What do You do When It's Really COLD??

[Bill From PA]

We'll be doing our first WDW trip this Jan. that has the risk of some cold weather. Being from NE Pa., I'm not exactly a weenie when it comes to winter weather and I've enjoyed skiing Killington Vt. once at -18 degrees F. That said, I go to WDW, usually in March, to escape winter and the prospect of running into more of the same in Fl. is distressing. What sorts of activities does one do if the daily high is in the 40's or less? I've checked the last 7 years of temps for our week (1/1 - 1/10) and the thermometer is all over the place. Once or twice that period had only 2 days of 70+ temps with lows in the 30 - 40 range, but a couple of years had 6 or more days in the 80's. What's your strategy for the first 10 days of the year at WDW?

Thanks,
Bill From PA

 

[Tigger&Belle]

We've gone the end of January several times and had very pleasant weather. We'd start the day out in shorts with a sweatshirt and shed the sweatshirt mid-morning (don't worry,we had a t-shirt on under the sweatshirt ). We usually need the sweatshirt in the evening. We went this last Feb and most of our days were nice. We did have one cold one, though, and wore all our heavy clothes that day. We could have used a jacket, too.

Watch the forcast just before leaving and bring a variety of clothes and then dress in layers.

T&B

 

[HopperFan]

At first it was warm, then we got rain..........then it was freezing ! I do believe it was record lows for Orlando. The kiosks magically appeared full of fleece hats and gloves. We bought them up (we had our jackets) and kudos to Disney, they were very reasonable. Luckily we were enjoying the holiday decorations so it fueled the mood !

We continued with our daily park plans. We changed none of those and it was just fine. We did not do any swimming, but we were at FW Cabins, so kids didn't care about pool anyway. DH still complains the only thing he bought that trip was a poncho, hat and gloves

I would take clothes to layer, and go forward with your plans !

 

[minster22]

We were there the 3rd week in January one year and it was freezing, literally below 32 in the am. I wore all the layers I had and peeled them off as the day progressed and put them back on as night fell. Turtleneck, sweatshirt, nylon jacket and then a vest over all of it with gloves.Because it was way too chilly for me in the pools, I never felt that I had to leave the parks to enjoy the resort pools, just too darn cold for me. Also because of the "refreshing" feel of the air, much easier to spend long days in the parks. Our evenings we spent resort hopping and dining, one of them over at the WL in front of the fireplace for coffee and desserts. It is not my favorite time of the year(Love the Flower and Garden Festival time....late April/early May) but there are no crowds and being with my then 22yrDS was just perfect!! Oh, the next week it was almost 80 every day!!

 

[shirleyb]

We went Jan 9 - 16, 2000, and we're just down the road from you in State College. We were blessed with extremely nice weather. It was probably between 75 and 85 degrees every day except the day we left, which was cold, probably 55 or 60.

When we got home it was 5 degrees though, what a change.

In retrospect, we were really lucky to have such nice weather, because I think I only packed 1 pair of pants and 1 sweatshirt for each of us -- I'm a light packer.

 

[got2lovedisney]

I went with my DD(15 at that time) and 4 of her friends in January last year. It was about 30-40's. We did just what we planned to do on our arrival day...we went to Winter/Summerland and played mini-golf!! What a hoot...we were the ONLY ones out and about! Correction...when we got back to AllStarsMusic about 10pm, there was a kid (11-ish) in the pool. The pool was heated so the steam/mist hung in the air at the surface. Looked neat!

During the day it was bearable except we, being from Miami, were ill prepared and I had to buy all the girls mittens ($8/pair!) and skullys (also some outrageous price). Next time I know to buy these at Target for about $2.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

Personally I shiver when it is cold. If I am lucky enough to be at DW when it is 'cold' I thank my lucky stars that I am not back home where it is sure to be much colder and I am not shoveling snow. LOL

Slightly Goofy

 

[diswedwish]

We went in from Jan. 4-12 this year. The week before we left I watched the forecast anxiously. The entire week, down to the day we left said 80s, sunny - we made fun of our family and friends in PA (where we live) because we got to go somewhere warm. That was a mistake Our first day was sunny and warm -after that it got progressively colder and colder!!! So the morale of the story is don't listen to the weather channel! Or listen, then pack your cold weather stuff anyway...

I needed to buy a sweatshirt or 2, luckily we had our gloves with us, and we layered... Don't worry, a milkshake tastes just as good whether it's 45 or 85!! Well, maybe not, but it still tastes good

 

[CindyAnn]

For us the magic layers are T-shirt + sweatshirt + polar fleece jacket (zipper style is better than pullover style) + waterproof jacket/windbreaker. Cold weather has never changed our park plans (but if we do a wet ride like Kali River Rapids we do it right at the end of the day).

