April 25, 2025 • 21 mins
This podcast episode delves into the complexities and strategies associated with visiting Walt Disney World during the sweltering summer months, especially for families with young children. We explore the challenges posed by high temperatures and increased crowd levels, offering insights and practical tips to enhance the experience while mitigating the stress often associated with such visits. A significant focus is placed on the inherent advantages of remaining on property, which affords guests the luxury of convenient access to accommodations and respite from the heat. Furthermore, we emphasize the importance of pacing one's activities, advocating for strategic breaks to ensure both enjoyment and comfort throughout the day. Ultimately, our discussion aims to equip listeners with the knowledge necessary to navigate the summer theme park landscape effectively, ensuring a memorable family vacation.
Takeaways:
- During the summer months, families often face intense heat and large crowds at Walt Disney World, which necessitates careful planning and strategic breaks.
- Staying on property at Disney offers significant advantages, such as convenient transportation and the ability to take midday breaks to avoid the harsh sun.
- While summer attendance has historically been lower than peak holiday periods, the heat remains a significant factor influencing visitor experiences at the parks.
- It is advisable for families with young children to identify indoor attractions that provide respite from the heat, ensuring a more enjoyable experience throughout the day.
- One should consider park hopping as a viable strategy to manage heat and crowd levels effectively, allowing for a more balanced day at the parks.
- Understanding the value of vacationing at Disney involves recognizing that the overall experience should not solely focus on maximizing time spent in the parks.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign Wishes Podcast.
Your stop for everything WaltDisney World and Universal Studios.
I am Tony Desiri along withall the magic travels, Lauren Mallard.
And today we are going to beheading into the summer months of
theme park attendance and whatis it like to attend during the summer
(00:21):
with little ones and some tipsthat kind of can keep you from losing
your mind from the intenseheat and the crowds of the Walt Disney
World Resort.
Once again, if you've beenlistening to this podcast podcast
and you like what you've beenhearing, please leave us a five star
review and leave a comment.
We'd love to hear your inputon what we've been doing so far on
this podcast.
Hello, Lauren.
Hey Tony.
(00:41):
We are about ready to switchinto the calendar of May.
So we are in the late April aswe record this, we're heading into
May, which is technically thesummer months.
Schools are starting to let out.
That's right, vacations arestarting to happen.
It's my favorite time of the year.
The favorite time of the year.
And we are starting to see,you know, this is when families are
going to go, all right, timeto go to Florida, to go to, to go
to Disney World.
(01:01):
Some have done this before,they do this summer, but some families
with kids, maybe this is theirfirst time going down to Florida
for a Disney World vacation inthe summertime.
And it is, it's going to besome things we need to chat about
because it's a hard time to gogiven the heat and the crowds.
But for a lot of families, oneof the only times they can go.
That's right.
And you know, I get thisquestion so often as far as when
(01:25):
is the best time to go.
And so really you're fightingagainst a couple different things.
If you go during the summer,you talk about the crowds.
Honestly, what I've seenhistorically over, over the last
few years is the crowds aretrending a little lower during the
summertime.
And so if you can withstandthe heat, it's actually one of the
better times to be thereversus, like fall break is the worst
(01:48):
time in my opinion to go oraround Christmas, which I love being
there around Christmas, butyou're going to have those crowds.
So I think the major, majorlimitation is going to be the heat.
During this.
You sometimes see Disney World.
Well, they'll, they'll say inthe news, for example, that Magic
Kingdom shut down from capacity.
It's, it's not really in Juneor usually like you said, those holiday
(02:09):
months that were really kicksin, you have to really kind of pay
attention to the capacity ofthe crowd where they say, no, we're,
we're at our limit, that's it.
But you're right, I've seenthat too.
Where slowly we have startingto see a decline in summer attendance.
The last time I was at DisneyWorld in the summertime was in August.
I took my son down to college.
We decided to do a day atEpcot just to sort of mingle around.
(02:31):
And it was not as busy.
My parents go in the summer asseason pass holders as much as they
can as senior citizens andthey've noticed that too.
But nevertheless,nevertheless, the heat is where people
who are not from Florida mightbe wondering, how do I manage the
heat?
How do I manage with two kidsand a long day and the intense heat?
Not just the heat, but thehumidity of those Florida months.
(02:52):
Yeah, you know, I think thatduring the summer is probably the
time versus any other time ofthe year that you should really look
at staying on property becauseit gives you that flexibility of
being able to take the busback to the hotel during the day,
take a swim.
It's a lot easier to do that,that than going to an off property
(03:13):
hotel.
Whereas the shuttles are alittle more spaced out for off property,
whereas the ones on Disneyproperty are constantly running and
allow you to kind of takethose midday breaks or get a later
start.
If you wanted to spend sometime and not be just completely in
the sun for 12 hours for the,for a day in the park, that has.
Always been good advice to people.
(03:34):
Take a break, go back to the hotel.
If you're staying on property,go for a swim.
What would you advise forsomebody who says, boy, Lauren, I
really appreciate that, butevery day this is costing me 500
bucks.
I really just don't want totake four hours away from what I'm
paying for.
How do you get around that?
That is really a great question.
And honestly what I like tosay is look at it as, this is the
(03:58):
entire cost of the vacationrather than what am I spending to
be in the theme park today?
Because while the theme parkis the main objective of your Walt
Disney World vacation, don'tlook at it as being the only reason
that you're there.
Because if you look at it as,on the whole, you can stay at Pop
(04:18):
Century sometimes during thesummer, there are some really great
deals.
I was looking today for lessthan 200 a night.
Sure.
And that gives you that earlyaccess to the hotel, to the theme
park that morning and thengives you that on site transportation.
And so if you really look atit as apples to apples of I can get
an off property hotel or anoff property house and then have
to pay parking but still haveto get myself to the park.
(04:43):
Or I can have a little bitmore enjoyable time, get in, get
more done during that 30minutes so that I'm there for early
entry.
