Water parks and thunderstorms

Katy Belle

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Messages
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We will be at WDW next week! This will be our first trip to a Disney water park. Since I had to book fastpasses and dining reservations long ago, I picked a day as our water park day. Now the forecast says 70% chance of scattered thunderstorms.

What happens at the water parks when it thunders? Do they make you leave the park? Can you wait it out? We won't have a car to sit in, we will be relying on Disney buses. When it gets closer the forecast will be more detailed, and we might be able to go a bit later, or leave earlier, or something.

Thanks!
Katy
 
We will be at WDW next week! This will be our first trip to a Disney water park. Since I had to book fastpasses and dining reservations long ago, I picked a day as our water park day. Now the forecast says 70% chance of scattered thunderstorms.

What happens at the water parks when it thunders? Do they make you leave the park? Can you wait it out? We won't have a car to sit in, we will be relying on Disney buses. When it gets closer the forecast will be more detailed, and we might be able to go a bit later, or leave earlier, or something.

Thanks!
Katy

You can safely disregard any forecast more than a day or two in advance.
So, yes, wait and see the actual conditions on the day in question.
(It certainly can be sunny in the AM and drenching in the PM, and vice versa.)

If there is lightning in the vicinity, it's "everyone out of the water."
 
They will make you get out of the water in a storm-especially if there is lightning.

We have experienced torrential downpours at BB. Like many others we tried to wait it out. There are not many covered area to take shelter in, we shared an umbrella table with another family. Granted in a water park you generally stay wet, but that is in heated water with the sun shining down on you. Lack of sun and the wind factor can make you miserably cold. We finally gave up and headed to a very crowded bus stop and waited about 45 minutes for a bus. My grandson, who is not normally bothered by storms, was very scared I believe because of the crowds and storm combined.

All that being said, I wouldn't cancel because of the weather forecast. There will always be thunderstorms predicted but most often they pop up and move on quickly. Our water park day is our much needed mid trip vacation from the vacation and we wouldn't miss it
 
I did my CP at Typhoon. If it is just raining Guests are allowed to stay in the water. If there is lighting within a certain distace (sorry I can't remember how close) they ask everyone to leave the water and go to a sheltered area. Guests can return to the water only after it has been 30 minutes since the last lighting strike within that certain distace.

I would suggest waiting out the storm even if it takes a while. Most Guests leave during the storm so those who wait it out are rewarded with fewer crowds the rest of the day!

Have fun!
 

Thanks! I am hoping we can wait it out. I'm glad they don't make you leave the park. It would be such a pain to try and rearrange the whole schedule by moving our water park day!
Thanks!
Katy
 















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