Weather - I'm British!

I’m British so we love to talk about the weather.
However we leave for Disneyworld tomorrow and the weather ain’t looking so good… I am trying not to break down and cry so thought best to ask on here… Just how bad is the rain over there at the moment? We have ponchos and umbrellas - do you think umbrellas are better for sheer ease of being able to put them up quickly and down quickly - without having to carry around a wet poncho all day…
Sorry to be freaking out - We’ve waited 3 years for this holiday!
(and just how bad is the weather at the moment?)

I would, personally, stick with the ponchos! An umbrella would certainly get on my nerves :grin:
Just remember that when it rains, the parks can become quieter, so a good time to ‘keep calm and poncho up’!
Take a couple of zip lock bags with you for wet bits and bobs…
I’ve found, because it’s warm, the rain doesn’t seem so bad, it’s certainly better than the cold rain lashed Midlands anyway :grin::wink:

I wore a hat. Saved my face and neck from sunburn, and kept my head from getting wet in the rain.

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I live here. No matter what time you plan to come from May through October it will storm everyday from 3:00 on. Sometimes the storms end in an hour and you are rid of them, and sometimes they will linger through the evening like they have been this week. That is because we currently have a cyclone circling above us. If it has started lower in the tropics it would have been a hurricane.

I have already been to WDW once this week and am going today. Ponchos are definitely the way to go.

We were on Splash Mountain on Tuesday. We had just gotten down the drop and were celebrating that we had managed to escape getting wet at the bottom when we felt a couple of rain drops. By the time we had gotten to the waterfall, just 30 feet away, it was pouring on us!!! There was so much water in such a short amount of time, there was a river of water flowing underneath our bottoms!!!

We would have gotten in trouble for putting up our umbrellas which we did have with us. We opted for the ponchos which we covered ourselves with like a blanket. We had no time to put them on, but they did the trick by just laying them on top of us like a tent.

Umbrellas are a pain to have to take up and take down and to carry around all day. We bring them but we rarely use them, and they make the back pack heavy. For some reason, we always keep thinking they will be worth to bring, but they really aren’t.

Ponchos make it so you can move about in a hurry, and this you will need to do. They dry out pretty quickly with the breezes that come after the storms.

As for the rain itself, Florida is the “lightning capital of the world”. Keep your eye closely on the sky, and if you see a downpour heading your way, plan your place of shelter and you will be ahead of the game, meaning you will be able to find a comfortable place to hide out the storm while others are scrambling.

You will get to know your fellow park attendees during these storms as everyone squishes under shelter until the storm passes. Keep your eyes on the cast members and do what they do. If they begin to disappear off of the walkways and streets, that means you should disappear. Once they start walking about again, it is safe for you to do so.

Plan to hide out a storm for up to 1 1/2 hours when this happens, and don’t lose your nerve. The storms are all part of the fun and the memories!!! We laughed so hard when that rain came pouring down onto us right after we had successfully gotten down the drop on Splash Mountain dry. It was most definitely our best Splash Mountain memory!

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I thought the line around here (courtesy of, I believe, @missoverexcited) is “Poncho up and crack on!”

YMMV, as always. :smiley: :wink:

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Weather reports have been exceptionally wrong here this week. Morning shower predictions end up not happening but overcast predictions brings heavy downpours.

Your best bet is to download a weather app, I’m finding dark sky surprisingly accurate this time (didn’t think so much of it two years ago). And before setting out to do anything, check it. If the chance if anything is more than 10%, bring the poncho. Cause that 10% can grow and quickly.

Umbrellas are heavy in comparison and a nuisance. I would also recommend a poncho will longer sleeves if you can snag one.

Overall, no rain has lasted more than a few hours this entire trip, even mondays monsoon soaking stopped a lot at times before going again.