Rain theme park strategy - Do we switch park days and lose fast pass selections?

[Anthony1971]

It rains almost everyday and when it does not in the hotter months it gets HOTTER as the cement holds the heat from the days past....
Thunderstorms will close some rides...
Rain fro 4 hours bring it on... The parks are empty and you will walk on most rides... if you get a rainy morning i strongly suggest going to MK you will be done with the park when people are arriving... once did 3 parks in one day going on every major attraction because it was raining the entire morning... it was great

 

[smiths02]

Don't change parks but be more flexible. My son's 20th birthday is Monday (he was born 6-6-96 we always joke about that) and his favorite park has always been AK. He gets very few days off work so we planned it all out, including fp for the new Jungle Book show. It looks like an all day rain event now so on Sunday night I will check the forecast and probably change the JB fp for Dinosaur.
We still plan to be there from the afternoon until closing and I'm sure the park will be less busy so we will be able to enjoy it that way. Maybe even go on Kali, it's my least favorite ride there cause you get wet but since we will be already wet, no problem
As Crush would say: just go with the flow...

My son is an early June 2006 baby...I'm so glad he wasn't born on June 6th lol

 

[smiths02]

To the OP, when we went in June last year, there was a thunderstorm pretty much every late afternoon/early evening. It worked out well for us as that was when we planned our rest at the hotel, so we generally were not rained on.

 

[yulilin3]

It rains almost everyday and when it does not in the hotter months it gets HOTTER as the cement holds the heat from the days past....
Thunderstorms will close some rides...
Rain fro 4 hours bring it on... The parks are empty and you will walk on most rides... if you get a rainy morning i strongly suggest going to MK you will be done with the park when people are arriving... once did 3 parks in one day going on every major attraction because it was raining the entire morning... it was great

the rain that's being forecasted for next week is an all day event because of a tropical depression, at least it will help with crowds

 

[maltdizzy]

I try not to hold FP+ as precious and am willing to lose them if something else comes along.

I also would not change parks (save for the water parks) because of thunderstorms, which typically come and go in the hottest part of the day anyway. All day, day-after-day rain usually means a few tweak to our schedule to have some fun indoors (shows!) and get a break from being drenched, which wears you down mentally after a while (I used to live in Vancouver).

Being flexible saves a lot of stress.

 

[DisneyMooners2010]

We go to WDW during hurricane season and have had plenty of constant, no-break rain. Even the squirrels at EPCOT looked drenched LOL! We don't change our plans (other than more breaks in gift shops to dry off a bit) and generally find crowds are pretty light so we get a lot done. I personally wouldn't change my park days. As people have said, weather is unpredictable so the forecast could shift and impact your new plans. You'll still have fun.

If this tropical storm causes constant downpours and you are out in the parks, a couple of things to keep in mind:
1) Your shoes will get very wet. Poor DH only took 1 pair of shoes with him one year and he ended up putting his feet in plastic bags and then in his shoes because they just wouldn't dry out and he kept squishing around. He should have bought flip flops at a gift shop, but those are kind of pricey at Disney, particularly if you aren't a flip flop person.
2) I used to pack one poncho per person per day, but now toss in a few extras. We bring dollar store ponchos, which do the job and are cheap. One year when I tried to carefully fold them up during meals and indoor rides with dry seats, even the inside of the poncho got wet. Maybe I'm just a bad folder, or maybe it was the monsoon weather getting water everywhere Now if I bring extras, I just toss my poncho before the meal and then start fresh.

 

[Klayfish]

Yeah, the forecast for next week is looking seriously soggy. That stinks. Hope it blows through and clears out for the middle and end of June when we'll be there.

WDW is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're going to get.

 

[Klayfish]

In thinking about it, in our trip last summer, of the 17 days we were in the parks, it rained on us precisely once. We just lucked out. Several years back, we had a trip where it rained probably 8 out of the 10 days. Wear cheap Wal-Mart rain ponchos and suck it up. We didn't change any plans unless an attraction was closed.

 

[pens4821]

I always see people say ponchos, but if it's an all day rain (which I know isn't the norm), do they still hold up? Do you get extra hot in them? I'm just curious if it would be better to just get drenched. Once you're wet, you're wet.

