May or October for first BG/SW/DC trip?

[jenhelgren]

We are planning on a BG/SW/DC trip for our next vacation to Florida. Are crowds and weather better in May or October for these parks? We have always taken an annual Disney trip in late October for Halloween and crowds have been close to summer levels some days!! I heard May is the better month for Disney parks now but this will be our visit to SeaWorld so I'm not sure how it compares!

 

[KBF]

October is a great time to visit the parks. The weather is more pleasant than May and the crowds for SeaWorld and Busch Gardens are lower In October than May. If you plan on going to SeaWorld or Busch Gardens on the weekend in October, you'll have busier crowds than the weekdays but no where near what you'd find at Disney. Weekends in October, SeaWorld hosts their Halloween Spootakular which has a focus on younger kids. Unlike Disney's Halloween event, this event is included with park admission. Starting at noon, you will have free trick or treating and fun shows featuring characters like those from Sesame street. So if you have younger kids, this is a great event for them. Busch Gardens also has an event on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at night. It's called Howl O Scream. Howl o Scream is not included with park admission and is a separate ticket from a regular day ticket. Howl o Scream is definitely for an older crowd, like teenagers and adults. There are haunted houses to go through, sections of the park also become "Scare Zones" where there are plenty of frights and most of the rides are open too. I think Howl O Scream is worth the extra ticket. It usually runs around $40-$50 per person. I always make sure to go a few times in October because I enjoy it so much.

Like I said, October is better weather wise for your Discovery Cove trip. It wont be as hot but it wont be cold. It will be comfortable. In May, you run the high risk of daily thunderstorms that will interrupt your day. The rainy season is usually over by October so you don't have to worry about thunderstorms.

So if I were you, I'd definitely visit in October. You have a lot more extra options to choose from and much better weather. Crowds are also better in October. Hope you have fun!

 

[bellarinah]

Sorry for veering this conversation a little off topic. But I think my question kind of fits in here.

I have a question about SeaWorld Halloween. My fall trip is at the end of October. We'll be arriving mid-morning on Sun. Oct. 28 which is the last day of Seaworld Halloween. My family loves SeaWorld. We visit every year in the summer and during Christmas time. We are familiar with the park. But we never go during Halloween. I'm just wondering if it's worth all the hassle to visit right after our arrival on arrival day and stay for a few hours just for the Halloween festivities. I don't really care about the regular stuff on that day since we plan on doing a full day there the next day (Oct.29). The kids are 9 and 7 year old girls. I'm even toying with the idea of arriving a day earlier and do a full visit on that Sunday. But that would require some serious change in the plan. And I don't think I'd want to do that. I personally love seaworld during Christmas time. The park is just so beautiful and festive. I'm not sure if their Halloween event will be to that scale. Thanks in advance for anyone's feedback!!!

 

[KBF]

The Halloween event, while great, doesn't compare to the Christmas event. Its focus is mainly for young kids. There is a special Halloween Sesame street show but other than that, the main draw is free candy that kids can get at stations located around the park. I guess attending the event depends on how much your kids want free candy. They can dress up in costume and there are plenty of photo ops with other costumed characters. I'd say go if you've never been just to check out what the event is about, but I wouldn't go in thinking it will compare with Christmas.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I would wholeheartedly recommend early May over October. We travel to Orlando twice yearly, always during both those exact two times of year. May is our absolute favorite weather-wise: we have found it far less humid in early May than during our October trips ..... still nice and hot, great for pool time, just without the sticky factor. In our experiences, October always has higher crowds versus early May as well: many, many people travel to Orlando during the fall for the variety of Halloween events (MNSSHP, HHN, etc.) and Seaworld also sees more visitors as a result.

Our spring trips have been the least rainy of all of them. October is firmly in hurricane season, while hurricanes in early May are fairly uncommon.

We just returned from our most recent visit (May 4th through 12th). At times, we had various exhibits all to ourselves.

Check out the queue for Wild Arctic:

Aquatica was equally quiet, and even Discovery Cove. This was our 6th? (maybe 7th?) trip to DC, and we've never seen the park that empty.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Sorry for veering this conversation a little off topic. But I think my question kind of fits in here.

I have a question about SeaWorld Halloween. My fall trip is at the end of October. We'll be arriving mid-morning on Sun. Oct. 28 which is the last day of Seaworld Halloween. My family loves SeaWorld. We visit every year in the summer and during Christmas time. We are familiar with the park. But we never go during Halloween. I'm just wondering if it's worth all the hassle to visit right after our arrival on arrival day and stay for a few hours just for the Halloween festivities. I don't really care about the regular stuff on that day since we plan on doing a full day there the next day (Oct.29). The kids are 9 and 7 year old girls. I'm even toying with the idea of arriving a day earlier and do a full visit on that Sunday. But that would require some serious change in the plan. And I don't think I'd want to do that. I personally love seaworld during Christmas time. The park is just so beautiful and festive. I'm not sure if their Halloween event will be to that scale. Thanks in advance for anyone's feedback!!!

If you can squeeze it in, and your kids would enjoy dressing up and trick-or-treating for a few hours, then its worth doing (if you're not out of pocket for an extra day of tickets). The decor is fun and children seem to really, really enjoy it. There are lots of colorful characters milling about and they are great at interacting with guests. It's a very "under the sea" approach with bubbles blowing from starfish on the lamp posts. I'm not sure how the event will be this year, though, now that Shamu's Happy Harbor has closed. The bulk of the event was conducted through that area, and it really seemed to "fit" there.

That said, it's nowhere on the same level as the Christmas festivities....the two cannot even compare.

 

[bellarinah]

@KBF and @Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina

Thank you so much for the feedback. I think I may try to squeeze in a SeaWorld afternoon on our arrival day to enjoy their last Halloween offerings. My girls will definitely enjoy getting dressed up and trick-or-treat!! The girls and I have an annual pass so popping in for a little bit is okay with us. The problem is my husband. He will need to buy a day ticket. Plus, cramming a lot of things in one day is actually not how he prefers to do things. It's quite hard as it is for him to accept that we girls (my daughters and I) like to take multiple trips a year to Orlando. But we still make him do what he doesn't prefer on the only one trip he comes along. This might push him over the edge!!!