Then I might still get as muchdone and have that break time than
if I was staying off.
I agree and I, I think withpeople, I never like to say find
to tell people what they valueand what they value but at the same
time I go, do you really wantto spend your vacation constantly
(05:03):
going how much am I getting of this?
How much am I?
Because it'll drive you crazy.
Because then you'll, thenyou'll micromanage that to waiting
in lines, to waiting for food.
Do I want to do a sit downrestaurant that may take an hour
and a half rather thangrabbing a quick burger where I could
be.
What is it that you're valuing from.
Your vacation time will tickall day long and if you look at it
(05:25):
that way, it's never going tofeel like you're going to get your
money's worth.
Exactly.
Because I for one would muchrather if I'm there in June or July,
I am going to take the time togo into somewhere air conditioned
and sit down for a dinnerthat's not for everybody.
Everybody doesn't have to dothat and there is no right or no
wrong way to do it.
If you would rather sit atCasey's Corner in the 95 degree heat
(05:45):
and have a hot dog so that youcan keep going, that's totally fine.
And that's right for some people.
But for me, I know if I'mgoing to want to get a couple more
hours out of the afternoon,I'm going to go ahead and budget
in there and say, hey, I wantto go sit down somewhere and have
a quiet good dinner and thenbe able to get back out into the.
Yeah.
And I think a lot of people,the term is pacing.
(06:05):
Like listen, if you're amarathon runner and your whole family
is super athletic and you cando a whole day in the heat, God bless
you.
Oh absolutely.
But I know like I get more outof my day if you tell me, hey, we're
gonna go stop here for 30minutes, we're gonna stop here, then
I can get you to the finish line.
And that leads me to my third part.
Don't forget a lot of theseparks now will open later in the
summertime.
(06:26):
So don't be afraid to takethat break and Feel like you're losing
some valuable park time.
Sometimes these parks areclosing at a, at a time where you're
gonna get some extra valuewhen it's.
When it turns dark.
Yeah, that's right.
And if your kids can hang,definitely take advantage of that,
even if you're.
If is later in the day.
Because people are takingbreaks at different times of the
(06:46):
day, which is going to kind ofplay into that crowd situation.
So if you can be there kind ofin the middle of the day and take
your break a little bit laterand then come back after the sun
goes down, you're gonna see alittle break in the heat and it's
gonna feel so much more enjoyable.
Well, let's talk about littlekids, because little kids can, and
I know you're more experiencedwith this, taking your little ones
to Disney than I was when mykids were little.
(07:07):
But there are certainattractions at Disney World and we
call them, you know, the nap rides.
Right.
Like Carousel of Progress,hall of Presidents.
But it's one thing to say,hey, my husband and I, or me and
my older kid are going in there.
But when you take a little kidinto a place where they're not know,
they don't know what's thehall of Presidents is, how do you
get them to sort of say, hey,this is quiet relaxed time.
(07:28):
Yeah, that's snack time.
Yeah.
So you're going to want totake in there and take like a bag
of goldfish or you know, a bagof popcorn, which they're going to
say, no food or drink, but youknow what, it's dark in there and
slide it in and nobody's gonnasee you.
So take their water bottle ortake a juice box, give them a snack.
Even if you have to give themsomething like a device for a minute
(07:49):
because it is still justgetting them in the air conditioned.
If they're bored to death insay hall of Presidents, then just
give them a second to relaxand let their brain kind of adjust
again to get them back out there.
Now, my favorite one for kidsto, to be able to enjoy and to get
that break is Finding Nemo.
Absolutely.
I love that show.
(08:09):
It's.
It's been cut down a little bit.
It used to be a little bit too long.
It used to be like 45 minutesand now it's only 25.
But it is the perfect length.
Animal Kingdom is a hot park.
If you're gonna spend a daythere, know that it is so, so hot.
And there are a couple thingsthere with Finding Nemo and with
Festival of The Lion King,that the kids are going to love those
(08:30):
shows and also cool down.
Yeah, exactly.
And again, Magic Kingdom.
They're the Tiki Room YPresidents Carousel of Progress.
These are indoor attractions.
25 minutes sometimes it's allyou need.
You can go inside the MexicoPavilion at Epcot Center.
Spaceship Earth is a long ride.
It'll get you away from the heat.
So don't be afraid to, youknow, go into the aquarium at.
(08:51):
At.
There's a lot of places whereyou can escape from the heat.
Keep yourself entertained.
But if you are looking forthat, I just want to sit for 20 minutes
and.
But I want to attend.
Try some of those.
Even if your kids aren't goingto appreciate.
Right.
Seeing all of the presidentsof the United States, it is worth
it to get out of the sun, outof the humidity.
The other thing I always tellpeople about Florida, and I learned
(09:12):
this the hard way, becausewhen I was dating my wife back in
the 90s, we went to Busch Gardens.
Yeah.
We were having a great time atBusch Gardens.
And we were on this rollercoaster and we're having fun.
And it was towards the end ofthe day, and my fiance at.
I'm a girlfriend at the timenow, wife said, hey, we probably
should be leaving.
And I said, why?
She goes, because it's goingto rain.
And I said, no, it isn't gonna rain.
(09:33):
And she says, no, it's gonna rain.
And by the time we got to theparking lot, it was up to my ankles,
like she could see it in the distance.
And being a Floridian, sheknew it's coming and it's coming
quick and it's gonna bereally, really bad.
Yeah.
And that's what you're gonnaget a lot of times in the summer
months.
So prepare for.
If you're going for a week atDisney World, it's possible it could
rain for some time everysingle day while you're down there.
(09:54):
Yeah.
And if you want to pack thecheap ponchos, go ahead and do that.
Sometimes I do, and sometimesI say, you know, I'm not gonna fool
with that today.
I just don't want to carry itin the backp with the rain.
That's another thing whereI'll go back to our little hack of
walking in the Emporium.
And you can walk all the waydown to Casey's Corner.
