Going in the School Holidays

[Pookie3101]

We are restricted to school holidays and try to go last 2 weeks of August. Crowds are manageable and quieter than earlier in the month. Weather is hot and humid but if you plan your days accordingly it's bearable. They say it can rain a lot with storms but we have been lucky and only seen 1 storm and had 1 afternoon where it was torrential rain for several hours.

[simbamad]

W are going the middle 2 weeks of August 11-25th, will these dates be a bit quieter too ?

[ianc]

Brits only make up 2% of the visitors to Florida, so are insignificant as far as crowd sizes go. UK holiday dates are only relevant to UK tour operators and airlines who face higher demand and consequently charge higher prices.
October is still part of the hurricane season - last year the most disruptive storm of the year was Hurricane Matthew which hit in the first week of October. It was the only time the theme parks closed, there were curfews in Orange and Osceola counties and severe damage/flooding along the Atlantic coast. Although rare, hurricanes will disrupt your holiday - the 'ordinary' rain during the wet season (the summer) does not.

[robertgreen99]

i am going to have to go in the school holidays now. So if you avoid the US holidays the crowds wont be that much worse?

[Stitch73]

We have always been in school holidays whilst the kids were at school, first time we went DD had only just started nursery so not counting that as taking her out.

We have been at the beginning and end of August and it was quieter at the end of August but also found the parks closed earlier, especially SeaWorld when I think it closed about 5 or 6!

We go for 3 weeks and take things at a more leisurely pace and drink plenty of water, we are going July next year as both kids finish early due to exams but it will still be busy as the US schools will be out, but that doesn't worry us. Part of being in Disney is queuing

[BrightlyBob]

August is hot, hot, hot. As others have said, late August is quieter than July or early August. If I had to go in school holidays (I do, wife is a teacher) I'd go as late into August as I could

[RM2016]

We went this year in School Easter Hols for the first time. The previous 5 years we have been in Summer Hols in July. Now we have been in April I doubt we will return in July. Weather much more pleasant and very little rain. Whenever you decide to go, if you get to the Parks for opening you will be pleasantly surprised by how much you can get done before the Parks get too busy.

[NewtoOrlando]

We went the last 2 weeks of august 2016 and into September (21/08-07/09) and didn't think it was too bad crowd level wise. With a good use of fast passes, some early starts and some late nights you can get a lot done. You do have to account for the weather, only 2 days did we have our plans scuppers but to be honest we were all knackeres by that point so enjoyed the break. It's hotter than the surface of the sun but lots of sun cream,water and air con breaks makes it bearable, and you do get used to it after a few days. We got on everything we wanted other than big thunder mountain & dinosaur as it was down for refurb, and we did Disney, sea world, universal, aquatica and discovery cove. Most of the local Florida/southern states schools had gone back but we did get talking to families from New York and Washington whose kids didn't go back till our kids went back. We're doing the same weeks next year