Rain strategies - with a baby?

[starshine514]

So, we're going this weekend, rain in the forecast. We've totally BTDT (got the whole poncho thing down for the older girls), but not with a baby. We'll have a stroller for her - any tips?

 

[nicolispicoli]

We had a bunch of rain once in November when my dd was 8 months old. She was mostly in the baby bjorn, so it was easy to keep her covered and warm in that. Easier than the stroller when she was a toddler in the rain. The error I made was not bringing one of those plastic stroller covers, mainly because I was renting one from DL, I didn't bring my own. If you have one, I'd bring it. Not sure how old your baby is, if they're smaller and can't see you, they might freak a little.

When stuck in bad rain at DCA, we spend awhile in the Disney Animation Building.

 

[rms123]

I'll second the stroller cover. We forgot it last trip and what a pain. Very hard to find covered stroller parking and keep the diaper bag dry. Find activities to do inside and don't feel bad about going back to your hotel to warm up.

 

[deanimal]

I found that DCA was a better park for a rainy day; more indoor rides and shows. If one of your days looks rainier that the others I'd try to make that a DCA day. A stroller cover is very important, even if it's only threatening rain. There's nothing worse than coming off a ride and finding out there's been a rain shower and now your stroller is soaked. Our kids are older and we don't have a cover for our current stroller so I just cut slits into the sides of a jumbo garbage bag and slid the whole thing over the stroller last time. Bring changes of warm clothes in case baby does get wet since there's nothing worse than cold, soggy clothes and nothing feels nicer than a new cozy dry outfit on a rainy day. (This goes for the adults and big kids as well!) Enjoy the smaller crowds and have fun!

 

[nicolispicoli]

Also, if you're bringing in a stroller anyway, it might not be a horrible idea to bring a towel in a plastic bag and throw it in the bottom.

 

[starshine514]

Mine is 10 months and she's not super fond of being worn, but she does like her stroller. She's just started walking, though and now wants to be running around everywhere. So, I'm hoping she'll be amiable with the stroller again this trip. I should probably run over to BRU today and grab one of the stroller covers (we live in Arizona, so we don't have much in the way of rain gear).

 

[beachdreamr1229]

We're taking our twins this weekend. They're 1. I've been in the rain with 1 child before, but not 3. Kind of scared, but we need this trip since it's my stress release after a couple of weeks of hell at work. Anyway, we're planning on bringing a stroller cover and wearing the babies in carriers when we can. Neither of mine loves being worn, but they get distracted by the sights at DL, so we tend not to have too bad of a problem. I think the rain is suppose to be in the afternoon/evening, but not so bad in the morning from what Weather Underground is saying this afternoon, so we're going to just cram as much as we can in while it's dry, then either go home or to the hotel (haven't decided if we're doing a day-trip or last minute hotel trip yet).

 

[starshine514]

I bought one of those stroller covers. It looks like it should work great. I also pulled out the girls' smallest old raincoat. It's an 18 mo, so she is basically swimming in it, but it should do the job. Thanks!

 

[brandimay412]

These are great tips for rain. Looks like my trip in a couple weeks has thunderstorms and rain expected. Does anybody know if they close any of the rides in the rain or during thunderstorms? I'd imagine they'd have to for some. Trying to rework my planning now to accommodate these storms coming in. Just ordered my stroller cover and bought an umbrella.

 

[Lauren in NC]

It rained for most of my last trip. I remember Mater's Jamboree and RSR closed in the heavy rain in DCA, and also definitely the teacups in DL. A CM told us that many of the outdoor uncovered rides have to close if there's heavy or long rain.

 

[beachdreamr1229]

I'm only seeing one day with rain forecast in the next 30 days so far and it says "a couple thunder storms". Around here, that means it probably won't amount to much. I wouldn't worry too much about the rain. Have some ponchos and follow tips from here. Any outdoor ride could close, but more than likely you won't have a problem. I don't see our lovely drought conditions going away in the near future. It rarely rains by the end of April.

 

[agamble]

We got caught in the rain on our December trip. We only had 2 days, but the second day it rained all morning so we ended up leaving kind of early. We weren't prepared for rain because we'd been visiting family for Thanksgiving and hadn't been home in over a week. We were at DCA that morning. RSR closes during the rain. I think most other things were running. We went on Toy Story twice with no wait because the crowds were so light in the morning rain. We brought a change of clothes for the kids and changed them a few hours in. But then we rode Luigi's since it was scheduled to close in January. That was our last ride. Water was coming up from the table and down from the sky. We were SOAKED!

 

[starshine514]

Something I found that was also helpful was bringing the large binder clips. On days when the rain was on/off, we kept the cover on the stroller, but used the binder clips to clip it to the sunshade when we weren't using it. We also used them on other days with a receiving blanket.

RSR definitely closes in the rain, as can any outdoor ride. But the Teacups and Alice come to mind as ones I have noticed.

 

[Gisele]

Tot rain booties. Baby sized umbrella and rain coat. Water repellent pull ups. Water proofed or water repellent stroller with optional bubble umbrella and bottle warmer or cooler, depending upon the taste buds at the time.
Believe that pretty much covers it.