So you know it's going to becrowded during that time if it's
raining outside, but just do that.
(10:14):
And another note on the rainis they will have if they have to
cancel the parade, which Ithink is the worst thing.
If they do have to cancel theparade for rain, they'll have a little
thing called the Rainy Day Parade.
And it's just one or two cartsfull of characters.
And be sure to just watch thatbecause it's really cute and it's
just kind of a way to say,hey, we're still here, but sorry,
we can't have the parade.
Do we have any tips?
(10:34):
Tips or hacks for people whoare working on the parade and they
do not want to stand all dayfor like an hour on a busy day to
say like, look, I want a goodspot for the parade, but I, I can't
do it in this heat and sun.
Do we have any little hacksfor that?
You know, that's a really good question.
And I can remember back when Iwas a kid, my dad was always the
(10:55):
designated parade and so hewould have to go and usually he didn't
care because he would get abag of popcorn and a Coke and just
sit there and lay, lay thetowel or the blanket out or whatever
and make room.
Now what I tend to do is Iwill not go ahead of time because
my kids will whine if they'relittle, then they don't want to sit
there in the sun and wait.
(11:15):
What I usually do is kind oflike scope it out as I'm walking
and I'll say, oh, that spotdoesn't look to be quite as busy
as this spot over here.
Personally, I think there'sreally no right or wrong place to
watch the parade because it'sgoing to be the same regardless.
Some people like to watch itwith Cinderella Castle in the background.
I don't really think that's important.
(11:35):
So wherever you see that looksto be the least crowd crowded.
Or what's even better is lookand see what side of the street is
shaded.
Because if you can get on theside of the street that's shaded,
then you're going to have amuch more enjoyable.
And always remember and, andmany of you know this, but if a parade
is starting, let's say at oneand you're down by, you know, down
(11:56):
by the emporium or down inthat little, you know, that sort
of, that sort of rope.
What is it?
The circle?
Yeah, down at the beginning ofthe park, it's going to take a while
for the parade to come to you.
So at 2:00 is really like a 2:30.
It is by the time you see it.
So always anticipate that.
If you're saying I got Littlekids, they want to see the parade.
Oh, we got a great spot onMain street.
It's almost 2:00.
Almost 2:00.
(12:16):
You still got a while beforethat's coming through the Frontierland
area all the way through downto you.
Before your kids can beentertained by something and not
realize that they're standingaround in the heat doing nothing.
That's a great point, you know.
All right, so let's talk aboutcrowds because, yes, summertimes,
we're seeing a little bit of adecline in sort of the attendance
in the summertime.
But you can hit a day or twowhere it is going to be really, really
(12:38):
packed and to anticipate, youknow, long lines, long lines for
food, long lines for rides,etc, and, and I don't mean to be
the grumpy, but sometimes justthe pressing of people can drive
you crazy.
Oh, absolutely.
If you are hot and sweaty andyou put a bunch of bodies right around
me, I am gonna immediatelyturn into grumpy.
And so I think, really, that'swhere you have to say, you know,
(13:01):
I realize I booked this tripin the summer and there is no chance
that it's gonna be cool.
That's zero chance months.
So you kind of have to go inand pack your patience for that part
of it.
I.
I have a friend of mine whodoesn't go to Disney.
He's not.
He just went with his familyone time and they went in July and
it was hot.
And he said, I'm never goingto do that again.
And I said, well, what ashame, because if you can find ways
to go in the fall, or youcould find ways to go at certain
(13:23):
other times.
Right.
Most of what you didn't likeabout that experience would be taken
away.
I.
I could see it and feel it,you know, being at like Pinocchio
house and just being pressedwith people while you're trying to
get a, A flatbread, it canreally drive you crazy.
But I agree.
Know what you're going into.
I've got a friend who's goingdown in June and they're from Houston.
(13:44):
Right.
So they're in hot and humid weather.
They're in hot, humid, buggyweather, but they're also from California
and they go to.
They've been a Disneylandfamily until they moved to Houston
a number of years ago.
And even he asked me, well, what's.
What's it going to be likedown there?
We know we're hot.
Is it as hot?
I said, yeah, it's as hot.
Yeah.
I know my corporate Office isin Houston.
It's really hot.
(14:04):
Yeah.
And he's still trying tofigure out, well, how do we manage
it?
Because it's one thing to takeyour kid to a ball game when it's
90 degrees and 90% humidity.
What about walking on concretefloors and going on rides?
Yeah, you know, it's reallytough because a lot of my tips go
back to spending more money,which really stinks.
But, like, if you're lookingat it too.
So if I'm looking overall at the.
(14:26):
At the calendar of the resort prices.
So if I start with resortprices and I see that really they're
least expensive in the summertime.
So, yes, you're going to savesome money there.
But can you pick back that upin your budget to go ahead and add
the lightning lanes, at leastfor Magic Kingdom?
Because I think that it wouldserve you so much better to be able
(14:46):
to get more done during theday and do it at a slower pace than.
And I say slower pace, whereasyou're not waiting in as many lines
and you can get more done sothat you can take that break or you
can go in that shop and look,or you can stop for that ice cream.
Because when you go in thesummer, there just is no way to do
it without doing it at alittle bit slower pace and being
(15:09):
able to, To.
To.
To give yourself that grace.
Because you can't.
Or at least I can't.
I know there are some peoplethat can start at 7am in the park,
go literally all day long, andthen end at 11pm and not feel it
the next day.
Oh, absolutely.
You know, so park hopping, ifyou have little kids and it's hot
(15:30):
and you're dealing withcrowds, is park hopping a good idea?
I think so, because I thinkthat they get burnt out so easily,
no pun intended, gettingburned out in July.
But I think they get burnoutpark really quickly.
Especially we go back to thatAnimal Kingdom being so hot.
