Would you bring an umbrella?

[englishteacha]

We plan on bringing ponchos with us to WDW. I'm not fond of rain, and last time we were there it rained every day. I saw some tiny umbrellas at Walmart today and was wondering if an umbrella would be useful, or more of a pain than it's worth.

I see some pros and cons here:
Pros:
keeps rain off my head and out of my eyes
I won't have to worry about keeping a hood on my head (maybe I have a small head, but poncho hoods never stay up on me!)
I could use it to shade myself in the sun

Cons:
takes up more space than a poncho (and I will be bringing those, too)
heavier than poncho
could take someone's eye out
only covers one person
I already own 3 umbrellas

Hmmm...cons list is longer by 2...What are your thoughts, my fellow Disneyphiles?

 

[Goofy_4_WDW]

I really would not like to carry an umbrella around even though it's small, but thats just me.

 

[MinMouse]

IMO it would be a bother to have to carry an umbrella. Usually FLA rainshowers are short lived.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

I have ponchos in our carryon and two umbrellas from Dollar Tree that fit in my backpack. I carried two umbrellas on our last trip and they didn't fold as compactly and were a little heavier than the two I bought for this trip.

 

[fancythemouse]

Glad someone asked, I wasnt sure

 

[FINFAN]

We do both poncho/umbrella...DS can't stand a sticky poncho on in the heat of August...they are even harder to fit on a child ( even the youth ones) so he grabs the umbrella. Since he is shorter than us, we make him walk in front of us and we "steer" his umbrella so he does not invade someone elses space. We adults us the ponchos, unless it's REALLY coming down...then ti's 2 to an umbrella and the mad dash to a building and freeze in the A/C!


Pam

 

[CleveRocks]

I see some pros and cons here:
Pros:
keeps rain off my head and out of my eyes
I won't have to worry about keeping a hood on my head (maybe I have a small head, but poncho hoods never stay up on me!)
I could use it to shade myself in the sun

Cons:
takes up more space than a poncho (and I will be bringing those, too)
heavier than poncho
could take someone's eye out
only covers one person
I already own 3 umbrellas

Hmmm...cons list is longer by 2...What are your thoughts, my fellow Disneyphiles?

In my line of work, we consider something we call the risk:benefit ratio. The risk of taking someone's eye out seems to override the benefits. (I'm saying this with a smirk, not a wagging finger)

In all seriousness, I find umbrellas in crowded areas to be a hazard.

 

[Feralpeg]

Umbrellas during Florida thunderstorms are not recommended. Lightening likes umbrellas.

 

[WIDisneyFan]

From a bit of a selfish standpoint I would say skip the umbrella. I am 6'4 and it is amazing just how easy it is to get hit in the face with the "points" on an umbrella.

 

[OKW Lover]

There's another con for umbrellas; they aren't much help if its windy. Those Florida afternoon thunderstorms often are accompanied by wind gusts that can destroy an umbrella.

 

[Legend of Odon]

I vote to skip the umbrella as well. I've been to drizzly, misty, rainy (but I LOVE the place!) Scotland every August for the past ten years. The first year I had umbrellas, raincoats, etc and found putting the umbrella up and down constantly a pain. So from year 2 and onwards I skipped the umbrella, knew from time to time I'd get a little wet and had a great time. If it rained really hard I'd just step into a shop until it let up or if the forecast was for rain for a full day I'd adjust my plans accordingly and do more "indoor" activities (ie Shopping........always had my teenage shopper daughter with me!! )

So we will be at WDW this August instead (oh how I will miss you Glasgow and Edinburgh.... ) and will be prepared for some rainy days without umbrellas.

 

[Evil Queen]

I rarely use an umbrella in everyday life, I would be scared I'd hurt someone with an umbrella in Disney. Now, for the parking lots, I could maybe see myself using one. No where to duck into.

 

[beattyfamily]

We don't use umbrellas at Disney. Too dangerous. Especially in ride lines.

They will not let you use them at shows like Fantasmic. They will ask you to close it.

 

[MickeyMonstersMom]

We don't even use the ponchos! I guess we just don't mind being wet. We brought (what seemed like) 50 ponchos on our first WDW trip, so we could discard the opened ones and not have to worry about folding them back up and fitting them into our fanny packs. We wore them once during a cloudburst one afternoon, and none of us cared for the plastic sticking to our skin. After that, we either ran for cover or just enjoyed the rain. Then again, we rode KRR so often during that trip, I don't think we ever completely dried off, anyway! I still have those 47 ponchos left, but the kids tell me not to bother. I'm happy to have less in the fanny pack, and would never add an umbrella to the burden.

 

[abbie13_15]

i would't want one for myself. It's just another thing to carry around and I wouldn't want to fight the crowds with it.

 

[tmt martins]

I tip for the poncho is use a hat or visor as well this will keep the rain out of your eyes and helps keep the hood up.

I also think it's just another hazard to try to dodge with the umbrella.

 

[PocahontasLookALike]

OKW Lover brings up a good point about the wind destroying your umbrella. This happened while waiting for IllumiNations. It started to drizzle, so we pulled out our ultra compact umbrellas, but with the rain coming in at such an angle, it only kept our faces wet...then the wind kicked up and completely wrecked our umbrellas. We just laughed and tossed them in the trash.

Went and bought two disney ponchos the next day. We don't have a problem with them sticking to us...I can see how they would stick, but we've never had that problem.

 

[DebbieTN]

I personally hate ponchos. I always get the umbrellas at Dollar Tree. They're flat , so the fit into your purse or backpack very well and they're a DOLLAR. If you lose it, no big deal. I usually take a small plastic bag(I like the bag the newspaper comes in) to put a wet umbrellla in if needed. I've never had any problem carrying one around or hitting anyone.

 

[Disney D]

There's another con for umbrellas; they aren't much help if its windy. Those Florida afternoon thunderstorms often are accompanied by wind gusts that can destroy an umbrella.

This is exactly what I was going to say!!!!!

Also the rain, although very heavy, doesn't actually last too long. Personally I wouldn't carry an umberella around. In the Florida heat everything you carry seems 10 times heavier, the less you carry the better.

 

[snugglepeas]

the last time we went to disney world, we were sitting waiting to see the car show when it started to downpour, people started opening up umbrellas and then a CM came over the loud speaker telling everyone that the had to close there umbrellas for safty reasons.