Is August that bad?

[sweetnjmom]

We'll be there August 23 - 31 this year. It will be our first trip in August, but not our first trip. We know it will be HOT - we are NOT planning to push ourselves to do everything - and we're going with a "we'll see what we see" attitude. We got a GREAT room rate for the Polynesian - it's pretty much the only week we can go (don't have alternate child care) and we've been told the crowds are lower that week. We realize it's not as low as it was years ago, but the great room rate, decent airfare and (hopefully) lower crowds was a draw.

We'll have either 2 sets of clothes per day -- lots of moisture wicking items -- or will do laundry mid trip. We'll have cooling towels, fans and tons of water. And I'm planning to wear my Teva Tirra sandals for the most part. I'll have multiple pairs of sneakers for my son, expecting them to get wet, and I'll probably load up on disposable ponchos.

 

[shocker]

The heat is one thing. The humidity is really rough. I was taking at least two showers a day.

And have more bras, underwear, and socks than you think, you will want to dry out in the heat of the day when you go back to your room for an extended a/c break, then go back in the evening. All clothing needs to be wicking/performance and use an all over body deodorant (not perfumy).

 

[shocker]

My advice would be to plan for the heat, including knowing that you will tire faster. Drink more water than you think you need (believe me, I felt so sick and almost passed out the first day because I didn’t drink enough). You can definitely do Disney in Aug and have a great time!

I recommend electrolyte drinks for breakfast and as most coaches will say "hydration begins before the race", serious efforts to hydrate should begin in the days before you arrive at WDW, especially if flying which will also zap fluid levels. Also, for my children I always held drinking water over their heads (not heavy handed) just things like "we'll go ride "X" as soon as you finish "X" amount of water" or "your lunch soda may be drank after you drink this cup of water" or "you can have a churro as soon as that bottle of water is empty" or even "we're not leaving for the park until your breakfast drink is all gone." Always monitor output (potty breaks or diaper changes) to know if the group is staying hydrated. I also used high water content snacks (grapes, watermelon, applesauce) to sort of trick them into more fluid intake.

 

[StraightToDumbo]

Expectation management is the key. When it's hot, we expect to only be able to withstand so much. These are the trips when we usually utilize the pool/resort amenities way more. For this reason, we usually more carefully choose our resort for summer trips than at other times.

 

[Imamom2]

We'll have either 2 sets of clothes per day -- lots of moisture wicking items -- or will do laundry mid trip. We'll have cooling towels, fans and tons of water. And I'm planning to wear my Teva Tirra sandals for the most part. I'll have multiple pairs of sneakers for my son, expecting them to get wet, and I'll probably load up on disposable ponchos.[/QUOTE]

Several shoes are a must - just a quick downpour will soak sneakers and I found that it took forever for them to dry. We put them out on the balcony and the humidity was rough. In the A/C it took a long time, too. I actually put sneakers in the dryer several times.

 

[Tinker_Belle]

And have more bras, underwear, and socks than you think, you will want to dry out in the heat of the day when you go back to your room for an extended a/c break, then go back in the evening. All clothing needs to be wicking/performance and use an all over body deodorant (not perfumy).

We'll have either 2 sets of clothes per day -- lots of moisture wicking items -- or will do laundry mid trip. We'll have cooling towels, fans and tons of water. And I'm planning to wear my Teva Tirra sandals for the most part. I'll have multiple pairs of sneakers for my son, expecting them to get wet, and I'll probably load up on disposable ponchos.

Several shoes are a must - just a quick downpour will soak sneakers and I found that it took forever for them to dry. We put them out on the balcony and the humidity was rough. In the A/C it took a long time, too. I actually put sneakers in the dryer several times.[/QUOTE]

YES! I prefer Sketchers sandals, but any good walking sandal is your friend. I despise ponchos though...the heat really gets trapped in there, but I do bring them in case of all-day rain; otherwise we just duck it out.

 

[GeneralTso]

Responding directly to your question: YES!

 

[kathy884]

Responding directly to your question: YES!

This is exactly what I was going to say. I stick to water based activities and air conditioned activities in Florida during the whole summer. I don't like heat and humidity and think it's a terrible time to go to a theme park. Short days, mist fans, Frog Tog towels, lots of water, can allow you to survive, but personally unless i have to be down there for some reason (conference/wedding), I stay out of the state of Florida that time of year.

As you can see from this post, many people differ in that opinion and think the lower crowds make it a good choice with strategies. I have a different opinion.

 

[Tomh]

August is both hot, and crowded. Did I say HOT?

That having been said, it is not THAT bad. We go every year in late August, and manage to have a great time. Plan accordingly, make sure you pay extra attention to staying hydrated, and getting out of the heat for a bit when ever you can, and you should be fine, and have a wonderful vacation.

 

[ArwenMarie]

August isn't that bad, we've been going for quite a few years now in August. The biggest thing for us is that we can only do the parks in the morning or the evenings. It's just too hot (and stormy) for us in the afternoons. Which is fine, we were never 12-hour-a-day park people anyway, but it is different than when you go at cooler times of the year.

We're also really careful not to backtrack in the parks...extra walking will kill us in that heat.

In general, we find that we have to be ok with getting less done than we could at a cooler time of the year. It's the only lower-crowd time of the year that works for us right now, but I would never voluntarily choose it