Did Rain Ruin Your Trip?

[Figmificent]

No way! We travel during hurricane season quite often and I kinda like the rain. It tends to send the crowds out of the park! We just got back and the night I wanted to do MK EMHs it was POURING. I mean like the skies opened up and dumped buckets of water. So badly the cast member at the Poly was staring at their ceiling like he'd never seen anything like it... so what did we do? Slapped on some ponchos, grabbed a bag to toss them in and off we went! The crowds were non-existent, and I rode Splash for the first time ever because I figured, what the heck, how much wetter can I get?! My only suggestion is I can not keep the poncho hood on my head for whatever reason, so I always wear a hat to keep my hair dry. Oh and I wear crocs so I pull my socks off! Go, splash in puddles and have a blast!

 

[minniebeth]

We only had one trip that was a total "wash out" from the rain.
It was in June about 7 years ago and we stayed at the Beach Club. We were so excited to be staying there, but it was a really rainy week. It wasn't your usual downpour that goes away in an hour. It was all day on and off thunderstorms with a lot of rain. Doing the parks in the rain was ok for my older two kids, but my youngest was 18 months at the time, and it was just too hard in the rain with a stroller, etc.

We chose the Beach Club because of Stormalong Bay but it was closed a lot off and on throughout the day with the thunder. Even though it was hot, it was almost too cold to swim with the rain in the pool when it did open back up.

Well, we actually did a do-over trip after that one, my DH and I agreed it was a less than ideal trip, so I guess it had that advantage!

 

[sayanything11]

Rain SAVED our trip! We went during a super busy time and found that the iffy weather cleared the place out pretty nicely. We didn't have too many long waits. That being said, the weather was never bad enough to interfere with any of our plans, or with the shows. If the rain had stopped us from doing anything I'm sure I'd feel differently about it. Just make sure to buy ponchos!

 

[fan of the TTA]

on my last trip, it only rained twice. both times we were caught at a theme park, but it never lasts long and we can usually go in to a nearby shop or something.

had a clether idea this year of buying some umbrellas from epcot, which saved us from getting really soaked

 

[jpeka65844]

We always say that a rainy day is Disney is still better than a clear day at work!!

We've never had rain problems, but this past January, we had COLD problems. We went over Marathon Weekend and I don't think temps got above 50 degrees the whole time we were there. We did AK in 35 degree weather. It was CRAZY.

BUT, we loved it b/c we'd just come off a winter storm at home that had dumped 18 inches of snow, had 70 MPH winds with wind chills in the -20's.

Perspective. It's ALL IN IT!!!!!!

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

I went down this summer to visit my son while he was in the college program. We didn't get any rain at all until the very last day where we were at HS with a fast pass for Toy Story Mania. The last thing we were gonna do before we went back to the hotel for the evening and home in the morning. A storm shut almost everything down and we never did get to use that fast pass. It is in the scrap book now though.

My wife and I are going back in October with the same son so he can visit some friends from the program and I'm gonna try TSM again!

 

[kinghorse]

You never know when it will rain we had the raniest winter ever this past year and it wasn't even the rainy season. Rain cools everything off and empties the parks, grab a ponch. last time it rained we just went into a restaurant and ate, afterward it had stopped. Can't base a trip on weather.

 

[cm8]

No, the rain did not ruin our trip, it made it much better! It was so hot and it felt so good to have the rain running down my face and body, of course it was also the day I had on a silver shirt and you could kind of see what I had been "blessed" with , when DH saw that , he became my own personal raincoat and forced me back to the GF to get dry and change my clothes. He even gave me his jacket when we headed back on the bus so that no one could see through my shirt. I knew that white could pose a threat but never did I imagine that a dark silver/ slightly gray T-shirt could cause the same experience. Well, needless to say, that shirt has been banned from WDW and on rainy days

 

[AlyJoy716]

It's funny because when DH and I were talking about the Dis weather discussions, he stated that everyone focuses on the 30% chance of rain but doesn't focus on the fact that there is a 70% chance for sunshine. Gotta love my glass-is-half-full guy.

 

[CandyHead09]

Have any of you had your trip ruined because of rain? I know that since we decided to book in September, right in the height of hurricane season, that there is always a possibility of having heavy rains. I'm hoping we get some magic and nothing come our way. DH tells me to stop worrying because if it rains, there's nothing we can do about it. Anyone have any stories about how your vacation went with rain? Thanks!

Invest in nice little umbrellas their light fit in your back pack nice and keep you dry poncho's are fantastic too! I love having mine when it rains dont worry about looking silly cause GUESS WHAT?! Your dry and having a fantastic day while poncho-less people are miserable and angry their wet.

Every park has shopping, tons of inside attractions, and shows that you can go into to avoid the rain.

MK:
Monsters inc
haunted mansion
space moutnain
big thunder mountain
philharmagic
buzz lightyear ride
people mover
winnie the pooh
peter pans flight
snow white
it's a small world
pirates of the carribean

and all the stores on main street are connected so you can from one to the other without having to step outside.

