Afternoon All!
So my family and I are going to Disney on May 19th and we will be back on May 23rd. I got an email from Disney today with “Final Tips” and all that jazz. The email showed that it is going to rain 3 of our 4 park days. Touring Plans shows it raining the same days. When I go to Weather.com and put in for Orlando, FL on the days of our trip it shows sunny with a 10% chance of rain every single day we are there. I know Florida is known for the occasional shower, but these results are on opposite ends of the spectrum. In your experience, which source of information would be more dependable regarding weather: TP/Disney or Weather.com? Thanks all!
Oh, good question. I want to know too
In my experience, all forecasts are bad except for the next 120 minute precipitation watch on the accuweather app !!! We always have our rain gear (which is very light weight) at the bottom of our stroller…
3 Likes
Agree it’s too far out to predict. I bet you the forecast will be different tomorrow. I found Dark sky to be the best though. Just plan on a brief afternoon shower.
Thanks guys! I have packed a 10-pack of ponchos with drawstring hoods and plan on not letting the rain stop us from doing anything, but there is always that thing in the back of your head where you need a backup plan for the backup plan. Was not sure how many backups I needed to make! 
You know, I actually kinda like it when it rains at WDW. It scares a bunch of people away, it usually does not last for too long and it doesn’t make too many rides close. Plus it’s so bloody hot and humid down there that we’re always wet anyway. Might as well be drenched in rain than drenched in sweat !!!
As long as it’s not raining during the fireworks or Fantasmic…
So the weather forecast for the area isn’t specific about rain? Like early afternoon vs evening, length of storms, little drizzle to torrential downpours?
I’m going to get wet.
The weather App I use on my phone (which is usually pretty accurate) as of today is showing sunny and around 90 every day next week. But FL weather is constantly changing; I rarely trust anything more than 2 or 3 days out. A 10 day forecast in Orlando is like trying to predict how long the SDD line will be at noon 2 weeks after SWGE opens…
3 Likes
Weather in FL is a lot of pop-up storms which are ridiculously hard to predict. They can often predict the likelihood of storms, but not exactly where and when they will pop-up.
Signed- a NC resident who knows all about pop-up storms. Our hourly weather forecast is rarely right, let alone a daily or week away forecast.
We used the Dark Sky app when we were there and it was so accurate. Plus it will give you notifications when rain is about to start. But, it would change daily so plan for rain at least once a day and pack ponchos!
Yeah, I noticed that to. It just said Sun: Rain, Mon: Rain, etc. in the Disney email I got. I enjoy rain to a point…but because they did not differentiate…it is kind of hard to interpret, hehe!
Hahahaha! I love that comparison! Thanks for putting a smile on my face today! I need it!
Thank you! I had never heard of that app so I am going to check it out for this trip!
You have to pay but web based is free.
Our forecast wasn’t good and then it kept changing and was so don’t panic. Only trust day of and even then it might not be accurate. What’s important to note is total precipitation- which Dark Sky will tell you. If it’s less than .25 inches that’s a passing shower for example.
1 Like
best $2.99 since I’ve spent, to be honest.
Weather apps are like an exercise in proper journalism: verify multiple sources before you start taking anything as fact. 
I usually start with the weather app on iOS (fueled by Weather.com). Which, in this interface, seems to be fairly inaccurate (or will exaggerate). So sometimes I even skip it. It’s about as useful as the in-room hotel channel. Gives kinda an idea of what’s going to happen today, but details are sketchy.
Accuweather and Dark Sky seem to be the most accurate for up-to-the-minute. But I still take their “predictions” with a grain of salt for anything more than a day out. They’re best for sending notifications to your phone when you’re about to get some rain (as in: you’re about to get rain in 5 minutes), or already in the rain and want to know how long it will last(accuweather is great for this). THey’re also great for listing the rain totals, which as @Flutegarden pointed out, if it’s low it’s more than likely a passing shower.
Then I use any Radar app to see the movement of the nearby storms. My preference is “Storm Radar” mostly because of the UI. What’s funny is this is also fueled by Weather.com
Thank you for the heads up! Free is my kinda language! 
1 Like
We also use Dark Sky. Best hyper-local weather app I’ve been able to find. 
1 Like