If you're there from 8am to10am and you are blazing hot at Animal
Kingdom, hey, let's go aheadand hop over to Hollywood Studios
(15:53):
where some more things areindoors, or hop over to Epcot where
you can go into SpaceshipEarth, or then you can just walk
through the World Showcase,which is still hot, but, you know,
just a different kind of hot.
I would advise people to parkhop only from this standpoint is
because of the parks in thevarying hours.
And you're right.
If you've got kids and youknow you're going to need that break,
break, sometimes it's betterto go.
Look, I've done Epcot, buttonight Hollywood Studios is closing
(16:15):
at 10 or whatever.
And you know what, if we takea break, we can get five hours over
there.
So let's do that.
Right.
You know it.
If you're playing the game alittle bit where you're sort of trying
to figure out where you wantto go and how you want to maximize
your day and you know you'regoing to need that break.
Sometimes it's better to go,look, I want to go here and then
I want to break and then Iwant to go here.
Yeah.
So.
(16:35):
And I think you're right too.
I think there's, there istimes where you can say, hey, it's
really hot.
Let's go over to Disney MagicKingdom and let's go do some of the
indoor stuff and let's chillout for a little bit.
Yeah.
And try to keep yourself fromwalking from one end of the park
to the other for everything.
So that's so hard to do too,because if you look at the wait times
and you think that Pirates ofthe Caribbean has a really short
(16:58):
wait time, but hey, then nextone Space Mountain doesn't have a
long wait time.
You're, you've got to kind ofthink about, hey, those steps are
going to get hot on my feetduring the summer hours or the summer
days.
And just try to try to stay inone land as long as possible before
moving on.
You know, I wanted to bring upone other point because we were just
talking about when somebodysays, hey, look, I've paid a lot
(17:18):
for these tickets and I don'twant to spend three hours back at
the hotel.
And I paid a lot for the tickets.
Always remember, if you'rebuying them over like five days,
that individual price goesdown the more days you buy.
So if you're buying one day,it's $160.
But if you're buying fivedays, that price is significantly
less.
Yeah.
And that's where I say too,if, if you have a longer time to
(17:41):
spend, whether you're onproperty or off property, then go
ahead and build in.
Let's say you're down therefor seven nights, just do a five
day ticket.
And that way you don't feelpressured to go to the park on one
of those days.
You're able to just spend aday just resting or doing something
that's a little bit more location.
All right, so some of thosetips that we're giving you for the
summer months, but as youmentioned earlier, there are some
(18:02):
very good deals that are goingon right now.
And how much of this is theEpic universe opening?
Because that's getting a lotof press and buzz.
I, I gotta tell you, I'm notin the theme park industry in terms
of like managing parks.
I've never been and I've nevereven known people who do.
But I'm wondering how muchDisney is like, you know, what do
the Tick Tock videos?
We get it, we understand.
We're not going to fight that.
(18:23):
Yeah.
Like the, the content creatorsare checking out Wolfenstein and
they're checking out theDonkey Kong ride.
We're gonna chill out.
But if you're payingattention, there are some fantastic
deals going on right now.
There really, really are.
And to be honest, I thinkDisney is probably a little bit scared
because Epic looks, it looks fantastic.
I mean, it looks amazing.
(18:45):
And so, yes, I realizedVillains Land is down the road, but
I mean, we're still three orfour years out from that probably.
And so, yeah, Disney isprobably feeling it a little bit
this summer because peoplestaying on property at Universal
and maybe coming over toDisney for the day rather than the
other way around.
And so, yeah, we're seeingthings like, still I'm finding free
dining plans for people.
(19:06):
Still I'm finding half pricekids tickets for ages three to nine.
And you know what?
I can hack that so that youcan book a room only and get the
room discount which are stillshowing up everywhere.
Deluxe, moderate and value.
Absolutely.
And then we can buy yourtickets separately so that you can
double dip that discount andget those half price kids tickets.
And then you're really, reallystart to see some savings.
(19:28):
I know.
My wife and I just booked atrip in September.
Yeah.
And we, we're going F FullWeek 5 Park, 5 Day Park Hopper pass
with the dining plan at PopCentury for less than $3,000.
Amazing.
It's crazy.
And again, I, I get it.
The competition can, you know,really can breed that sort of thing.
I mean, look, everyone I knowis buzzing about Epic Universe.
Everybody wants to go.
Everybody wants to find a wayto go.
(19:48):
And I completely understand itbecause in this day and age, which
did not exist in 99 whenanimal kingdom was up and running,
where you just are constantlyseeing stuff.
I have to stay away from thesevideos because I want to, I want
to go to Epic and be sort ofshocked and surprised.
I really don't want to be spoiling.
I don't want ride spoilers oranything like that.
But they're hard, man.
(20:09):
Everywhere.
They're everywhere.
And you have to.
And you're seeing them.
Here's the food, here's thehotel, here's the, here's the new
roller coaster, here'scharacters that are going on in Epic
Universe.
But again, if you are planningthat Disney trip, this is a really
good time to go.
Take advantage of thecompetition that's taking all of
the press and all of the fameand all the notoriety because the
(20:29):
other side is saying we stillgot something really cool over here
and you might be able to gohere at a price you probably won't
see in a while.
That's right.
And you know, the one thingthat we haven't mentioned yet that
will be the biggest, thebiggest factor as far as keeping
yourself cool on your Disneyvacation this summer is we're still
offering that free day at thewater park.
That's right.
On the day that you check in.
And starting in May, we'regonna have both water parks open.
(20:50):
And so the rumor is, we don'tknow yet, but the rumor is you might
be able to start the day atBlizzard beach and then hop over
to Typhoon Lagoon and get bothof them in during that one day.
So, and we, as we've, you andI have talked about in other podcasts,
there some things that are down.
Dino Land is over, that's beenshut down, but test tracks should
be opening up.
I hope so.
You know, they said summer of26, which was very vague.
(21:11):
I really hope I'm really,really crossing my fingers for June
because I'm headed down therein June.
Yeah, that's right.
You know, I'm sure it'll openthe week after.
