The saying goes that a rainy day at Disney is better than a sunny day at home.  However, you still get wet and you have to deal with wet clothes when you get back to the room.  There is always that chance you get caught out unprepared and come back to the room soaked.

This happened to my family once.  We were trying to ride out what we thought was going to be a passing sprinkle.  We went on It’s A Small World hoping the rain would stop.  It didn’t.  It was coming down even harder.  We made the long walk through the Magic Kingdom.  Thankfully, we were staying at the Contemporary so we had a quick walk back to our room.  But we were still soaked.  The hardest thing to dry out were our shoes.  Some of us, namely me, still had damp shoes the next day.

What can you do to reduce your chances of getting soaked at Disney?

1) Download a weather app where you can view a radar in real-time

The best app that I’ve found with a real-time radar is Weather Underground.  It’s easy to use and you can animate the map to see if any weather is moving away from you or if it’s going to end up in your lap.  You can use this information to your advantage.  You can jump into a line with a covered queue before the rain comes and try to wait out the storm (most rain in Florida, especially in the summer, is short-lived) by waiting in the queue and going on the attraction.  It helps if the attraction has an indoor area like a gift shop or interactive exhibits after the attraction is complete and it’s still rain.  This has bailed my family out a bunch of times.  A storm would be on the verge of rolling in that when we would get into a queue.  The longer the queue the better as long as it was undercover.

2) Take in a movie at Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney is home to a 24-screen movie theater.  It’s split into two sections.  There is a 18-screen section which is more of a traditional movie theater where guests can order standard movie concessions (popcorn, oversized candy boxes, etc.).  There is also six-screen section which is the dine-in section where guests can order a meal and eat it at your seat in the theater.

Sample Menu

This theater is a good way to kill off a rainy afternoon in Florida.  Guests would need to travel to Downtown Disney which is takes some time.  Go to the movie which is another two-plus hours and then get back to their resort or park.  My family has gone to a movie at the Downtown Disney theater and I believe it the entire event took a little over 4 hours taking into account transportation time and movie time.

3) Go to Disney Quest at Downtown Disney

DAD TIP: Unless you purchase the Water Parks and More Option on your park tickets.  Disney Quest has an admission cost.  This cost is $38/adult and $33/child (if bought in advance) or $45.80/adult and $39.41/child (at the door).

Disney Quest is a massive interactive attraction.  And it’s entirely indoors.  This makes it perfect for those rare days where it rains from morning until night.  You can spend the entire day at Disney Quest if you desire.  It’s filled with interactive attractions in four main zones (explore, score, create, and replay) and a food court.

4) Buy a Disney Poncho

This is probably the best $10-15 purchase a guest can make at Disney.  Be sure to hold onto the receipt.  If you have the receipt and something happens to the poncho, Disney will replace it no questions asked.  These ponchos can handle a lot of rain and keep you dry in the parks if you decide to brave the rain.

When the rains come, the guests usually head for the exits.  If you have one of these ponchos are willing to brave the rain, you’ll have a shorter lines at the attractions since most of the guests will be heading back to their resort and not in the parks.  If you are a “park commando,” these ponchos are a must have.

5) Plan for rain and schedule your day accordingly

This is a good idea especially in the summer when there is a thunderstorm just about every day later in the afternoon.  The one summer trip that my family took….we planned for rain everyday and built our schedule and dining reservations around this fact.  We would try to get the parks as early as possible.  We would, then, start to head back to the resort around lunch time.  Go swimming early in the afternoon and watch the storms start to roll in.  Head back to the room when the lifeguards would throw everyone out the pool because of lightning.  Get changed, have a snack while watching it rain, and then head back to parks/dining reservation in the late afternoon/early evening.  If we had a dining reservation, we would go back to the parks later in the evening after the weather had cooled everything off.

These are just some of my ideas for staying dry during a rainy day at Walt Disney World.  What are some of your ideas to stay dry?

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