No, I’m not asking them to construct a Biodome around the property like I have seen suggested
Several of us are touring right now or have recently returned from recent trips during the record-breaking heat. I know summer has become less of the “busy” season which is probably due to a lot of factors including prices, more willingness to take kids out of school post-Covid, festivals and parties during other times of year, etc. I’m not a crowd expert but looking back at the historical crowds there is a noticeable difference in summer CLs since 2018/2019. I am looking at wait times today and those combined with in-person reports of low (perceived) crowds, and it seems like more people are staying away because it’s just too freakin’ hot. I feel like Disney is going to have to do something to adapt to the changing climate sooner rather than later. More shade, more places to sit and take breaks, more indoor attractions and queues, more fans, more water filling stations (desperately needed), more water rides, ? What are other parks doing, if anything? What could Disney do?
I have zero answers, but it is sadly ironic that this problem is really kicking in since a large factor in the original choice of Orlando was to avoid the opposite issue of building in an area that descends into cold part of the year.
Universal Hollywood uses misting systems to help people keep cool. I saw these in operation there and bought a pair for my deck - they do a great job keeping it cool. Maybe it could work at WDW.
When it is really humid, misters don’t really help, because you need evaporation to cool you down and high humidity doesn’t allow evaporation. Fans would be better.
But Disney has so much that is actually inside, I don’t think it is a big deal. Although with more queues being outside (ahem, thanks to G+) you end up in the heat more that you used to.
It was particularly bad when we there in August 2020, with temps hitting nearly 103 (not including heat index), and ALL of the queues were outside due to COVID.
We will be there in September this year. We plan to be outside only as a means to get from one indoor location to another! But…I think Disney has not been running air conditioning as much as they should to save money. They need to fix that.
It’s true that misting is most effective when humidity is low. When it’s above 75% my backyard system (250 PSI) isn’t so effective. But I’ve read that commercial high-pressure systems (1000 PSI) can still work in high humidity.
The lack of shades and lack of benches is noticeable— keep it moving! I think it would be helpful if they would add some. Especially noticed at Hollywood Studios. Very little shade and benches. So hot.
I had my first June trip and don’t know that I’ll be back again in the summer. It was miserably hot and I got sick despite drinking tons of water. Feels like temp was 101 at 10AM.
July and January are now the two months I’ve not visited. Don’t think I’ll ever mark July off the list now.
Nothing is good for feels like 103, it seems. I went at the end of July in 2022. I managed, but used all kinds of hacks to just survive. If I were to do it over, I would just do evenings.
I feel like the people who handle summer vacations in Orlando are other southerners who live in that climate. Our summer temps in NC are usually comparable within a few degrees of FL temps. I make a concerted effort to get out in the heat and humidity of NC as much as possible before our summer trips to Disney and tell my kids to do the same. We always do fine and also have adapted the midday breaks that many liners have recommended. We also do one TS per day for an additional break, and I always purchase G+ to avoid waiting as much as possible. You simply can’t do as much in August as you can in December! And that’s ok. I think the people coming in from other climates are the ones who struggle so much. I will never forget being in line for MFSR at around 8:30am and seeing a man in a tank top absolutely drenched in sweat! I was thinking…he’s got all day and he’s already dying!!! If I was from a cold and/or dry climate…I would avoid summer for sure.
I definitely think they need to plan shade for every que and show as the temps continue to rise!!!
I just got back from a trip recently and my family struggled in the heat. We are from Chicago and while it does get warm here in the summer, end of May/early June Florida temps were just too much for us. We just weren’t used to it. I’m thinking that we will focus future trips somewhere in the October - April timeframe. What’s funny is I remember when I graduated high school in 1996 we went to WDW in June. We also went one or two other times in June when I was younger. I remember it being hot but not scorching hot and we all seemed to be fine back then. Did I deal with it better because I was younger? Or maybe the temps weren’t quite as hot back then? Or am I just inside too much now as an adult and used to A/C? I can’t believe I’m saying this but I think I would rather brave the spring break crowds and go end of March vs going in June again!