On occasion it has changed our swimming plans, but we still find the resort pool works well if it's a fairly short sprint to your room. Usually the water feels great, but the air is chilly. The water parks are a little tougher when it's chilly, because you don't have the chance to warm up right away. Okay, I should probably confess that we've had the AKL pool entirely to ourselves and the Poly volcano pool entirely to ourselves - after all somebody has to keep the lifeguards employed! That water feels really warm on a cooler day, though.

 

[skoi]

We went last year in January. We usually go in early September when it's hot. It was 8 degrees when we left Philadelphia, and we had highs in the 40s in Orlando. We did everything we usually do minus swimming, and only 1 ride down Splash Mountain. If dh had been with us, he'd have taken the kids on it again, but he was away and I was cold (I'm such a party pooper, I know).

Coming from upstate, 40s should be balmy for you. My inlaws, who've lived in FL for a few years said last year when we were there was the coldest they had experienced.

Have fun.

 

[disneysteve]

Another vote for dressing in layers. We've been to Disney with temps in the low 30's so you do need to be prepared. The absolute worst thing is riding the parking tram in those conditions. That wind is COLD.

Rent a locker and mid-day if temps rise a bit, take off a layer and stow it. You may need it again in the evening.

 

[eleanor]

Lots of Hot chocolate in your refillable mug helps alot. Being from the frozen north we travel with lots of warm clothes, so we are okay if it turns cold. (learned that the harf way)

 

[jann1033]

when it's really cold we wear our winter coats, layer it on just like we were in Ohio and enjoy even empty for Jan parks!! seriously the only thing we did differently ( except dressing/packing for it) was not stay for fantasmic as the benches were tushnumbingcold and we skipped the rapids( husband hates wet rides anyway so i think that was just an excuse), we sat in the second row at splash and were fine. every day but 1 it warmed up so we could shed the outer layers by noon and put them in a locker but needed them again in the evening. this year we are going in early Dec instead since the last 2 times we went in jan we had a "cold" to "downright cold" spell.

 

[BuzzMe]

I've survived many cold Dec/Jan WDW visits thanks to silk long johns, hat and gloves. A drink in front of the fire at AKL is helpful as well!

 

[jane51]

We have gone the first week of Jan. for the last 2 years. Last year was great until the day we left. The year before the last 3 days were nippy in the morning and evening, but in the 60's during the afternoon. On the mornings that we had frost, we slept in or went to Boma for a leisurely breakfast and checked out the animals at the resort. You might also consider going to Wilderness Lodge, check out the Christmas decorations, have a cup of hot chocolate from Roaring Fork and enjoy the huge fireplace.

 

[northern michigan]

Those 3 in 1 jackets from Columbia are great. We wore ours when we left home as we're from Northern Michigan. We thought the windbreaker part and the separate fleece part would be great options. Turned out we had to wear them both together as we were freezing. We left our hats and gloves at home after all we were going to sunny Florida. I won't make that same mistake this December. This was December not even January!

 

[litlpixie]

Bill from PA-- Cant wait to see a new pix of you and yet another drink in your hand--you should have your pix taken w/ one of those "yard" size English beers!! Anyway, think of it this way, if it winds up being 30 degrees all week long, there more than likely wont be snow and I'll take 30 over -5 any day, coming from Upstate NY....thats a big difference!!! Plus you'll practically have the parks to yourself!!! Enjoy!

 

[jann1033]

just a disclaimer..we did have i think colder than even normal Jan temps last year when we were cold in winter wear...think that happened nationwide at the same time ( at least it was in Ohio) so while i would plan for it, i'd plan for the other extreme also since it was almost 90 at Vero beach the week before(I never sun burn and got burn/tan lines from that week that lasted till summer!)

 

[Bill From PA]

Thanks to all for the encouraging advice. It doesn't seem that cold weather ruined anyone's trip, but I'll still be hoping for some Global Warming to kick in that week.

litlpixie, I will be updating the pic and a beverage will no doubt be present.

Bill From PA

 

[homeschooler]

We ALWAYS go January/February. We are used to Ohio and don't have much trouble. Like everyone has said, layers. We have had lots of comments about swimming when others were wearing winter coats. It didn't feel bad to us. The only time I remember really having any 'trouble' was when DS2 couldn't get warm. I hadn't taken gloves or hats. We had flown and DH would have them when he picked us up at the airport and wouldn't need them in Florida, right? We bough for him and bought several XL adult sweats and put them on both boys. DS2 they would cover head to toe. DS6 they were past his knees. DD10 was very comfortable and I had loads of sweat shirts when I got home.