Big crowds and rainy weather

[B-Ride]

With the booming American economy and the affects of climate change that I like to refer to as "Global Wetting" the impact on WDW is a bit of a downer.

After a 5 year break mostly due to bad timing with our two sons going to University we returned for our 10th visit in May 2018. Two things we noticed:
1. The queues for the attractions were way longer than our previous trips.
2. It rained every day for long periods of time unlike previous trips even in rainy season where the storms were usually brief.

So my family were asking each other: which would you prefer - good weather or low crowds. We went back and forth between the two and unfortunately we had neither.

 

[Alesia]

That's really a false dichotomy -- the two things have nothing to do with each other.

Some years are just rainier than others.

The crowds are really heavier, it's just that Disney has really ramped up their dynamic staffing efforts, which makes it seem much busier than it is

 

[GovieMom]

We must have been there that same week, as there was sooo much rain! I don't like the parks to be crowded, as it's not easy to enjoy the atmosphere when all you see is bodies. But it seems that nowadays the parks are always going to be crowded, bummer. That being said, I would vote for going in better weather. Spending a week at WDW in the rain kept us from doing more than we did, and going on attractions we really had no desire to, simply to get out of the weather. Not fun having to stop and put on ponchos and then having to wear them around! We also couldn't utilize our resort room's balcony, because everything was always wet. I also won't go when the weather gets too hot and humid, which is basically May through October.

 

[KenHutch]

Low crowds wins by a mile. I do no care about the weather in fact the best day for any of our 5 trips was a visit to Epcot when it was raining. The place emptied out and at every character spot there was little to no wait so they spent a ton of time with my then 7 year old daughter. We even managed Test Track before the rain.

 

[cgattis]

As much as I detest rain in the parks, if I was guaranteed low (not lowER) crowds, I think that would be my choice. I think I detest people more LOL

I just can’t stand more than about a 20 minute wait for anything that isn’t brand new.

 

[B-Ride]

That's really a false dichotomy -- the two things have nothing to do with each other.

Sorry I missed your meaning. Are you saying that the booming economy has nothing to do with the popularity of WDW and thus the crowds or that climate change has nothing to do with the increased rain that is having a devastating impact all across North America as evidenced by the flooding in the American Midwest and more recently all across Canada.

 

[Alesia]

Sorry I missed your meaning. Are you saying that the booming economy has nothing to do with the popularity of WDW and thus the crowds or that climate change has nothing to do with the increased rain that is having a devastating impact all across North America as evidenced by the flooding in the American Midwest and more recently all across Canada.

I'm saying that increased rain does not have any impact on overall crowds

 

[B-Ride]

I'm saying that increased rain does not have any impact on overall crowds

Neither was I. I was saying that on our last trip we noticed two things we hadn't experienced in our previous 9 trips - unmanageable crowds and constant rain.

Our last 7 trips were in the supposed raining season at the end of August and we didn't come anywhere close to the rain we experienced in May.

As for crowds only the most popular attractions ever hit 60 minute waits and early in the day we rarely needed to use a FastPass. This was not the case on our recent trip.

On several occasions we were asking ourselves whether the crowds or the weather were worse and my poll was asking others to choose.

 

[North of Mouse]

We do not do Disney in the rain, period! Not talking about some showers, but when it sets in, we're done! Nope, we love Disney, have gone too many visits/years to count, but we draw the line there.

The last few days where we live has been lots of rain with more to come. I thoroughly enjoy the rain when I don't have to be out. The rains over south and east now are partially from the storm that was at Mexico and high/low pressure stalls.