Well, yeah, absolutely.
That's.
I'm hoping by September it'llbe there up and running because I
missed it the last go around.
It's been down for a year, right?
Down for quite a while.
Yeah.
And they got new cars and everything.
I'm excited.
It's a lot of good stuff.
So again, if you want to getmore tips and more information on
(21:32):
your Disney vacation, reachout to Laure at Lauren at allthemagictravel.
Com you can reach out to metravel with Tony D at gmail com.
Please subscribe.
Like the podcast.
Leave it a five star review.
If you like what we've beendoing, giving you kind of tips and
tricks on how to maneuver thetheme park world.
I'm Tony Desiri, that's LaurenMallard and this is Wands and Wishes
podcast.
Foreign Wishes Podcast.
Your stop for everything WaltDisney World and Universal Studios.
I am Tony Desiri along withall the magic travels, Lauren Mallard.
And today we are going to beheading into the summer months of
theme park attendance and whatis it like to attend during the summer
(00:21):
with little ones and some tipsthat kind of can keep you from losing
your mind from the intenseheat and the crowds of the Walt Disney
World Resort.
Once again, if you've beenlistening to this podcast podcast
and you like what you've beenhearing, please leave us a five star
review and leave a comment.
We'd love to hear your inputon what we've been doing so far on
this podcast.
Hello, Lauren.
Hey Tony.
(00:41):
We are about ready to switchinto the calendar of May.
So we are in the late April aswe record this, we're heading into
May, which is technically thesummer months.
Schools are starting to let out.
That's right, vacations arestarting to happen.
It's my favorite time of the year.
The favorite time of the year.
And we are starting to see,you know, this is when families are
going to go, all right, timeto go to Florida, to go to, to go
to Disney World.
(01:01):
Some have done this before,they do this summer, but some families
with kids, maybe this is theirfirst time going down to Florida
for a Disney World vacation inthe summertime.
And it is, it's going to besome things we need to chat about
because it's a hard time to gogiven the heat and the crowds.
But for a lot of families, oneof the only times they can go.
That's right.
And you know, I get thisquestion so often as far as when
(01:25):
is the best time to go.
And so really you're fightingagainst a couple different things.
If you go during the summer,you talk about the crowds.
Honestly, what I've seenhistorically over, over the last
few years is the crowds aretrending a little lower during the
summertime.
And so if you can withstandthe heat, it's actually one of the
better times to be thereversus, like fall break is the worst
(01:48):
time in my opinion to go oraround Christmas, which I love being
there around Christmas, butyou're going to have those crowds.
So I think the major, majorlimitation is going to be the heat.
During this.
You sometimes see Disney World.
Well, they'll, they'll say inthe news, for example, that Magic
Kingdom shut down from capacity.
It's, it's not really in Juneor usually like you said, those holiday
(02:09):
months that were really kicksin, you have to really kind of pay
attention to the capacity ofthe crowd where they say, no, we're,
we're at our limit, that's it.
But you're right, I've seenthat too.
Where slowly we have startingto see a decline in summer attendance.
The last time I was at DisneyWorld in the summertime was in August.
I took my son down to college.
We decided to do a day atEpcot just to sort of mingle around.
(02:31):
And it was not as busy.
My parents go in the summer asseason pass holders as much as they
can as senior citizens andthey've noticed that too.
But nevertheless,nevertheless, the heat is where people
who are not from Florida mightbe wondering, how do I manage the
heat?
How do I manage with two kidsand a long day and the intense heat?
Not just the heat, but thehumidity of those Florida months.
(02:52):
Yeah, you know, I think thatduring the summer is probably the
time versus any other time ofthe year that you should really look
at staying on property becauseit gives you that flexibility of
being able to take the busback to the hotel during the day,
take a swim.
It's a lot easier to do that,that than going to an off property
(03:13):
hotel.
Whereas the shuttles are alittle more spaced out for off property,
whereas the ones on Disneyproperty are constantly running and
allow you to kind of takethose midday breaks or get a later
start.
If you wanted to spend sometime and not be just completely in
the sun for 12 hours for the,for a day in the park, that has.
Always been good advice to people.
(03:34):
Take a break, go back to the hotel.
If you're staying on property,go for a swim.
What would you advise forsomebody who says, boy, Lauren, I
really appreciate that, butevery day this is costing me 500
bucks.
I really just don't want totake four hours away from what I'm
paying for.
How do you get around that?
That is really a great question.
And honestly what I like tosay is look at it as, this is the
(03:58):
entire cost of the vacationrather than what am I spending to
be in the theme park today?
Because while the theme parkis the main objective of your Walt
Disney World vacation, don'tlook at it as being the only reason
that you're there.
Because if you look at it as,on the whole, you can stay at Pop
(04:18):
Century sometimes during thesummer, there are some really great
deals.
I was looking today for lessthan 200 a night.
Sure.
And that gives you that earlyaccess to the hotel, to the theme
park that morning and thengives you that on site transportation.
And so if you really look atit as apples to apples of I can get
an off property hotel or anoff property house and then have
to pay parking but still haveto get myself to the park.
(04:43):
Or I can have a little bitmore enjoyable time, get in, get
more done during that 30minutes so that I'm there for early
entry.
Then I might still get as muchdone and have that break time than
if I was staying off.
I agree and I, I think withpeople, I never like to say find
to tell people what they valueand what they value but at the same
time I go, do you really wantto spend your vacation constantly
(05:03):
going how much am I getting of this?
How much am I?
Because it'll drive you crazy.
Because then you'll, thenyou'll micromanage that to waiting
in lines, to waiting for food.
Do I want to do a sit downrestaurant that may take an hour
and a half rather thangrabbing a quick burger where I could
be.
What is it that you're valuing from.
Your vacation time will tickall day long and if you look at it
(05:25):
that way, it's never going tofeel like you're going to get your
money's worth.
Exactly.
