Florida braces for holiday crowds and storms

AccuWeather

Florida is wet this week and will stay that way through the weekend. AccuWeather's Leslie Hudson looks at what there is to do in Florida during a rainy Labor Day.

Transcript

00:00Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest travel times of the year and in Florida

00:05millions are on the move as storms roll in. Accurator's Leslie Hudson joins us

00:10live along International Drive in Orlando with some tips travelers need to

00:14know before they hit the road. Good morning Leslie. Hey good morning Aria. How do you

00:21guys like this upside down building behind me Wonderworks? Does that kind of

00:25give you a second look? It's one of the very popular attractions here along I

00:29Drive and as you mentioned millions of people are headed to Florida for this

00:34extended holiday weekend. In fact the numbers are in according to Florida's

00:38tourism board about 34.5 million people visited this state so far and get this

00:47this weekend about 900,000 people so almost a million are expected to head

00:53through Orlando International Airport and head to places like here I Drive

00:58excuse me other popular destinations here in the central Florida area and that

01:03is just the beginning. Miami by the way one of the other top spots for Labor Day

01:08weekend that according to the tourism board. Now we have some video from across

01:12the country. TSA says that they have been a tracking passenger load that is even

01:18higher this year than last year. According to travel expert flight prices are down six

01:24percent. Hotels are roughly 11 percent cheaper and car rentals about three percent

01:29less than last year and all that translates to brisk business not only here in Florida

01:34but nationwide. We all know that the up-and-coming three-day weekend marks the

01:38unofficial end of summer unless you're here in Florida where it's summer year-round

01:43pretty much. But the biggest travel wild card this weekend here in the southeast as

01:48Bernie mentioned could be that bad weather. A well-advertised cold front is headed to the

01:52Sunshine State this weekend and a stubborn wet weather pattern has already triggered numerous

01:58showers and storms. I shot some video of some heavy rain that moved through the area on Monday.

02:04According to AAA if you're traveling by car this Labor Day weekend the best time to drive

02:08is before lunch. Those getting an early start tomorrow or even today will face less traffic

02:15if you get out before 1 p.m. That was not the case by the way for me here in Orlando.

02:20But Saturday will be the busiest travel day of the entire weekend. Orlando remains a hot spot for

02:27the family fun spot where the region's tourism engine continues to grow with several of iconic

02:32attractions drawing big crowds for family fun. There are theme parks that can tap into your love

02:37affair of comic book heroes and galaxies far far away that will leave you screaming at every free

02:42fall in Splashdown. Here along I drive it's basically 11 miles of sensory overload and not too far from me

02:50here is the Orlando Eye which is this ginormous ferris wheel that is also a really cool event that

02:56actually opens up at noon today. There's all kinds of shopping food and smaller attractions as well as

03:00entertainment and just a short ride from here about 45 minutes are the natural springs where it's 72

03:07degrees year-round and in this time of the year in Florida that is a welcome sight. You can see

03:13manatees, you can see all kinds of wildlife, even alligators, and that's just about 45 minutes away

03:19from here. So things quiet now here along I drive but expected to get pretty busy once the day gets

03:24going. Reporting live from downtown Orlando in Orange County, I'm Leslie Hudson back to you.

03:29All right Leslie, we appreciate the report here as I know folks are going to be dodging those thunderstorms.

03:34you

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