FLORIDA · ORLANDO · MAY
May is the last month Orlando gets before the calendar tips into summer. Afternoons at Orlando International Airport average 88.4°F, the sun stays up until about 8:10 p.m. in mid-month, and the Atlantic hurricane season does not open until June 1. If you have already picked Orlando for a spring vacation, May means early starts, long evenings and a midday best spent in a pool or in a spring near 75°F.
Most trips fly into MCO, which boarded 27,859,783 passengers in 2024, the busiest airport in Florida and ahead of Miami, according to the FAA. Sanford (SFB), north of MCO, boarded 1.4 million. Check the drive time from Sanford to the parks before booking. Our Florida flights guide lays out the airport choice.
ORLANDO IN MAY · THE MONTH AT A GLANCE
Warm, mostly dry and outside hurricane season, May suits early risers who plan a cool midday, since June brings twice the rain.
AVG HIGH 88.4°F · 5.7 RAIN DAYS · HURRICANE SEASON OPENS JUNE 1
Go for: early-morning spring swims, long evenings in the parks and a trip that ends before hurricane season starts on June 1.
Think twice before: planning long midday walks between rides, with afternoons averaging 88.4°F at the airport station.
Climate: NOAA NCEI 1991–2020, Orlando International Airport · Daylight: sunrise-sunset.org · Tax: Florida Department of Revenue · full sources at the end
On this page
- Orlando weather in MayHighs of 88.4°F and 5.7 rain days
- What to wear in Orlando in MayFrom 66.3°F at dawn to 88.4°F by afternoon
- Is Orlando busy in May?Crowds, park pricing and the 12% room tax
- Things to do in Orlando in MayWekiwa, Rock Springs, Blue Spring and Lake Louisa
- A two-day Orlando plan for MayTwo days that start with the 6:33 a.m. sunrise
- Orlando in May vs April or JuneHow the three months compare on heat and rain
- Is May a good time to visit Orlando?Who should go in May, and who should pick April
Orlando runs on Eastern time, while the western Panhandle around Pensacola, Destin and Panama City runs an hour behind on Central, a detail to remember if you pair the parks with a beach week out west. For the length of the stay, our Florida overview puts Orlando at four to seven nights. Bases are in where to stay in Florida, park days with children in Florida with kids, and the full year in the best time to visit Florida.
Orlando weather in May: average highs, lows and rain days
| May at Orlando International Airport | Normal |
|---|---|
| Average high | 88.4°F |
| Average low | 66.3°F |
| Precipitation | 4.02 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 5.7 |
| Days with 1 in or more | 1.4 |
| Daylight on May 15 | About 13 h 38 min |
| Sunrise and sunset, May 15 | 6:33 a.m. · 8:10 p.m. EDT |
Every figure here comes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information: the 1991–2020 normals for station USW00012815, a real thermometer at Orlando International Airport. A reanalysis grid cell, the other common source for climate tables, averages a square of land and does not read the same as a station. At the airport, May averages a high of 88.4°F, a low of 66.3°F and 4.02 inches of rain across the month.
Measurable rain, at least 0.10 inch, falls on 5.7 days in an average May, roughly one day in five. A real soaking of an inch or more comes on 1.4 days, so most Mays bring one or two. Expect a handful of wet spells you wait out under a roof, not a washed-out week: about 25 days of the month record less than a tenth of an inch.
Afternoons run 22.1°F warmer than the dawn low on average. Pack for both ends: a light long-sleeved layer for a 6:30 a.m. departure, breathable clothes for the afternoon, and a compact rain shell for the one or two inch-plus days. Keep swimwear in the day bag rather than the suitcase, because the springs north of the city sit near 75°F whatever the air does.
On May 15 Orlando gets about 13 hours 38 minutes of daylight. Sunrise comes at 6:33 a.m. and sunset at 8:10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, converted from sunrise-sunset.org’s UTC figures. A family dinner at 6:30 p.m. still leaves an hour and forty minutes of light for a walk or a last ride.
How warm is Orlando in May?