Because I for one would muchrather if I'm there in June or July,
I am going to take the time togo into somewhere air conditioned
and sit down for a dinnerthat's not for everybody.
Everybody doesn't have to dothat and there is no right or no
wrong way to do it.
If you would rather sit atCasey's Corner in the 95 degree heat
(05:45):
and have a hot dog so that youcan keep going, that's totally fine.
And that's right for some people.
But for me, I know if I'mgoing to want to get a couple more
hours out of the afternoon,I'm going to go ahead and budget
in there and say, hey, I wantto go sit down somewhere and have
a quiet good dinner and thenbe able to get back out into the.
Yeah.
And I think a lot of people,the term is pacing.
(06:05):
Like listen, if you're amarathon runner and your whole family
is super athletic and you cando a whole day in the heat, God bless
you.
Oh absolutely.
But I know like I get more outof my day if you tell me, hey, we're
gonna go stop here for 30minutes, we're gonna stop here, then
I can get you to the finish line.
And that leads me to my third part.
Don't forget a lot of theseparks now will open later in the
summertime.
(06:26):
So don't be afraid to takethat break and Feel like you're losing
some valuable park time.
Sometimes these parks areclosing at a, at a time where you're
gonna get some extra valuewhen it's.
When it turns dark.
Yeah, that's right.
And if your kids can hang,definitely take advantage of that,
even if you're.
If is later in the day.
Because people are takingbreaks at different times of the
(06:46):
day, which is going to kind ofplay into that crowd situation.
So if you can be there kind ofin the middle of the day and take
your break a little bit laterand then come back after the sun
goes down, you're gonna see alittle break in the heat and it's
gonna feel so much more enjoyable.
Well, let's talk about littlekids, because little kids can, and
I know you're more experiencedwith this, taking your little ones
to Disney than I was when mykids were little.
(07:07):
But there are certainattractions at Disney World and we
call them, you know, the nap rides.
Right.
Like Carousel of Progress,hall of Presidents.
But it's one thing to say,hey, my husband and I, or me and
my older kid are going in there.
But when you take a little kidinto a place where they're not know,
they don't know what's thehall of Presidents is, how do you
get them to sort of say, hey,this is quiet relaxed time.
(07:28):
Yeah, that's snack time.
Yeah.
So you're going to want totake in there and take like a bag
of goldfish or you know, a bagof popcorn, which they're going to
say, no food or drink, but youknow what, it's dark in there and
slide it in and nobody's gonnasee you.
So take their water bottle ortake a juice box, give them a snack.
Even if you have to give themsomething like a device for a minute
(07:49):
because it is still justgetting them in the air conditioned.
If they're bored to death insay hall of Presidents, then just
give them a second to relaxand let their brain kind of adjust
again to get them back out there.
Now, my favorite one for kidsto, to be able to enjoy and to get
that break is Finding Nemo.
Absolutely.
I love that show.
(08:09):
It's.
It's been cut down a little bit.
It used to be a little bit too long.
It used to be like 45 minutesand now it's only 25.
But it is the perfect length.
Animal Kingdom is a hot park.
If you're gonna spend a daythere, know that it is so, so hot.
And there are a couple thingsthere with Finding Nemo and with
Festival of The Lion King,that the kids are going to love those
(08:30):
shows and also cool down.
Yeah, exactly.
And again, Magic Kingdom.
They're the Tiki Room YPresidents Carousel of Progress.
These are indoor attractions.
25 minutes sometimes it's allyou need.
You can go inside the MexicoPavilion at Epcot Center.
Spaceship Earth is a long ride.
It'll get you away from the heat.
So don't be afraid to, youknow, go into the aquarium at.
(08:51):
At.
There's a lot of places whereyou can escape from the heat.
Keep yourself entertained.
But if you are looking forthat, I just want to sit for 20 minutes
and.
But I want to attend.
Try some of those.
Even if your kids aren't goingto appreciate.
Right.
Seeing all of the presidentsof the United States, it is worth
it to get out of the sun, outof the humidity.
The other thing I always tellpeople about Florida, and I learned
(09:12):
this the hard way, becausewhen I was dating my wife back in
the 90s, we went to Busch Gardens.
Yeah.
We were having a great time atBusch Gardens.
And we were on this rollercoaster and we're having fun.
And it was towards the end ofthe day, and my fiance at.
I'm a girlfriend at the timenow, wife said, hey, we probably
should be leaving.
And I said, why?
She goes, because it's goingto rain.
And I said, no, it isn't gonna rain.
(09:33):
And she says, no, it's gonna rain.
And by the time we got to theparking lot, it was up to my ankles,
like she could see it in the distance.
And being a Floridian, sheknew it's coming and it's coming
quick and it's gonna bereally, really bad.
Yeah.
And that's what you're gonnaget a lot of times in the summer
months.
So prepare for.
If you're going for a week atDisney World, it's possible it could
rain for some time everysingle day while you're down there.
(09:54):
Yeah.
And if you want to pack thecheap ponchos, go ahead and do that.
Sometimes I do, and sometimesI say, you know, I'm not gonna fool
with that today.
I just don't want to carry itin the backp with the rain.
That's another thing whereI'll go back to our little hack of
walking in the Emporium.
And you can walk all the waydown to Casey's Corner.
So you know it's going to becrowded during that time if it's
raining outside, but just do that.
(10:14):
And another note on the rainis they will have if they have to
cancel the parade, which Ithink is the worst thing.
If they do have to cancel theparade for rain, they'll have a little
thing called the Rainy Day Parade.
And it's just one or two cartsfull of characters.
And be sure to just watch thatbecause it's really cute and it's
just kind of a way to say,hey, we're still here, but sorry,
we can't have the parade.
Do we have any tips?
(10:34):
Tips or hacks for people whoare working on the parade and they
do not want to stand all dayfor like an hour on a busy day to
say like, look, I want a goodspot for the parade, but I, I can't
do it in this heat and sun.
Do we have any little hacksfor that?
