I am not sure if this is where I would post this, but I am looking for some help. I am trying to plan a trip for My 2year old, my 2 best friends and myself to go to Disney. With the group of us being teachers or in Grad school it seems that the only time that we all have off is the end of August.
I remember reading somewhere long ago about special discounts in August. A friend of mine mentioned something about getting a free dining plan when she went down. Does anyone know about anything like this? I could use as much help as I can get.

My advice is that if you want to go down in August, start planning (read: book) your trip now and keep looking for discounts that can be applied as time goes on. This would include free dining if they choose to offer such a promo again.

The thing is that timing and offering of past discounts should not be used as an indication of possible future discounts. However, take a look at mousesavers.com and subscribe to their monthly newsletter. They keep track of past discounts and also have a keen eye on any discounts that may come up for the near future.

In the past, most of the discounts started in late August or beginning of September and went through October.

(Also, be forewarned that traditionally, August is HOT and HUMID! Think: Waterparks! :) )

Typically resort room rates drop in mid to late August, since Florida kids are back to school.

In 2007, the free dining program dates began on Aug. 26, a bit earlier than that in 2006. The booking window opened in April for the 2007 promo. Free dining has been offered only in a package with park tickets, and full rack rate for that season was charged on the room portion of the trip.

There is no hard and fast rule with Disney promos, for either the travel dates or when the booking window opens. They offer them to spur bookings during a typically slow period when their advance bookings are light. In previous years the travel dates were late August to early October, but last year they were Aug. 26 to Sept. 22 check in.

If you do manage to get the free dining promo, book your ADR's fast!

If you do manage to get the free dining promo, book your ADR's fast!
Actually, the best rule for this is to book your ADR's at the 180 day mark regardless of promo. :)

If you travel in late August, beware of what you're getting into. We took our kids this past August and stayed at the Carribean Beach from August 17-24. Many of the guidebooks said that this was the off-season, and I bought an annual pass to get a better rate (roughly $100/night x 2 rooms). I've never been during the peak season, but I can't imagine more people than were there at the end of August. Even though the southern schools are back in session, the nothern schools aren't. Most people seemed to be from foreign countries, probably due to the low value of the dollar. Everyone else seemed like they were from New York. My wife broke her ankle just before our trip, and was in a knee-high brace and wheelchair. Trying to push her through those crowds while dragging the kids along sure wasn't much of a vacation. The big attractions had incredible waits - Test Track had at least a two hour wait everytime we checked. The buses were packed - in a week only twice did someone offer my wife a seat, even with a really obvious injury. The other guests couldn't have been more rude, although the Disney CMs were fantastic. And the heat was oppressive. We live in Maryland, so I figured that we're used to 95 degree heat and 90% humidy. I was wrong. Combining that heat with that crowd, I can't believe that people weren't dropping from heatstroke.

I understand that that's the only time you can go, but just don't go with the wrong expectations like we did.

My family has been to WDW so many times that we are just about pros in getting around and finding the right time to be in the right place.

However, we were there for two days in August during the same week that runner110 wrote about and had the same experience. The schools in our home area had been in session for two weeks and I did not expect to see so many children. And there were also a lot of folks from England too.

It was very crowded and two days were plenty for me.
I was not sad to leave...which is odd.

The fastpasses for the e-tickets were gone very early.
If you were not at AK when it opened, then give up the whole idea of getting on EE. (I only got to ride because someone gave me a fastpass. DH did not get to ride at all.)
And the same goes for Soarin' at Epcot. My fastpass, which it got at 10:00am, was for 5:45pm.

So, I don't know any more when there is a slow time. We used to love early January, but the year before last is was so so crowded! On our last day we got stuck in the monorail for two hours after leaving the MK, which was too crowded to endure, then when we finally got the Epcot, it was overcrowded! I had never seen Epcot crowded at all. That whole day we made it on to NO attractions!

DH says that Disney is getting too greedy.
The parks seem crowded, yet the tv ads are continual.
They have devised ways to eliminate the slow times, like the marathon in Jan.
At what point do people just give up on trying to go?
I have 8 days left on my ticket and you know, I really have no urge to go and fight the crowds.
I really don't know...

