Summer: The new low season?

[MusicalAstronaut]

Okay, so there is no real "low" season. But! As everyone has been finding out, the fall & winter are looking SLAMMED for this year. No hotels available, no discounts, and everyone is wondering why everyone else is going when they are. Even the new crowd calendars are putting October as high season now. Historically I avoid the summer because it's hot as helllll and (normally) very crowded. However, poking around online I'm seeing lower hotel rates and reports that the parks are less crowded than previous years. So I'm planning a return to summertime next year! I'm actually kind of excited, if only because the parks are open so much longer in the summer.

If you go regularly in the summer, what is your favorite part? Do you hit the water parks or just stick to your hotel pool? Is it just too hot and I'm making a terrible mistake?!

 

[colagirl]

We have to go in the summer as we travel with my sister and her husband, who both teach school. We live in the southeast so the heat isn't a surprise to us, but we also don't try to go all day, every day. We typically head to a park in the morning, come back to the hotel in the early afternoon, swim and relax, and then go back out at night. Now that our kids are older, we could stay quite late, which was fun. This June we found it noticeably less crowded than it had been the last time we had been two years previously.

 

[Klayfish]

I don't put any stock in crowd calendars at all, and we always stay offsite, so my feelings are looking through at it from that viewpoint. We almost always do summer trips, but did Thanksgiving and Xmas 2015 and are doing both of them again this year. I didn't really see a huge difference in those holiday crowds vs. 4th of July (we've done the past 3 years).

We love summer, far and away our favorite time to go. Yeah, it's hot, but a majority of rides in WDW are air conditioned, even the queues. Just be smart about it and it's really no big deal. At least not to us. Our favorite parts? Well...yeah, the water parks are awesome. We go frequently. Since we stay offsite, we also enjoy the community pool...or taking the kids out to Menchies for frozen yogurt...a lot more fun on a summer night than winter. Getting wet on Kali is phenomenally fun, as is Splash. We also like the summertime vibe of families being on summer vacation...whether that's real or just in our heads, I don't know...but we enjoy it. Long daylight hours are great.

Summer for us is the best time to go. I don't know it's "low" season, it's crowded just like any other time. Though I do agree the past two summers have had lower crowds than in years past. But it's just so much fun in the summer.

 

[Christy702]

My family usually goes in the summer. The only other time we go is sometimes Spring Break, and we've only been once around thanksgiving so as far as crowds I don't really have much to compare it to, except spring break because that's always a nightmare. As far as heat, we're from Texas so we're used to it so we never let that get in the way. We do go to the water parks every once in a while maybe for half a day. My next trip is August 5th-9th and I'm actually surprised that they cut back the hours. MK is only open until 10:00 pm, AK is the only park open late, and only Pandora is open. I guess that just goes with summer being the new "low" season. I seem to remember MK being open until like 2 am some nights with EMH, but I could be getting that mixed up with Spring Break. And if you are used to going other times of the year, there will be a LOT more children in the summer than other times of the year.

 

[WEDWDW]

I go every July for my Birthday and always have a good time.

The key is to avoid the afternoon heat-go to the Parks in the early AM,retreat to the Resort in the early afternoon and return to the Parks in the late afternoon.

I've found if you stay in the Parks all day,every day,the heat will "get you" on about the third day.

Many Guests don't like The 15s,so if they "bother" you,I would not go in July-pick June or August-because July is Ground Zero for The 15s!lol

One bummer about this Summer is the hours are not as long as "usual" especially at Magic Kingdom!

 

[Disneylover99]

Okay, so there is no real "low" season. But! As everyone has been finding out, the fall & winter are looking SLAMMED for this year. No hotels available, no discounts, and everyone is wondering why everyone else is going when they are. Even the new crowd calendars are putting October as high season now. Historically I avoid the summer because it's hot as helllll and (normally) very crowded. However, poking around online I'm seeing lower hotel rates and reports that the parks are less crowded than previous years. So I'm planning a return to summertime next year! I'm actually kind of excited, if only because the parks are open so much longer in the summer.

If you go regularly in the summer, what is your favorite part? Do you hit the water parks or just stick to your hotel pool? Is it just too hot and I'm making a terrible mistake?!

My favourite part about going in the summer is packing. Shorts and t-shirts for all. No need agonizing over which coat to bring, how many sweaters, etc...

 

[wareagle57]

Okay, so there is no real "low" season. But! As everyone has been finding out, the fall & winter are looking SLAMMED for this year. No hotels available, no discounts, and everyone is wondering why everyone else is going when they are. Even the new crowd calendars are putting October as high season now. Historically I avoid the summer because it's hot as helllll and (normally) very crowded. However, poking around online I'm seeing lower hotel rates and reports that the parks are less crowded than previous years. So I'm planning a return to summertime next year! I'm actually kind of excited, if only because the parks are open so much longer in the summer.

If you go regularly in the summer, what is your favorite part? Do you hit the water parks or just stick to your hotel pool? Is it just too hot and I'm making a terrible mistake?!

Unfortunately that was not true this year. I hate the heat and also have avoided summers. But we went this year because it's the time that worked out best for us. I was not looking forward to the crowds/heat but I was looking forward to late nights. Sadly, that only happened one night and it was July 3, so MK was packed. I've decided winter is going to be my preferred time to go from now on. It's the only way to get guaranteed lots of time after dark in the parks.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

By no stretch is summer (now or ever) a slow season in WDW.

It has been eminently possible for us to get done what we want to by rope-dropping, use of FP, knowledge of how crowds build on various rides, breaks in A/C, etc.

