Summer vs Spring/Fall WDW Visits

[Raineman]

Every trip I have taken to WDW has been in late winter/early spring or fall. Due to having to push out our next trip because of the COVID thing and my daughter's high school schedule, we may be attempting our first summer visit in early July of 2022.
Other than the temperature/weather (which will be alot hotter and wetter than what we've seen before), are there any other differences in being at WDW in the summer than the other seasons? Are crowds still comparable?
We live in an area of North America that gets almost as hot and humid as Florida on a semi-regular basis in the summer (with the odd day here or there where we are hotter than Orlando), so we should be able to handle that with little difficulty.

 

[plawren2]

Personally I would never go in July to mid August, too busy, too hot. Can you go as soon as school year ends in May or June? July is by far one of the busiest times at WDW, hours long waits for rides and shows.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

July is by far one of the busiest times at WDW, hours long waits for rides and shows.

That is not correct. Summer is "above average" busy, but it's not Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, peak Spring Break, Presidents Week, or long holiday weekends busy.

 

[plawren2]

That is not correct. Summer is "above average" busy, but it's not Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, peak Spring Break, Presidents Week, or long holiday weekends busy.

I said "one of the busiest", and yes July is. from a typical crowd calendar "July 7-31 – heavy summer crowds, keeping in mind that weekends will remain busier than weekdays"

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I said "one of the busiest", and yes July is. from a typical crowd calendar "July 7-31 – heavy summer crowds, keeping in mind that weekends will remain busier than weekdays"

Good for "WDW Prep School." TouringPlans, which is based on actual data and not just what some random blogger says based on his gut feeling, puts those dates at crowd levels of 4 or 5 out of 10.

You don't get to say "I would never go in July or August" and then profess knowledge about what July and August are like. Excluding Independence Day, midsummer at Walt Disney World is moderate crowds, long park hours, lots of rain, and scorching temperatures.

 

[plawren2]

Yea I get to say whatever I like.. and there are dozens of crowd calendars that list July 6-July 31st as busy. OP can feel free to take my advice or not but June/May (except Memorial Day) are much better times to visit. That was my post, even if you still fail to see that.

 

[S2iAM]

Personally I would never go in July to mid August, too busy, too hot. Can you go as soon as school year ends in May or June? July is by far one of the busiest times at WDW, hours long waits for rides and shows.

I totally agree.. I've been twice in August thinking that the crowds will be less and it is still super busy and SO HOT! Like unbearably hot! I know this is not a typical year and it is hard to predict crowds on a year like this, but if there is another time to plan for your trip then I would. Even early June is a little cool and the first few weeks aren't too bad on crowds, generally speaking...

 

[JIMINYCR]

Because of the heat and humidity, be prepared for a difference in attitudes and temperament of others around you. Tempers are shorter and people tend to pop off over inconsequential things faster than other times. Wearing masks and heating up will wear you out faster doing the parks so be prepared to need more breaks and be sure to hydrate more. The Summer trips I have taken were done only because they were the only times I could go, and I found them to be less enjoyable. But a trip to WDW, even under less than preferred times, is better than no trip at all.

 

[ppet]

If you are there over the 4th EPCOT was really fun in the past, fireworks, Lasers, and music. Temps are high and tempers too. Drink plenty of water, take care of your feet. When I've gone in July and used the crowd calendars from Touring Plans to figure which parks on which day, It hasn't been bad crowd wise. We also used Park Hoppers a lot which i hope will be back later this year.

 

[danyoung56]

We also used Park Hoppers a lot which i hope will be back later this year.

Park hopping is back NOW.

 

[ppet]

Park hopping is back NOW.

No, I mean full Park hopping, Not to one park after 2pm for a few hours.

 

[ilovelabs2021]

We have only gone in summer. There are crowds, but I think they are manageable. I have never seen crowds like some of the Christmas, Easter, and/or peak Spring Break pictures I have seen online.

 

[ilovelabs2021]

We've been to WDW pretty much every month of the year. (I have; my wife has not been to WDW in February.)

In terms of crowds, peak Spring break and the days after Christmas are probably the worst. (Surprisingly, we've encountered reasonable crowds at Epcot and Disney's Animal Kingdom on Christmas Day - it seems everyone wants to be at the Magic Kingdom.)

The most important points to emphasize for July are hot, sticky, and lots of rain. It rains pretty much every day. Temperatures and humidity usually are much more tolerable after the rain. We handle this by heading back to the hotel around noon, having lunch and relaxing by the pool, and ducking back into the room once the lifeguards instruct us to leave. We then wait for the rain to end before heading out again.

