Best Time to Visit Universal Orlando

When to visit?

This is probably the single "most asked" question we get. Unfortunately, the answer to this question is different for everyone as it depends on your individual situation.

1st. If you have children, do you want to take them out of school for vacation? If so, you'll be able to visit during the 'quieter' months (Jan, Sept, Nov, and parts of December). Since these are less 'busy' months, the parks also close earlier than usual, and major rehabs are likely to take place during this time.

2nd. The heat factor. This is Florida, and it gets hot...very hot. The table below shows information from the National Weather Service as to the average temperatures in Orlando over the last 30 years.

Monthly Mean:	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC
Max Temp	71.8	73.9	78.8	83.0	88.2	91.0	92.2	92.0	90.3	85.0	78.9	73.3
Min Temp	49.9	51.3	55.9	59.9	65.9	71.3	72.6	73.0	71.9	65.5	58.7	52.6
Mean Temp	60.9	62.6	67.4	71.5	77.1	81.2	82.4	82.5	81.1	75.3	68.8	63.0
Rainfall	2.43	2.35	3.54	2.42	3.74	7.35	7.15	6.25	5.76	2.73	2.32	2.31

You will notice that the months of June, July, Aug and Sept. are the hottest months of the year. They also have the greatest rainfall. During the summer months, it is not unusual for huge storms to erupt around 4pm in the afternoon, only to be gone by 5pm. These storms usually have major thunderstorms attached to them, along with torrential downpours. During the months from Oct to Apr, you'll barely see any rain at all. Also, don't think that the afternoon rain cools things off. It just makes things "humid".

3rd. Crowds and Lines. While you can certainly employ tips to keep your time in line down to a minimum, during the off-peak months, you'll walk on most rides. For instance, Islands of Adventure on a Wednesday in January will have wait times for major attractions of under 10 minutes, and in some cases, under 5 minutes. Compare that to the same Wednesday in July, and the wait times routinely reach 45 minutes or more. It's not unusual to have a 2 hour wait for Spiderman. Of course using Universal Express helps, but you can only hold one express pass at a time. If you are a guest of one of Universal's three hotels , you'll also receive front of the line access to most rides. If you are strictly visiting Universal, this helps alleviate the need to travel in the off season, but keep in mind that while Disney has their FastPass system, there is no front of the line access for their resort guests.

So, as you can see, when to visit is different for everyone. We certainly recommend that you try to plan your trip during slower times of the year. It's just more enjoyable that way. However, if you can't, you'll need to do some good advance planning, but you can beat the crowds most of the time, and still have a great time on vacation.