What rain gear??

[momfor4]

Do people take rain gear for the parks?? What do you take? What is the best thing to buy?? We have 4 young kids and I was thinking of buying ponchos at the dollar store- but are they too cheap? Will they keep dry? I would love ideas of what you do in case it rains??

 

[Foladar]

Dollar store ponchos should be fine, we bought those so we could just throw them out after we were done instead of trying to wrap them up when they were soaked.

 

[djblu883]

well it rains a bit almost everyday I've been to Fla...ponchos are fine...but don't throw away after one use...you will need them MORE lolol I take a lightweight rain parka myself...doubles as a light jacket if its cool at night/or wet and windy...works for me! Have a magical vacation!

 

[MousekaMaddi]

we just got back and packed dollar store ponchos thie first 3 days, never needed em, left em in room rest of week and it rained ,of course, so we bought nice mickey ones,they replace free if they rip,theyre sturdy tho,no prob, I recommend not bringing and schlepping em, just buy when needed! Less to think about and a fun rainy day souvenier at the school bus stop in the future months!LOL

 

[goofy4tink]

If we go during the rainy times, just about all the time from April to Oct, we bring a ton of those .89 ones. We use them and toss them. If you choose to buy the Mickey ponchos, which we like but don't buy each and every time we go, then once you use them, shake them out and then put them in a little WDW bag. You can just loop the bag by the handles through your fanny pack/back pack or even your belt. Works much better than trying to refold them.

 

[Todd&Copper]

We brought the Dollar Store ones. We only had to use them about 2 times. I liked the fact that they were VERY lightweight, since we were there in August and didn't want a thicker poncho (trapping more body heat inside - the summer rains are not generally cooling ones).

 

[1DISNEYLVR]

I found the Dollar Store ponchos pretty useless. They did not keep us dry & they were too big for the children. I won't bother bringing them again. If it rains, we'll be getting Mickey ponchos this time.

 

[pixiepower1971]

We have had our Mickey ponchos for 2 years now. We have gotten our money out of them. I store them in quart size ziplock bags and they fit nicely in the bottom of my bag. If it is really rainy(more then afternoon thunderstorms) I will take a small umbrella with me.

 

[ZoZo]

My Target ponchos cost about 69 cents each, and tuck easily into a pocket/fanny pack/purse.

They're so inexpensive that I treat them as "disposable" (throw them away after one use), so that I don't have to try to wrestle them back into whatever I'm carrying them in. The Disney ponchos are much nicer (heavier weight), but if you're only going to use them once, the disposable ones work better. The Disney ones do fold back down, but you'd need something pretty big (like a backpack) to carry them around in. I travel much more lightly than that, and would rather tuck a disposable poncho into my pocket than wrestle with a bigger one.

If it was probably going to rain several days in a row, I would bring my nice, waterproof rain jacket with a hood. It gets very windy in Florida and an umbrella wouldn't work very well.

 

[GGatheringof11+]

Hi, my mil, who's a better shopper than me, found dollar store ponchos, but we never used them during our first trip last Nov. When I did use one at another theme park, I found that it was defective so that the hood was not in between the two armholes, but set over one of the armholes, so that in order not to suffocate on the plastic, I would have had to walk around with my head over my shoulder!

 

[Temair]

$0.97 ponchos from walmarts camping department. Once we used them we stored them in zip lock bags. When we headed home we just tossed them in the trash. Kept us dry in rain, on kali river rapids.

Temair

 

[pixiepower1971]

My Target ponchos cost about 69 cents each, and tuck easily into a pocket/fanny pack/purse.

They're so inexpensive that I treat them as "disposable" (throw them away after one use), so that I don't have to try to wrestle them back into whatever I'm carrying them in. The Disney ponchos are much nicer (heavier weight), but if you're only going to use them once, the disposable ones work better. The Disney ones do fold back down, but you'd need something pretty big (like a backpack) to carry them around in. I travel much more lightly than that, and would rather tuck a disposable poncho into my pocket than wrestle with a bigger one.

If it was probably going to rain several days in a row, I would bring my nice, waterproof rain jacket with a hood. It gets very windy in Florida and an umbrella wouldn't work very well.

You actually don't need a backpack to carry the disney ponchos. They fold very nicely to quart bag size and lay very flat. If you look at my DD in my sig, on the right, the bag in her lap is the size I carry. It is a fairly compact bag. I can put 3 ponchos, 2 autograph books, 3 pin lanyards, a small umbrella,my phone and camera, etc in the bag and it is very easy to carry.

I found the cheap ones stick to your body and fly when the wind blows. The heavy ones do not.

 

[daisyduck123]

Another vote for the Dollar Store ponchos.

We actually have 6 of the WDW Mickey ponchos (for our family of 4, how'd that happen?) & we don't even take them on our trips anymore. When the rain stops, then we're stuck with 4 wet ponchos to lug around....& I HATE to carry extra stuff.

When the rain is over, you can just toss the Dollar Store ponchos into the nearest trashcan.

 

[cinderella_mom]

We wore large brimmed sun hats and that was all we really needed. They were Columbia brand and water resistant($20 at sporting goods store). They are soft, so you don't have to worry about them getting crushed in luggage. I used a disposable poncho to put over the stroller.

 

[wako]

We're going next week, and I bought the 89-cent ponchos from Target. I got a bunch of them, so we can toss those we use, and can return those we don't use when we return home.

 

[MagicMe]

I just use the lightweight camping ponchos you can get at Target or Walmart for under $1. They're so light to carry and inexpensive so you don't need to re-fold if you don't want to.

We also have Mickey ponchos (they're actually like 10 years old) but they get very heavy to carry around after awhile. Although I will say that every time I had those Mickey ponchos with me it never rained Of course the few times I left them in the room we weren't so lucky

 

[englishteacha]

The dollar store ponchos work, but they do blow around a bit. I'd rather have those then carry a full sized poncho all day. The dollar store ones fit in my pocket. The newer Mickey ponchos (clear instead of yellow) aren't as durable as the yellow ones were. Mine got a small hole in the hood from hanging it on a hook (this was after I got it home...I'm not going back to WDW just to exchange my poncho!). If you want a more durable poncho, go to the camping section of Walmart or Target. They have a heavyweight poncho for $4, and a midweight one (still a bit stronger than the WDW ones) for under $3. The WDW ones are $7, I think.

 

[disneyde]

which are the coolest when it's hot?