Animal Kingdom:
nemo show
dinosaur ride
theres a nature center that you take a little train ride too not sure what it's called but ask a Cast member about it, it's cute I've used it to get out of the rain before.
lion king show (although you have to wait for it outside)

MGM (hollywood studios):
Little mermaid show
walt disney movie
narnia attraction
toy story mania (if you dare to wait in the crazy line!)
star tours
tower of terror

Epcot:
each country has a cool and educational movie (which I only recently learned from my dad I thought norway was the only one who had a movie lol)
norway has a cool ride
epcot has great stores!
the whole front of the park has an aquarium a few rides (including nemor and soarin which are amazing!) and then theres mission space, test track is a really bad idea in the rain though.
Club cool where you can sample soda's from around the world, fun place.

All the rides and shows listed have great lines for rain their all inside (except for lion king nemo i'm not sure about never seen the nemo show but I hear it's great)

You can always duck into a restraunt and share some fries get a drink pull out your map and figure out what your gameplan is for the rest of the day what does everybody HAVE TO SEE in the park and if the rain isnt really stopping by the time your ready to get out of there then check out some of the places listed above.

 

[GRUMPY D]

we were there for the rainy days of may in 09 ( maysoon) , it was the best and funniest trip we ever had , the kids loved splashing in the puddles and the crowds were low at the parks , just take some rain gear and go have fun and remember a rainy day at Disney is better than a sunny day anywere else

 

[LoodlesNoodles]

June-July 09 it rained far too much for my liking, but tbh that wasn't the reason our trip was ruined but didn't particularly help matters.

 

[honeydiane1953]

I love WDW but I HATE HATE the heat. That being said the rain would make it cooler and although it may be annoying I would be just fine.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

We had terrible wind when we were at the Park. It was absolutely freezing (very un seasonal apparently ) so the fireworks were cancelled 5 nights in a row! It was so much colder then anyone had anticipted, even the Cast Members were talking about it. We had to buy heavier jackets, hats and gloves for the trip.

It rained as well so the parades were cancelled alot and so many characters couldn't come out or were in different outfits, having to be rugged up because of the weather. Alot of rides were closed too when the rain got back.

Lucky we were there for a few days so we managed to get on all the rides as wanted to.

 

[WDWCP96]

We went in May 2009 and it rained 5 out of the 7 days we were there and when I say rain I mean ALL day long. Normally rain wouldn't bother me but when traveling with 3 small children it can put a damper on the trip. I think the only day that it really ruined was at the Studios since it downpoured that entire day. It did rain at MK and alot but it wasn't that bad since you can duck into a lot of places. We were in the Judges tent for about 2 hours while it downpoured. We took rain ponchos and stroller covers as well as umbrellas. But I highly suggest crocs to wear in the park since we only brought our sneakers and by the end of the week I was tired of walking around in soaking wet socks and sneakers.

 

[egads]

Because it's been so hot for most of our visits, it's been a bit welcome when some clouds and rain roll in. The one time it bothered us was the last time we went for MNSSHP and we were told if it was raining, or even significantly wet, that the Headless Horseman would not ride down the parade route, and that was one of the things we were most excited for! Luckily it held off long enough to let him do his thing, and the dark clouds along with the Halloween decor made for some of my favorite WDW photos so far

 

[BDL]

What I've discovered in my trips, is that it WILL rain (and rain hard) at least 1 day that you are there. If it's an all day storm, I'm not sure what to do. If it's a passing storm, the first thing I do is get a Fast Pass ticket to a ride that has a covered queue-ing area and then head to get in the AMAZINGLY short line at the ride that does not have a covered queue-ing area.

And an example is this is, the last time I was at the World, the lines for Rockin Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror were about the same. Then the skies opened up and all the people made their way for the covered line of RnR. Me and my friends got the RnR Fast Pass and then waited maybe 10-15 min for the ToT. When that was over, we just expressed to RnR. And by the time we got off the ride the sky had cleared.

 

[tinkrebell]

We had terrible wind when we were at the Park. It was absolutely freezing (very un seasonal apparently ) so the fireworks were cancelled 5 nights in a row! It was so much colder then anyone had anticipted, even the Cast Members were talking about it. We had to buy heavier jackets, hats and gloves for the trip.

It rained as well so the parades were cancelled alot and so many characters couldn't come out or were in different outfits, having to be rugged up because of the weather. Alot of rides were closed too when the rain got back.

Lucky we were there for a few days so we managed to get on all the rides as wanted to.

If you don't mind my asking, when during the year did you take this trip? Just curious!

 

[Disney_Princess83]

If you don't mind my asking, when during the year did you take this trip? Just curious!

It was late March. We knew it would be cool but it was absolutely freezing! As I mentioned, even the Cast Members says it was unusually cold. For the first two days, most of the places in Disney had sold out of the gloves and hats!

We were wearing a shirt, jumper and a jacket and were STILL cold!

 

[minniesmama]

We were there during the May storms of 09 and I will admit that it put a pretty huge damper on our trip. In fact, in retrospect, I probably would have skipped it. It rained all.day.long. for all but two days we were there. We had a 2.5 year old and a 6 week old with us. Because of the baby, we weren't able to just dig in and deal with the weather, we had to stay out of it as much as we could. Plus our toddler didn't care where we were, she didn't want to be slogging around in the rain all day and was a whiney mess. So not much fun. We did enjoy a lot of character meals.
We're heading back down on Friday and have been obsessively watching Igor and the other Tropical storms in the Atlantic this week. I so very much hope we don't have another rain-out. At least the kids are a little older this time. Sigh.

Edited to add: In case someone's curious, we got about 12 inches of rain during the week we were there. It was both unusual and totally ridiculous.