Disney/Florida Keys late August.. too hot?

[MumOfStarWars]

Planning a 2 week trip to include a week or so in the Florida Keys followed by a few days at Disney. Crowds should be on the lower side as US kids generally go back to school mid August which is the reason we’re looking at this time of year BUT my concern is the heat and humidity. We don’t mind, for example, south of France in summer so hoping we can handle the Florida heat. Plus plenty of air con? Would we be crazy to go in August? Anyone out there with experience?

What part of the Keys?. It can take around three hours to drive from Miami down to the keys. Parts of the roadway in each direction is single lane.

How are you going to travel between the two places?. I ask as you are looking at a five plus hours drive to Orlando. That city can be a two week vacation in its own right.

It also rains a lot in August and there are also high humidity levels.

We once went to the keys then. Never again the humidity was horrific.

I went then and it was great, humidity no worse than many other travel destinations.

we went to Orlando/disney then took a 30 minute flight to key west. Internal flights in America are as easy as getting the train in the UK and not very expensive!

it’s a common plan and many many brits do it every August and have a great time. Enjoy your holiday!

Absolutely, and I
Cannot stress this enough, boiling.

Go over Easter.

Humidity is bad enough, but it's high hurricane season.

Thanks for all the quick replies, quite a mixed response! I’m aware of the travel times, I lived in the US a while back, 4hr drive is “just down the road” so we’re comfortable with using a couple of days as travel days (car hire from Miami, drive down to Marathon as our base for a week then up to Everglades briefly then dropping off in Orlando) but may also consider flying. You’re right @CurlsLDN thousands of brits do it every year so I guess it’s doable but thanks for the warning @AnnaKing81 @AttilaTheMeerkat @fashionqueen0123 i shall have to have a serious chat with DH whether we think we can handle it. Adequate insurance will absolutely be purchased re hurricane season also aware it could all be cancelled! We can’t go at Easter as we’re using BA companion vouchers and avios and there are no reward flights to match our preferred dates unfortunately. It knocks almost £2k off flight prices so late August is our only option.

I remember playing mini golf, going to the Everglades and various stuff in the keys. Everything felt like an ordeal due to the weather. Oh and then a hurricane went close by so the rain and wind was crazy for a day. Sea all whipped up.
Could you go in October November?

Unfortunately not as we have kids in school plus I work term time too.

I never found the heat that bad but the frequent heavy downpours were less fun!

Argh. It’s a shame you can’t do Easter that is a great time for the weather.
I think I’d rather go at Xmas than August!

We went then and it was very hot and humid. It would also rain torrentially, usually for quite short periods and we would literally be soaked through, like someone had chucked a bucket of water over us. But it was so hot, that we'd be dry again very quickly. I hate hot weather, but actually found it tolerable.

I've done it and yes, it's hot. Disney is still crowded. You still have to wait for every ride and it could be 40 degrees while you stand in line for an hour outside.

We also did the Glades and the Keys. So humid. We did have fun but allow loads of time if you plan to walk anywhere as we just walked so slowly and frequently stopped for drinks.

We planned a couple of days just to do nothing to cope with the heat and give ourselves a break. We live in the US and we're used to hot summers, much hotter than the UK, but Florida in August was another step up for heat and humidity.

@MumOfStarWars
Aware it could all be cancelled!

Cancellation would be the GOOD outcome of a hurricane. You could actually be there at the time.

Floridians leave en masse during the summer and return in November.

I understand your need to accommodate the school schedules, but why Florida? There are so many places with a safer and more comfortable climate at that time of year.

Why don’t you go to California instead?

I didn’t mind the heat but it’s storm season. Last year we went early Aug and had one rainy day plus a couple of quick showers. But my friend arrived the last 2 weeks of August and had storms so they couldn’t fly home and it rained every day - torrential rain.

Interestingly my family live in Naples, FL and they are there all summer. From November they go to their house in Mexico. I thought they were opposite everyone in Florida but their whole community does it that way.

Hurricane season big fat no

As pp said, cancellation could be the least of your worries re hurricanes

We went end May 2024 and it was hotter than the sun. I can't imagine August to be much different. You'll be fine in August.

Disney wasn't great as they don't have much AC. Depending on your kids ages, we enjoyed Universal a lot more as the queues had AC and were mostly inside so we were less tired. Plus the rides were 1,000x better.

This website gives an indication of what to expect from a crowd level, August is relatively quiet and you won't face long queues

Disney Magic Kingdom crowd calendar - August 2024 (queue-times.com)

We've just done the last 2 weeks of August, and have done it with the kids twice before.
Yes it's hot, unbearable - no.

100% this. Dry heat, no humidity issues or hurricanes.

@TeenLifeMum Interestingly my family live in Naples, FL and they are there all summer.

It's one thing to have a home where you presumably have hurricane protections put in place and quite another to be staying in a hotel that you haven't supervised the building of and paying for a holiday that might be ruined.

Because we’ve been to California (not Disney, but other places) and we don’t want the additional flight time. Plus we’d love to visit the Florida Keys.

True. I agree that hurricane season is not the time to visit to get the best out of the holiday unless you’re a storm chaser.