Will the parks really be dead at the end of August?

[Gelatoni]

it's be stuffed at the end of august. it'll slow down late sept imo but WDW on it's worst day is still full anymore.

 

[yaksplat]

correct me but are the pass holders blocked out during August if that has anything to do with it.

I don't see any annual pass blockouts for august.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/passes/blockout-dates/

it's be stuffed at the end of august.

I've never seen it full at the end of august. Worst case was waiting an hour for FOP once. I do have a feeling that people are going to be lingering at HS, hoping for a soft opening of SWL, making the crowds there higher than normal. But i don't think that'll translate to the other parks.

 

[Trackmaster]

Well, considering that most people in the US take their vacations in the summer when the kids are out of school, I would think they would have more to worry about right now then in Nov. or Dec., but that is just my opinion.

Keep dreaming. For one thing, there are tons of irresponsible parents out there who care more about a Disney trip than their kids education. Secondly, there are a bunch of breaks around the school year from across the country (and the world) that keep the families flooding in. Spring break, Christmas break, Thanksgiving break, some schools have fall breaks, and different states have different things.

Florida has absolutely zero appeal in the summertime. The notherners are having the time of their lives in the one time of the year that its actually fun and the sun is out. And they see Florida as a 100 degrees, humid gator infested land full of storms and hurricanes in the summer.

Its much more appealing to visit when you're shoveling 20 feet of snow out of your driveway and its 70 and perfect in Orlando. Going in the summer means that you really don't want to pull your kids from school, and/or don't want to fight the busiest times of the year in Florida.

The only reason you get crowds at Disney in the summer is the Brazilian/South American tour groups who always come in July. Not the families. Florida just isn't attractive at all for tourism in the summer in general.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Keep dreaming. For one thing, there are tons of irresponsible parents out there who care more about a Disney trip than their kids education. Secondly, there are a bunch of breaks around the school year from across the country (and the world) that keep the families flooding in. Spring break, Christmas break, Thanksgiving break, some schools have fall breaks, and different states have different things.

Florida has absolutely zero appeal in the summertime. The notherners are having the time of their lives in the one time of the year that its actually fun and the sun is out. And they see Florida as a 100 degrees, humid gator infested land full of storms and hurricanes in the summer.

Its much more appealing to visit when you're shoveling 20 feet of snow out of your driveway and its 70 and perfect in Orlando. Going in the summer means that you really don't want to pull your kids from school, and/or don't want to fight the busiest times of the year in Florida.

The only reason you get crowds at Disney in the summer is the Brazilian/South American tour groups who always come in July. Not the families. Florida just isn't attractive at all for tourism in the summer in general.

I don't know anything for sure, I'm just speculating, but, I strongly feel that there are, of course, some parents that take their kids out of school to participate in fantasy. After all, who need education. However, tons is a bit misleading. It has never been because people like to go there in high heat, hurricanes and humidity, the classic trifecta of a fun time. It is because most are responsible parents and will only go in the summer when they are all free to travel. If you want to look at tons of people, how about those in the business of educating our young. The only time they have for such travel is summer.

I will agree that I was one of those northerners that fled the area for a week of warmth in late February. I went at no other time until I had retired, my kids were grown and I could go whenever I wanted too. Back then, I don't know about now, the kids had a mid-winter vacation from school which lasted 10 days. That gave us enough time to travel and relax plus see a lot of things. But, no matter, that never stopped massive crowds from being there in the heat of summer. That was always to high season. Something has changed and it is not the weather.

I was one of tons that religiously went once a year. From beginning in 1983 through 2016. I went with my young family, my older family, escorted handicapped and went solo for 16 years. 45 trips total. Don't go anymore because of costs and crowds. I never have gone in the summer. The closest I have come is a trip in April and another in September. So my not going hasn't affected anything other then those remaining 8 months. I used to live 1500 miles away, I now live 600 (exactly from my door to the entrance of WDW), an easy one day drive. And I still don't go somewhat because health, but, mostly because of costs.

So whether the current problem is because of costs or something else, the something else is not because of weather. It was hot, hurricane(y) and humid all those other summers when you couldn't walk through the place.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I hope so! 8/24-8/28.

 

[graphite1326]

Every year my family heads to WDW at the end of august. Usually the trackers paint pictures of crowds in the 4-6 range with most of the country back at school. But this year, everything is coming up 1-3. Is this really feasible? Would the opening of SWL a couple days later make people delay their trips?

I've just never seen crowd predictions this low.

I went in late August about 3 years ago. The crowds were comparable to what used to be Fall crowds. It wasn't bad at all. However, I just can't believe that prediction.

 

[yaksplat]

Keep dreaming. For one thing, there are tons of irresponsible parents out there who care more about a Disney trip than their kids education. Secondly, there are a bunch of breaks around the school year from across the country (and the world) that keep the families flooding in. Spring break, Christmas break, Thanksgiving break, some schools have fall breaks, and different states have different things.

Florida has absolutely zero appeal in the summertime. The notherners are having the time of their lives in the one time of the year that its actually fun and the sun is out. And they see Florida as a 100 degrees, humid gator infested land full of storms and hurricanes in the summer.

Its much more appealing to visit when you're shoveling 20 feet of snow out of your driveway and its 70 and perfect in Orlando. Going in the summer means that you really don't want to pull your kids from school, and/or don't want to fight the busiest times of the year in Florida.

