Orlando Residents, tell me about the RAIN

[pfc123]

ok, last year when we were at the world, rained all 6 days and made the greatest place on earth pretty miserable by about the 3rd day. I know crowds are less, I know about the quick flash afternoon storms. I'm here to talk details.

Ok, when it comes to watching the weather sites pre-trip, i often see the same thing... a sun with a cloud and a lightning bolt, 30% chance of rain. we are going aug. 16-23 and the forcast has recently changed from isolated and/or scattered to just simply "Thunderstorms" ... no sun pictured and 50% chance of rain. Florida, with no sun?



am i screwed???

 

[TZMOM]

BUT I wouldn't give up hope just yet. Yes, it's hurricane season, but one thing I remember from living down there is that the weather changes constantly at this time of year. It does seem that this summer has been kinda rainy to put it mildly, but hopefully with a little luck you won't get days in a row with rain.

Perhaps if we all walked outside at blew at the same time, we could blow the clouds away?? I sincerely hope you have a blast.

 

[propchick]

We've had weeks of rain now, so unfortunately your chances of a rain-free trip aren't that high.

The cool thing about a rainy Florida day is that it's sunny and BEAUTIFUL between storms.

If you buy ponchos your first day, and stay prepared to be spontanious, you'll have a good time, and get in everything you're wanting to do.

 

[Uncleromulus]

pfc123:
I know what you mean about that "30% chance of rain" "50% chance of rain" etc etc
The really galling thing is that they claim to be "right" no matter what happens!!
If it rains, they say "See, we said there was a chance--and look, it rained".
IF it dosen't rain, they come on and say 'See--we said there was only a 50% chance and it didn't rain".
Right on both counts!!
Truly amazing how they can predict the weather so accurately

 

[ww52]

Florida residents have said that there has been rain for weeks now. We were at WDW from July 31 through Aug 6, and though it rained some every day (normal for summer), there were only three days when it got in the way somewhat - and only one day that we wore ponchos (and we went to all four parks, and Universal and IOA). The first night had an unusually long storm - but it wnded by 7:00 and we went to MGM (rain free the rest of the time). Mornings were always rain free; one other evening that we coincidentally had no park plans it rained for several hours. And then one afternoon in Epcot we had to buy ponchos, but only wore them for an hour or two.

The chance of a total washout is remote - the chance of more sun than rain is great, especially if you plan to be at the parks early.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Not a resident but I just spent 2 weeks in the world. We were there 7/28- 8/10 and it rained for a bit almost every day. But we did have a few days were we never had any rain, one was DD's B-day-lol. But I think there was only one day that it rained all day. The other days it would be beautiful till around 3:30 when the clouds rolled in, around 4pm it would storm and then a couple hours later it was beautiful once again.

We usually just got the ponchos but this year I brought umbrellas with us- much better! I only brought 2 with us from home so we ended up buying 2 more but what a difference they made. It was so much nicer(and much drier!) to just carry them with us and pop them open when it rained. We even put one over top of the stroller for DS, it was great.

We'll never go back to ponchos again. A few people said to us, yeh, but didn't they want like 12.00 for the umbrella? I said yep, but it was money well spent! lol.

Have a great trip!

 

[Disney845]

As propchick said it has been raining pretty constantly for quite awhile now. I would say there is a VERY good chance that it will rain during your trip. But the rain may tend to keep many folks away from the parks and help decrease the crowds and line wait times. Much of the rain we have does not necessarily come with a thunderstorm (some does though) so you will also be able to take advantage of the swimming pool and waterparks even if it is raining so long as no lightening is spotted in the area.

Just wear easy to dry clothing material. If you wear tennis shoes into the parks make sure you have a second pair so that one can be drying while you have on a dry pair. Another suggestion is to wear "sport" type sandals as they usually don't require any dry time. Ponchos are something you have to decide for yourself if you want to wear. Personally I can not stand being wrapped in hot wet plastic in the florida heat, trudging around a crowded theme park (not to mention they always feel like they are trying to choke your neck ) so as another poster mentioned you may want to bring small travel umbrellas or just make the best of running between attractions.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

The weather should be great. A little bit of rain during the afternoon just makes the grass grow and the lush landscaping around WDW that much better. Seriously, it probably will rain some when you here, but not enough to spoil your trip, if you notice the hours of sun that will be out also.

We want you to be happy when you are here! Come on down!

 

[caitycaity]

do they sell umbrellas at wdw? instead of packing some, we may just pick them up there if they have them....seeing as we are leaving very soon! LOL

that's a great tip about the umbrellas, btw - thanks!

 

[missypie]

IMHO, the online weather forcasts are pretty close to useless. I've used them for trips to CA and WA state and both times they underestimated the average daily temp by 10-15 degrees. Both times we brought a combination of shorts and long pants when we could have just brought shorts.

There are travel umbrellas that are really small. We bring one for each member of the family on every vacation. (They also fit nicely into purses and kids' back packs.)

I've never quite understood why Disney ettiquette seems to require ponchos rather than umbrellas. I mean, once people get to the covered part of the queue, they put their umbrellas down, so they shouldn't take up too much space in line. Please enlighten me!

 

[eeyorefanatic]

You just have to be much more aware of the people around you when you have an umbrella. I have been poked numberous times by children and adults carrying umbrellas who have no periphial vision.