Is Florida too hot to visit in the summer anymore?
That's the complain that I have heard countless times from theme park fans in recent years. Attendance data seems to be supporting the claim, as the peak season at the Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando theme parks has shifted from the summer months into the spring.
To be clear, millions of people continue to visit the Central Florida theme parks during the months of June, July, and August. But you can count me among the many fans who now would prefer to visit at other times during the year.
I used to work outside at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, for five summers in a row. It was tough, but my body acclimated, and I got through it with relative ease. These days, however, just a few hours outside during the summer in Orlando is enough to knock me out.
Sure, I am older now and less adaptable to weather extremes. But it really does feel like the summer has gotten worse in Orlando over the past decades.
An Ohio meteorologist looked at the data and reported her findings in a TikTok video I saw recently. You can watch it here. It turns out that the average high temperatures in Orlando have not changed that much over the past decades. At most, it's just about one degree hotter than it was in the past. That checks with what I remember - daily high temps in the upper 90s when I worked at Disney.
What has changed significantly are dew point levels, i.e. humidity. That's how climate change is manifesting in Central Florida. The air is holding more moisture, instead of dumping it consistently with heat-busting, daily afternoon thunderstorms. The average high heat index for Orlando has risen substantially, making days that might look the same on the thermometer feel much more miserable in reality.
So the old saying that "it's not the heat; it's the humidity" really does hold. Heat indexes into the 110s feel unbearable for many. As they should. Dangerous heat index values start at just 103, according to the National Weather Service.
This is a design challenge for Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld. When humidity is creating not just discomfort but actual danger for guests, cheap methods for providing heat relief, such as shade and misters, won't get the job done. Making the Orlando parks more attractive in the summer months will require designing for the increasing humidity levels. That means putting more attractions in climate-controlled environments, including air-conditioned indoor spaces and outdoor spaces landscaped to control humidity-driven heat index values.
Unfortunately, this problem is not limited to Orlando, even if it might be felt so acutely there. Climate change is not local; it's global. Bad weather is no longer an anomaly that companies can use to explain away an aberrant bad quarter in their financial results. Bad, uncomfortable weather is becoming typical in many communities that host once-popular theme parks.
If the people who run those parks want them to remain popular, they need to start designing for the reality of modern weather patterns.
I've been saying for years that the #1 threat to Florida's theme park industry is climate change. Riding roller coasters in this climate can be straight up dangerous, the forces/motion combined with the soul crushing heat and humidity is not fun at best and dangerous at worst. I can say from personal experience working in these parks for many years that people are carted out of them in ambulances every day, some days over and over and over.
Also the greed of these parks needs to be called out and shamed. The difficultly of getting free water when you absolutely have to drink at least one bottle every few hours is corporate greed at its absolute worst. There are very few water fountains, very few (if any) places to refill water bottles, if you want a free cup of water you have to go out of your way to some place that sells soda from a syrup-fountain and then they give you a dinky little cup that you can drink in 5 seconds and then you have to go back again to get another one. But they are happy to sell bottles of it everywhere for like $4...so for a family of four that's $16 for one round of waters and its recommended to drink a bottle every hour in the Florida heat.
I bring a bunch of bottles in a backpack and take it with me, that's not practical for a lot of families that are on vacation, especially the ones staying on property with no car. Even music festivals have come around and started making ubiquitous free water refill stations a thing...c'mon theme park industry get your act together on this. You know as soon as one park does it the others will have to follow, but they are so insanely greedy that they literally are fine with people being carted out in ambulances all day every day rather than make it easier to get free water and cannibalize Dasani/Coke sales.
Also this is probably not well known but a major annoyance of mine, First Aid at MK runs out of space on days where its really hot because so many people are in there with heat illness. Then if you get heat sick you're basically SOL...hopefully you have a nice person that responds to the call and will let you sit indoors somewhere backstage for a while...that's not guaranteed of course and probably more the exception than the rule. And even then Disney has been chintzing on the AC to save money (or at least the last summer I was working there).
Last thing: fall (September, October) is my favorite time of year in the north but my least favorite time year here in Florida. While you are getting beautiful weather up there, especially for that Halloween event chill in the air, here in Florida we are putting on our Halloween events in the 90s and they definitely don't have the same "vibe." Plus if you wear a costume to Not So Scary you're going to get it all sweaty and also possibly be stormed on.