One bit of advice, try to hit the parks during the middle of the week. The closer you are to the weekend, the more crowds you will encounter.

mzloolue, I can guarantee that Disney has not yet found a way to pack things out as badly as in August. I have three favorite times to visit - early October during the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, early December for Christmas stuff, and around early April before it gets too hot. While the crowds will vary from year to year, they're not even close to what you describe. And the weather is ever so much nicer than August in Florida! There are still some fun times to visit WDW, but you have to look beyond the summer months.

If the only time you can go to Disney World is in August, then go. Theh only perfect time to go to Disney World is when it fits into your schedule. yes, it will be hot but it's Florida and it's August so what else would you expect? Take proper precautions and drink lots of water. Take a water bottle with you into the parks and fill up at the water fountains. Take a washcloth of wet down and wash off with during the day (store in a small ziploc type bag).

As for the kids being out of school or back in, if you go in May, you will run into the same problem only in reverse. Southern kids will be out of school, northern kids will still be in. And it's Disney World - lots of people don't pay attention to a school calendar and take their kids out of school or home school so they don't have to pay attention to a calendar.

For discounts - the only thing you can do is to book now and then check for discounts between now and then. Every time you see something new come out and it applies to your time frame, you can call and have the discounts applied.

Figure out the ideal time for you, get your resrot booked, make your dining reservations at 180 days out if you can. If you can't make the reservations whenever you can before your trip.

And ask questions on this board.

My sister is a teacher and between our two families we have four kids ages 5 through 12. We were there this past August 21-28 and it was crowded but not like Christmas crowded. The average wait was about 30-40 minutes with a few exceptions like EE and Soarin'. We did not find the parks to be uncomfortable because of crowds. We were glad we made ADRs because the restaurants were crowded. I believe free dinning started on the 26th. We had fun. The weather is extrememly HOT and the afternoon thundershowers can be a pain but as long as you have realistic expectations I think August is a fine time to visit. Two years ago we visited the last week of August into Labor day in Sept. and the crowds were much lower but that was before my kids were in school. Now we have no choice but to go before Labor Day.

We're leaving for a short trip on Friday and will let you know how the marathon crowds are...we foolishly booked before we realized it was marathon weekend :(

We went from Aug 17-23 2006
and from Aug 26-Sep 2 2007 (free dining both times)
and will go Aug 21-29 2008 (we just booked).

If past years are any indication, the bounceback free dining offer was a week or two before the public free dining offer, and when we were there last year, we got a flyer for the bounceback free dining for 2008, and the dates started on August 31. Based on the past, I would then assume that the public bounceback would start sometime in Sept, if they were to offer it.

This is too late for us, because I am a teacher also, so I report to work the day after Labor Day.

Having been during the end of August the past two years, we thought that the crowds were manageable, not bad at all, except for EMH nights, which were packed. EMH mornings were fantastic, we rode EE twice in 20 minutes and got fastpasses to go again later. I guess crowd levels are subjective. What is crowded to one is not bad to another!

My wife is a teacher and we to have made the "August Mistake" as we call it. The amount of people is no problem when you've been there over Christmas! However, what is miserable is the heat/humidity. We went this past August with our son who was 3...almost 4. The temperature was too much for us let alone him. Our normal routine was to go to the park in the morning until lunch, go back to the room for naps/swimming, then head back to the resort around like 6. It was too much for the little one in that heat. On a sidenote, we went during August before our DS was born and the heat was extreme for two adults...we swore to NEVER go back during August again, unfortunately we didn't listen. After two miserable experiences we will NOT do August again. You spend so much $$$ to go and to spend a lot of it in the room or dragging a cranky child around to "experience" it was not worth it to us. I would much rather pay the extra expense and deal with the extra people and do a major holiday than deal with that heat. Either way have a magical time!

Wishing you cool August Days!
Sean

My wife & I are frequent late August visitors, due to the attractive discounts/free dining and the fact that she's a teacher and usually has some time off then.

We love it, and will probably continue to visit at that time. The crowds are incredibly small (compared to the rest of the year) and you can't beat the price.

That being said, we are both fit, healthy 29 year-olds without young children in tow (although that may soon be changing). It is unquestionably hot & humid. Most days, we are able to deal with it and put in full days. But we do sometimes find ourselves overwhelmed with the heat, and take some pool or water park breaks.

Again, because we are frequent visitors, it doesn't bother us if we don't spend the whole day at the parks. We've done every attraction, multiple times, and know how to "work" the parks efficiently. So we're not left feeling like we missed something.

If you're a first-time visitor, or haven't been in a while, this strategy might not work for you.