We're doing a split stay at Vero Beach and the Riviera this July, with plans to spend most of the time poolside.

IMO, July is not a good month if you are a 'from opening to closing' theme park goer.

Agreed! Maybe that’s why we can handle the summers because we aren’t open to close park people, either, and enjoy the resort amenities!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

IMO, July is not a good month if you are a 'from opening to closing' theme park goer.

It can, however, be a good month if you're "from opening to closing except for a midday nap." My kids really benefit from a real go-to-sleep-for-two-hours nap instead of just a pool break, and we find that there's not enough time to do that during the winter when the park hours are typically much shorter.

 

[doctornick]

Our schools open after Labor Day (and my sister is a teacher so she's limited to school calendar even more than we are with the kids) and we have gone a few times in the last 2 weeks of August. Actually pretty good time in terms of crowds as southern school are mostly in session so a lot of more local potential guests aren't there. Still is hot and humid but the frequent rain tends to cool things down (and clears out the parks). It also starts to get dark a bit earlier than the middle of the summer so you don't have the hot sun for quite as long. I guess there's always the possibility of hurricanes, but it's still a little before that tends to occur.

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

I avoid summer at WDW at all costs. I live in a very hot humid place too, very similar to Florida, so I’m used to the humidity and heat. But there is a difference between tolerating it for a bit back home vs being out in it all day at Disney. Not worth it. During summer we don’t cut our grass til the sun goes down and don’t really go outside except to walk to our car. I wouldn’t want to be at a theme park in this conditions.

 

[plawren2]

Our schools open after Labor Day (and my sister is a teacher so she's limited to school calendar even more than we are with the kids) and we have gone a few times in the last 2 weeks of August. Actually pretty good time in terms of crowds as southern school are mostly in session so a lot of more local potential guests aren't there. Still is hot and humid but the frequent rain tends to cool things down (and clears out the parks). It also starts to get dark a bit earlier than the middle of the summer so you don't have the hot sun for quite as long. I guess there's always the possibility of hurricanes, but it's still a little before that tends to occur.

We have also been in mid-late August, and if that is an option for folks (over July) I would say go with August dates.

 

[Raineman]

Because of the heat and humidity, be prepared for a difference in attitudes and temperament of others around you. Tempers are shorter and people tend to pop off over inconsequential things faster than other times. Wearing masks and heating up will wear you out faster doing the parks so be prepared to need more breaks and be sure to hydrate more. The Summer trips I have taken were done only because they were the only times I could go, and I found them to be less enjoyable. But a trip to WDW, even under less than preferred times, is better than no trip at all.

I'm hoping that, if we go in July of next year, the mask requirement will not still be in place, as that is a dealbreaker for us-hot, humid, miles of walking, plus masks? No thanks. I have spent full days at a local amusement park in hot weather, and it was definitely draining. On the plus side, we won't have to deal with something we deal with every trip to WDW-cool weather, either at night or during the day. The last 2 trips we've had at least one day where we wear long pants and a hoodie; our last two days in 2019, it was so cool that my wife was looking for gloves and a scarf at the shops in DAK and MK-and we're Canadian, so that will give you an idea of the temps we were dealing with.

 

[networkpro]

I avoid summer at WDW at all costs. I live in a very hot humid place too, very similar to Florida, so I’m used to the humidity and heat. But there is a difference between tolerating it for a bit back home vs being out in it all day at Disney. Not worth it. During summer we don’t cut our grass til the sun goes down and don’t really go outside except to walk to our car. I wouldn’t want to be at a theme park in this conditions.

It all depends on how well you tolerate the conditions...I mow acres during the day in North Texas during August, so I know and love heat. Before Covid, Disney had successfully convinced lots of families to go other times of the year with pricing, but with lots of people cooped up for a year with travel restrictions and health concerns, the attendance patterns are all new.

 

[plawren2]

I'm hoping that, if we go in July of next year, the mask requirement will not still be in place, as that is a dealbreaker for us-hot, humid, miles of walking, plus masks? No thanks. I have spent full days at a local amusement park in hot weather, and it was definitely draining. On the plus side, we won't have to deal with something we deal with every trip to WDW-cool weather, either at night or during the day. The last 2 trips we've had at least one day where we wear long pants and a hoodie; our last two days in 2019, it was so cool that my wife was looking for gloves and a scarf at the shops in DAK and MK-and we're Canadian, so that will give you an idea of the temps we were dealing with.

those temps may occur Nov-April, but the best of both worlds (temps and crowds) can be found May/June or September if those are options