When is love bug season?

[Dani090]

Can anyone please tell me when love bugs are around in Orlando? I'm planning a trip to WDW and want to avoid love bugs after I've read they can be terrible. Are they around end of april? Are they gone by mid May? If I arrive May 13 is the season over by then?

 

[Mr. Drauer]

typically it is late April and early to mid May, and again in September. the amount and location is different every year though - sometimes they are bad around WDW, other times, not even noticeable. If you are actually serious about planning a vacation to avoid them, don't go in May as there is no way to predict if they will be a problem when you are there.

 

[tseitel]

We usually go in October & have periodically experienced the swarm, lol. More of a nuisance, really.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

Always.

 

[rangerxenos]

We've hit them twice at the end of April, beginning of May. Worst was the fact that you couldn't sit out on the balcony, bugs crawling everywhere.

 

[gharter]

We've seen it the worst the end of April and early May. Maybe we are there too late in October, but have missed them so far.

 

[Upatnoon]

This post got me thinking about all the various obstacles one must avoid when booking a trip.
None of these would stop me from a visit. This is just for fun.

Disneyworld "watch out" calendar

January: Too cold, ride rehabs
February: Still too cold, more ride rehabs
March: Spring break and snowbird crowds in full force.
April: Easter, spring break crowds, Love bugs. Wildfire season
May: Love Bugs. It is starting to really warm up. Wildfire season
June: Now it's hot! School vacations all start.
July: Peak summer vacation month. Hot!
August: Hurricane season spinning up. Daily thunderstorms. Super-hot!
September: Peak hurricane season. Daily thunderstorms, super hot.
October: Halloween parties shut MK early. Crowds attracted by food & wine. Still a chance of a hurricane.
November: Holiday crowds surge. Christmas parties start. More festivals.
December: Holiday crowds peak. everything costs more. Biggest crowds of the year.

 

[Farro]

Oh great. We just booked a trip from April 19 to 27 (2023) at Wilderness Lodge! Pretty sure that would be love bug mecca.

 

[AnnaS]

We got to see/experience them during one of our trips in WDW - first time there - early May - Wow Wow - it was hard to sit by the pool. It was worst there vs the parks- and don't put on lotion.............the parks or other areas did not seem as bad.

Had no clue what they were - the first time we experienced them was many years ago at the Disney Hilton Head resort - same scenario....

 

[glocon]

So what exactly are love bugs?

 

[Cheburashka]

Oh great. We just booked a trip from April 19 to 27 (2023) at Wilderness Lodge! Pretty sure that would be love bug mecca.

We were at WDW in mid-April about 5 years ago, and never saw any bugs. I've never noticed a bug there in any of the 10 or so trips we've taken, and we've gone in January, February, March, April, July, August, and December.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

So what exactly are love bugs?

 

[lamflo01]

This is Florida. It's always bug season.

 

[Tikihula]

We live in northwest Florida and usually get them in late April-early May and September and they hang around for a few weeks. The bugs drift around slowly in the air while attached for mating (see photo in above post). They are really quite small, much smaller than they appear in the ilustration, and they do not bite or sting. They tend to fly in large groups and are especially drawn to white, yellow, and orange surfaces (from our experience). They are a nuisance in that many people really don't like bugs landing on them, and when there is a heavy infestation they will coat the front of your vehicle and need to be washed off. We've never seen them as heavy as in the windshield photo above. We tend to just ignore them and brush them off if they land on us. But try not to dine outdoors during love bug season as they will land on your food.

 

[Mr. Drauer]

Oh great. We just booked a trip from April 19 to 27 (2023) at Wilderness Lodge! Pretty sure that would be love bug mecca.

It has nothing to do with the Wilderness or the wild, or water. They are typically most noticeable at light colored buildings and structures.

 

[Farro]

It has nothing to do with the Wilderness or the wild, or water. They are typically most noticeable at light colored buildings and structures.

I was just joking, I'm not really concerned about it. Bugs or not, I'm sure it will be fine.

 

[Stratman50th]

We live in northwest Florida and usually get them in late April-early May and September and they hang around for a few weeks. The bugs drift around slowly in the air while attached for mating (see photo in above post). They are really quite small, much smaller than they appear in the ilustration, and they do not bite or sting. They tend to fly in large groups and are especially drawn to white, yellow, and orange surfaces (from our experience). They are a nuisance in that many people really don't like bugs landing on them, and when there is a heavy infestation they will coat the front of your vehicle and need to be washed off. We've never seen them as heavy as in the windshield photo above. We tend to just ignore them and brush them off if they land on us. But try not to dine outdoors during love bug season as they will land on your food.

This was a good description.
I started seeing them around mid April this spring and thought, here we go. It never happened. There were so few in September I hardly noticed. I don't have the answer to why the seasons were so light. Quite a bit of house construction in the neighborhood, maybe a lot of eggs or young got wiped out?
Love bug concentrations do seem to be localized. Like big swarms in some areas and light to nothing in others. I've never seen anything like the concentration on the car above.
Like others have said, they're surely a pest but completely harmless.
EDIT:
Added the picture for reference. This was at Fort Wilderness, May 5, 2019. It was clean when we left the house which is about 30 minutes away. This isn't really too bad.....

 

[k5xs]

Maybe Bob Chapek can somehow monetize non-Love Bug season by applying a surcharge to park tickets and room rates when the bugs aren’t prevalent.

 

[Disney Fool]

just keep your mouth closed when riding on coasters!

 

[glocon]

just keep your mouth closed when riding on coasters!

Eewwwwwwww!!!!!