Disneyland in the rain...

[Darkbeer1]

Yesterday's rain was less than 1/2 a inch, and this mornings was lighter than that... One issue, Southern Californians, including Theme Parks, don't plan for rain, and have less covering and other things that make other areas better prepared.

Well, here in SoCal, we need every little bit we can get....

 

[JessL]

If you need new ponchos while you're there, we picked up great ponchos from the shop at the Park Vue Inn. I think they were around $7 each and they were really durable. I dried them off with a towel at night and reused them the next day! Shoes didn't dry as easily!

 

[wongck]

. Even indoor rides were wet because of everyone's ponchos.

Wouldn't anyone or CM ask them to take off before going on to a ride?
I mean it's will wet the seat and makes it miserable for anyone to sit in a puddle of water.

 

[WonkaKid]

It rained moderately -- off and on for most of the morning -- yesterday at DL. Overall, it wasn't too bad. Certainly it didn't detract from the fun. But it did make for lighter crowds. It's nice to have days like that from time to time.

 

[princess_jamie]

Wow so much has happened on this thread since I last had the change to look!!!!

While I am thrilled for the rain for you locals (I know it has been very dry for a long time there) - I am still crossing my fingers for a few days of sunshine. That definitely explains why the wait times have been low when I've been looking at the app the last few days!

Low crowds would be great and I can handle a bit of rain and still have fun, I am hoping we don't have all rainy days! Maybe one rainy day so we can go on lots of rides with low crowds, and the rest sunshine! Given we're travelling from Canada, it's hard to bring a lot of shoe options. I don't think my rubber boots are very comfortable to spend whole days in, so I think I'm just going to aim for a few pairs of comfy sneakers. We both have decent rain coats so that should be fine.

For comparison sake - when I am gone it will start to really get wintery here (we've had an extra long fall it seems), and temps are dropping to single digits (in Fahrenheit - like -15 C) and one day we have a chance of 10cm of snow.. So rain is okay

We will just pack and plan to be prepared for anything!!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Wouldn't anyone or CM ask them to take off before going on to a ride?
I mean it's will wet the seat and makes it miserable for anyone to sit in a puddle of water.

The rides are on a timing system and must be loaded and unloaded within a very specific time frame. Asking guests to remove ponchos, then waiting for the ponchos to be stowed away will take far too long and shut down the ride.

 

[crystal1313]

We were there November 20th and it rained and it was AWESOME!!!!!!! Loved it, as did the kids. We had ponchos and our shoes were wet (we had a dry pair for the next day in our room) and we had so much fun! We rode GRR twice and Splash 6 times cause no one else was riding! LOL Twice on Splash, we just stayed in the same log and got to ride again. The parks totally cleared out and we could walk hand in hand 3 across through Adventureland. We got so much done that day and the kids are still talking about how fun it was. Honestly, that Monday I was wishing it was still raining as the crowds were much larger. =) I think if you plan enough ahead you will be fine! Have fun!

 

[GeneralTso]

Some people like it when it rains at Disneyland, mostly because it keeps crowds away.
I'm not one of those people. I've been there in light rain (not great) and torrential downpour. That sucked. Really bad.
There is nothing that can improve any "magical" Disney experience when it's pouring rain. It's wet and cold and miserable. This coming from someone from Seattle. I KNOW rain.
All you can do is make the best of it. If it rains, we duck hang out at the resort and take advantage of all it has to offer. Not a bad deal

 

[Niltiac]

Some people like it when it rains at Disneyland, mostly because it keeps crowds away.
I'm not one of those people. I've been there in light rain (not great) and torrential downpour. That sucked. Really bad.
There is nothing that can improve any "magical" Disney experience when it's pouring rain. It's wet and cold and miserable. This coming from someone from Seattle. I KNOW rain.
All you can do is make the best of it. If it rains, we duck hang out at the resort and take advantage of all it has to offer. Not a bad deal

I have a theory that how much a person dislikes rain is proportionate to how much rain they grew up with. I'm from Las Vegas and I love the rain, even the torrential downpours. I took my sister to Disneyland for the first time last year and her favorite part of the trip was the day it rained, not because of crowds but because it just adds a little something to the atmosphere. That said, even I will admit that windy rain or rain that creates impassable muddy pools in walkways is a pain. We desert-dwellers may like the rain, but we generally don't own waterproof shoes.

 

[sheetz]

There is nothing that can improve any "magical" Disney experience when it's pouring rain. It's wet and cold and miserable.

Remember, no matter how awful your time at DL is (catch a cold, food poisoning, robbed, run over by an ECV, etc.) you're supposed to be grateful you aren't at work!

Personally, I enjoy my job.

 

[RynB11]

Personally, and as some others have mentioned, I quite like DL in the rain. It may keep some of the crowds away, especially the locals, but even some of us have caught on the rain tends to equal less crowds but that may not be the case as we approach the holidays. However, I think it provides for a different experience to DL.

So my tip: Grab some coffee or hot chocolate and enjoy the experience. You're going to have a blast!

 

[hsmamato2]

We have a memory of our one visit to DL in the rain...downpours....deluges.... the flood was happening...... The kind where all your raingear just doesn't matter after a while..... we just went with it. Low crowds,less lines. The Matterhorn was SOAKED and we had a blast together we couldn't stop laughing. We all played for a few hours, then the fam got tired,and went back to hotel to dry off and relax..I stayed and shopped and shopped for a few hours (blissfully alone) it was great! One thing I know about packing for WDW is ALWAYS pack an extra pair of shoes,plus sandals. That extra pair is for when one pair gets soaked, you have another pair to wear the next day while they're drying. And extra socks are a good plan. Wet feet are inevitable in the rain,if it's warm, I'll wear sandals anyway- if it's cold, the shoe swap is on! We bring our standard gore tex rain jackets anyway (for layering) and a baseball cap to shield the eyes. Add a couple of ziploc bags for phones etc and we're good to go. At WDW there's usually some rain at least.

 

[Jedi Mouse]

The best day we have ever had in the park was a day it rained on and off all day.
Make sure to ride the Jungle Cruise at night in the rain.

 

[RainyDayPixie]

Some people like it when it rains at Disneyland, mostly because it keeps crowds away.
I'm not one of those people. I've been there in light rain (not great) and torrential downpour. That sucked. Really bad.
There is nothing that can improve any "magical" Disney experience when it's pouring rain. It's wet and cold and miserable. This coming from someone from Seattle. I KNOW rain.
All you can do is make the best of it. If it rains, we duck hang out at the resort and take advantage of all it has to offer. Not a bad deal

I agree. I like rain and am used to it (fellow Seattleite!), but I hate rain at Disneyland. I was there one January (09? 10?) when it was just pouring. It was so bad that they closed early. All rides were walk on, which was nice, but we were so wet and cold that we really couldn't enjoy it. You don't realize how "outside" everything is until you're trying to warm up. We shivered through a cold lunch at BB.

A rainy day at Disney is still a day at Disney, but I go there for my sunshine!

 

[MommyLove]

Generally rain doesn't bother me at DL, but this last January it was raining pretty hard. We had ponchos and were totally ready to have fun. But it was just sooooooooooooo wet... the ponchos we brought with us (I knew it was going to rain) were long enough that we didn't have to worry about sitting in it, but the puddles were deep and we were drenched from the knees down. And it was cold. So it made it just miserable enough that after a couple hours we gave up and went back to the hotel for that day. Next time, I'm bringing plastic rain pants too!