Guaranteed Rainy?

[iKristin]

Anyone know of a week in the year that I can prettu much guarantee a rainy day? I wanna experience a DEAD DL day rain doesn't bother me at all.

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

I didn't find last Saturday (quite rainy) to be nearly as quiet of a day as Wednesday or Thursday (very nice days). In addition, since I had planned on Saturday being more crowded, we planned this day to do the Holiday Tour and watch shows. The rain drove people inside making shows more crowded. Yes, the lines for rides were not as crowded as usual on a Saturday, but about the same as subsequent days. With wet. Some shows were cancelled altogether (parades, Fantasmic, Billy Hill). All in all, I don't think I'd rush to go on a rainy day, though many people swear by them.

 

[Leofoenget]

Anyone know of a week in the year that I can prettu much guarantee a rainy day? I wanna experience a DEAD DL day rain doesn't bother me at all.

are you after rain and dead or just dead? Pretty much dead in mid January during the week. My guess is it will rain February 7th

 

[spacemermaid]

There's no way to guarantee a rainy day in the Park unless you don't schedule your trip until a couple days before rain has been forecasted (and even then, it's not a 100% sure thing). I also like rainy days at Disneyland so for the past couple of years, I've scheduled trips in March, when it's more likely to rain. And this year, rain it did! The Park was practically empty, but I wasn't there on a weekend.

 

[ttig34]

I didn't find last Saturday (quite rainy) to be nearly as quiet of a day as Wednesday or Thursday (very nice days). In addition, since I had planned on Saturday being more crowded, we planned this day to do the Holiday Tour and watch shows. The rain drove people inside making shows more crowded. Yes, the lines for rides were not as crowded as usual on a Saturday, but about the same as subsequent days. With wet. Some shows were cancelled altogether (parades, Fantasmic, Billy Hill). All in all, I don't think I'd rush to go on a rainy day, though many people swear by them.

3Tinks- did they still do the Holiday Tour in the rain? If so- did they have the parade? Just curious what happens if you book the tour but the parade is cancelled?

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

3Tinks- did they still do the Holiday Tour in the rain? If so- did they have the parade? Just curious what happens if you book the tour but the parade is cancelled?

I've been meaning to post this information over on the Holiday Tour thread. They did hold the tour in the rain (and rain it did!). They gave us the option of rescheduling (they had four spots in the next day's early tour), but we were leaving the next day and were reluctant to reschedule into a tight time frame where it might rain anyways (it didn't, but that's okay). The tour was fun, and our DDs (7 and 3 1/2) were absolute troupers, but I wouldn't schedule a holiday tour with kids unless unavoidable next time.

I think if the parade had happened it might have been worth it, though. However, HMH was down when our tour arrived to do our "front of the line" ride and the raid caused the parade to be cancelled. We did get our yummy gingerbread mice and our hot chocolate in souvenir cups which was a welcome treat. We stood (I guess they don't put chairs out in the rain) to watch Mickey's Calvalcade go by. It took about 45 seconds for the three vehicles to pass and they were going by too fast to feel like you got any good eye contact. DH didn't take out the Nikon since it was raining.

All in all? I liked the tour, but do try to schedule early in your trip (not unlike Fantasmic! and the fireworks) so that you can reschedule to a better time if it's raining. We were completely soaked despite raincoats and rainboots by the time we were done. We almost convinced DD7 to go on Splash Mountain on our way back to the hotel, but she was ready for dinner (which we did under the awning of Ralph Brennan's next to the heater while watching the rain pour down). Both girls fell asleep during dinner!

 

[Eeee-va]

I was there around the same time as 3TinksAndAnEeyore and I agree with that assessment--Saturday during the DAY appeared to be as or more crowded than Wednesday and Thursday, and despite my best efforts, I got wet feet too.

It wasn't bad and DCA in particular was eerily empty in the evening, but unless you adore Toy Story Midway Mania more than anything and want to ride it again and again, I don't know that it was really a significantly better day than Wednesday or Thursday of the same week. After all, Disneyland and DCA are made to absorb a moderate number of people with minimal lines. (TSMM was basically a walk-on that night--probably half the guests in the park were in the queue or riding! Soarin' wasn't even filled up all the way when we rode; I think a full third of the theater was empty. A Bug's Land was deserted; we spent 5 minutes there and there were a few people in line for Heimlich's train and a cast member standing all lonely by the bumper cars, and then as we were leaving, a small group (no more than 4 people) came in. That was it. It would have been just fine with a few more people. )

If you just want a dead day, then a weekday in the "off season" is great. For rain, you can check a weather site like http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/outdoors/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USCA0027?from=search --on average, February appears to get the most rain, and it also has the fewest days.

Even if you CAN make your decision of when to go just a few days in advance, you still can't necessarily be sure. When we went, the forecasts for even a day before generally predicted rain for Thursday through Sunday. In reality, it only rained Friday afternoon/evening and most of the day and some of the night on Saturday. We did all our sunny day stuff on Wednesday and then Thursday since we thought Thursday looked clear and one of the three sites we checked said it would be clear (and it was).

So anyway, no, there's no way to tell for sure. I don't blame you for wanting to see a rainy day for yourself but with weather, there are no guarantees. (Though when he was younger, my brother wanted to be a weatherman because he thought they controlled the weather. Sssh. )

 

[LavenderPeach]

I didn't find last Saturday (quite rainy) to be nearly as quiet of a day as Wednesday or Thursday (very nice days).

I was going to say the same thing. We were also there last saturday and what I had hoped would be just a little bit of rain turned out to be a lot of rain - all day. With the weather that bad you would think that the park would be empty but it wasn't. Yes, there were some shorter lines but i wouldn't say that it was "dead" there. Of course, being a saturday made it more crowded than if it had been during the week. So instead of having the hassle of longer lines, we had the hassle of being wet so I didn't really feel like we were waltzing through the park walking onto all the rides.

But to your original question, the weather down here is very hard to predict sometimes and it doesn't rain that often so chances are it probably won't rain whenever you plan your trip but you never know. I keep hearing that we're having another El Nino this year which will mean more rain.

 

[Leofoenget]

I too was there on Sat in the drenching rain. We spent 2 full days at DL and about 90mins at DCA. Walked on everything then I had to go to my sisters house. DL wasn't "dead" although I bet lots of locals did stay away.