How Hot Is Too Hot for a Disney Trip?

We're going to Disneyland tomorrow (we're pass holders) but our day changes pretty significantly when it's warm (it's going to be in the mid-80s, which will be a bit unpleasant in my experience). I've certainly done much worse, particularly in Texas, Florida and perhaps most notably at Magic Mountain in the summer. If I have a trip on the books, I'm unlikely to cancel ... but if we found out it was going to be 95 in Anaheim tomorrow? We'd find something else to do.

Now... if I was planning on going to Six Flags Over Texas tomorrow? And this was the only time of year I could go? And it was going to be over 100 degrees? And I didn't already have a Flash Pass paid for? I might be thinking about it.

My mom just came back from a trip last week with her grandkids and yes, hot and humid but handled it.

All-time hottest for me was August 1999, heat index close to 100 all weekend. I still remember sitting at a bus stop when a flash storm hit and literally an inch of steam rising from the ground.

But you know what? That was still one of my all-time favorite trips thanks to so much opening: Rock N Roller Coaster, Test Track, Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Pooh, Asia section of Animal Kingdom, DisneyQuest, FastPass and more. Just had to keep hydrated with water, duck into cooler spots now and then and could handle it and I'm someone who usually hates hot weather.

I did luck out cooler weather for an August trip in Disneyland years back and can see humidity worse than pure heat. But oddly, Six Flags or King's Mountain in high heat just comes off far worse, especially in long lines. Maybe it's just because easier to get cooler with stuff in Disney/Universal but I would avoid it more in hotter weather if I had the choice.

I try to avoid taking coaster roadtrips during the height of summer both due to crowds and due to heat, but if I'm on a trip to non-local parks it would need to be pretty extreme (like 120+) before I'd consider canceling plans as I don't know when I'm going to get another opportunity to go. That said, I did just do a two week deep south trip at the beginning of August and while it was hot and uncomfortable, I didn't feel like I was dying and did fine going slower than usual and drinking more than I typically would. For the local SoCal parks, however, unless I'm going for a specific reason like a new ride opening or a limited time event, when the temperature gets into the 90+ range I'm likely to defer to a cooler time.

We spent 2 weeks at Disney and Universal last month. I voted heat doesn’t make a difference to me because, as Midwesterners, we regularly deal with heat indexes of 105-110 in the summer months. Florida’s heat index is often less than that, and last month was no exception. When you live with that kind of temperature, you learn how to handle it.

Going to a theme park is a trippy experience, the heat only ramps it up. Love it.

I remember a very hoy July trip to DHS. It was HOT! We ran all over the park. I drank beer, ate ice cream and pizza, a hot pretzel, all kinds of sugar and by the time we reached the end of the day I swear I'd lost weight.

Heat is why people invented splashy log rides and chilled dark rides, and God invented ice cream. Every problem has a solution.

As a parent of school age children, we’re kind to stuck visiting the parks in the summer months…Sometimes we’ve gone and it’s been alright and other times it’s just been outright unbearable…Memorial day week in 2006 at Disney World was particularly grueling as I recall…We did manage to take a couple days of days to visit Disneyland this past February during Presidents Day, and while the parks were packed, I forgot what it was like to visit when the weather was nice…In fact our second day there had us getting out the long sleeve / pants type of clothes…

As for our normal summer trips…We generally try to carve out a couple of hours in the afternoon to go back to the hotel and rest or even hit the swimming pool…Head back out to the parks once the heat starts coming down..,G+ and LL has made this a bit of a challenge though but that’s another topic all together…

For me, it's always the sun that does me in. If it's hot and muggy, but there are clouds in the sky that block out the sun, I can handle a day at the parks fine.

We just did a theme park tour of Texas where the daily high was never below 100 for the entire trip. It was nice that the parks weren’t terrible crowded, and we probably spent more time in water parks than we would have had it been cooler.

As far as Disney, we’ve avoided WDW during summer months due to crowds, and DL isn’t too bad during summer months compared to the heat and humidity we see during the “dog days” of summer on the East Coast.

This is the thing that really sucks about being an enthusiast, when most parks have their best weather they are only open on weekends making it impossible to do a long trip. Spring is a crapshoot with the rain, summer is a crapshoot with the heat and humidity even in the north, and fall is beautiful in most areas of the country but the seasonal parks are only open weekends. A few months ago I was so sick of the Florida weather that I wanted to do a quick trip as far away as possible to get some nice cool air, so I thought maybe i'll grab a flight to Minneapolis and spend a few days there. That was until I checked the weather, it was 100 degrees and didn't show any signs of cooling down anytime within the next couple weeks. I am thinking of doing a Norcal trip next summer as that seems to be the one place with consistent nice summer weather and visit CGA for the last time.

Here in Florida I don't even think about going to parks in June-September anymore. November/early December are my ideal times as its nice out and all the holiday decorations are up around the parks, but pretty much all my visits nowadays are November-April.

There really isn’t an ideal time, especially nowadays with the staffing challenges. What it really comes down to is if you want to experience all attractions, you probably need to deal with both the crowds and heat of Summer. Outside of Summer, select attractions either close or go into a limited schedule. Operating hours for the park usually shrink as well, and the variable pricing model further incentivizes the parks to do that.

Having pre-teen kids, I also am at the mercy of having to schedule Family vacations around School schedules. Several times we did the final week of August in Florida, which was pretty good for crowds, but the heat was bad and there was often the mild threat of a hurricane moving in. Operating hours were already reduced as well (as early as 6pm close times at SeaWorld).

In 2019 we went to SoCal in July, and because of that I finally had my first opportunity to board the Sailing Ship Columbia and see Fantasmic at Disneyland. Any previous visits we did in the Fall, and they were only running both of those attractions on weekends, which is when I try to avoid Disney. The July weather in SoCal was SO much better than Florida, and the crowds weren’t really too bad during the day either, so I’d actually recommend visiting SoCal then (although pricing could be high all around - flights, hotels, cars and now even park tickets).

When dealing with school schedules, aside from avoiding some heat, you’re not really doing yourself any favors by waiting until the breaks around the Holidays and Spring break to visit Florida. Pricing is jacked up significantly and crowd levels are high. We visited Florida around Thanksgiving last year, and the only day that was truly enjoyable was the Sunday after TG, as most of the crowds had left and we were actually able to accomplish something. I even bit the bullet about halfway through the day and upgraded to a 2-Park pass for Universal, as we actually had the opportunity to get most done in both parks that one day. If not for that very successful (albeit very expensive) day, the entire trip really would have been a downer.

So ultimately, all things considered, it may be best just dealing with some heat of Summer. That is when the most attractions are running, staffing is usually at its best, and you can get some extra bonuses like Electric Ocean at Sea World…

I visited DW for seven days in September of 2020 and then again for seven days end of January/beginning February 2021. Never again in September. Never.

For local regional parks if the temperature is much above 85 we probably wouldn't go unless we had some pre-planned event or visitors staying with us.

Disney and Universal for us always require a hotel stay, so our approach is to be at the park for rope drop. As soon as it starts to get too hot and we feel uncomfortable then do any indoor a/c rides that have less than a 10-15 minute outdoor wait. Once they are done head back to the hotel room for an afternoon nap and maybe a dip in the pool. Go back to the parks later in the evening once the temperature drops to something reasonable.