Edit: One more thing, but another thing that's BS is that Disney doesn't consider getting heat sick while you're working a work related illness. Since they are complying with labor laws its considered a personal illness and if you pass out and get carted to the hospital that's on you (even if they are the ones that called 911). So when there's a pandemic and its 110 degrees on the track of the Tomorrowland Speedway and you are being forced to wear a mask and a plastic face shield, and you get heat sick and they call 911...too bad so sad, hope you picked the low deductible insurance.
This year has been particularly brutal, with 13 heat advisories so far. For context we had 1 last year.
I drink 4-5 bottles of water during my 3-4hr hikes around Disney. Universal is by far the best park for cold water drinks machines, they're everywhere. Disney not so much ... Magic Kingdom in particular. My walks take me to the resorts, so that's where I usually fill my water bottles and take a 15-20min break in the cool.
Crowds are definitely lower these days in the summer. Right now there's a huge amount of British tourists, followed by other Euro visitors. If it wasn't for those, the parks would be verging on the edge of empty.
It's shocking to see the number of people struggling with the heat. So many of them have no idea how to cope. Unless you know how to survive a central Florida summer, it borders on dangerous.
I for one, will be very happy when the cooler weather returns :)
As a teacher, I now go at spring break. My husband and I just did California parks and it was hot but much more bearable in the dry heat.
I think there has been a slight increase in average temperatures and a pretty noticeable increase in humidity during the summer (and early fall/late spring - if there is such a thing as those 2 seasons) in Florida. However, I think the biggest culprit of the issues and complaints about the heat are primarily caused by a lack of acclimation and tolerance from guests who spend far too much time in A/C during their normal days. Throw in schedules that are packed full of brisk walking from one side of a park to the other because guests are trying to get value from their obscenely priced tickets, and you have all the ingredients for heat stress, heat stroke, and other heat-related illnesses. I also think theme park costs have mostly eliminated the midday break that was a normal routine for guests because they simply can't afford to stop and be able to see and experience all the things on their schedule.
Now, I do think there are some other causes for the Florida parks feeling "hotter" than in past years. One of the biggest is just the heat from crowds and lines that just don't move as fast as they used to. With the advent of LL, it has slowed the movement of standby lines at queue merges, because CMs constantly need to give preference to LL folks who are now PAYING for their faster access. That means people are standing in place for longer, and for a lot of attractions that are approaching 15+ years old, the queues just aren't designed to allow for airflow for guests waiting for 30+ minutes to ride. Some indoor queues offer a whisper of cool air that is more taunting than relieving, while others magnify the heat of hundreds of overheated guests radiating heat and dripping sweat in tight spaces. I also think the general design of the parks has significantly made them feel hotter with a reduction in natural shade and an increase in dark-colored paving that reflects heat right into your face. Spend similar 90+ degree day in DAK and and DHS and you can instantly feel the difference that natural shade, landscaping, and the impact dark-colored hard-scaping can have on you. Some changes in the parks have come out of necessity, but they can still be mitigated with more effective shade structures, artificial air circulation (including fans, air-doors, and fountains/waterfalls), and maintaining other natural features to enhance and promote air movement. Take the example of EPCOT, which had the massive Fountain of Nations that became a secondary centerpiece of of FutureWorld. In addition to being a focal point of entertainment, the fountain helped to circulate air in the "stuffy" space between Spaceship Earth and Communicore/Innoventions. Even with the addition of more-natural landscaping, the loss of the fountain that came with the EPCOT renovations, created a space that guest no longer want to linger, often migrating to the nearby Moana attraction (probably by design since there's actually circulating water there).
The bottom line is that climate change has had some impact, but a combination of less tolerant guests, poor design, overcrowding, overpriced tickets, and a general lack of foresight to plan to provide guests comfort during hot days (exemplified by the lack of cooled drinking water fountains in so many areas) has caused the Florida parks to feel hotter than they used to during the summer.
Well, it is nice to be right again.
I wrote about the Heat in Florida and Texas a few times. And I mentioned those places might need to start to have night hours only since we will all melt soon.
Many here cried - "I can't take a toddler to a Theme park all night..." bla bla bla....
Would you rather have the toddler die from heat stroke?
Yes Florida and Texas and the rest of the Planet is getting way too hot - I am just glad we have a President who knows everything about everything and will have it fixed in about Two weeks...hahahahaahahaah
We went to Orlando the First week of Sept and it was unbearable. We have to take many breaks from the Sun.
SPF 500 coming soon to a Publix.
Maybe we can bring in the National Guard to fix the weather. HAHAHAHA
Florida parks will have to switch to more indoor experiences like parks in the Middle East. It's not going to get better magically, folks.
