How much does it rain in Orlando Florida?

how much does it rain in Orlando, Florida!

In most Orlando vacation fliers and ads you always see it sunny without a cloud in the sky. You always hear about the Florida sunshine and getting sunburned. However for those who are not from Florida you might be surprised to learn that it often rains every day in the summer here in Orlando! In fact Florida I believe is the USA’s number one ranking for lighting strikes.

However the type of rain here is different than the rain you get up north. Yes it’s still just as wet, if not more so since it comes down so fast here! The difference is how long it last. Up in Vermont where I’m from a rainy day means it’s going to be wet, cold and dark all day. In Florida however it’s very flat, meaning the storms roll in and roll out very fast.

A normal summer day in Orlando Florida sees the morning as bright and hot, with very few clouds. Then in the afternoon clouds form, get very dark and roll in fast, often with plenty of thunder. It then rains very hard, often so hard it fills up roads and driveways with several inches of water. Then, about a half hour or so later it blows away, and the hot sun comes out again.

Within an hour or two all the water is gone and you can’t even tell it had rained! It does that almost every day, all summer long. So early afternoon is a good time to plan on doing something inside on your Orlando vacation. Take in an inside show, watch a movie or something. Normally the rain only last an hour or so, then after that it’s like it never happened.

Now, in the fall and winter it hardly ever rains. Day after day goes by with no rain. That’s the dry season in Florida. Sometimes it gets too dry and we end up with a water shortage, brush fires and yellow lawns! So, it does rain in Orlando, a lot actually. But only for an hour or so in the afternoon. So don’t let the rain stop you on your Orlando Vacation!

Summer Orlando vacation hotel rates still a bargain

The 21st marks the official first day of summer. Of course it feels like summer already, especially down here in Florida! With the summer season comes the summer crowds and tourist. Many think that Florida is the most busy during the winter, but that’s not true. It’s in the summer, like most places in the USA, that Orlando gets the most tourist.

All the international tourist that are having winter in their side of the world come to Florida in the summer. Also here in the US summer is when schools are out, so that is when the family gets to take that yearly vacation. Along with the summer crowds are the summer prices on everything, which usually is higher!

Most of the time it can be quite a bit higher too. Hotels put their summer rates up, which can be anywhere from 20% to 50% higher than the fall and winter seasons. However that does not seem to be the case this year. As we all know it has been a bad year everywhere, and still will be well into next. So the hotel prices have been low.

They will jack them up higher in the summer, but not as much as before. Also since they are already lower than normal, the price increase is not as much as in the past. There will be plenty of “middle class” hotels in the Orlando theme park area with daily rates of $30.00 to $50.00 per day! Plus many weekend and weekly specials.

So there still will be plenty of hotel bargains in Orlando this summer. Just check out some of the hotel booking places you see in the sidebars here and see for yourself what a great summer of bargains an Orlando vacation this summer will be!

Orlando flooding not in the tourist area

It seems like these days the news tends to dramatize everything. If a tornado hits one town in Oklahoma they make it sound like the whole state got blown away. That seems to be what is happening right now in Florida.

If you’ve seen the news, you know that parts of Florida is having a little flooding problem. The east coast and parts of central Florida have been having days of thunderstorms and lots of rain. Talking to some family out of state they seem to have the impression that every house in Florida is under water and all roads closed!

That of course is not true. The only places that are suffering some flooding is areas on the east coast, in places that are in flood plains. Places they never should have built any houses anyway. Even then it’s only small areas of those towns. But of course it does not take much to equal a lot of damage in dollars.

Here in central Florida where Orlando is everything is pretty much normal. We always get afternoon thunderstorms in summer, but only for an hour or two. These just happen to be bigger ones that last longer. I just wanted people to know that despite all the hype on the news, everything is normal in Orlando and the tourist areas.

