newbies as I actually had some trouble with it myself and it usually doesn't bother me like it did this time.

[JROriole8Fan]

We arrived 7/20 and departed 8/14. The week you mentioned did have more rain than before, but no more than a typical FL Aug. It was however exceedingly hot. Talking to many different cast members who have lived/worked there for 20+ years, they stated that it was hotter this summer than they ever remember. We felt the same and have been there in Aug for the past 20 years too. The crowds we normal and not a problem.

[Tinkerfreak]

We have been when it is cooler around 80 and when it was 92 to 95 and I can see how the hear really does impact the trip and take some of the magic out of it. I get really cranky in the heat! I can honestly say that as much as we love to go if we had gone for the first time when it was hot and crowded we probably would not have been as anxious to go back. Our first trip was in Oct. 2002 and the weather was perfect and crowd levels low and it was a totally different experience than some of our later trips in May that were hotter and more crowded.

[Rekenna]

We weren't there that week. But, I can say from experience-the "magicalness" of everything is much easier to enjoy when the weather is pleasant. I know DH totally changed his opinion from our 1st trip together as a family to our 2nd trip as a family-b/c of the weather (May vs. Fall timing). So for us it does make a difference-no matter how happy you try to be!

[MarkC]

Its not just the weather. I'm guessing most of us on this board are veterans and really know how to attack the park to minimize waits and ride what we want. I've had friends and neigbhors go and I've given them advice on how to maximize their time. The ones that took my advice thanked me and told me how helpful it had been. The ones that didn't or didn't have a plan came back complaining about crowds, or that they slept in and didn't get to the parks until 11am and wondered why the rides had lines. Duh.

[MKFD43]

We were there from the first to the 16th. It was hot and humid. But the crowds were low. We were able to get into Crystal Palace with 9 people, and Cape may with 12 with no ADR and no Waiting. I havent scene that in years. Fantasmic was cancelled due to technical difficulties the night we were there and toystory had a 150 minutes wait. The fast pass worked out well as I was the runner to get the tickets while the others went on the less busy rides.We froze bottles of water the night before and piled them into a grocery bag and wrapped them into a towel to keep em melting slowly. One thing the Mk needs is a splash fountain area to get a little wet on hot days. The spitting tikis and water cannon at SMarent enough.

[sbcummings]

We were there from the 12 to the 18th. For us, the first couple of days, the crowed levels seamed low. I think its becuase we caught the last couple of days of the gift card promo. Once the free dining promo started, the crowds really jumped. Tuesday the 17th was crazy croweded at MK.

[mrmcgiv]

We just got back at 5:00 am this morning. We were there 8/11-8/19. I just logged on to post how pleasantly surprised I was by the low crowds. Maybe we hit a small pocket of low crowds or picked the right parks the right days.
Our first park day was Thur 8/12 at MK, and even htough they had AM EMH the crowds were low IMO! We arrived at 8:30 and used fast passes wisely and we did almost everything we wanted to do by 2:30. We rode everything in Fantasyland, Buzz, pirates, monsters inc, show in front of castle, lunch at cosmic rays, raceway, barnstormer, saw fairies and mickey and minnie in toon town. We watched parade at 3 and went back to resort amd returned at night to do a few more things and see fireworks and parade. We easily walked up 10 mons before parades and fireworks and got front row seats! We did not wait in ANY lines at all between fast passes and low crowds. We returned yesterday 8/19 at 9:30 to do BTMRR , SM, Pirates and Hall of presidents and again we walked on w/ no fast passes! The park was more crowded but the lines were not! We also got front row at the pirate tutorial and my son got picked to go up with Jack Sparrow!

Last Fri we went to DHS (our only rain out day) and again low crowds and low lines! We only needed Fast passes for TSM. We waited only 20 mins to get both kids in at Jedi Training. Right after the rain it was SUPER hot though.

Sat at Epcot again low crowds for the most part. There were more people around, but w/ fast pass use we waited very little. Even got in the character spot in 20 mins or so!

Mon eve at epcot we walked up 10 mins befroe illuminations and had great front row veiwing!

Tues back at DHS was a bit more crowded but still not too bad. IT WAS HOT! Indiana Jones was crowded!

Wed at AK, were moderate crowds, but w/ Fast pass use we did everything (but Dinosaur, triceratops spin and the other one in dino land) from 11-6 including trails and shows and all rides (we skipped parade though)


The heat was what it was! It was hot, but we managed, took breaks etc We did hear there were some rainy days before we arrived and there usually was a thunder shower every day. I anticipated the heat and crowds to be reall bad and neither were!

[Belster]

The weather in August is the exact reason why I switched from going in August (we went for 10 years in August) to October. Much better weather.