The month runs from an average low of 66.3°F to an average high of 88.4°F. That high sits 4.8°F above April’s 83.6°F and 2.4°F below June’s 90.8°F. Orlando is inland, and we found no sea-surface reading for it, so the water temperature we can give is a spring’s: the USGS gauge at Wekiwa Springs read 75.6°F on September 11, 2026, about 13 degrees cooler than a May afternoon and 9 degrees warmer than a May dawn. For Gulf or Atlantic water, check the coast you drive to.
Wear shorts and a thin layer you can shed by mid-morning. By early afternoon, with the average high near 88°F, switch to loose clothes, a hat and sunscreen, and plan the hottest hours around shade, water or air conditioning. After the 8:10 p.m. sunset the air slides back toward the 60s by dawn.
We found no count of freezing nights for May in the NOAA normals we read, and the average low of 66.3°F sits 34 degrees above freezing. A light sweater is only worth packing for air-conditioned restaurants and theaters.
How busy is Orlando in May? Crowds and prices
March is when Orlando’s parks fill with family school holidays, while college spring break mostly lands on the beach towns and spreads across the month. May comes after that March surge and before the June 1 start of hurricane season. We found no occupancy series or monthly hotel rate for Orlando, so we crown no week of May cheap or expensive. Our Florida trip-cost guide covers what a day there runs.
Disney and Universal price tickets by date, so any figure we printed today would be wrong within weeks. Check the operator’s calendar for your exact May dates before booking the room, and compare it with the week either side. We could not verify a typical booking lead time for May, so we give no number of weeks. Price flights into MCO and SFB side by side, and add the unverified drive from Sanford before choosing.
Orange County, home to Orlando and the parks, levies a 6.0% transient rental tax, filed and paid together with Florida’s 6% state sales tax. On a room in Orange County that adds 12% to the nightly rate, according to the Florida Department of Revenue’s form DR-15TDT. Add it in when you compare hotels across booking sites.
If one budget line deserves more money in May, put it toward a rental car for the spring days. SunRail’s schedule names no airport and no theme-park station. The line serves residents on a north-south run through downtown, and our sources list no bus route to Wekiwa. The state counts 325 parking spaces at Wekiwa and 187 at Blue Spring, and popular springs turn cars away on summer mornings, so arrive early. We give no daily rental rate because prices move with the date, and our getting-around guide covers the options.
Things to do in Orlando in May
At 88.4°F in the afternoon, May air is warm enough for a spring near 75°F to feel like a reward. Rain falls on 5.7 days against June’s 11.5, and hurricane season is still weeks away. Plan a spring swim in the cool of the morning and a park afternoon that runs to the 8:10 p.m. sunset.
Wekiwa Springs State Park is the nearest spring to Orlando. The state’s 2024 inventory counts one designated swimming area, one canoe, kayak and tube launch, 15.9 miles of paddling trail, 13.7 miles of hiking trail and 1,435 feet of boardwalk. Rock Springs, the tubing run at Kelly Park north of the city, read 75.0°F on the same September day Wekiwa read 75.6°F. Blue Spring State Park adds 3,050 feet of boardwalk, the longest at any Florida spring park in that inventory, with three observation platforms. Lake Louisa State Park has a designated swimming area, five launches and 278 parking spaces.
Spring water discharges from the Upper Floridan aquifer and does not follow the month. Blue Spring read 74.3°F and 168 cubic feet per second on September 11, 2026. The air around it changes. In winter the river cools and manatees gather at the warmer outflow, so the manatee crowds belong to the cold months. In May the same water sits about 14 degrees below the afternoon high, and the draw is the swim rather than the herd. The winter side is in swimming with manatees in Florida.
We could not verify an entrance fee, a park hour or a free-entry day at any of these parks: the Florida State Parks website refused our reads, and fees vary by park and season. The state does count parking. Silver Springs State Park, the glass-bottom-boat spring, has 1,686 spaces and three launches against Wekiwa’s 325 spaces and one launch, so a late start leaves more room there. Check the fee with the park before you drive.
Orlando in May: a two-day itinerary
Day one starts with the 6:33 a.m. sunrise. Drive to Wekiwa Springs early to claim one of its 325 parking spaces, swim or paddle through the cooler morning, and walk the 1,435-foot boardwalk before the air climbs toward 88°F. Head back for lunch and a pool or indoor break during the hottest hours. Spend the late afternoon and evening in a theme park while the light lasts until 8:10 p.m. Check opening times for both the spring and the park, since we did not verify either.
