Rain gear

[traveler_t]

We plan a short visit to WDW in February with 2 kids and it might rain / get windy. What rain gear do you recommend? Specifically:

Are rain coats or ponchos better?
Umbrellas - are they any good (both wind and crowd)
Any rain protection for rented stroller?
Do we need boots / waterproof shoes?

What else will help us keep going when there is weather? Should we bring from home or buy / rent locally?

Thank you!

 

[OKW Lover]

Are rain coats or ponchos better?
Umbrellas - are they any good (both wind and crowd)
Any rain protection for rented stroller?
Do we need boots / waterproof shoes?

We prefer ponchos but either will work
Umbrellas aren't a good choice. They don't get along well with the wind that often accompanies the rain. Also, in crowds they are dangerous as the ends are at eye level of nearby guests.

 

[beccasmom]

We prefer sporty raincoats with hoods (Columbia has some nice ones). Ponchos are okay, but the hoods don’t always stay where you want them and they can be too short. I am not a fan of umbrellas at the parks. Too many folks in a close environment. Not only can the wind make them difficult to control, they can be a danger to others (inadvertent poking, etc.).

 

[serenitynow]

If you wear a baseball hat under the poncho hood you will stay drier.

 

[francie57]

We prefer ponchos and do take small travel umbrellas. We rent a Bob Revolution stroller from KingdomStroller and it comes with the full rain cover for the stroller. Worked great on the one day we needed it on our last trip.

 

[elvispursley]

We do ponchos (bring one of the many we've purchased at WDW because we left the poncho in the room ). I do as mentioned above and wear a baseball cap underneath. Depending on the time of year and how warm it is, I switch to an out of my tennis shoes and put my waterproof sandals on. If the weather is on the chilly side, make sure you have an extra pair of dry socks to put on. I've done the umbrella once--it was a very small travel umbrella and unfortunately, the wind that came with the deluge made it absolutely worthless. My mom has extra ponchos she clips onto her scooter if it even looks like a hint of rain, especially if she has to park it outside of a ride/restaraunt. Works well at keeping her scooter dry. I'm sure you could do that for a rental stroller as well.

 

[Cibahwewah]

Northface rain jacket with armpit vents for the win!

 

[DDuckSouthBend]

We use Helly Hansen Rain Jackets.

 

[DisDreaming4116]

We prefer rain jackets over ponchos. A couple cheap ponchos would probably protect your stroller, if needed.

 

[R&RsMom]

We do ponchos. After a number of trips trying to dry the expensive Disney ones in our room, I switched us to cheap $2 ponchos. When the rain stops, the ponchos are tossed. I acknowledge not the best environmentally, but it’s what works. Most recent trips we have not even used one poncho.

 

[BK2014]

We were at the parks on a windy and rainy day last month. DW and I both had Columbia raincoats with hoods. My brother and his family all had ponchos. For some reason DW and I ended up getting much more soaked than the poncho wearers. Still not sure how, but a lot of rain got inside our raincoats that were fully zipped up. Or somehow the humidity created condensation inside the raincoats. The other theory is that maybe rain got in the sleeves when we raised our arms for what ever reason. We are going to try ponchos next time. The only benefit to raincoats is that they seemed to require people to take off their ponchos on some of the rides, but we were not asked to remove our raincoats.

 

[kylenne]

I despise ponchos. They trap heat and are terrible for the environment. I have had the same Columbia rain jacket for years and have never gotten soaked or had issues, it folds up into its own pocket to take up next to no space in my park bag and it does triple duty on water rides, and in super cold A/C indoors and on the buses at night. I also take a small UV travel umbrella mainly to keep the sun off but in torrential downpours I will use it as well. The "dangers" are overblown tbh, if you can manage to walk down a city street with a small umbrella you can walk in a theme park with one.

 

[lynzi2004]

The key to making rain jackets more bearable is to get a breathable one! They have a mesh lining throughout the inside, night and day difference! Add the ball cap underneath and your set. We prefer the rain jackets to ponchos bc I don’t like figuring out what to do with them once the rain stops or if you have to use the restroom, go inside for dinner/ride, etc it just creates a wet messy puddle. They are great for stroller coverage though! But everyone is different, we hike all the time so raincoats and waterproof shoes are staples in our house. If I was looking at spending $75 on a rain jacket or $5 on a poncho I might think differently

 

[Anna131517]

We bring our own raincoats - they’re LL Bean coats with the breathable mess liner. If you’re renting a stroller in the park you can buy a universal rain cover to use on it. We usually rent a stroller offsite and it comes with a rain cover. You could bring a change of shoes, but we don’t. If you’re bringing a backpack throw a garbage bag in it to put everything in to keep stuff dry. Zip lock gallon bags can also be useful for keeping things dry. I like wearing a baseball hat to keep the rain off my face.

 

[lovethattink]

You never know what the temps will be. For example, today is going up to near 80 degrees. And recently we had evenings in the 49’s. I’ve lived in central Florida for 24 years and have never worn a raincoat. It’s umbrella or poncho for me. And fast drying shoes like support flip flops.

It rained for one of the RunDisney 5Ks that my husband and son did. Their sneakers remained wet for days. Being in an hotel room at CSR we couldn’t leave them outside to dry. Ended up going to one of the Nike outlets to get them another pair of shoes. Because neither packed extra shoes and we didn’t want to drive back home.

 

[hertamaniac]

Hooded poncho (Columbia brand) with some material thickness. I like the one that has open sleeves and just a few side buttons (allows for much more airflow). Easy on and off.

 

[bluezy]

Like others have said, it's a personal preference between rain coats and ponchos (I'm totally against umbrellas as I've gotten hit in the face with one on several occasions at Disney). I've worn a thin raincoat on a day that there were going to be numerous showers throughout the day, however, I prefer a poncho. I feel like they cover my clothing better because they tend to go down to my knees, so it covers my shorts completely. The day I wore the rain coat, the bottom of my shorts got soaked. Also, we go to the parks with what fits in our pockets -- no stroller, no backpack, etc. When I wore the coat, I had to tie it around my waist when I wasn't wearing it. I can fit a disposable rain poncho in my pocket and I always take a quart size ziploc bag with me to put the used poncho in (because I think they're impossible to refold in to that tiny package again) so I can use it again if it rains later or I take it back to the room and hang it up to dry. I purchased some disposable rain coats to use on our trip in June. We'll see how that goes.

I think the most important thing is to make sure everyone has at least 2 pair of shoes so that if one pair gets soaked, you have a dry pair to wear the next day (don't be one of those families hogging a dryer in the laundry room to dry your wet shoes. ). Most of our family only wear athletic shoes to the parks, so we never take a trip to Disney without bringing at least 2-3 pair of shoes. My son will wear leather sandals some times but one year when we had a ton of rain at Disney, even those weren't drying out overnight. And bring extra socks.

 

[FastPasser.]

What does Disney make available to outdoor CMs for rain gear?
It’s an inexpensive opaque raincoat, not a rain jacket, that goes below the knees and has a hood hidden in the collar. It has snaps in the front. It fits into a small hip pouch when not needed. Worked well and lasts for years.

 

[elvispursley]

What I don’t like with the raincoat option is how do you keep your lower body dry? I’m originally from Seattle so all we did were raincoats (you’re pegged immediately as a tourist if you’ve got.a “bumper shoot”). That’s why I like the ponchos—keeps majority of me dry. We bring big ziplocs to store them in if we’re going on an attraction/restaurant situation.

 

[FastPasser.]

What I don’t like with the raincoat option is how do you keep your lower body dry?

The CM raincoats I mentioned went a few inches below the knees.