January or mid August?? WWYD?

[EmmMOM2]

January or mid August?? Which would u pick?

[forever a child]

I have never been either time. But I chose January because it would be cooler and less crowded. Mid Aug just seems like it would still be very hot and possible still quite busy with late summer vacations for families with kids started back late. Also, isn't Jan when historically Disney has done the buy 4 get 2 free nights (or something like that)?

[stephntampa]

I chose January because the crowds will definitely be lower, plus there is a chance the weather will be perfect (not too chilly). It may be a little busy around Martin Luther King, Jr. day, though..

[Strmchsr]

That's tough. I used to say January hands down, but January has become very popular with South American group (especally from Brazil) as January is their summer vacation. So, January is light on American tourists, but the crowds have become larger and larger due to the South American crowds, so I would say mid-August is now only slightly more crowded, but not by much.

Also, the weather is a toss up. August is hot and peak hurricane season, but when I arrived in January 2010 it was 32 degrees with snow flurries at 1 in the afternoon. Needless to say, walking around WDW in freezing weather isn't much better than really hot weather.

So, there are pluses and minuses to both. I'd say go when it best fits your schedule or if you prefer hot/cold weather go based on which one you prefer.

One BIG thing to keep in mind during January - WDW often does several refurbs during January. This past year while we were there Splash Mtn, Test Track, Crystal Palace, Indy Stunt Show, Prime Time Cafe, and a couple of other things were all closed. That's just part of visiting in January that you get used to.

[faline]

Neither is ideal but I selected January. As Chris noted, January can be quite cold. Our January trips have generally featured minimal crowds and I've not experienced large tour groups at that time of year - perhaps I just missed them?

Mid-August still has quite a lot of the summer crowds (we were there at this time last year) and is also very hot and humid. Personally, I prefer late August into early September though, as Chris noted, it's possible, though statistically unlikely that one would hit during your specific week, you could run into a hurricane at this time of year.

[RaRaRoundTheWorld]

Aside from Jan 2010, we've visited the past 3 Januaries. We found the crowds to be low and the weather didn't dip below the 50s. We like the cold weather much more than the hot. Plus, for our family it's the perfect time to go. It's the perfect Christmas gift to ourselves, the best wind-down from the craziness of the previous months, and the best way to kick off a new year.

We were contemplating going this August. We even booked a trip, and then canceled it. We decided that the extremely hot weather and the crowds would take away from the trip for us.