Giving Up Summer Trips

ddbowdoin

ddbowdoin

Well-Known Member
Has anyone else quit WDW during the summer months? My DW and I just got back, and while we had a great time since we are fans, it got to a point where I've been 7 times in 4 years and summer isn't worth it. It's hot... Hoards of tour groups and 60 min waits for POTC and HM?!?! DW is a teacher so it's hard to go on slow times but I found myself saying "is this worth it anymore?!"
 
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Redsky89

Redsky89

Well-Known Member
I live in Florida so the heat I'm used to. I went to Magic Kingdom the other night and waited a hour to get on Space Mountain. I still had a good time though. If I was going to Disney for a vacation though and didn't already live close by I know how you feel. When I lived up North I never came down to Disney during the Summer.
 
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LuvtheGoof

LuvtheGoof

DVC Guru
Premium Member
We went during the early summer when the kids were in school. Now that they have graduated college, we go in spring (anniversary - flower & garden), fall (food & wine), and/or at Christmas time (well, first 2 weeks of Dec). The heat doesn't bother us, but we now try to go during slightly slower times.
 
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cw1982

cw1982

Well-Known Member
Nemo14 said:
I can't speak for all school districts, but around here you'd be an unemployed teacher if you ever said that to a supervisor.
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This.

I'm also a teacher. I can use 3 of my sick days per year for personal, non-sick reasons. Other than that, if I'm caught using my leave time in a dishonest manner (ie using sick pay to take a trip to WDW), I could be fired immediately.

For the rest of us who work in districts where demanding the ability to take two weeks off during the off season is out of the question, it's next to impossible to go any time when the parks won't be busy. I can't even take an extended fall break, because personal leave is generally blacked out right before and right after school breaks.
 
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epcotisbest

epcotisbest

Well-Known Member
We went in the summer once, mid-July. Never again. We go in early September when the crowds are almost nonexistent. Now, it is still plenty hot and humid, but the low crowd levels, lack of lines and no need for fastpasses or ADRs more than make up for the heat. We also sometimes go in early Dec. and early May. Of course, we don't have kids, so we can go about any time we want.
Teacher friends we know can never go except during summer break, fall break, Christmas or Spring break.
 
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mpeters

mpeters

Active Member
We go every August because my wife is also a teacher. I would love to go in the Fall bc I would love to see MNSSHP. The time in August we go isn't that bad though...........yes its hot and sometimes the crowds are huge.........but its either deal with that or don't go to WDW...........
 
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epcotisbest

epcotisbest

Well-Known Member
Chernaboggles said:
No summer trips for us. I might be able to handle the weather if there weren't any crowds, but both together would ruin it for me. Our ability to enjoy WDW is directly related to how easily we can walk onto rides and into restaurants. I'm grateful we have the flexibility to travel in the off seasons.
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Agreed. We handle the early Sept. heat because of no crowds. That and we now spend more time at the resorts and pools than at the parks, so heat and humidity are less of a factor.
 
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Jahona

Jahona

Well-Known Member
My family and I used to go in the spring back in the 90s during the FIRST Robotics Competition at EPCOT. Since then due to schedules we have only really been able to visit during the summer. I'm leaving tomorrow to go back to the World with a few friends of mine who also were only able to get summer off. I'm not keen on it but I don't stress my self out trying to do things. I can stand the heat most of the time, thanks Texas summers at the Y. I usually go late May early June so I'm curious what the crowds are going to be like.
 
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ImagineerDude

ImagineerDude

Well-Known Member
we just got back too. It's not the heat or even the crowds that bother me...it's the freaking tour groups. They Main Street litterally blocked off Main Street's entrance to the hub for their group photo. I saw them getting yelled at numerous times by CMs and even just tourists. I saw HM have a 90 minute wait. I had a FP at that time and we waited about 25 minutes in that line. That's the only FP that wasn't basically a walk-on for us. I still love WDW anytime, but after we went in early May and in October summer trips are looking less likely for us. Christmas was better for our family and I honestly felt like it was just as crowded in MK some days during our previous trip as it was on Christmas Day!!
 
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ddbowdoin

ddbowdoin

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ImagineerDude said:
we just got back too. It's not the heat or even the crowds that bother me...it's the freaking tour groups. They Main Street litterally blocked off Main Street's entrance to the hub for their group photo. I saw them getting yelled at numerous times by CMs and even just tourists. I saw HM have a 90 minute wait. I had a FP at that time and we waited about 25 minutes in that line. That's the only FP that wasn't basically a walk-on for us. I still love WDW anytime, but after we went in early May and in October summer trips are looking less likely for us. Christmas was better for our family and I honestly felt like it was just as crowded in MK some days during our previous trip as it was on Christmas Day!!
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I know what you mean... it wasn't the heat, but more the heat combined with the crowds. We had a 3 day pass with PH and basically only visited MK and EPCOT. FP+ is kind of a joke, not sure I like it.

I just found myself getting frustrated with the crowds after visiting so frequently over the last 4-5 years. I could see if I only went once every 4 or so years then summer could work but when you've experienced nearly everything there is at WDW then it loses it charm when the wait times are up that high.

Basically the only thing I have left to do at WDW are to eat at more restaurants (but since I live in Boston food at WDW is pretty crappy anyway), stay at more resorts (not sure that's the highlight of any trip of mine), and the real high end tours.
 
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DfromATX

DfromATX

Well-Known Member
Being from Texas, we are used to the heat, but the difference is we are not usually walking around outside in it when it's 100+. I would love to go sometime in the fall, but because of the kids we have no choice but to wait until school is out. We went once in July... never again... so we stick to June when it's not quite as hot and not quite as crowded with tour groups.
 
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KCheatle

KCheatle

Well-Known Member
Welp, we leave in 9 days. Having gone in May and September for the past 3 vacations, this will be a wake up call. But, we'll see how it goes. It's hard for us to take our daughter out of school, so we decided to try and give summer a chance to see if we can enjoy it. I think FP+ will help a lot. But, I'm going in full-knowing that it's going to be packed. We're just going to try and stick to early mornings and late nights, with afternoon time at the hotel. At the end of the day, we're in Disney World, so it can't be all bad. ;)
 
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ddbowdoin

ddbowdoin

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
KCheatle said:
Welp, we leave in 9 days. Having gone in May and September for the past 3 vacations, this will be a wake up call. But, we'll see how it goes. It's hard for us to take our daughter out of school, so we decided to try and give summer a chance to see if we can enjoy it. I think FP+ will help a lot. But, I'm going in full-knowing that it's going to be packed. We're just going to try and stick to early mornings and late nights, with afternoon time at the hotel. At the end of the day, we're in Disney World, so it can't be all bad. ;)
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seeing 60 min queues at Pirates is a tough pill to swallow... I've been once in late May and it was walk on, get off, get right back on, 3 or 4 times in a row. That's my ideal Disney!
 
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