Talk me off the Weather Ledge......

[Nittany]

We will be arriving in Orlando on 4/17 (Saturday) and heading to the HRH at Universal where we will stay until 4/23 (Friday) before heading to Disney. We plan on doing Universal for two days, Volcano Day for one day, Discovery Cove, and Sea World the week we are at Universal. The weather forecast does NOT look promising, and I am beginning to panic a little. Should I be worried?

 

[J'aime Paris]

Florida weather forecasts are rarely spot on more than a day ahead....The weather will change and change again.
Unless it's a hurricane, the wet weather does not stick around for long at all. They don't call Florida the
Sunshine State for nothing, lol!

Bring some rain gear if you're worried, and soldier on. You'll have way less crowds and a whole lot more fun!!

 

[ArtieRyder]

I am going the same week, but will be firmly in the disney bubble. Definitely have some nerves about the forecast as well.

When it says 70% chance of rain, but the forecast is thunderstorms. Does that mean there is a 70% chance there will be the nightly thunderstorm, or it will be storming 70% of the day?

I can deal with the nightly thunderstorms, its a pain, but we can manage around it. The whole day is a different story

It stinks to put all of this money and planning into one week and then get an unlucky hand dealt with weather

 

[Nittany]

It stinks to put all of this money and planning into one week and then get an unlucky hand dealt with weather

We have gone to Disney every year since our son turned 2 (he is 9 now) and only one time did we get a full day of rain. This is the first time we are traveling to Universal (then Disney) and expect the occasional pop up shower.....we just don't want rain for days. Fingers crossed!

 

[LORIANN]

We will be arriving in Orlando on 4/17 (Saturday) and heading to the HRH at Universal where we will stay until 4/23 (Friday) before heading to Disney. We plan on doing Universal for two days, Volcano Day for one day, Discovery Cove, and Sea World the week we are at Universal. The weather forecast does NOT look promising, and I am beginning to panic a little. Should I be worried?

Im there starting the 18th and worried about the exact same thing. The weather forecast looks horrible, at this point Im just hoping that it is not raining all day every day that entire week

 

[Robo56]

I agree totally with J’aime Paris it rarely rains all day in Florida. Usually you might get a shower in morning then sun and clouds later or visa versa.

Pack your rain gear as a precaution and go and enjoy yourself.

Remember a rainy day on vacation is better than a sunny day at work.

Go have a great time and don’t worry.

 

[nkereina]

It has been a rainy year and April can be rainy as humidity starts to ramp up. But, FL weather is unpredictable and it can change the day of. Even when we are there and watching the local news, it always seems showers are mostly spotty and don't hit us or they quickly pass through. There's so many variables that it makes it impossible to plan a trip around it, so its better to not even look and just go with the flow. All you can do is be prepared and remember that a rainy day on vacation is still better than a day at work! And, rainy days in the park make for no crowds and less waiting!

Ponchos are fine, but we have found we prefer actual rain coats that repel water and have underarm vents. Keeps us cooler, easier to take off, the hood doesn't slide off our heads. As a woman, I will wear a hat in the rain because my hair can be a disaster and helps my make up from smearing. I will wear my sneakers without socks because wet socks feel awful, and I always bring a second pair of sneakers to wear while the first pair dries out. I always bring newspaper to stuff in my shoes after rain which helps them to dry faster.

 

[puffkin]

Here at Hard Rock now. Today said 60% with t-storms. We had planned Aquatica, so we’ were concerned but went anyway. Got cloudy and dark a few times but no rain/storms all day.

 

[MeridaAnn]

When it says 70% chance of rain, but the forecast is thunderstorms. Does that mean there is a 70% chance there will be the nightly thunderstorm, or it will be storming 70% of the day?

70% just means that 70% of the area included in the forecast will see some amount of precipitation within that timeframe. So 70% could mean that 70% of the area gets 5 minutes of light sprinkling, or it could mean 70% of the area gets solid downpours for the whole hour - you can't tell just by the percentage. You're much better off here if you can find a forecast that lists the predicted rain accumulation. That will tell you if the expectation is .01" or 2", which is much more important to know than the percentage chance. (It's still not a guarantee, of course, but gives a much better picture of what to actually expect.) You'll also get a better idea of things if you break it down by the hour rather than looking at the full daily forecast.

 

[ArtieRyder]

Feel like I should recap the week for anyone else having similar weather angst.

As said above, the forecast wasn't great. 50-70% precip each day Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed.

We arrived Saturday and that was forecasted a nice day and was a nice day. Great because we planned on going straight to the pool for the day and it was perfect.

Sunday was at 50% precipitation forecast. We did Magic Kingdom, it was our only day planned at MK, so we go there early and planned to stay late. It was cloudy with some pockets of sun. A couple dark clouds rolled thru, dropped a couple drops, but then moved on. Nothing you even need an umbrella for. It was actually a pretty good weather day. Given it was a long day, the clouds kept temperatures pretty nice.

Monday was forecasted at 70% precipitation. We went to HS. We got in around 930 and went straight to Mickey and Minnie's. Started drizzling right as we entered the park and was drizzling for a bit on the line. The family broke our the ponchos. I decided to hold off and I was fine. Just some light rain, I had a windbreaker and was fine. By the time we got off the ride the rain had stopped and was sunny. It was dry for a while. We had a RoR BG at 2PM. We got on line and all of a sudden as we were in the little bit of the outdoor queue the big rain drops started. Luckily we were in the covered part before the rain really hit. Luckily, as well, thats a bit of a long ride. When we got out, it was clear that it had rained pretty hard, but it was now sunny. So we lucked out and missed the worst of the rain that day. Even so, it was a pretty quick storm, so if we weren't in the queue we could have ducked into under a covering and ridden it out.

That night, we did Disney springs and the rain help out as well. Really nice night. Later that night, my wife and I were on the balcony and the skies opened up. This was probably around 11PM. It was a heavy heavy downpour and rained the whole overnight.

Next morning, Epcot. Forecast was 90%. Radar did not look great. We were staying at Boardwalk and had dinner reservations in epcot so we were only planning on going to epcot for an hour or two in the morning and then coming back at night. We used the early morning entry to get in early and go straight to soaring. Did spaceship earth, got the kids some pretzels and decided to walk back. It started drizzling and just steadily got heavier as we walked. By the time we got back, we were all completely soaked. Even with ponchos. We were OK with it, though. We were planning on a mid-day break anyway. It rained from about 1-330. Gave everyone some downtime, which was actually needed. I actually took a bit of a nap, which I never do. Stopped raining at 330ish. Got everyone up and out the door by 4 and had a really nice night in Epcot.

That was it for rain for the whole trip.

TLDR - Forecast called for rain on 4 days. Actually only rained a little bit on one of those days, rained a couple hours on another day and the rest was dry.


One tip, though, bring an extra pair of shoes. I did, so I was set, my wife's father did not. We put his sneakers in the dryer, but I don't think they fully dried by that night.