 

[Klayfish]

Yes and yes. They hold up just fine, and they get hot as heck if you leave them on too long. Typically we use them for t-storms that only last a fairly short duration. On the rare days we've had where it rains for hours on end, we just get wet...or a lot of the attractions are indoors anyway, so we'll wear the poncho between rides, then take it off. A bit of a pain, but it works.

 

[Carolrita]

I always see people say ponchos, but if it's an all day rain (which I know isn't the norm), do they still hold up? Do you get extra hot in them? I'm just curious if it would be better to just get drenched. Once you're wet, you're wet.

I hate ponchos. I can't take being wrapped in plastic on a hot day. I always carry an umbrella. Also, I hate when people squeeze next to me under an awning or in a store with their wet ponchos on. It just runs off them and soaks umbrella people

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would stick to your plan. If one of your FP+ rides goes down because of weather, you will get an e-mail stating you basically have an anytime FP+ (for that day) for a list of rides in the park including the ride that is down (in case it comes back up). To me, that is better than giving up your FP+ altogether. It rains a lot and rides go down all the time for various reasons, so even on a day that looks clear, you just never know. We toured WDW during tropical storm Debbie when it rained 72 hours straight. We put on ponchos and just kept swimming.

 

[ZoZo]

A couple of things:

1) I'd suggest bringing at least three pairs of shoes per person. If wearing sneakers, stuff them with dry newspaper at night, and/or dry the insides with a hair dryer. Bring extra dry socks in a backpack to the parks. Wet socks can cause blisters. Or try sport sandals like Tevas or Keens.
2) If you're there during a tropical storm, you're likely to have more than an occasional shower. I'd recommend WDW ponchos or bringing another type of better-quality poncho from home - they're much better than the cheap dollar store ponchos (which are short and flimsy and can stick to wet legs - I hate that!). I bought a Frogg Toggs brand poncho at Wa;lmart and loved it.

 

[kam0202]

Sounds like you've got a good game plan now, but I just wanted to add that one of my most magical memories from our last trip was watching visitors of all ages (including DH) running multiple laps through the Splash Mountain queue and onto the ride in their raincoats/ponchos. I've never seen people so happy to be getting even wetter in a rain storm! Try not to let the weather dampen your spirits.

We just got back from our week at WDW and you were all right about just rolling with the weather. We had afternoon rain at Epcot, took a break and rode the monorail line to the resorts then came back later that evening and had a blast. We did the same at AK on a separate day and after the rain stopped after an hour the queue to Everest was 10 minutes! We rode it several times that afternoon due to the no wait times!

 

[scrapquitler]

WANTED: Theme park experts when FL weather is expecting thunderstorms! Do we stick to our original theme park designated day with fast passes, or switch days to less chance of rain and lose our fastpasses and just get new fastpasses for less than ideal rides/times?

stick to your regular plans, put on a poncho and have a good time. If an outdoor ride gets closed because of lightening, they will usually give you (On the app, so check your phone) a FP to use somewhere else.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Bring gallon ziplock bags to reuse your ponchos. I prefer the really cheap disposable ones and they are much smaller and easier to carry. Stuffing 4 wet ponchos, each into a gallon bag and carrying around 4 gallon bags, even with the air squeezed out is more work then carrying 12 small pocket sized ponchos in a single 1 gallon bag.

 

[Imagineer07]

On our last trip, I tried to get a FP for the SDMT at the 60 day window and was unsuccessful. The story, though, goes: we had a FP+ for Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios and were park hopping back to MK for a DR at BOG. It started to rain and Fantasmic was cancel However MyDisney App gave us another FP+ to use at any park for the rest of the night. So I was like might as well try it for SDMT and it worked! In my opinion rainy days are the best if you can wait them out.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

Last time we went to Disney we had planned on going to MK on our first day - and we had planned to arrive at 4 and do a few things, including dinner at Liberty Tree. It was also EMH night, but we weren't planning to stay. It rained pretty hard that day, but was over pretty much by the time we got there. Very few people and we did 3 times the amount of attractions than what we had planned.