Latest updates in Orlando Inside

Wow, talk about not keeping up with my site huh! It’s been a while since I made any post on here, sorry about that. I blame it on the economy. You see, this is a new site, one that I am growing. But when it’s new, it does not make much, if anything. So with the downturn in the economy I had to devote all my time into the sites I have that do make money.

So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! The tourist industry is still light in Orlando, and expect it to be all year. The summer will be busier like it always is. But still lighter than normal. I don’t see the Orlando tourist crowds to be back up to normal until next summer, if that. So if you want that Orlando vacation when the crowds are light, any time this year is good.

Prices are still way down too. Normally you see higher prices for everything once summer is underway. But I don’t think they will go up much this year. If they can’t fill the hotels and rent the cars now, how can they increase the prices! Even I’m taking advantage of low air fair prices, I’m up in Vermont visiting my mom right now!

Working on my laptop on vacation, can’t get any better than this! I’ll try to start posting more on here and getting this place big with lots of information and the latest news. So again, sorry about not keeping this place updated. But I’ll try to get back into it and keep it current. Now come on down and enjoy a light crowd, low price Orlando vacation! 😉

Hotel room or a suite for your Orlando Vacation?

Written by Bill Manning

So you’ve decided your going to take the family on an Orlando vacation, great! You’ve also decided your going to get a hotel for your stay there. But there is one more thing to think about, and that is do you want to get a standard hotel room or a suite? First you need to know just what each one comes with and the pros and cons of each.

Many hotels only have standard hotel rooms. But there are quite a few in the Orlando area that also have suites. Some hotels only have suites in different sizes. So first lets look at what a hotel room gets you. Normally even a big hotel room will just be one large room with one or two double or king sized beds. It might also have a fold out couch.

So you can sleep about 6 in a large hotel room. It will have one bathroom and maybe a coat closet. The better ones will have the shower and toilet in one room with the vanity and sink separate. That way one can take a shower while others use the sink and mirror. It also will have some dressers, a table or two, a few chairs and so on. [Read more…]

Gatorland youtube video in Orlando

Well everyone, today I’m having one of my lazy days! So, I thought I’d show you all a neat gatorland youtube video. You’ll notice when I’m having a bad day or not enough time I’ll throw in a quick you tube video! It’s not that they are bad, it’s just fast. One of Orlando’s smaller parks is Gatorland. It’s been around for a long time.

In fact one of the very first James Bond movies had a shot inside Gatorland. Over the years it has gotten bigger, and now it had hundreds of reptiles to see. From alligators, crocodiles, snakes and lizards, it has them all. They have several shows a day, including jumping alligators and of course alligator wrestling.

It’s fun for the whole family and good for a few hours or half a day. They even have a little train that goes around the park. So when you go on your Orlando vacation, if you like wildlife and reptiles, think about visiting Gatorland. I’ll write a more complete post about it sometime. But for today, enjoy this Gatorland youtube video! :)

Orlando vacation hotels & motels


I can’t believe I have made this many post and still have not made one about Orlando vacation hotels! I think that’s because trying to pick out a hotel is such a long, confusing process and I’m not sure where to start. So, in this post I’m just going to give you a general idea of what types of hotels there are in Orlando.

Now, The three big theme parks have their own hotels you can stay at. Disney World has a bunch of hotels and resorts to stay at. Universal Studios has several, and even Sea World has a few within walking distance of the park. So why not just stay at those then? Well, many do of course and they are fine.

All hotels at the parks are nice and clean with all the extras. They reflect the parks themselves, so they bend over backward to keep you happy. BUT, everything has it’s price, and with park hotels it’s exactly that, the price. For the most part you end up paying more than you would if you got a hotel outside the parks. Most of the time, but not always. [Read more…]

Orlando airport rental car information


no one deals like we do!

Rental cars, how we love them and hate them! I could make 50 post about rental cars in Orlando, and I’m sure I will. So I’m going to just talk a little bit about them in each post. Today I’ll just give you some basics about getting a rental car at or near the Orlando International airport. Orlando is one of the biggest rental car cities in the world.

