Tropical Depression may be forming next week

[AEA1127]

We flew in as a hurricane was on its way out a few years back. We were lucky and only our first day was affected, but it wasn't bad enough at that point for anything to be closed. My husband actually says it's his favorite day we've been in the parks because the lines were so short! So if you can look at it that way and pack accordingly, you could definitely reap some of the benefits.

 

[WayTooExcited]

This video always makes me giggle a little:

It's a parade during a downpour.

 

[capegirl]

If a tropical system hits when we are in Disney, my plan B is to tour the resort gift shops, restaurants, and lounges that I usually never have time for.

 

[capegirl]

This video always makes me giggle a little:

It's a parade during a downpour.

Love it!!! Dancing in the rain!
The show must go on.

 

[crusoe2]

If a tropical system hits when we are in Disney, my plan B is to tour the resort gift shops, restaurants, and lounges that I usually never have time for.

That's a good idea. And just in case it's just too nasty to even leave our townhouse, I'm packing some movies, a deck of cards, and our travel-size Scrabble game so we'll have some things to entertain us while we wait for the weather to clear up.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We were there for Andrea in 2013 and it looks like we'll be there for whatever comes Monday and Tuesday. We wear Keen sandals, bring rain jackets/ponchos and go on.

 

[pmaurer74]

I have a thread on this that has some good links from other posters.

 

[Micca]

Really it is way to far out to worry about a TD.

Time will tell.

AKK

One of our fellow Dis-er regulars just the other day said something to the effect to "Never trust a Central Fl. forecast more than 18 hours in advance." I'd agree with that, and add that I've seen late afternoon/evening local forecasts from Orlando TV that missed the mark for the very next day. One just must prepare, and hope they don't get stranded at the airport trying to get to/from WDW.

 

[Mandy26692]

We arrived during a Tropical Storm back in August 2008. The airport stopped all flights not long after we landed and it rained pretty hard that day. We had already gotten upgraded from POR to OKW for the same price a few weeks prior. We were supposed to have a small room and to our surprise we got some Pixie Dust and were upgraded to a one bedroom fully furnished Villa! The CM said that there had been a lot of cancellations due to the tropical storm so they were upgrading everyone they could. The lines at the parks were AWESOME! We didn't miss any rides because the rain was off and on so when it stopped we would head for the "outside" rides. And the longest wait we had was Pirates. I believe we waited about 15 minutes. The main bad thing was being wet all week, but it was totally worth it to not wait in long lines and not have the August sun beating down the whole time. The dryer in our upgraded room proved to be extra handy. We also got to add some more table service restaurants due to openings and cancellations because of the rain. The only other downfall was we had to try three nights in a row before finally seeing Fantasmic because it kept getting cancelled. Honestly, it was one of the best trips we ever had!

 

[oceanscape]

How long do these things usually last? If it "lands" Tuesday when can we expect the weather to be back to "normal"?

 

[GillianP1301]

We travel to WDW end of August all the time, so I know all about the anxiety over storm watching. I track tropical storm development through the national hurricane centre and I really only care about it on my fly in day because of potential delays. So far we have been luck (knock on wood). A few years back Isaac was hitting the keys while I sat in the airport in Toronto hearing all the southern Florida flights be cancelled, and even that day we made it with no issues and weather wise, we got some light rain and heavy winds that evening and rain the whole next day and after that it was great. Bring the ponchos and wear clothing (including footwear) that dries quickly and you will be fine.

 

[oceanscape]

Could this wipe out a whole week or do they tend to be over fairly quickly?

 

[GillianP1301]

Depends on where it lands and how big (geographically) a storm it is and for a projected Tuesday landfall, it's too early right now to know where that will be. The models should start to concur at about 3 days out and you'll have more certainty 48 hours out. I would check the models again on Sunday and that will give you a pretty decent sense for where and how long.

 

[GillianP1301]

How long do these things usually last? If it "lands" Tuesday when can we expect the weather to be back to "normal"?

Depends on where it lands and how big (geographically) a storm it is and for a projected Tuesday landfall, it's too early right now to know where that will be. The models should start to concur at about 3 days out and you'll have more certainty 48 hours out. I would check the models again on Sunday and that will give you a pretty decent sense for where and how long.

 

[Stageman12]

2 words I came to hate in 2004: "the cone..."

 

[jtowntoflorida]

We were there for Andrea in 2013 and it looks like we'll be there for whatever comes Monday and Tuesday. We wear Keen sandals, bring rain jackets/ponchos and go on.

We were also there during Andrea and frankly had a great time. We ponchoed up while everyone else abandoned the parks.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I'm going to go ahead and disagree on the flip flops. First, they can be slippery in the rain. Second, I actually have a friend who lost hers in a downpour-induced flood on Main Street during a tropical storm. Get some good sandals that can tolerate water but still be strapped to your feet.

We survived Andrea at Disney a few years back. It was great being in the parks in the rain because so few people stayed once it started raining. But I would not have liked to try to navigate that amount of water in flip-flops. I was happy to have Keens that trip.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I'm going to go ahead and disagree on the flip flops. First, they can be slippery in the rain. Second, I actually have a friend who lost hers in a downpour-induced flood on Main Street during a tropical storm. Get some good sandals that can tolerate water but still be strapped to your feet.

We survived Andrea at Disney a few years back. It was great being in the parks in the rain because so few people stayed once it started raining. But I would not have liked to try to navigate that amount of water in flip-flops. I was happy to have Keens that trip.

Agree 100%. I cannot stand being in the rain in flip flops. Your feet slide and you can really hurt yourself.

 

[crusoe2]

I have a thread on this that has some good links from other posters.

Found it. Thank you. Maybe one of the mods can merge our threads so we can get all this great info in one place.

Since we leave tomorrow, we won't be able to wait until closer to time to decide for sure what we need. So I'm packing for anything up to and including a hurricane. LOL There's a thought tho - if this storm does turn out to be a doozy I suppose the power could go out on us. So probably not a bad idea to pack flashlights at least. But I'm hoping that worst case scenario is that we can suit up and do the parks in the rain. We've done lots of park days in the rain and we've only had one really bad rainy day at Disney and that was at Magic Kingdom. The conventional wisdom that everyone leaves the parks when it rains did not hold true that day. We hung out for hours hoping that it would clear out but no such luck. And we're talking water above our ankles and the place was still packed. Later in the same trip, we felt like we had DHS to ourselves. As a matter of fact, DS decided to head off to ToT on his own and came back telling us how eerie that was because he didn't see a soul other than CMs. I rode Star Tours about 8 times in a row that night and practically had it to myself. It was great.

 

[scrapquitler]

We were there during a tropical storm on one of our trips that we stayed offsite on IDrive. It rained heavily for three days. We did one of the days at Universal and we got very wet, but there were still a lot of rides open. We ended up going to the movies at CityWalk. And on the other days, we just soldiered thru MK and EP in the rain. It wasn't as awful as we expected.