If they don't add hours to MK for Aug (our trip next month will be 2.5 hrs/day less in MK hours per current calendar vs. 2016 -- not good), I'm not sure how well summer will work for us.

Guess we'll see next month.

 

[back2disney]

No, its just hotter. Who told you it was low???

edit: My favorite part was trying to get everything done before the thunderstorms hit. I am fascinated by the weather. If you like heat and storms you will enjoy.

 

[jkh36619]

I think one reason is more and more families are willing to pull their kids out of school for a few days during the school year and schools are now offering "personal days" for kids to be absent along with the normal amount of unexcused absences. In my area a few schools are testing year round school that offers the same amount of off days but are split after each quarter. Other reasons of course is Disney scheduled events and such.

 

[Day-Day]

I go every July for my Birthday and always have a good time.

The key is to avoid the afternoon heat-go to the Parks in the early AM,retreat to the Resort in the early afternoon and return to the Parks in the late afternoon.

I've found if you stay in the Parks all day,every day,the heat will "get you" on about the third day.

Many Guests don't like The 15s,so if they "bother" you,I would not go in July-pick June or August-because July is Ground Zero for The 15s!lol

One bummer about this Summer is the hours are not as long as "usual" especially at Magic Kingdom!

What are The 15s?

 

[ucfknight]

What are The 15s?

Certain areas of the world celebrate their children's 15th birthdays by sending them off to wreak havoc play at WDW in giant tour groups with a kid to chaperone ratio of about 1500:1.

 

[back2disney]

What are The 15s?

Certain areas of the world celebrate their children's' 15th birthdays by sending them off to play at WDW in giant groups with a kid to chaperone ratio of about 1500:1.

yeah, my first guess is the brazilian tour groups, they were everywhere.. about half of them were kinda rude and obnoxious(cut in line when they had a fastpass thinking that others in the fastpass line didn't, they would break out into choreograph dance and song routines in the middle of paths , the other half were more quiet, I think the heat gets to them later in the day and they mellow out.. I was struck by the similarities of the girls in the groups though, I though brazil was a diverse country, i guess not.

 

[RangerPooh]

What are The 15s?

Brazil is the biggest offender....

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

No, its just hotter. Who told you it was low???

edit: My favorite part was trying to get everything done before the thunderstorms hit. I am fascinated by the weather. If you like heat and storms you will enjoy.

No one told me, just hearing people say that it was less crowded than expected, the parks are closing at like 10pm-1am (vs 6pm in December), seeing lower hotel prices for mods & deluxe while messing around on MDE, and more availability in general. Calling it low season is a bit of a joke, I know there's no such thing. I'm a passholder and have avoided the summers ever since I got one, but now I feel like I might be missing out. I used to save money going in the winter but I like the idea of being in the parks so late! And that's a cool point, I love watching thunderstorms so that'll be a neat thing that I don't experience in the winter!

My favourite part about going in the summer is packing. Shorts and t-shirts for all. No need agonizing over which coat to bring, how many sweaters, etc...

Great point! December it can be 80 degrees or 50, but you know what to bring for summer lol.

Certain areas of the world celebrate their children's' 15th birthdays by sending them off to wreak havoc play at WDW in giant tour groups with a kid to chaperone ratio of about 1500:1.

Oh my gosh that sounds terrifying hahaha. Maybe I'll shoot for June then!

 

[Klayfish]

What are The 15s?

Yes, code speak for South American tour groups, which are comprised of 15 year old girls who are "watched" by a few "adults" (usually guys in their early 20s). Groups will range in size from 20-75+. They don't show up typically until July 4th roughly and I think are mostly gone by August. I don't stay onsite, but I've heard horror stories about them there. In the parks, I will have to be honest and say that this year we found them to be quite tame compared to years past. Yes, there was some chanting, which is quite annoying, and we had to make a few mad dashes to beat them to the queue for a ride we were about to get on. But we didn't have issues with them trying to push through lines, etc...that we have in the past. Maybe just luck this time, but they weren't as big of a deal this year...in our experience.

 

[heidijanesmith]

There is one area of the parks that I notice is much less crowded in the summer than during the fall is WS at EPCOT.

F&W festival makes WS super crowded in the fall, very, very crowded. Every summer when we go to WS, DH comments "Wow, there is hardly anyone here"

 

[Texans_loyal]

Born and raised in Texas and you couldn't pay me to go in the summer.

 

[DaisyJ]

What are The 15s?

Very large tour groups of 15 year old poorly supervised girls from South America.

 

[DaisyJ]

No one told me, just hearing people say that it was less crowded than expected, the parks are closing at like 10pm-1am (vs 6pm in December), seeing lower hotel prices for mods & deluxe while messing around on MDE, and more availability in general. Calling it low season is a bit of a joke, I know there's no such thing. I'm a passholder and have avoided the summers ever since I got one, but now I feel like I might be missing out. I used to save money going in the winter but I like the idea of being in the parks so late! And that's a cool point, I love watching thunderstorms so that'll be a neat thing that I don't experience in the winter!

Great point! December it can be 80 degrees or 50, but you know what to bring for summer lol.

Oh my gosh that sounds terrifying hahaha. Maybe I'll shoot for June then!

The only place you're going to be late is Disney Springs. Mk closes at 10pm almost every night this summer and Epcot closes at 9-10pm, also. Evening EMH's for either park have been reduced to once a week. So sorry, you won't be anywhere late other than your hotel room or DS.