As you would expect, there are many rental car companies that have an office and cars right there at the airport. There also are many others very close to the airport, around 1 to 5 miles. Almost all of them have regular bus and van services to and from the Orlando airport many times a day. So lets say you decide your going to get a rental car, truck or van for your Orlando vacation.

The biggest thing you can do for yourself is MAKE A RESERVATION FOR A RENTAL! Please don’t wait until you get there and figure you’ll just pick out whatever is cheapest. Your going to be tired from the trip and if you have kids they will be hungry and tired also. You want to grab your car and get the heck out of there, not wait in another long line! [Read more…]

Roadside roses in Orlando for Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day everyone! If your in Orlando on vacation you might be thinking about where you can get some roses or other gifts for your sweetie for Valentines. There actually are many places you can buy some roses, heart shaped chocolates and cards for Valentines day around the tourist areas.

The catch is, they are a bit cheap. As in mass produced and a bit low grade. Going into any large grocery store like the Publix chain you will find Valentines cards, chocolates, balloons and roses. Every 7-11, and you find them about every mile in Orlando, will have some cheap roses, cards and trinkets for Valentines day.

Even the many gift shops will have a few things to give your sweetheart for Valentines Day. One thing you will find down here, and it seems to be something you find just in Florida, are the many vans parked by the road selling roses. That’s right, today if you drive around your sure to see a van parked on the side of major roads with the back door open selling fresh roses, cheap too! [Read more…]

Can you take an Orlando Vacation without a rental car?

One of the biggest things you need to figure out when you take an Orlando vacation is if your going to do any of your own driving or not. Much depends on just what your going to do when your here. Orlando is a very spread out city, with many points of interest miles away from each other. If you do much sight seeing a cab will quickly cost much more than a rental car.

However many tourist in Orlando do quite well without a rental car, because they don’t go very far. So lets talk about those who would not need a rental car. Lets say you and the family are going to be down here for 7 days. Your a big fan of the theme parks and have almost every day planned out, with each day going to a different park.

You schedule in a day or two to relax and take it easy. So for the most part your whole vacation will consist of staying at the hotel or going to the theme parks. Disney has buses that go right to the airport and whisk you right to your Disney hotel, if your staying at a Disney one. For the other hotels there are many other buses, passenger vans and taxi that operate out of the airport. [Read more…]

Orlando vacation theme parks and water parks

Well everyone, the title to this post seems pretty simple huh? Theme parks and water parks in Orlando. Heck we all know who they are, don’t we? Well actually maybe not! Orlando is growing very fast, and so are the theme parks. Also the major theme parks keep adding new parks! So it can be confusing to keep track of all the big theme and water parks in Orlando.

So I want to make a nice list of them. Now, when I say theme parks, I mean big ones, and I mean each different park in each complex. Disney World, for instance, is a giant mix of 7 or more parks. Water parks are a mix of ones in the big theme parks and other smaller ones all by themselves. I’ll start with the most popular ones first, shall we! [Read more…]

Disney World Orlando Vacation outlook for 2009

It looks like a friend of mine and his family are coming down for an Orlando vacation sometime in the late spring. Now this friend is not big on going anywhere, they’ve only been down here one other time. But they wanted to go one more time for their kids, who are around 16, 14 and 10. One of the main reasons they are going this year is because of the economy.

Now you might think wait a minute. If things are going so bad, and everyone is hurting for money, then why would they actually want to pick this time to spend their money and go on vacation? Well, not everyone is having a bad time with their jobs. This family happens to be doing okay and has money set aside and so on.

They also look for bargains and ways to save money with everything they do. That’s one of the reasons why they are doing okay! So it’s because this is a bad year that makes it appealing to them to take their last big Orlando vacation. They know prices for everything is low, and that not many will be in the theme parks. So, it makes sense to pick now to come down here. [Read more…]