You know, that's a really good question.
And I can remember back when Iwas a kid, my dad was always the
(10:55):
designated parade and so hewould have to go and usually he didn't
care because he would get abag of popcorn and a Coke and just
sit there and lay, lay thetowel or the blanket out or whatever
and make room.
Now what I tend to do is Iwill not go ahead of time because
my kids will whine if they'relittle, then they don't want to sit
there in the sun and wait.
(11:15):
What I usually do is kind oflike scope it out as I'm walking
and I'll say, oh, that spotdoesn't look to be quite as busy
as this spot over here.
Personally, I think there'sreally no right or wrong place to
watch the parade because it'sgoing to be the same regardless.
Some people like to watch itwith Cinderella Castle in the background.
I don't really think that's important.
(11:35):
So wherever you see that looksto be the least crowd crowded.
Or what's even better is lookand see what side of the street is
shaded.
Because if you can get on theside of the street that's shaded,
then you're going to have amuch more enjoyable.
And always remember and, andmany of you know this, but if a parade
is starting, let's say at oneand you're down by, you know, down
(11:56):
by the emporium or down inthat little, you know, that sort
of, that sort of rope.
What is it?
The circle?
Yeah, down at the beginning ofthe park, it's going to take a while
for the parade to come to you.
So at 2:00 is really like a 2:30.
It is by the time you see it.
So always anticipate that.
If you're saying I got Littlekids, they want to see the parade.
Oh, we got a great spot onMain street.
It's almost 2:00.
Almost 2:00.
(12:16):
You still got a while beforethat's coming through the Frontierland
area all the way through downto you.
Before your kids can beentertained by something and not
realize that they're standingaround in the heat doing nothing.
That's a great point, you know.
All right, so let's talk aboutcrowds because, yes, summertimes,
we're seeing a little bit of adecline in sort of the attendance
in the summertime.
But you can hit a day or twowhere it is going to be really, really
(12:38):
packed and to anticipate, youknow, long lines, long lines for
food, long lines for rides,etc, and, and I don't mean to be
the grumpy, but sometimes justthe pressing of people can drive
you crazy.
Oh, absolutely.
If you are hot and sweaty andyou put a bunch of bodies right around
me, I am gonna immediatelyturn into grumpy.
And so I think, really, that'swhere you have to say, you know,
(13:01):
I realize I booked this tripin the summer and there is no chance
that it's gonna be cool.
That's zero chance months.
So you kind of have to go inand pack your patience for that part
of it.
I.
I have a friend of mine whodoesn't go to Disney.
He's not.
He just went with his familyone time and they went in July and
it was hot.
And he said, I'm never goingto do that again.
And I said, well, what ashame, because if you can find ways
to go in the fall, or youcould find ways to go at certain
(13:23):
other times.
Right.
Most of what you didn't likeabout that experience would be taken
away.
I.
I could see it and feel it,you know, being at like Pinocchio
house and just being pressedwith people while you're trying to
get a, A flatbread, it canreally drive you crazy.
But I agree.
Know what you're going into.
I've got a friend who's goingdown in June and they're from Houston.
(13:44):
Right.
So they're in hot and humid weather.
They're in hot, humid, buggyweather, but they're also from California
and they go to.
They've been a Disneylandfamily until they moved to Houston
a number of years ago.
And even he asked me, well, what's.
What's it going to be likedown there?
We know we're hot.
Is it as hot?
I said, yeah, it's as hot.
Yeah.
I know my corporate Office isin Houston.
It's really hot.
(14:04):
Yeah.
And he's still trying tofigure out, well, how do we manage
it?
Because it's one thing to takeyour kid to a ball game when it's
90 degrees and 90% humidity.
What about walking on concretefloors and going on rides?
Yeah, you know, it's reallytough because a lot of my tips go
back to spending more money,which really stinks.
But, like, if you're lookingat it too.
So if I'm looking overall at the.
(14:26):
At the calendar of the resort prices.
So if I start with resortprices and I see that really they're
least expensive in the summertime.
So, yes, you're going to savesome money there.
But can you pick back that upin your budget to go ahead and add
the lightning lanes, at leastfor Magic Kingdom?
Because I think that it wouldserve you so much better to be able
(14:46):
to get more done during theday and do it at a slower pace than.
And I say slower pace, whereasyou're not waiting in as many lines
and you can get more done sothat you can take that break or you
can go in that shop and look,or you can stop for that ice cream.
Because when you go in thesummer, there just is no way to do
it without doing it at alittle bit slower pace and being
(15:09):
able to, To.
To.
To give yourself that grace.
Because you can't.
Or at least I can't.
I know there are some peoplethat can start at 7am in the park,
go literally all day long, andthen end at 11pm and not feel it
the next day.
Oh, absolutely.
You know, so park hopping, ifyou have little kids and it's hot
(15:30):
and you're dealing withcrowds, is park hopping a good idea?
I think so, because I thinkthat they get burnt out so easily,
no pun intended, gettingburned out in July.
But I think they get burnoutpark really quickly.
Especially we go back to thatAnimal Kingdom being so hot.
If you're there from 8am to10am and you are blazing hot at Animal
Kingdom, hey, let's go aheadand hop over to Hollywood Studios
(15:53):
where some more things areindoors, or hop over to Epcot where
you can go into SpaceshipEarth, or then you can just walk
through the World Showcase,which is still hot, but, you know,
just a different kind of hot.
I would advise people to parkhop only from this standpoint is
because of the parks in thevarying hours.
And you're right.
If you've got kids and youknow you're going to need that break,
break, sometimes it's betterto go.
Look, I've done Epcot, buttonight Hollywood Studios is closing
(16:15):
at 10 or whatever.
And you know what, if we takea break, we can get five hours over
there.
So let's do that.
Right.
You know it.
If you're playing the game alittle bit where you're sort of trying
to figure out where you wantto go and how you want to maximize
your day and you know you'regoing to need that break.
