Ponchos

[mchac430]

My family has had our ponchos for at least six years now. They are still in great shape! I would definitely purchase them again. I don't think you can return if the tear. As far as carrying an umbrella, it get tiresome. By the way, don't forget to take some sandwich bags for smaller items like cell phones and keys, things you may not want wet! Good luck!

 

[MomToOne]

I have come to the conclusion that there is no perfect solution. If you're caught in a normal Florida shower, then reach for the Dollar store poncho, or umbrella, but IMHO the only way to wander around Disney in a windy Florida monsoon with water swirling around your ankles, is with a Disney poncho. Not perfect, but those ponchos are a necessity when the weather turns ugly, and stays that way for hours.

This ^.

It all depends on what exact sort of rain you get caught in. I usually take:
- a small umbrella for those brief, light rains. Good for keeping your head and upper body dry, but are generally useless as far as keeping lower body/legs dry in a rain with any sort of wind. They are also harder to manuver with, and the constant umbrella up-umbrella down routine as you go in and out of rides/stores drives me nuts.
- a couple of small, disposable (to me), $.99-type ponchos for days that are generally nice, but you might face a quick but somewhat heavy afternoon shower in. They are small and take up little room in my park backpack, so they are good that way. I toss them once they are worn.
- the heavier Disney ponchos for heavy rain days. They keep me dryer longer than the cheap ones which tend to rip quickly and have useless hoods. I keep these. I bring a gallon size plastic bag with me to stuff them in in case it stops raining - I found the "roll" technique works better than folding them at this point. Then when I get back to the hotel, I just hang them up to fully dry before properly folding them up for long-term storage.

I've never had to get a new Disney poncho because one ripped. I've used mine for years, so if it did rip, I don't think I'd demand a new free one. I've gotten a reasonable service life out of it, so I'd buy a new one.

 

[HM]

After a couple years where we used ponchos from WDW, we finally decided that carrying them around was annoying and we rarely used them. So, we stopped taking any means of shedding rain other than a hat. If it rained, we either popped into an interior space or just got wet (you dry pretty quickly in the heat). If we go in the winter, we take rain jackets and just wear them like a jacket (or tie around the waist if we get warm).

 

[saraschoening]

thanks everyone! Now any advice on how to make the next 40 some days go by really fast ?? Its just torture!!!

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

After hating the sticky, water running ponchos for years I finally invested in a decent jacket. I got them from Cabelas hip length, with a hood, water runs off and it has mesh lining. I paid $44 on sale I think. It was much more comfortable, and no soaked clothes.
We use them for all outings, trips, shopping and other parks. It folds into its own pocket inside, and had a drawstring small pouch too.
I also take crocs for rain, I hate having wet feet or wet shirt. I do have two Disney ponchos that go with us, but mostly for water rides. I try to keep things minimally wet.

 

[tvguy]

Is there a reason that ponchos are preferred to rain jackets?

My jacket goes to my waist, my poncho goes past my knees, so that's why I prefer the poncho. I'm just back from spring training in Phoenix and we had 2 days of rain, never enough to stop the games, but one day it rained the last half of the game, and the next day it rained the first half, and with the ponchos, sitting in the stands, the extra length of the poncho kept us completely dry.

 

[mieuxmew]

We have invested in good quality rain jackets (bought from the North Face Outlet and Columbia Outlet). They fold up small and fit into zip lock bags which we carry in our back pack. We fold up 4 jackets into 2 gallon size zip lock bags and rollout the air. They are long enough to cover our hips/buttocks. They are also good for wind. They keep us dry and are comfortable to wear. Sometimes when it rains it gets very humid and wearing a plastic poncho feels like a steam bath. We have purchased a bunch of cheap disposable rain ponchos for some of the water rides on chilly days when we don't want to get really wet or if we get an unexpected rain shower and did not bring the rain jackets.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[cleverclovers]

Isn't an umbrella more annoying to carry around all day than a poncho, though? Or equally, at least. An umbrella is heavier and will still have to be carried around wet or dry.

I carry a small fold up umbrella. Very light weight.