Long time listener, first time caller. It isn't the external environment that changed, it's the human environment.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132323002330
Unfortunately we've yet to escape the effects of thermodynamics. People are carrying around insulation within their bodies, it is indeed likely that they perceive hotter temperatures. The invested capital in the parks cannot be enclosed faster than a human can alter their BMI.
I remember August 1999 trip incredible heat/humidity with pounding rain at one point and saw an inch of steam rising from the ground. Oddly, still one of my favorite trips ever thanks to so much opening up like Rock N Roller Coaster, Pooh, Buzz Lightyear, Asia section and more.
My family always preferred going in winter or early spring and summer seems worse than ever and that's coming from folks who lived in Florida for a few years in early '90s. It's why we prefer Disneyland visits now and yet another reason why removing Rivers of America is a terrible idea as it needs as much cooling as possible.
Both Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan enclosed their main streets by the entrance with large shelters to provide much needed shade. No idea why the US parks dont do something similar?
That said, Universal Studios Orlando has Coke Freestyle machines all over with free water. So much better (and less dangerous!) than WDW's approach. I see a lot of people with collapsible cups in their pockets or clipped to a bag now just for water.
I was a collapsible cup carrier during our last trip to UO. It was in January so heat and humidity were not as much of a concern. But I was very impressed with the availability of water dispensers in Kabletown's Orlando properties.
having lived in orlando since 1990, i'm not seeing much of a difference. AND i just had out of town visitors all last week and we hit the Universal parks hard. biggest issue was weather shutting down the rides but that also brought in a decent breeze and i didn't sweat nearly as much as i usually do. although, i did sweat, just not as bad. the worst i ever remember was a food and wine visit to epcot on an incredibly muggy day in november many years ago (2007?). i was completely soaked through my clothes and totally embarrassed.
Forget about the heat- the reason I try not to go in the summer is because of the storms. Always a few hours of delay for everything outdoors.
It' fun to point at big bad Disney and say heat illnesses are their fault. They're too greedy, there aren't enough places to get water, the lines are too long and move too slowly, there isn't enough airconditioned spaces. Poppycock.
Heat illnesses happen because, compared to other weather-related risks, heat isn't obviously dangerous. Ya kinda know that when you're in a hurricane, cyclone or tornado, the weather is dangerous. Not so for heat. People may feel uncomfortably hot but it's easy to ignore because there are few clear warning signs that you're about to be in real trouble. I expect most people would be suprised to learn that heat is described by the National Weather Service as being the most dangerous weather condition.
Unless you live in the sun belt (I don't) you probably don't know about Florida heat. Maybe Disney could be more vocal about heat risk, but short of closing the park, it's hard to see what they could do.
Yes
I'll also lob out that proper clothing can go a long way in creating a more comfortable theme park experience. There are days where I see guests in long sleeves and pants, which may jettison some need for sunblock, but ends up trapping in the heat.
This goes double for employees working the Florida parks. I get that costuming helps with a sense of placemaking and theming. But at the end of the day, employee health and safety comes first. There are many areas & attractions (especially outdoors) that could use an overhaul when it comes to employee uniforms to help ensure they're protected from the heat on especially sweltering days.
StevelandOH brings up a good point. Americans keep getting fatter making it harder for them to deal with the heat/humidity.
1971 - the year WDW opens:
Average weight of American men: 172 pounds
Average weight of American women: 144 pounds
2024:
Average weight of American men: 199 pounds
Average weight of American women: 170 pounds
@VelocicoasterFan, the storms were definitely the bigger challenge last week. Our one day at Epic (last Thursday) started off with some pretty brutal heat, mainly at Hiccups, as half that queue is not covered. It was rough. We went straight to Stardust when we got off Hiccups and glad we did because things went downhill right after. At about 2pm the storms blew in which cooled things off but the problem was they hung around nearly the rest of the entire day which had the outdoor rides in weather delay most of the time. Bummer because we had hoped to get a night ride on Stardust that didn't happen. Same issue followed Friday with weather rolling in at 11am and also a good chunk of Saturday storms were prevalent. My advice is be prepared for heat and weather in August!
You had me until the climate change explanation. So now this so called 'Climate Change" is making the weather more humid???
Der, yeah climate change makes weather changes including more humidity. The deniers are really smart people I mean the smartest. You can get water at Disney, just have to take a serving of microplastics with it.
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It was 2015, I think a Monday, maybe Memorial Day, Animal Kingdom, midday, I swore that, unless a grandchild is involved, I'm done with the Florida heat (even the animals clearly prefer December).