Sometimes it's better to go,look, I want to go here and then
I want to break and then Iwant to go here.
Yeah.
So.
(16:35):
And I think you're right too.
I think there's, there istimes where you can say, hey, it's
really hot.
Let's go over to Disney MagicKingdom and let's go do some of the
indoor stuff and let's chillout for a little bit.
Yeah.
And try to keep yourself fromwalking from one end of the park
to the other for everything.
So that's so hard to do too,because if you look at the wait times
and you think that Pirates ofthe Caribbean has a really short
(16:58):
wait time, but hey, then nextone Space Mountain doesn't have a
long wait time.
You're, you've got to kind ofthink about, hey, those steps are
going to get hot on my feetduring the summer hours or the summer
days.
And just try to try to stay inone land as long as possible before
moving on.
You know, I wanted to bring upone other point because we were just
talking about when somebodysays, hey, look, I've paid a lot
(17:18):
for these tickets and I don'twant to spend three hours back at
the hotel.
And I paid a lot for the tickets.
Always remember, if you'rebuying them over like five days,
that individual price goesdown the more days you buy.
So if you're buying one day,it's $160.
But if you're buying fivedays, that price is significantly
less.
Yeah.
And that's where I say too,if, if you have a longer time to
(17:41):
spend, whether you're onproperty or off property, then go
ahead and build in.
Let's say you're down therefor seven nights, just do a five
day ticket.
And that way you don't feelpressured to go to the park on one
of those days.
You're able to just spend aday just resting or doing something
that's a little bit more location.
All right, so some of thosetips that we're giving you for the
summer months, but as youmentioned earlier, there are some
(18:02):
very good deals that are goingon right now.
And how much of this is theEpic universe opening?
Because that's getting a lotof press and buzz.
I, I gotta tell you, I'm notin the theme park industry in terms
of like managing parks.
I've never been and I've nevereven known people who do.
But I'm wondering how muchDisney is like, you know, what do
the Tick Tock videos?
We get it, we understand.
We're not going to fight that.
(18:23):
Yeah.
Like the, the content creatorsare checking out Wolfenstein and
they're checking out theDonkey Kong ride.
We're gonna chill out.
But if you're payingattention, there are some fantastic
deals going on right now.
There really, really are.
And to be honest, I thinkDisney is probably a little bit scared
because Epic looks, it looks fantastic.
I mean, it looks amazing.
(18:45):
And so, yes, I realizedVillains Land is down the road, but
I mean, we're still three orfour years out from that probably.
And so, yeah, Disney isprobably feeling it a little bit
this summer because peoplestaying on property at Universal
and maybe coming over toDisney for the day rather than the
other way around.
And so, yeah, we're seeingthings like, still I'm finding free
dining plans for people.
(19:06):
Still I'm finding half pricekids tickets for ages three to nine.
And you know what?
I can hack that so that youcan book a room only and get the
room discount which are stillshowing up everywhere.
Deluxe, moderate and value.
Absolutely.
And then we can buy yourtickets separately so that you can
double dip that discount andget those half price kids tickets.
And then you're really, reallystart to see some savings.
(19:28):
I know.
My wife and I just booked atrip in September.
Yeah.
And we, we're going F FullWeek 5 Park, 5 Day Park Hopper pass
with the dining plan at PopCentury for less than $3,000.
Amazing.
It's crazy.
And again, I, I get it.
The competition can, you know,really can breed that sort of thing.
I mean, look, everyone I knowis buzzing about Epic Universe.
Everybody wants to go.
Everybody wants to find a wayto go.
(19:48):
And I completely understand itbecause in this day and age, which
did not exist in 99 whenanimal kingdom was up and running,
where you just are constantlyseeing stuff.
I have to stay away from thesevideos because I want to, I want
to go to Epic and be sort ofshocked and surprised.
I really don't want to be spoiling.
I don't want ride spoilers oranything like that.
But they're hard, man.
(20:09):
Everywhere.
They're everywhere.
And you have to.
And you're seeing them.
Here's the food, here's thehotel, here's the, here's the new
roller coaster, here'scharacters that are going on in Epic
Universe.
But again, if you are planningthat Disney trip, this is a really
good time to go.
Take advantage of thecompetition that's taking all of
the press and all of the fameand all the notoriety because the
(20:29):
other side is saying we stillgot something really cool over here
and you might be able to gohere at a price you probably won't
see in a while.
That's right.
And you know, the one thingthat we haven't mentioned yet that
will be the biggest, thebiggest factor as far as keeping
yourself cool on your Disneyvacation this summer is we're still
offering that free day at thewater park.
That's right.
On the day that you check in.
And starting in May, we'regonna have both water parks open.
(20:50):
And so the rumor is, we don'tknow yet, but the rumor is you might
be able to start the day atBlizzard beach and then hop over
to Typhoon Lagoon and get bothof them in during that one day.
So, and we, as we've, you andI have talked about in other podcasts,
there some things that are down.
Dino Land is over, that's beenshut down, but test tracks should
be opening up.
I hope so.
You know, they said summer of26, which was very vague.
(21:11):
I really hope I'm really,really crossing my fingers for June
because I'm headed down therein June.
Yeah, that's right.
You know, I'm sure it'll openthe week after.
Well, yeah, absolutely.
That's.
I'm hoping by September it'llbe there up and running because I
missed it the last go around.
It's been down for a year, right?
Down for quite a while.
Yeah.
And they got new cars and everything.
I'm excited.
It's a lot of good stuff.
So again, if you want to getmore tips and more information on
(21:32):
your Disney vacation, reachout to Laure at Lauren at allthemagictravel.
Com you can reach out to metravel with Tony D at gmail com.
Please subscribe.
Like the podcast.
Leave it a five star review.
If you like what we've beendoing, giving you kind of tips and
tricks on how to maneuver thetheme park world.
I'm Tony Desiri, that's LaurenMallard and this is Wands and Wishes
podcast.
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