Day two heads north to Blue Spring for its 3,050-foot boardwalk and three platforms, or to Rock Springs at Kelly Park for the tubing run. If one of May’s 1.4 inch-plus days arrives, swap the outdoor morning for a park’s indoor rides and shows, and keep the spring for the next clear day. For a car-free afternoon downtown, LYNX runs buses across Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties: a ride costs $2.00 with a free transfer, and an All-Day Pass costs $4.50 if you ask the driver for it before paying at the farebox. The pass is valid from 4:00 a.m. until 3:00 a.m. the next day.
Orlando in May vs April and June
| Normal, 1991–2020 | April | May | June |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 83.6°F | 88.4°F | 90.8°F |
| Average low | 60.7°F | 66.3°F | 71.6°F |
| Precipitation | 2.58 in | 4.02 in | 8.05 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 3.9 | 5.7 | 11.5 |
| Hurricane season | Outside | Outside | Opens June 1 |
The NOAA airport normals climb in step across the three months. April averages 83.6°F by day and 60.7°F at night, May 88.4°F and 66.3°F, June 90.8°F and 71.6°F. Rain rises from 2.58 inches over 3.9 days in April to 4.02 inches over 5.7 days in May, then doubles in June to 8.05 inches over 11.5 days. For water, the spring gauges we read give one value per spring (Wekiwa at 75.6°F in September 2026), and the aquifer does not follow the calendar, so the springs read about the same in all three months.
Moving four weeks earlier to April buys afternoons 4.8°F cooler and 1.8 fewer rain days, at the cost of dawns 5.6°F colder, down to 60.7°F. Moving four weeks later to June brings nights of 71.6°F, 5.8 more rain days and the start of hurricane season on June 1. Plan either shift with Orlando in April or Orlando in June.
Is May a good time to visit Orlando?
Yes, for families and couples who start early and rest at midday: May is warm, falls outside hurricane season and has half of June’s rain days. No, for anyone planning long midday walks between rides, because afternoons average 88.4°F at the airport station. Safety basics for the heat are in our Florida safety guide.
If the heat rules May out, pick April. Its average high is 83.6°F, it records 3.9 rain days, and it comes after the March school holidays that fill the parks.
May is the last Orlando month before hurricane season opens on June 1, with afternoons 4.8°F warmer than April’s for the spring swims.
The last word
Book your May dates only after checking the park’s calendar price for them, then set the alarm for 6:33 a.m. at least once. If a spring morning turns into a whole day, the state counts 20 cabins at Lake Louisa and six at Blue Spring, and a night in one puts you at the water before the parking lot fills.
Sources & data for this guide
- April, May and June normals (highs, lows, precipitation, rain days) · NOAA NCEI 1991–2020, station USW00012815, Orlando International Airport · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Daylight, sunrise and sunset on May 15 · sunrise-sunset.org, converted from UTC to Eastern Daylight Time · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Hurricane season dates · NOAA National Hurricane Center · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Orange County transient rental tax and state sales tax · Florida Department of Revenue, form DR-15TDT · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Airport passengers · Federal Aviation Administration, CY2024 · checked Sep 24, 2026 · Sanford’s own site blocked us, so we give no distance from SFB to the parks
- Eastern and Central time boundary · 49 CFR 71.5(f) · checked Sep 24, 2026
- LYNX fares and All-Day Pass rules · LYNX Fares & Passes · checked Sep 24, 2026
- SunRail stations · sunrail.com Schedules · checked Sep 24, 2026 · the fares page prints no amount, so we give none
- Park facilities (parking, boardwalks, launches, cabins) · Florida DEP Recreational Facilities Inventory, 2024 report · checked Sep 11 and Sep 21, 2026
- Spring water temperatures and flow · USGS NWIS stations 02234600, 02234610 and 02235500, instantaneous readings · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Manatee winter gathering · Southwest Florida Water Management District · checked Sep 24, 2026
- Editorial note: we carry no theme-park price, park hour, entrance fee or manatee count. Disney and Universal price by date, and floridastateparks.org refused our reads · check operators when you book.