What is Disney like in July?

[deebee29]

The next time I head to Disney will likely be the very beginning of July, but not necessarily July 4th. What are the crowds like, the weather, etc? I've been there In the first part of June, is it much different? What can I expect?

[Strmchsr]

I think very hot, humid, and crowded about sums it up. During July and August you can pretty much take to the bank that the weather will be highs in the low to mid 90s, lows in the mid 70s, and about a 50% chance of an afternoon thunderstorm between 3 and 6 pm.

Crowds are also quite high, but WDW is used to crowds and does a good job of handling them.

[1DisneyNut]

Its about the same as June just maybe a few degrees warmer and maybe thunderstorms a little more likely. It is usually very busy this time of year so be prepared for longer wait times. I will give you some advice, avoid the week of July 4 if at all possible. The absolute worst trip we took to WDW was during July 4 a few years ago. Magic Kingdom was so crowded on the day of July 4 it took us an hour to get from the entrance to the castle. People were literally shoulder to shoulder and you could hardly move. We wanted to see the fireworks but it was miserable. We ended up just leaving the parks and going to eat. We will never go back around July 4 again, in fact we have avoided all of late June through mid August. I think the biggest problem is schools now have such a short summer break everyone all tries to go within this time frame and there just simply isn't enough room for half of america in the parks. lol

[Dulcee]

:thedolls:Hot.

That being said, my family and I have always always gone in the middle of July. We happen to love the heat.


Aside from temps in the high 80s to high 90s expect a thunderstorm pretty much every afternoon. They don't last long but they can get violent so plan to seek cover for an hour most days between 3 and 5. They've never really bothered us and tend to provide a nice break in the heat.

After that the days tend to clear and the nights are lovely and warm.

Crowds are busy but mangeable if you plan well and use fastpasses and make reservations early. Our biggest problem has always been forgein tour groups. Nothing against 'em but when you see one of the group tour flags head the other direction, it can be a group from 20 - 50 people all headed for one ride line.

If you plan properly it can be a great time to go. Bring sunscreen, hats and lots of water and take breaks. We learned the hard one year when my brother ended up with heatstroke :ill: he got to spend a large majority of that day soaking up nothing but air conditioning in innovations at EPCOT...

[dancin Disney style]

Yep, hot , humid and rains every afternoon. The upside is that it forces your to take it easy. If you try to do the commando style tour you will be wiped out. To survive the heat you should:
-drink lots of water.
-use lots of sunscreen.
-start the day early and take a break in the afternoon...pool works great for that.
-take advantage of EMH...morning and evening.
-RELAX....it's not going anywhere you can come back another time.

[DisneyAggies]

Hot, humid, and crowded.

That being said, we vacationed mid-late July every year up until 2006 when I quit my job which enabled us to go 'off season' for an extended period of time.

It's hot, but not unbearable. Stay hydrated, dress comfortably, and never underestimate the value of the mid-afternoon nap! :mickey:

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

Hazy, hot, humid and crowded. As stated, the most important thing is to stay hydrated. We saw more people passing out from heat stroke, and almost did it ourselves.
Some of the thunderstorms were frightening in their intensity. That's a good time to go shopping.

[jcvalenti]

It's ridiculously uncomfortable. Absolutely packed, insanely hot and so humid you can pretty much count on daily thunderstorms.

You can learn to manage however, using the tips in this thread. And remember - the afternood thunderstorms tend to clear out many of the rookies ... so if you get moving as soon as the storm blows through, you can see a lot of stuff.

It's shocking how fast the storms come in Florida ... and even more shocking how fast it goes from pouring rain and lightening to clear skies and pleasant temps.

[2Epcot]

My first two trips to WDW were in July, and I said I would never do that again. Until my last trip (which was in June, not my choice) all my other trips have been in the Spring and Fall. As other have said, hot, humid, and heck of a lot of people .... a few degrees cooler then taking a bath on the sun. :sun:

[Tigger&Stitch]

Nothing new, but yep...it will be hooooooot. The first time I went with my husband was the first week of July. I usually don't mind the heat, but it was quite unbearable! The parks were also quite crowded, and it was difficult to get a time slot for meals.

If that's the only time you can make it, though, just prepare yourself and figure out how to get around the crowds and deal with the heat!

[dmosher]

It will be very hot and crowded, but then, when in the summer is WDW not hot and crowded? If you do break down and go in july, try to make it on the 4th. Yes it will be VERY crowded, but the fireworks show in DHS when we went a few years ago was the best 4th of July fireworks I have seen in a long time. Not the best fireworks show, but the best 4th of july.
:pipes:
D

[deebee29]

Thanks so much everyone, any more input anyone has is greatly appreciated!!!

[pianobabe]

DH and I made an unexpected trip to WDW July 12-15, 2007 (we were headed to Savanna, GA and decided just to drive a little further). We are use to going to WDW in the fall (September, October and November are the main times I have gone before). It is true it was hot. I did not think the crowds were bad, granted it was busier than we usually deal with, but it was not insanely bad. I was actually surprised. When I called for a reservation while we were driving, they didn't have anything for the value resorts only the moderates so we were concerned about crowd levels. We didn't have to wait very long for anything. We spent the first day at MK and the second at Epcot. We were able to ride everything and anything we wanted to without much wait (just an example, it was maybe a 20-minute wait compared to our normal 10-minute wait). We really enjoyed it. I would be more than willing to do it again, but since we go to WDW for our anniversary in September, I'll stick with then.

[CuteAsMinnie]

Ya know, It's really not THAT bad. First of all, you know it is going to be HOT. You are in FL in July after all. That being said, we simply planned our day accordingly. Took advantage of EMH always at MK and when the heat/crowds got to be too much...back to the WL to chill or another resort for lunch, early dinner, or whatever.

I think it is KEY to have a park hopper pass so you can come and go between parks as you please with as many breaks/rests and you wish to get the most out of your stay.

Something tells me tho, crowds this JUly won't be as bad as the last few years.:mickey:

[deebee29]

Thanks again for the replies, and looking forward to more! :)

[yjgirl32]

HHHMMM not too bad. I too would love to take m ds5 to Disney for his birthday (July 15th) one year. Possibly even next year. He would love it. I was very scared at first, but I can handle heat- it's the crowd size I worried about. Thanks for the ?- I hope it helped you as much as it has helped me.

[DizneyRox]

Nobody really mentioned it, but it's

HOT
Really, unless you've been it's tough to comprehend how hot it really gets. I've been going since about 1994 or so. The forcast is always the same. 94° with 99% humidity and afternoon thunderstorms.

What that means is, most people are sweating before they get to the bus sop in the morning. You will continue to sweat until about 7pm at night.

The heat coming up off the walkways is even more unbearable (and blinding) than the sun overhead.

Animal Kingdom doubles as a steam room during most of the summer.

What we do is freeze a couple of water bottles the night before. They are usually melted completely by about 10am and gone not much later. I pound a full bottle between the room and the bus stop and start working on the frozen one. It really pays to stay hydrated, that's the #1 rule in the summer. We probably go through about 4-6 bottles each, per day.

Wearing sandals really helps too. Keeping your feet cool helps the rest of your body. Wearing light clothes helps as well, but honesly, be careful they don't get see through when wet.

That's about it, it's really hotter than you can imagine. We're already in the 90's where I live and it's nothing compared to the Florida summer heat. It's almost sweater weather by comparison.