At this point, it really shouldn’t be a surprise that Florida in the Summer is hot. The state has taken upon itself to reinforce that point for the coming weekend. A quick yet surprisingly sweaty outdoor walk (and not the athletic kind… just the “move myself from one place to another” kind) yesterday morning at 8AM was enough to convince me that humidity was back in force. Now the forecast backs that up.
The Heat Index value, calculated by factoring in not just the heat but also the humidity, is expected to rise to levels that make it feel like 100+ degrees over the entire Attractions area on Thursday. The heart of the Attractions… Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld… expect to see feels-like temps of 105 or 106 at the worst part of the day (around 2PM-3PM). If you’re headed toward Busch Gardens or Legoland, it’ll be marginally cooler (more like 100 degree heat index) but not enough to make a difference.
When it gets this humid and this hot, your sweat can’t do its normal duty of grossing out the person smashed up against you on a Disney bus evaporating and cooling you down, so it’s important that you take some basic precautions. If you can, avoid outdoor activity during the hottest part of the afternoon. If you can’t, then at least PRE-hydrate, re-hydrate, and take frequent breaks. The next few days are probably best spent at parks that have a substantial number of indoor attractions (and indoor queue lines!). If you’re doing Animal Kingdom, well known to locals as the Hottest Damn Park on the Face of the Earth™, then I’d suggest going early in the morning and stampeding (too soon?) out of there by midday.
There’s at least a little hope for some afternoon storms to make things a bit cooler, but with a juicy atmosphere they’ll bring their own hazards. Locally heavy rainfall and intense lightning are possible with whatever might develop.