Help with Planning my July/Aug Vacation!

[lakersfreak]

Hello! I am thinking of taking my family to WDW late July through early August for about 12 days next summer, and need some help. We will be going to all of the Disney theme parks (no water parks), and the two Universal parks during our stay. We will be staying at WDW the entire time we're there and just commute to Universal the days we will be going there.

Thoughts on the moderate hotels? looking at staying at Caribbean Beach Resort or Port Orleans. I'd like to stay in a resort that has the room to the doors inside, not outside like a motel.
Planning on getting 5 theme park tickets with 1 park per day; assuming 1 park per day will be enough to see everything, and 1 extra day if one of the parks is too large for 1 day. Thoughts?
Would it be better to also get the hopper on the tickets?
Is there car rental on the WDW property or nearby? We need to be able to drive to Universal and around the city the days we are not going to WDW parks.
I read online that on average it rains 14 days per month in Orlando during July and August. Will the parks still be open? Is the rainy season usually heavy rain, or will we be able to manage?
This is all I can think of for now....I will add more questions as things come up.

Thanks in advance for your help!!!!

 

[DryerLintFan]

When it rains during the summer, usually that's just a quick afternoon rain. It's HEAVY, but only lasts a half hour to an hour. Sometimes though, it rains for a week straight with no end in sight.

No they don't close the park for rain, but some rides and meet and greets will close for rain or thunder.

 

[Tuvalu]

All Disney moderate and value resorts have “motel style” exterior room doors. Only deluxe resorts have corridors with interior room doors.

 

[Hcalvert]

Last year during my July trip I was at the park during some really heavy downpours. One time I was at DAK and thankfully was in the Yak & Yeti eating dinner during one. Make sure you bring a light rain poncho and be prepared. From my upstairs table at Y & Y, I saw a lot of people without ponchos that were soaked, but they were not leaving the park. Some rides might close during the rain, but will reopen shortly afterward. It was still raining during the Rivers of Light show, which made the show somewhat miserable even with a poncho on.

 

[RememberWhen]

It’s not clear, but it seems like this might be your first trip to WDW. Is that right?
What’s the make up of your family? Kids? Ages? I would say, no. One day per park will not be enough time to see everything. There are many great books out there that have lots of information. I haven’t read them, but they can be very helpful when you haven’t been to the parks before.
I also would recommend you make yourself aware of the Disney timelines you should know. ADRs (dining reservations) can and should be made 180 days out. FP (fast passes) can be made 60 days out.
We have a trip in early July and our ADR date is early January. Yours should be later in January/early February.
if you have more specific questions people on here are generally very helpful.

 

[RememberWhen]

Also, you can rent a car at the swan/dolphin. I’ve never done it, but some googling should get you the car information you need. You may find it cheaper to get an uber/Lyft.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Few Disney resorts have inside room doors.
If you want moderate and want inside hallways then go with Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs.
Otherwise I'd recommend Port Orleans Riverside.

For tickets I'd probably suggest sticking to one park per day but getting at least a 6 day ticket.
MK definitely needs 2 days and EPCOT can take 2 days as well if you're wanting to do the majority of attractions and wandering around World Showcase.
HS and AK can generally be done in 1 day each depending on what you want to do.

Staying at a WDW resort now means a resort parking fee so honestly I probably wouldn't rent a ca or only rent it for a portion of your trip and make sure that portion is the portion that you are going to Universal and anywhere else off property.
Otherwise I'd probably just Uber/Lyft on those days and forget about the rental.

In July/August you can pretty much plan on it raining at some point every day.
Usually its a powerful but fast moving thunderstorm mid afternoon but I've also seen it rain all day every day.
Yes the parks stay open unless there's a powerful hurricane headed right for WDW and even then the parks may just close early one day and stay closed the next day.
Some attractions close during the rain but reopen quickly.
Our motto is "ponchos on and carry on".

 

[Hcalvert]

As for the resorts, I have stayed at all the moderates except French Quarter. The thing about the moderates are that they tend to be huge and have several bus stops. I find that getting a preferred room is best (closest to the main building and food), but that depends on your motives (being close to the feature pool or other amenities). The French Quarter is the smallest moderate and has only one bus stop. CB has the gondolas. Port Orleans Riverside is themed nicely and I personally like the food court there, but it could be a long walk to get to the main building. Some people forget that the cabins at Fort Wilderness are moderates and they do accommodate 6 people, but you really need to rent a golf cart to get around and was my least favorite moderate. I used to prefer Coronado Springs above the rest because it always seemed the least busiest to me, but I haven't stayed there since the tower was added. I have been staying mainly in DVC rooms since 2018. If you have a large family, you might want to consider renting someone's DVC points and either getting several studios or larger rooms and they will have the interior doors that you are wanting with some offering balconies too and NO parking fees. I just did a quick DVC check and there is loads of availability for the DVC rooms from July 20-August 10 (just took a guess on your date period).

