My wife and I want to go to Orlando this year to all the theme parks, but we aren't sure as the best time to go.We are thinking of early May as we are hoping the parks will be quiet.What would you guys suggest?

My Sis, her friend and I are also strongly thinking of going to Florida this year; it's kinda 50-50; either here or Las Vegas / Caribbean. We went in '06 and it was busy in some of the parks.Universal and IOA was very busy but Busch Gardens Africa wasn't that busy except for SheiKra. Disney World was bloody busy. Soarin' @ Epcot was 90 mins and Test Track was 80 mins and kept breaking down. If you go in August be prepared to wait a long time in the hot sun but around April / May is actually better because (according to some friends from US), the kids are still in school in April / May.

One thing I noticed in 2008, Islands of Adventure was completely dead on the 25th august, literally walked on to Hulk twice and then went round the whole park with no queues and had done everything by 2pm when there was a thunderstorm and rides were shutting.

I go to Dinseyland California every year with my family, schools must go back between late august and early september because I've experienced similar to Mark in places like Six Flags Magic Mountain.

I go to Dinseyland California every year with my family, schools must go back between late august and early september because I've experienced similar to Mark in places like Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Who's Mark?

I normally go around early October- there were pretty much no queues. Walk on's every time on Kraken and all of the Busch Gardens rides but some small queues at the other parks. My longest queue last time was 90mins for Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal, but that's because it kept breaking down -.-

November is good - you get in between the HHN / Haloween crowds and the early Christmas crowds, and can often get cheap deals for on-site hotels because of the low crowd level. It does get surprisingly cold though. Other than that, don't go during Mardi Gras or Spring Break in the spring... That gets very busy. From after that until about September is much the same level of crowd, peaking in the summer months obviously.Hope that helps

One thing I noticed in 2008, Islands of Adventure was completely dead on the 25th august, literally walked on to Hulk twice and then went round the whole park with no queues and had done everything by 2pm when there was a thunderstorm and rides were shutting.

I had the same in 2009 when I went for three weeks and the last week was late August. Due to the American schools going back earlier than ours (around 22nd August, depending on the location) the parks become completely dead. If people have to go in the summer than it would be advisable to factor in this last week, as long as you can cope with heat and humidity. As for May and April, I don't have any experience but this site proved to be rather useful during our trip, showing the estimated crowds levels for each park each day. It is very accurate and reliable in my experience. http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-calendar (I know there are rules on site advertisement, not sure if this counts so I'll remove the link if you want)Unfortunately you do have to become a subscriber to see the whole year but there are other benefits which come along with it, it's only about £8 for the year.

Thanks for your comments guys, I'm not sure if we can wait that long, (Until August).

I went from August 18th to 1st September last year and the parks were very quiet the max we queued was 20 min's

Early May would not be a bad time to go, if you slot yourself in between Spring Break/Easter and June which is when the schools start breaking up. First fortnight in May is a good time to go I think, if you want to go in the earlier part of this year.September, October, and early December are all great times to go as well, if you'd rather see Christmas or Halloween events at the parks then this could sway it.Orlando trips benefit greatly from planning, whenever you go you can have a brilliant time. Think about when you ideally would go and do some research on crowds for that time.

Who's Mark?

I'm going in May, should be fun. I'll bring you all home ice cream.

Early November was good for me, and a tip on how to do do the parks. We were out there for 3 weeks, so if your out there for that long, do a park or something one day, then have a relax day, then have a park day, ext. I wouldnt reccomend if your only going for a short perios of time.

Who's Mark?

PUDDI. :PThat's who!

If you're ever around Kissimmee be sure to stop here to get some ice cream.So, so, so good.

If you're ever around Kissimmee be sure to stop here to get some ice cream.So, so, so good.

.....its only an ice cream I'd be happier with some Ben & Jerrys tbh

I went to Kissimmee on my trip before last... By accident.

Beware April, Spring Break is around that time and the parks will be packed.I went last year at the end of September / start of October - all the parks were very quiet and we also managed to get to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (which runs on select dates from September) and Halloween Horror Nights, which is undoubtedly the best Halloween theme park event in the world. We went to the first night of HHN and then twice more!I think the thing with Orlando is you really need to have someone who's been before help with planning, when I went one person of the four of us had previous experience of the place and that meant we knew where to go when and how to do things a bit cheaper...I would recommend staying on International Drive rather than at Disney or Universal, that way you get easy access to all of those, you're right by Wet & Wild and Magical Midway (which is crap but has the tallest reverse bungee in the world), and you get all the I-Drive restaurants. You can get a week pass for the I-Ride trolley which takes you to Seaworld or anywhere else you want to go in the I-Drive area, you have good Lynx bus connections to get to Disney and you're walking distance from Universal...Just writing this is making me want to go back as soon as I can!

^ Yup.Seriously, the only time to visit Orlando is late September/early October. The crowds are light but the weather is still ok (probably better for Brits because you don't have to get used to it being hot!) and you get to experience the parks in normal mode and Halloween mode. HHN is by far the best Halloween event (although it's declining in quality apparently) and things like MNSSHP are really fun (not to mention a good chance to get into the MK when the capacity of the park is limited!).I hope the planning works out for you ^_^Dave

I went last year in July however twice in 3 weeks its amazing how busierit got over a 2 week time period, I went once busy but livable got all rides done in Universal and went again at night to IOA. However the second week was 3 hour queues and we just went on water rides to keep cool. So Septemeber would be best as May to August is busy and hot!

I went to Orlando in Febuary twice (2001-2002) and both times were reasonably quiet.I also went twice in the summer (2004-2005) and then they were so quiet that it was ridiculas:S

The trip has been booked and with the Royal Wedding we have got an extra day, so we are going 29th April to 13th May. I'll post to trip once back!

^hey weeby-vuit, I am going to Florida that day too(29th April) although, not going as long as you, only going till May 7th, been loads of times before anyway.Late April/Early May is quite a good time to go, You get nice weather(Hot but not too unbearable), and the crowds at the parks are not too bad either You will find they are reasonably busy, but they wont be extreme.Tips for the Waterparks, they get really busy from opening all the time(Queues can get silly) but I've found they calm down half way through the day so best to do half days from late(ish) afternoon,Check to see if you can get discounted entry after a set time(Wet N Wild used to do it) crowds are a lot less pleasent, and you can enjoy it more with less queues.I cant wait to go back, looking forward to Aquatica, Manta at Sea World,Harry Potter at IOA, Simpsons at Universal(All new for me since I last went) Going to miss Cheetah Chase at BGT, I'm gutted, but hey ho, its something for next time I guess