It rains really hard so you would get soaked to the skin. There is often lightning along with the rain.
Umbrellas are totally acceptable and tons of people use them. Ponchos are just better because they cover more and are multiy functional.
Actually, umbrellas are not totally acceptable in the parks at all. They are very dangerous and difficult to work with in crowded parks. I would highly discourage use of umbrellas - it's just not good park etiquette at all. Like I said, we spend at least 2 weeks each July in WDW, and tons of people do not use umbrellas - when it's windy, the umbrellas break anyway, so don't plan on using them, but more importantly, they are dangerous and inconsiderate to those around you.
It's hurricane season we are talking torrential downpours! They seldom last long, perhaps an hour tops..though of course they can last longer. I found all too often we'd hike it back to the Resort for an afternoon swim and after 30 mins..lightening would appear somewhere out there, miles away but that's good enough for Disney to close the pools!!
Poncho's are the better choice..and afterwards, I wouldn't say there's relief, rather hotter or at least stickier.
It's Summer...pretty typical.
Again, I'm going to have to disagree - we've logged thousands of July park hours and even some in August, so in July, although there are some days in which it rains hard and there is lightning, it's not a daily occurence. On our last July trip, we counted several days in a row without rain, so it does happen. If there are hurricances or tornadoes elsewhere, as you mentioned, there are sometime residual rainstorms in Orlando in which it gets very windy, thunder/lighting, etc., but this is not a daily occurence. Sometimes it gets a bit cooler, but I will agree that most of the time, it does get more humid for a short period of time.
As I said, we've logged thousands of July park hours, and not 1x have the parks been closed. We've had times where some attractions have been closed due to heavy winds/rain, or fireworks cancelled, but it doesn't happen every day.
I really want to make this clear as some of the posts on here are making the summer in WDW sound unbearable and I'm here to tell you that this is simply not the case. Plan accordingly with ponchos, and you should be fine!
Have a great summer WDW trip, Tiger
... made it windy but very refreshing for a change....
after the 2days of a breeze then steamy again.... but lived with it becasue we were at WDW.....