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

All Disney moderate and value resorts have “motel style” exterior room doors. Only deluxe resorts have corridors with interior room doors.

That is not correct because Gran Destino Tower at CSR has inside access as does AOA family suites.

 

[carriebeth]

Carribean beach vs riverside. Stayed at both. Both are nice and neither is better just different. If the pool is super important I like Carribbean better. They are both nice but Carribbean has 2 big slides and the bigger is more fun than riversides. Carribbean also has a fun area for small children with small slides etc.

I like riversides food court better if that’s something that matters to you. I feel it has more choices and Carribbean has more island style food which wasn’t real appealing to my family. Riverside tended to have better dessert type snack credit items too.

either location you can be either really far from the check in and food and pool areas or really close. I feel like at riverside the far rooms are farther or take a longer walk than Carribbean. But I am not sure that’s accurate we always stayed preferred so were close but I like to walk the whole resort on an off park day and riverside felt very far. The feel around Carribbean is the same no matter where you are in the resort but in the back of riverside it definitely feels super secluded like no one else is around anywhere.

hiw many days at parks depends on your group and what you want to do. If you want to try to do everything Disney has to offer at each park you will need more than one day at each park. If you want to pick and choose shows and attractions that are justextra appealing to you than one day might be fine. Also if you have children that want to meet as many characters as possible you might need to add extra days in parks
Magic kingdom can always be a multiple day park.
Epcot you can ride all the ridesin a day and wonder through world showcase. But if you want to thoroughly explore every shop and corner than you might need 2. Also if meeting every princess and character is on your list it’s real hard to coordinate getting from one to the next during their meet times being in line before the cut off waiting etc. it’s time consuming. Hollywood can be done in a day but you probably won’t see every show as getting them all in and times out can be difficult and doesn’t leave a lot of time in between for other attractions. Animal kingdom can be done in a day if you don’t explore any animal trail areas and just stick to the shows and attractions and plan well again so that you can hit a showtime for each. My kids love the dig site playground area and could spend at least a half day there alone! Planning at each park is key though to organizing hitting showtimes if you want to do as much as possible.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I have stayed at CS and POR both. We liked the seemingly bigger rooms at CS and the beautiful resort. We stayed in Casitas 3, which I think is preferred now? However, POR is our home resort. We love it!. There is the beautiful, peaceful boat ride to DS. There are quiet pools at each section of the resort. We have stayed their several times and not had problems with the buses at all. It is a big resort, but we found it to be a fantastic resort. The Mill food court is very good with a wide selection, and the resort store is our favorite of all resort stores!
If I were visiting I would absolutely do park hoppers. It is the only way we do it. Then you are not restricted to say, MK, when they have a special event which closes early (which happens a lot). If you are tired of one park and want to visit another, you can do it! Sometimes the designated day to visit a park just does not work out at all. We like the fact that we go to one park in the AM with fp's, then go where want to for the pm and make new fp's if we want. We like the flexibility of it. Either way, you will have a great time

 

[lakersfreak]

It’s not clear, but it seems like this might be your first trip to WDW. Is that right?
What’s the make up of your family? Kids? Ages? I would say, no. One day per park will not be enough time to see everything. There are many great books out there that have lots of information. I haven’t read them, but they can be very helpful when you haven’t been to the parks before.
I also would recommend you make yourself aware of the Disney timelines you should know. ADRs (dining reservations) can and should be made 180 days out. FP (fast passes) can be made 60 days out.
We have a trip in early July and our ADR date is early January. Yours should be later in January/early February.
if you have more specific questions people on here are generally very helpful.

Yes this will be our first trip. I'm in CA.
My kids will be 12 and 10 when we travel.

 

[lakersfreak]

Carribean beach vs riverside. Stayed at both. Both are nice and neither is better just different. If the pool is super important I like Carribbean better. They are both nice but Carribbean has 2 big slides and the bigger is more fun than riversides. Carribbean also has a fun area for small children with small slides etc.

