Autumn in Orlando

There’s never a bad time to be in Orlando - the holiday fun and excitement are guaranteed all 12 months of the year! - but if there’s one extended period that we like to recommend, it’s the autumn.

And, with the time now at half-past September, it’s time to think about the change of the seasons and an ideal time to be in Central Florida.

You might have read about a heatwave hitting the US this month, but that hasn’t been the case in the Sunshine State - albeit we experienced record temperatures in August, with many places charting both new highs and high temps for a prolonged period.

Happily, September has pretty much conformed to the norm, with the average temperature around 92F/33C, which is only a degree or so above what we’d usually expect. The long-range forecast for the next 30 days also insists we should be on track for a normal month.

Tell us about the autumn weather in Orlando

The most important thing to know about autumn, or Fall, in Central Florida is that it won’t cool off significantly the way it does in the rest of the country.

The big temperature change now typically doesn’t arrive until November, when we start to get cool evenings and early mornings. October used to be our “transition” month, but that has changed in recent years.

The good news is that October does start to lose the humidity of summer, which makes things much more pleasant, even if the mercury is still hovering around the 88/31-degree mark.

It’s worth knowing October last year saw some big variations in temperature, with highs of 89/31.5 as late as the 31st, while our low temp was a balmy 81/27, either side of the big 2022 blip caused by Hurricane Ian.

This latter brought thermometers down to a highly unusual 70/21 for almost three days, as well as causing a lot of damage on the south-west coast, but these big storms are still rare in Orlando.

What should I pack for the autumn in Orlando?

This is the key question for all visitors at this time of year, as you might expect to have to pack for a wide variety of weather types.

Happily, that isn’t the case. While we always strongly advise our guests to pack lightly for the summer months, when T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops are pretty much all you need, that is also largely the case for the next couple of months.

If anything, the daytime temperatures will feel even more noticeable for UK visitors. There were times this summer when Britain hit 91F/32.2C, which was pretty much the June average in Orlando.

But, if you’re leaving the UK on a typical mid-October day, you can expect the temperature to be around 55/13, while Florida will greet you with the mercury reading about 85/29. That’s a potential 30-degree F difference.

So, if you’re travelling in long trousers, you might want to have some shorts in your hand-luggage to change into enroute!

You’ll need to keep those long trousers handy for evenings in November, but otherwise, you should still find things warm enough for shorts most of the time.

And, yes, you should pack your swimsuit. Even though not all pools aren’t necessarily heated at this time of year, it will still be plenty warm enough for your villa’s pool, and certainly for the water parks.

How else does Orlando differ in the autumn?

Apart from that big temperature difference, things do quieten down to a certain degree after the big Labor Day holiday weekend in September (Sept 1-4 this year).

But “quiet” is only a relative term in Orlando!

In past years, when we first started our villa holidays here in 1999, we would confidently pronounce September as one of the quietest times of the year, with a notable drop-off in the crowds after Labor Day.

Not so much these days. Many people have figured out that they can often save money by waiting for the autumn to roll around, when prices tend to drop, hence the theme parks can be just as busy, especially at Epcot during the hugely popular Food & Wine Festival (Jul 5-Nov 18) and Universal during the Halloween season, when the locals come out at weekends.

Some of the parks don’t open quite as late in the autumn months, and week-day crowds DO drop off at times, but it is very much ‘business as usual’ all the way through to the big Thanksgiving holiday in late November.

If you are looking for that genuinely quiet period, seek out the two or three weeks after Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November), when Orlando does quieten down nicely.

What else does Orlando’s autumn offer?

In many ways, the period from September to late November is one of the busiest for special events and programmes throughout Orlando. In fact, if you pick the weeks from late October to mid-November, you can actually enjoy the finale of the Halloween season AND the start of all the Christmas festivities!

This is also the “Pumpkin Spice” season, when all the coffee shops literally spice up their offerings in the most delightful way. And, if you haven’t tried a pumpkin spice latte or iced pumpkin cream chai tea, you’re in for a real treat.

Pumpkin pie is another seasonal speciality, which you’ll find prominently in all the supermarkets. We find it is a bit of an acquired taste (which we have definitely acquired in the past 20-plus years!), but it should be an essential taste of Orlando for visitors in October and November.

A good pumpkin pie is velvety and cinnamon-y, and full of smooth pumpkin goodness. It’s the flavour of childhood for many Americans, and is a lot sweeter than you might imagine.

Finally, autumn is celebrated for the end of summer as much as anything else. After almost five months of humidity and high temperatures, the locals revel in a touch of cooler weather - and the chance to taunt their northern brethren at the first hint of snow in those states!

Have you been to Orlando in the autumn? Tell us your experiences on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages… and don’t forget to interact with us on Pinterest and now TikTok too!