The only reason you get crowds at Disney in the summer is the Brazilian/South American tour groups who always come in July. Not the families. Florida just isn't attractive at all for tourism in the summer in general.

As the spouse of a teacher, we can only go on vacations when she isn't working. That leaves school breaks and summer. All of the school breaks are absolute mob scenes at Disney, with the exception of the last two weeks of August. A lot of schools around the country are back in session and the south american tour groups are gone.
As a "northerner" I look forward to the Orlando heat. There have been plenty of summers that it just hangs in the upper 60's and rains. This year was starting off that way.

 

[jloucks]

All the kids with any kind of special extracurriculars get sucked back to school in august too. Band, Football, Colorguard, cheer, all of them, back in august.

...my kids never had an august off, which kinda stank.

Not that I would goto WDW... too hot.

 

[Raineman]

I think its a combination of "things". Prices may play into the equation. If its like this in Nov and Dec. Then they've got something to worry about.

I'm sure many of us on here would appreciate a sustained attendance drop that would cause concern at Disney-it would give us diehards alot more room to move and alot more time on attractions. That being said, sustained lower attendance could cause reduced hours and/or temporary closures of attractions, which would not be good.

 

[Dave B]

In Colorado we go back to school Aug 7th

 

[Dead2009]

And they see Florida as a 100 degrees, humid gator infested land full of storms and hurricanes in the summer.

Actually you'd be surprised to know how many people don't fully realize how many alligators there really are in Florida. Also not every hurricane hits Florida so they're going about that the wrong way.

 

[Tank Man]

Actually you'd be surprised to know how many people don't fully realize how many alligators there really are in Florida. Also not every hurricane hits Florida so they're going about that the wrong way.

There are not many hurricanes, Disney has been struck 3-5 times since 1971 and they were not that bad. I don’t remember the exact number though. There are a lot of alligators in Florida and that is why I must now call Florida, Gater-land. A state of theme parks and gators

 

[MrsDoubie]

I was there right after Labor Day last year and it wasn’t busy at all. This year I’m going Oct 22-26. Fingers crossed for another non-busy week.

 

[Tank Man]

I was there right after Labor Day last year and it wasn’t busy at all. This year I’m going Oct 22-26. Fingers crossed for another non-busy week.

I am planning on going for the 50th and a grand journey through Florida. I love the WDW parks and I would want to ride as many rides as I can. Will be busy as many things will be open (Tron Coaster, GotG, Ratatoullie, etc.)

 

[Janir]

Florida has absolutely zero appeal in the summertime. The notherners are having the time of their lives in the one time of the year that its actually fun and the sun is out. And they see Florida as a 100 degrees, humid gator infested land full of storms and hurricanes in the summer.

Its much more appealing to visit when you're shoveling 20 feet of snow out of your driveway and its 70 and perfect in Orlando. Going in the summer means that you really don't want to pull your kids from school, and/or don't want to fight the busiest times of the year in Florida.

I wouldn't say ZERO appeal, but it's definitely more appealing in the winter vs summer. But as a Midwesterner/Northerner I'm going mid August, for the second time in my life. Wasn't exactly planning to go this year but then we got DVC points, then I didn't get to rent them out as I was initially planning so decided to use them for ourselves and decided that 2 1 week vacations was gonna be nicer than 1 big 2 week one so now I'm planning Aug and March trips but getting Gold AP's to save on two sets of ticket costs.
Picked August this time around mostly as I noticed that the DVC Moonlight Magic party was right around our anniversary and an anniversary trip is always a greet reason for a WDW vacation right? (I'm telling ya those Celebrating buttons are good for scoring at least 1-3 free desserts over a trip with out asking for anything!)

 

[AndyS2992]

We always go the first two weeks of September, whilst not super busy, lines are still 40 minutes+ for everything on average. You have to keep in mind schools in Europe are still on summer break until early/mid September.

 

[NickMaio]

SWGE opens end of Aug.....sooooooo
Prob going to be quite busy.

 

[Ksearcy]

Every year my family heads to WDW at the end of august. Usually the trackers paint pictures of crowds in the 4-6 range with most of the country back at school. But this year, everything is coming up 1-3. Is this really feasible? Would the opening of SWL a couple days later make people delay their trips?

I've just never seen crowd predictions this low.

Crowds have certainly been relatively light this summer, and the recent Free Dining fall offer suggests that Disney is expecting that trend to continue. However with Galaxy's Edge possible soft openings and the subsequent official opening, and with the start of Food and Wine and the Halloween Party, I would be surprised if the parks are "dead." On the other hand, if you're up for the heat and humidity that we've had down here lately, it might not be too bad. Hope for the best, but plan for and expect the worst.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Every year my family heads to WDW at the end of august. Usually the trackers paint pictures of crowds in the 4-6 range with most of the country back at school. But this year, everything is coming up 1-3. Is this really feasible? Would the opening of SWL a couple days later make people delay their trips?

I've just never seen crowd predictions this low.

Will the

Every year my family heads to WDW at the end of august. Usually the trackers paint pictures of crowds in the 4-6 range with most of the country back at school. But this year, everything is coming up 1-3. Is this really feasible? Would the opening of SWL a couple days later make people delay their trips?

I've just never seen crowd predictions this low.

WDW is gonna be mobbed! GE opens on Aug. 29th!

 

[yaksplat]

WDW is gonna be mobbed! GE opens on Aug. 29th!

I'll be gone on the 28th.