I like riversides food court better if that’s something that matters to you. I feel it has more choices and Carribbean has more island style food which wasn’t real appealing to my family. Riverside tended to have better dessert type snack credit items too.

either location you can be either really far from the check in and food and pool areas or really close. I feel like at riverside the far rooms are farther or take a longer walk than Carribbean. But I am not sure that’s accurate we always stayed preferred so were close but I like to walk the whole resort on an off park day and riverside felt very far. The feel around Carribbean is the same no matter where you are in the resort but in the back of riverside it definitely feels super secluded like no one else is around anywhere.

hiw many days at parks depends on your group and what you want to do. If you want to try to do everything Disney has to offer at each park you will need more than one day at each park. If you want to pick and choose shows and attractions that are justextra appealing to you than one day might be fine. Also if you have children that want to meet as many characters as possible you might need to add extra days in parks
Magic kingdom can always be a multiple day park.
Epcot you can ride all the ridesin a day and wonder through world showcase. But if you want to thoroughly explore every shop and corner than you might need 2. Also if meeting every princess and character is on your list it’s real hard to coordinate getting from one to the next during their meet times being in line before the cut off waiting etc. it’s time consuming. Hollywood can be done in a day but you probably won’t see every show as getting them all in and times out can be difficult and doesn’t leave a lot of time in between for other attractions. Animal kingdom can be done in a day if you don’t explore any animal trail areas and just stick to the shows and attractions and plan well again so that you can hit a showtime for each. My kids love the dig site playground area and could spend at least a half day there alone! Planning at each park is key though to organizing hitting showtimes if you want to do as much as possible.

I mainly want to be able to ride all the rides (no kiddie rides though, kids will be 10 and 12), and see most shows. Don't care for meeting characters or going through every shop in each park.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I mainly want to be able to ride all the rides (no kiddie rides though, kids will be 10 and 12), and see most shows. Don't care for meeting characters or going through every shop in each park.

What is your definition of a "kiddie ride"?
Disney is not known for having tons of thrill rides.
Most rides are slow moving and mild and many are themed to Disney movies so if that's what you think is a kiddie ride then you're not going to go on many rides.

 

[lakersfreak]

What is your definition of a "kiddie ride"?
Disney is not known for having tons of thrill rides.
Most rides are slow moving and mild and many are themed to Disney movies so if that's what you think is a kiddie ride then you're not going to go on many rides.

for example, when we go to Disneyland/CA Adventure we always skip (or leave for last if we have time left) the following rides;
Dumbo
Mad Tea Party
Casey Jr
King Arthur Carrousel
Astro Orbiter
Gadget Go Coaster
Jumpin Jellyfish

 

[VaderTron]

Hello! I am thinking of taking my family to WDW late July through early August for about 12 days next summer, and need some help. We will be going to all of the Disney theme parks (no water parks), and the two Universal parks during our stay. We will be staying at WDW the entire time we're there and just commute to Universal the days we will be going there.

Thoughts on the moderate hotels? looking at staying at Caribbean Beach Resort or Port Orleans. I'd like to stay in a resort that has the room to the doors inside, not outside like a motel.
Planning on getting 5 theme park tickets with 1 park per day; assuming 1 park per day will be enough to see everything, and 1 extra day if one of the parks is too large for 1 day. Thoughts?
Would it be better to also get the hopper on the tickets?
Is there car rental on the WDW property or nearby? We need to be able to drive to Universal and around the city the days we are not going to WDW parks.
I read online that on average it rains 14 days per month in Orlando during July and August. Will the parks still be open? Is the rainy season usually heavy rain, or will we be able to manage?
This is all I can think of for now....I will add more questions as things come up.

Thanks in advance for your help!!!!

No problem. I only charge 20% of the total trip cost to do all booking and personalized itinerary work.

Thanks in advance for your payment!!!!

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

for example, when we go to Disneyland/CA Adventure we always skip (or leave for last if we have time left) the following rides;
Dumbo
Mad Tea Party
Casey Jr
King Arthur Carrousel
Astro Orbiter
Gadget Go Coaster
Jumpin Jellyfish

Oh ok so more of your run of the mill spinning rides that you can go on at a county fair then?
I just wasn't sure if you meant things like Peter Pan, Small World, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Under The Sea.... because they are all slow moving and very mild but very unique attractions you're not going to find at any old amusement park.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

No problem. I only charge 20% of the total trip cost to do all booking and personalized itinerary work.

Thanks in advance for your payment!!!!

OP was asking fairly general questions not looking for someone to actually plan their trip and you'd know that if you actually read beyond the title.
Or if you did read beyond the title then you clearly didn't want to contribute anything besides sarcasm. Well done.

 

[VaderTron]

OP was asking fairly general questions not looking for someone to actually plan their trip and you'd know that if you actually read beyond the title.
Or if you did read beyond the title then you clearly didn't want to contribute anything besides sarcasm. Well done.

It was a joke. All the useful information was already posted by the time I got here.

 

[lakersfreak]

No problem. I only charge 20% of the total trip cost to do all booking and personalized itinerary work.

Thanks in advance for your payment!!!!

How about 10% and you have yourself a deal!