It’s that time of year again in Central Florida, and this time the bugs aren’t staying outside where they belong. Lovebugs are swarming across Orlando right now, coating windshields and bumpers the way they do every year, but a recent report suggests they’ve started making their way into Walt Disney World hotel rooms too. If you’ve got a trip planned anytime soon, here’s everything you need to know before these little pests catch you off guard.
First Things First, What Are We Actually Dealing With
Let’s clear something up right away. Lovebugs aren’t beetles, they’re flies, technically related to mosquitoes and gnats according to the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. They’ve got slim black bodies with a reddish thorax, and they’re not exactly hard to spot once they’re everywhere. Over the years people have called them a bunch of different things, March flies, double headed bugs, honeymoon flies, united bugs, and per Dr. Norman Leppla of the University of Florida’s Entomology and Nematology Department, “some expletives that are not repeatable.”
And no, before anyone brings it up, lovebugs were not created in a lab by UF scientists to control mosquitoes. That rumor has been floating around for decades and it’s simply not true. Leppla shut it down directly, explaining that lovebugs feed on pollen and nectar and are active during daylight hours, which is basically the opposite of how mosquitoes operate. “For these and many other reasons, the lovebug would be a poor candidate to genetically engineer as a mosquito predator, even if it were possible,” he said. They actually aren’t even native to the state, arriving back in 1949 and hitting outbreak numbers by the 1970s.
Why Orlando Turns Into a Lovebug Warzone Twice a Year
These things show up in massive numbers, always in mating pairs, twice annually. Think a few weeks in April and May, then again in August and September. It’s not uniform across the state either. Some spots get absolutely swarmed while other areas nearby barely see any at all. Wherever they do show up, expect them to stick around for about two weeks before things calm down.
Here’s a bit of good news though. According to Leppla, “the lovebug, Plecia nearctica, has decreased in abundance at most locations in Florida during about the past four years,” even though nobody’s entirely sure why yet.
As for why they love cars so much, blame the exhaust. Female lovebugs are drawn to chemical compounds in automobile fumes, mistaking them for the smell of decaying plant matter where they lay eggs. Heat and shiny, light colored surfaces play a role too, which explains the whole highway situation Florida drivers deal with every year.
Someone’s Disney Hotel Room Turned Into Ground Zero
This year the story took a turn. A Reddit post blew up after a guest claimed they walked into what looked like a full on bug infestation inside their room at Disney’s All Star Sports Resort, complete with video showing bugs scattered across the bed sheets and bathroom.
All star sports June Bug infestation
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Commenters wasted no time setting the record straight. “These are lovebugs, not june bugs,” one person wrote. “They are absolutely everywhere in Florida in April/May and again in September. I’m guessing housekeeping left the door open while a swarm flew through. They’re completely harmless, but yeah, they’re annoying. Expect to see a lot more of them during your trip.”
Someone else backed that up, adding some local flavor to the explanation. “Disney World is in the center of a giant swamp, bugs are inevitable, especially in the Summer,” they wrote, noting a recent stay at All Star Movies had zero bugs in the room, though they were a regular sight near bus stops and around the parks.
A self identified longtime Florida local weighed in too, pointing out just how unpredictable the severity can be from year to year. “This year has been kind of bad, other years don’t really notice them,” they said. “Of course the one year my in laws decided to come to WDW for the first time they were everywhere! Had to explain it’s not usually like this.”
Here’s How to Actually Deal With Them
Good news, these bugs are completely harmless. No bites, no stings, just a whole lot of annoyance. If they end up on your car, the trick is cleaning them off within 24 hours before they bake into the paint. Leppla says the eggs themselves aren’t acidic, it’s the heat cooking them onto the surface that causes damage. His personal recommendation is wet clothes dryer sheets. Plenty of others swear by high pressure washers, a fresh coat of wax, or products like Simple Green. Whatever you do, don’t turn on your windshield wipers mid swarm, that’ll just smear everything and make things worse.
If you want to avoid them altogether, timing helps. They don’t fly at night, kicking off activity around 10 a.m. and winding down by dusk. They need it to be around 68 degrees to get moving, which in Orlando right now is basically the entire day.
A Few Tips Before You Pack Your Bags
None of this means you should cancel a Disney trip planned during lovebug season, but a couple small habits go a long way. Keep hotel doors shut as much as possible, especially after dark when the lights inside can draw bugs in. If you’re driving around the resort, wipe your windshield down regularly instead of letting anything sit under the Florida sun. And if you do spot a few in your room or waiting at a bus stop, know it’s just business as usual across the entire state rather than something specific to where you’re staying.
Run into lovebugs on a recent Disney trip? Drop your story in the comments, we want to hear how bad it’s actually been out there this season.
