The Best Time For an Orlando Vacation
April 12th, 2009 by Sue Stafford, under Travel and Leisure. No Comments
When you’re considering your family’s next Orlando vacation, do you need to think carefully about which time of year is the best one to visit Florida? The Florida climate is friendly all the year round, so how do you decide the best time?
The first two months of the year are among the quietest of all, so if you like smaller crowds at the theme parks January and February may be the ones for you. The area gets a lot of visitors from the north, Canada and the USA, and these are the so-called “snowbirds” who escape wintery conditions in their home states. Because it is “low season”, a lot of family groups choose this time also. Rental homes and hotel rooms are available at just about their lowest rates of the year. Days are cool by comparison to the rest of the year but still warm by out-of-state standards.
The busiest time of the year is Easter, which falls within March or April, so if this is your preference you need to plan ahead. Accommodation and car hire can be difficult to book – some vacation homes have reservations for two or three years in advance. Disney World and the other attractions have big crowds with long lines at the most popular rides. Rainfall is usually scarce and humidity is low.
May and June are a great deal quieter, following the Easter bustle. Theme parks are less crowded but the half term UK school break offsets some of this. Daytime temperatures really start to hot up now and June marks the official start of the rainy season. This is not as bad as it sounds – it is not unusual to have a short shower around mid afternoon but these last on average about 20 minutes before the sunshine returns.
July and August are peak months because most people take their annual leave. Orlando temperatures soar into the high nineties and beyond. It is a busy time for vacation home rentals and theme parks alike.
September slowly transitions to Fall and temperatures go down to a welcome 85 degrees. Humidity levels recede, as do the theme park crowds.
Daytime temperatures are typically below eighty degrees in October and November and the change in night time temperatures is especially obvious, when more than a simple T-shirt is required (but not much more!). Regular visitors find these months some of the best to visit with the combination of more moderate temperatures a a less frantic atmosphere at the attractions.
Choose the first part of December to get lots of availability and low prices and to leave the crowds behind. Make sure you take time out to view the lighting displays in many of the local residential communities. If you’re entranced by the fabulous New Year firework displays at Disney’s parks, prepare yourself for the intense crowds and higher prices – a lot of people do just that!
So choose the time of year that best suits your preferences. Some times are less expensive, some are hotter and some are busier. No matter what you decide, your Orlando vacation is guaranteed to excite the whole family.
