May? Take your shot, knock some sense into me please? Tell me I'm being silly.

We went late April to early May in 2018 and it was one of our best trips ever in terms of weather and crowds. Warm enough to enjoy shorts/sandals and pool time, but not meltingly hot - I want to say around 80 degrees. I also don't believe we had even one day of rain, but I could be wrong. No love bugs that I can recall, either.

In fact, it was so great that we did the same week again this year, but it was HOT - 90+ degrees. And the love bugs were pretty annoying. We also had some rainy days though we were prepared with ponchos so not a big deal. I think our mistake was sleeping in and not getting to the parks until around 11:00, and having to walk around in the brutal sun for the hottest part of the day. That worked last year, but with such hot temperatures this year, we should have rope dropped, and then gone back to the pool for the afternoon and returned at night. I think that is key, when it's so hot.

Both years, crowd levels were very low, especially compared to our October trips!
 
Just returned from a 5/5 - 5/10 trip and for the most part the weather was fine!! It got a bit hot in the afternoons but it only rained once, for about five minutes. The nights were really nice when the sun started going down, it was still warm but not oppressive.

And yeah, the love bugs were bad, but not much you can do about that!! I've heard they're attraced to white, so if you don't wear white they might not bother you as much.
 
We’ve lucked out in May with pretty good weather at the beginning of the month. We’ve also had a couple of pretty hot Memorial Day weekend visits.

Our recent visit in late April was delightful - the best weather I could have hoped for. But a colleague visited the following week and said it was miserably hot and rainy. There’s no rhyme or reason really. And it is subjective, although when I see high dew point levels I know it will be uncomfortable for me.

Don’t fret over it. If it’s not comfortable for you, you will find ways around it. We often visit in August - not by choice for me! :rolleyes: - but I’ve found ways to make it less painful. I would visit in May again in a heartbeat.
 
Keep in mind that Florida is kind of always hot. The temperatures never really drop below 40F, and that's probably our coldest night lol.
On average a Floridian winter is 40-50F at its worst and 30F is New York Times worthy haha.

If you ever wanted to come around late April you'd probably be fine. Temperatures 70F and up. It's worth mentioning that the waterparks do have heated water but they wont open if the temperatures arent high enough so just keep an eye out. It's actually sometimes better to come early in the year because we have less people visiting the parks overall.

But you're right, nothing quite beats dying in the summer sun and then dowsing yourself in deliciously cool water. B)

We went in February a few years ago, and it was cool. I would not classify it as even approaching hot. We're from Canada too lol. Definitely I had a jacket on most of the time. I wouldn't have wanted to swim either.
 


I just came back a week or so ago, and it was extremely hot and the love bugs were brutal for a couple of days, but seemed to settle down. I don't think it was THAT much worse than when I went in April five years ago... but in that case, it was more brutally rainy (a whole day at EPCOT) and humid, so I was far more sweaty. Here, we had less rain, but there was also less cloud cover, meaning we were COMPLETELY inundated with direct sunlight and no shade.

It's still livable, especially with lots of indoor things to do, but makes some lineups far too brutal (especially Slinky Dog Dash).

It's not as bad as summer, from what I've heard ("Even WE don't stay here in the summer", one Floridian told me), but next time I'm thinking January or February :).
 
I went a few weeks ago, May 13-18.

I am in my 40's, relatively fit, and live in Virginia (so I am used to humidity.) I was there with my mom who is in her 70's but active and lives in Southern CA (so she is used to a drier climate.)

I thought it was great. It was a little hot and humid, but I enjoyed it. I mostly wore long black pants that are meant to be "quick drying" and with a spf of 50+ (PrAna Briann pant https://www.prana.com/briann-pant.html) and a tank top or short sleeve shirt.
The love bugs were around, but not nearly as bad as I imagined from reading descriptions. They don't bite or sting or anything, and if they were on a bench I wanted to sit on I could just brush them away, no big deal.

My mom had a tougher time. She typically wore light colored cotton capris, a short sleeve blouse, and a brimmed hat. She was skeeved out by the bugs and really got tired, I'm not sure if it was the heat or the walking. I understand that she is older, but I think that the fact that she is not used to the humidity played a huge factor in her getting worn out quickly.

I would absolutely go back again in May, but if I was bringing my mom again, would choose a different month.

*Edited to add:
Oh, rain! It rained on our first park day (May 14) but not the whole day. We'd put on our poncho (my mom) or rain jacket (me) for about a half hour or so, then the rain stopped...I think we did that off and on throughout the afternoon. The Festival of Fantasy parade was delayed, but otherwise no big issues.
 
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We are going May 6-15, 2020. I did the research, hot, but not summer humidity, afternoon storms. Great. No problem.

But I keep reading these reviews (I really should stay off social media, people tend to exaggerate) about how awful the weather has been the past 2 years!!! During the time we are going! All day rains. People saying it's sweltering. People saying they would never go again in May. Someone said 6 days of straight rain both times they went (past two Mays). Maybe the weather is changing...

Then this year with the love-bugs - although I don't think that will bother me too much.

Anyone been during May the past couple of years, especially the first two weeks - give it to me straight, should we think about another time? Crowds are not a factor for us. I'm not asking for a weather prediction, just your honest experience.
We went May 4-11 of this year. We had an amazing time! The weather ranged from very warm to hot, and not terribly humid (coming from a Southerner). We only experienced rain in the parks on one day of our entire visit, and it was extreme. An intense thunderstorm closed in pretty quickly on us as we stood in line at Tower of Terror. Intense lightning and heavy rain fell just as we made our way under cover. We were the last of the lucky ones in our line. Unfortunately, a two hour long line of people were out in the rain with nowhere to go and lightning all around. Those people may not write quite as positive review of their experience at Disney in May as I would. What a difference a few minutes can make in regards to avoiding weather. We utilized the Dark sky app during our trip to determine when to leave the hotel and when to avoid the parks, and found it to be very accurate.
The love bugs were noticeable, but they didn’t bother us. We are from the South, so we are accustomed to our annual visitors. I would say there did seem to be a few more than usual this year, but these bugs do not bite.
Overall, we found the weather and crowds in early May to both be manageable. I wouldn’t tell anyone to avoid this time of year. We are planning another trip for late May, early June of 2021.
 


Thanks! I'm sure we will go. We just normally go in late October. We're tired of going then, the weather last year was too cold to swim for a few days and we want to go when it's hot. Also to see Flower/Garden!
Flower and Garden was beautiful! Definitely worth the trip! You will love it!
 
We were there May 15-21 this year and not a drop of rain happened. It was HOT but I loved that there was no rain. That being said last year it rained all day, every day for our trip. You just never know.
 
We are going May 6-15, 2020. I did the research, hot, but not summer humidity, afternoon storms. Great. No problem.

But I keep reading these reviews (I really should stay off social media, people tend to exaggerate) about how awful the weather has been the past 2 years!!! During the time we are going! All day rains. People saying it's sweltering. People saying they would never go again in May. Someone said 6 days of straight rain both times they went (past two Mays). Maybe the weather is changing...

Then this year with the love-bugs - although I don't think that will bother me too much.

Anyone been during May the past couple of years, especially the first two weeks - give it to me straight, should we think about another time? Crowds are not a factor for us. I'm not asking for a weather prediction, just your honest experience.

Just went May 20th-23rd, not a single drop of rain the entire time I was there. The weather down there is a crap shoot and you need to wait until almost right before your trip if you want any weather reports to be even somewhat accurate.
 

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