When do they cancel parades and fireworks due to rain?

[choover2576]

Trying not to be too bummed out about the rain forecast for our upcoming trip, even though I keep reading to plan on rain in Florida.

I'm especially upset about possibly missing the Main Street Electrical Parade and Wishes. If the forecast is calling for PM thunderstorms, will they likely be canceled? If so, what will happen to our Fast Passes?

Thanks!

 

[wendow]

In all our many trips, we've never had fireworks nor a parade cancelled. We have had both delayed an hour or so and that was due to lightning.

This was prior to FP+...

 

[amomma23]

Same experience here. We are generally hurricane season travelers. Have had both delayed (once pushed back a few times), but never been cancelled.

 

[mesaboy2]

Trying not to be too bummed out about the rain forecast for our upcoming trip, even though I keep reading to plan on rain in Florida.

I'm especially upset about possibly missing the Main Street Electrical Parade and Wishes. If the forecast is calling for PM thunderstorms, will they likely be canceled? If so, what will happen to our Fast Passes?

Thanks!

MSEP is susceptible to rain, wet pavement and parade performers do not mix. Wishes almost always goes off regardless, but can be delayed.

And if your weather forecast is not for today or tomorrow, ignore it. Seriously. The Florida summer weather pattern of daily rains is gone now anyway.

 

[ars0525]

I have been there when it was so foggy all you could hear were the fireworks & see the glowing colors from the really big ones in the haze. I was surprised they still went off.

 

[jpeden]

I have been there when it was so foggy all you could hear were the fireworks & see the glowing colors from the really big ones in the haze. I was surprised they still went off.

I believe once they load them they have to be shot within so many hours - they can't reuse the shells. This is most likely why they went ahead and shot the show even with the weather conditions.

 

[SPOERLX3]

I agree with other posts that if the forcast is not for today or tomorrow, ignore it. Go and have fun and don't worry about the rain. It normally rains every day but clears out pretty quickly.
This will be our 12th trip to Disney World and we normally go during hurricane season. We have only experienced HORRIBLE rain that canceled a parade once and that was last year and it was the last 2 1/2 days of our trip and our MNSSHP .
It had started raining around the time the party started at 7, by 7:30 it was raining really heavy, they announced that the 8:35 parade was canceled due to heavy rain and lightning, about the same time they announced the cancellation, the skies opened up and we were in a torrential downpour with horrible lightning, it was so bad that we were wading in water about ankle deep trying to leave the park. They ended up canceling the party at 9:20pm and as everyone was trying to leave the CM's were telling everyone to see their concierge at their resort and replacement tickets would be given. It was so gracious that Disney replaced the tickets, unfortunately, there wasn't another party during our trip. When I explained that to the concierge, she asked if we were coming back in 2015, I told her that we were coming back in 2015 but in November, so instead of MNSSHP tickets, she gave us replacement tickets good for the MVMCP for this year
The next day, it POURED down rain again, we spent the day at Epcot at the F&W festival and it was empty but hard to get to the booths and then find a dry place to eat. That night we had O'hana reservations and I wish you could have seen us trying to get there. We left our resort and headed to MK, we couldn't get out from under the awnings to get to the monorail for about 45 minutes and by the time we tried to get to the monorail to the Poly, in that area that is really low by the boat dock outside MK, we had to take off our shoes and we were wading in water midway up our thighs. It was crazy! But this is definitely not the norm.

 

[ParrotBill]

Another reason is they do not want all the costumes and set pieces to be soaking wet. But safety is the #1 reason.

 

[choover2576]

Thanks everyone, I feel much better now . We usually go to Disneyland and it seems like the cancel the fireworks due to weather on enough occasions where I can remember it happening. Mostly wind though.

Thanks again!!

 

[mesaboy2]

Thanks everyone, I feel much better now . We usually go to Disneyland and it seems like the cancel the fireworks due to weather on enough occasions where I can remember it happening. Mostly wind though.

Thanks again!!

Wind for sure at DLR--lots of neighbors nearby. Wind is not really a concern at WDW.

 

[figment_jii]

As mesaboy2 said, DLR has to cancel fireworks when the weather conditions are unfavorable because they can't have the ash/debris/fallout landing in the residential areas. Unfortunately, it happens on a fairly regular basis at DLR. Fireworks can be cancelled before the show starts or even during the show, depending on the winds in the upper elevations. It's not really DLR choice to cancel fireworks, it's the Fire Marshall's call.

MK, on the other hand, is mostly surrounded by swamp-lands or Disney-owned lands, so they don't have the same type of restrictions that DLR is faced with. I've been in MK when it was pouring rain and fireworks still went on as planned. Very few people were watching them, but they were still presented. I asked a CM and they said they pretty much only cancel fireworks if there is a hurricane.

 

[Julylady]

I have been to WDW over 35 times in the last 20 years. I can only remember one time that the parade and fireworks were cancelled and that was the 3rd day of a 3 day, all day rain. However, they have been "postponed" and started late several times.

 

[ImDMous]

Several years ago we were there and it rained a good part of the week. I vividly remember standing under the Peoplemover tracks watching the fireworks and trying to stay dry in the pouring rain. Being from So Cali, the land of sand, that was pretty dang cool.

 

[Jewel3k]

They cancelled the MSEP last year one night. The CM said it will not go if it is actively raining. We had a fastpass+ for it and were able to use it the next night for the parade.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Rain cancelled the parade for MVMCP last year and the fireworks were severely delayed. The hard part about rain is that it completely throws your schedule off.

MVMCP and MNSSHP (to me at least) require more "planning" than a regular touring day due having so much to do in so little time. The line for "rain checks" was all the way to Casey's, but I just couldn't bring myself to stand in that line with a tired 5 year old at midnight, but we were disappointed for sure.

 

[amcnj]

What I found difficult was no announcements as to when things were getting postponed to. The fireworks were so delayed that it ran into when the parade was supposed to be. And then Wishes was still to follow that. So you didn't know if something was being cancelled or if everything was being pushed back, and if so till when. I asked several cast members but no one knew or got back to me when they said they would check it for me. As a result we missed some of everything else!

 

[staceyeileen]

Also "PM Thunderstorms" generally means it'll rain sometime between 3-5PM.

 

[siskaren]

I have been to WDW over 35 times in the last 20 years. I can only remember one time that the parade and fireworks were cancelled and that was the 3rd day of a 3 day, all day rain. However, they have been "postponed" and started late several times.

That's interesting because I've been 10 times since '93 and can recall a couple of times when they had to cancel SpectroMagic.