August Vs. September Rain and Hurricane Threats

[ObsessedWDisney]

I am at a dead end and so afraid I will make the wrong choice. I know August is very hot and I can deal with the heat. What I don't like is the rain!! I went to Disney the end of August and left September 1st. We got parts of the Hurricane and it sadly ruined our trip I am a HUGE sun person and since I live in NY and have 5 months of winter I look forward to having sun! We were planning to go to Disney in June but a lot of things came up. Also I wnat to do the free dinning plan since its such a great package! My question is AUGUST or SEPTEMBER?? :shrug: I know both are hurricane months but what do you recommend more?? I want to book this this week so I am trying to figure it all out before we do! Thanks so much for any advice given!

 

[wdwmagic]

September by a long way. August is very hot, humid, high rainfall and more crowded.

 

[worldfanatic]

I've been 3 times in August and 3 times in September. Weather is very similar and no way to know which will be wetter. But what you can be sure of is lighter crowds in September. Late August isn't bad, but September will certainly have smaller lines. No way to control the weather gods, but you might as well go during the slower time. I'll be there Sept. 6th-12th. Gonna be awesome!!!

 

[CatsMeow]

We are visiting in late August this year to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday. :kiss: We know the crowds will be greatly diminished, but we also know we face the threat of hurricanes. We missed Charley by one day when it hit just by luck. When we have visited in September, except for the weekends, the crowds are not bad and the weather was generally okay but we did hit the tail end of a hurricane-like rainstorm in 2001. We were there for 10 days and it did not ruin our trip, thank heavens. But it is tough to plan around the rain and hurricanes other than completely avoiding WDW travel at that time; that's not always possible with my family's crazy schedules!

 

[JustInTime]

I am going to be in the World Aug-18th-25th. I am so scared that we will get bad luck with the weather!!!

 

[a2grafix]

In my last two trips to WDW (October 2007, August 2008), it rained off and off during both of my visits.

October wasn't too bad. I went to Mickey's Holloween party on a Sunday nght and off and on it rained, and rained well into the evening. But it was quite humid for mid-October (about 10 days before Oct 31). It remained pretty warm and humid through Tuesday (88-92) before a cool front and some rain dropped the forecast into the upper 70s and low 80s with mainly overcast skies. I was told by a friend of mine during my Oct 2007 that the mid-October conditions were unusual.

As for the August 2008 trip, as luck would have it, most of my trip I spent dating Tropical Storm Fay. Was there Monday - Saturday third week of August. First day - 90, high humidity, sunny and awesome. A brief mid-afternoon storm settled things down and the evening was clear and in the 80s. Next morning through Friday, Fay arrived and made her presence known. Took it in stride visiting Universal, SeaWorld and Disney. Still wore shorts, but lugged around the rain poncho. Sudden downpours, sideways rain, heavy winds. Pretty sweet. By late Friday she finally pushed off toward Daytona and Pensacola near the panhandle and by Saturday it was clear, upper 80s and humid. There was another gullywasher mid-day but once it cleared up, very nice conditions.

But if it wasn't for TS Fay, she would not have given me this or this

Although I don't live in the south and sometimes only see renmants of hurricanes and tropical storms if they push through the Midwest, so I'm no expert on Florida weather.

Crowd levels were minimal both times I visited Central Florida. While I played in the rain with Fay, I heard other stayed indoors. As for October, crowds were very light at all properties, with the exception of heavier attendance late Thursday and Friday, when the weekend peaked.

Best of luck!

 

[Unomas]

I really like your attitude grafix. I mean what can you do? The money is spent and you're there. Might as well make the most of it. I'll be there in the last week of August. I have already resigned myself to possibly dealing with turbulent weather. Poncho on - keep going!

 

[Lucky]

Here's average rainfall, temps etc. by month, on another WDWMagic page.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/Weather-Monthly-Averages.htm

There's not much improvement from Sept. to Aug. overall, but October is much better. End of September is probably a lot better than the beginning of September.

 

[Miceberg]

We've vacationed in mid to late August for the last two years and did meet Fay last year. It was the best day of our trip! We were one of three families (dumb enough) who were willing to visit Blizzard Beach and it was awesome. The air temp was warm, the wind hadn't come in yet, no lightning, no rain - just the threat of the hurricane. CM's said they'd make an announcement if the weather got too close to the 'world'. We had the place to ourselves and it was AMAZING! The hurricane arrived after noon that day when we were waterlogged and ready for a nap.
Our typical August experience has been a hot and humid WDW and not enough rain! The days it rained were the best - go prepared with ponchos and shoes that dry quickly or are water friendly. My girls (ages 15-18 then) splashed in puddles and danced in the rain like little kids and had the most memorable experience ever.
Go prepared and make the most of it! Afterall, a stormy weather day in WDW has gotta beat most days somewhere else!!