*** Official August 2021 thread ***

[figmentfinesse]

I miss BATB, one of my favorite things ever by TWO DAYS!!! I’ll be back in April/May….at least there’s that!!

 

[disny_luvr]

So happy about Monsters Laugh Floor! We'll miss the last two, but that's okay. Hopefully these new openings will help with crowds.

 

[disny_luvr]

We got our magic bands yesterday! Once I found my tracking number, I saw they were sitting at the same location for over a week and really thought they would not arrive on time, but they made it with 10 days to spare!

 

[weather_lady]

So happy about Monsters Laugh Floor! We'll miss the last two, but that's okay. Hopefully these new openings will help with crowds.

I hope so, too. I'm not gonna lie: the daily posts from the Touringplans blog about current crowd levels (with new "record-high average wait times" seemingly occurring daily over the past couple of weeks -- FWIW, Touringplans measures "crowds" by wait times, not numbers of people) have made me very nervous about our trip next month! I'm hoping there might be enough of a dip in crowds by then (due to the local kids going back to school, and some other rides/shows coming out of hiatus), to keep our wait times from being horrible.

 

[123SA]

When do locals schools start?

 

[weather_lady]

When do locals schools start?

It looks like almost all Florida public schools will be starting back up in mid-August, with the majority starting on 8/10.

https://www.floridasmart.com/articles/florida-public-school-calendars

 

[123SA]

Thank you very much. And sorry- I should have just looked that up myself!

 

[scrappinginontario]

I hope so, too. I'm not gonna lie: the daily posts from the Touringplans blog about current crowd levels (with new "record-high average wait times" seemingly occurring daily over the past couple of weeks -- FWIW, Touringplans measures "crowds" by wait times, not numbers of people) have made me very nervous about our trip next month! I'm hoping there might be enough of a dip in crowds by then (due to the local kids going back to school, and some other rides/shows coming out of hiatus), to keep our wait times from being horrible.

Unfortunately crowds do seem very high right now. Hopefully things change but for an idea of what guests are experiencing right now, I'd recommend reading the past number of pages of the 'Here Now and Just Back' thread as they're sharing their reality....which isn't always pretty these days!

 

[Palaura]

Unfortunately crowds do seem very high right now. Hopefully things change but for an idea of what guests are experiencing right now, I'd recommend reading the past number of pages of the 'Here Now and Just Back' thread as they're sharing their reality....which isn't always pretty these days!

I am sitting here debating if we go/not go due to unvaccinated kids so I am in another world at the moment.

However...my 2 cents.

We are (end of) August regulars. Every July I debate if the crowds/heat are more than we can handle based on reports. Every year we see the crowds go down but the heat stay

 

[scrappinginontario]

I am sitting here debating if we go/not go due to unvaccinated kids so I am in another world at the moment.

However...my 2 cents.

We are (end of) August regulars. Every July I debate if the crowds/heat are more than we can handle based on reports. Every year we see the crowds go down but the heat stay

I'm hoping you can go for sure! Just wanted to share what people are actually experiencing right now with reduced dining and attractions but seemingly 'normal' crowd levels. The challenges people seem to be facing are not as much the number of people that are there but more that the number of people have less places to go so everything seems busier than other years. The good thing is they're opening new things in the next month that will hopefully help disperse some of the crowds.

 

[Palaura]

I'm hoping you can go for sure! Just wanted to share what people are actually experiencing right now with reduced dining and attractions but seemingly 'normal' crowd levels. The challenges people seem to be facing are not as much the number of people that are there but more that the number of people have less places to go so everything seems busier than other years. The good thing is they're opening new things in the next month that will hopefully help disperse some of the crowds.

I sure hope this all pans out! I appreciate the feedback from those there right now. One thing is for sure-we can take all of our past Disney planning knowledge and throw it out the window anymore. I sure hope there is a great big beautiful tomorrow!

 

[Gary Stocker]

Chef Mickey's must have increased capacity since it is now open for reservations morning until night during my stay early August.

I moved to Thursday since that Wave at the Cali Grill breakfast is closed...it figures that the Wave is sold out the day I opened up...ugh.

Will keep plugging away. Productivity at work = negligible now that I am about 2 weeks out.

 

[weather_lady]

Chef Mickey's must have increased capacity since it is now open for reservations morning until night during my stay early August.

I moved to Thursday since that Wave at the Cali Grill breakfast is closed...it figures that the Wave is sold out the day I opened up...ugh.

Will keep plugging away. Productivity at work = negligible now that I am about 2 weeks out.

I think there's been an across-the board TS capacity increase. Suddenly, nearly every TS restaurant is showing availability for nearly every day of our upcoming visit (8/21-25). I was able to move all of our ADRs to our ideal time slots, which were not available the last time I checked. Even Be Our Guest showed all-day availability. (Not so for Sci-Fi, though: apparently that one's still tough to get!)

 

[LindaOwl1]

Count me in. Cancelled 8/2020 trip and we are booked 8/17-8/21/2021 at POP.
I did take a short mother-daughter trip in April 2021 - found it very different with no F+ or shows, fireworks, etc. So glad some shows are coming back! And REALLY glad to see HEA and EF one more time before they change.

 

[jbrinkm]

August 17 - 21 at POP for us. (We're doing Universal from August 22 - 25.) Parks are reserved & flights purchased!

Scratch that, got an amazing deal for Yacht Club on Hotwire last night. So we'll be at YC from August 17-21.

 

[The13thLetter]

Scratch that, got an amazing deal for Yacht Club on Hotwire last night. So we'll be at YC from August 17-21.

Just curious how much? I got a good one on PL but i am still checking for cheaper lol

 

[jbrinkm]

Just curious how much? I got a good one on PL but i am still checking for cheaper lol

$255 pre tax (ended up being around $300/night with taxes & fees). Water view.

 

[The13thLetter]

some hours updates via blog mickey. none of our dates (8/21-8/28) but gives me some hope that they may add more next week

Magic Kingdom

• August 2-7: Park hours extended 8am to 10pm (previously 9am to 10pm)
• August 13: Park hours extended 8am to 9pm (previously 9am to 9pm)
• August 14: Park hours extended 8am to 6pm (previously 9am to 6pm)

EPCOT

• August 7, 14: Park hours extended 10am to 10pm (previously 11am to 10pm)
• September 3-5, 10-12, 17-19, 24-26: Park hours extended 11am to 10pm (previously 11am to 9pm)

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

• August 7, 14: Park hours extended 8am to 8pm (previously 8am to 7pm)

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

Scratch that, got an amazing deal for Yacht Club on Hotwire last night. So we'll be at YC from August 17-21.

Just curious how much? I got a good one on PL but i am still checking for cheaper lol

When you use HW or PL, are you able to see that it's Yacht Club in advance?

 

[The13thLetter]

When you use HW or PL, are you able to see that it's Yacht Club in advance?

the deal I got on PL was transparent, so I knew right away. But I think the hotwire ones I have seen lately are the ones you have to guess, although there are some threads on here that have tools to help you pretty much figure it out.