Your Favorite Weather-Related WDW Moment

[BelleBeauty]

I am sitting in my office, holed up with pouring rain outside in NYC today - and the rain is only getting stronger. With this bad weather, I was kind of inspired to write this thread.

What is your favorite weather-related moment? I know that rain can usually ruin a WDW trip - even though those of us who go in the summer can expect the standard afternoon downpour. However, sometimes bad weather can lead you in a new WDW direction, show you something you wouldn't have experienced otherwise, create some family memories that you wouldn't have with the sunshine.

I can still remember being in Toon Town during our first WDW trip ever. We were forced to take refuge in a store there. It was so much fun to be stranded with other families, look at the merchandise, and stand in the very large open doorway looking at everyone outside and Goofy's Barnstormer. Nothing particularly amazing happened, but I still hold on to that memory.

How about everyone else?

[DawsonAR]

We were there for Hurricane Jeanne. We had a ride we didn’t intend on.

[StitchplusTink=STINK]

as you know florida is famous for its constant heat.(which i am a victim of, i live here)so on my first WDW trip it was really hot.so i had my first mickey ears ice cream bar to cool off. i have always had to get one ever since. it started a tradition for me.

[Zippy_D_DooDah]

New Years Eve 2000 into 2001. There was a freeze warning for Orlando. Brrrrrrrrrrrr. I wasn't prepared. The daytime wasn't that bad, but as soon as the sun went down I froze my...uh... EARS off... And we couldn't leave because my friend was proposing to his girlfriend at midnight, and because it was NYE we had been in the park (MGM) since around 8:30am. We attempted to ignore the cold by watching Sister Hazel perform at Indiana Jones... but the metal bleechers made things worse. By the end of the night, everyone was packed into the stores along Hollywood Blvd. I was sitting beneath a rack of clothes. We made it to midnight, he proposed, she said yes, and we all went to Atlantis for the wedding later that year.

Speaking of the weather, have you ever been driving around in the afternoon and the sky is bright blue with a few puffy clouds and said to yourself that THIS is a Disney day? I find myself doing this more and more on beautiful afternoons.

[JCDarzi]

My favorite weather related Disney item is a trip that my DH and I took pre-kids about 7 years ago. It was in September and we had a constant drizzling rain for most of the 4 days we were there. As a result, there were no lines for anything. The rain wasn't hard enough to shut most things down. We did more in those 4 days than we have done with our kids in the last 3 trips we've made to Disney.

Nothing like a rain to clear the parks.

[Speedy1998]

Dec 19, 2003 It was freezing, after Wishes the park emptied except for a few die hards. I road BTM till it closed, and then got a almost private viewing of Spectrolmagic. The only people within 100 yards of me were the CMs that set up the ropes.

[jenperich]

Everytime my friend Jen and I are at WDW, we always seem to get stuck in thunderstorms. Once when staying at POR in the Alligator Bayou we we thisclose to getting hit by lightening! Yikes!!! Another time that same trip, the smoke was so bad from brush fires near WDW, we almost couldn't go eat breakfast.

[Jasper]

I am sitting in my office, holed up with pouring rain outside in NYC today - and the rain is only getting stronger. With this bad weather, I was kind of inspired to write this thread.

I don't know that I have a good weather story to relate, but I just want you to know I am jealous that you are getting a good soaking rain!! In our part of southern Indiana we have not had any substantial rain since the beginning of May.

The reason this is such a problem is that May is normally our wet month that recharges the groundwater and sets us up for the summer. As it is, the yards and gardens all look like they do in late September rather than the beginning of June!!

[BelleBeauty]

I'm sorry that you haven't had any rain! Hopefully some of our will blow over.

[spoonfulosugar]

Walking to Christmas Eve dinner in Itlay ('06), minding our own business...a few drops come down, then some big drops, then an insane downpour that happened way too quickly for us to get the umbrellas, cover the stroller, etc. The rain was coming down sideways, like an attack! By the time we reached Alfredo's we were soaked all the way through our clothes. Definately a Christmas Eve dinner to remember.

[Aurora]

I don't know that I have a good weather story to relate, but I just want you to know I am jealous that you are getting a good soaking rain!! In our part of southern Indiana we have not had any substantial rain since the beginning of May.

The reason this is such a problem is that May is normally our wet month that recharges the groundwater and sets us up for the summer. As it is, the yards and gardens all look like they do in late September rather than the beginning of June!!

Wow -- that's so weird because here in Chicago we've been getting good rains over a period of several days for the last few weeks. It even reminds me of Florida because it will rain really hard for about a 1/2 hour then clear up and the sun will come out. We've even had two rainbows in the same week. (Odd for Chicago.)

My favorite WDW weather story was back in 1997 when my DD was 1, we went to Typhoon Lagoon and a thunderstorm came in and sat there for about two hours. Of course they closed the park but we waited it out, and they reopened at about 7 p.m. We had the whole water park almost to ourselves! I swear there couldn't have been more than 50 people in the whole place. It was fantastic.

[Rayadragon]

I've only got one bad weather memory from WDW. We don't go all that often and we've been lucky to have had mostly good weather. I can very clearly remember one time at Epcot when there was a bad storm when my brother and I were young (about 11 and 8 maybe?). My parents bought some of those clear WDW ponchos, but they only got 3 for the 4 of us. My brother and I were still small enough that we were able to both fit in his wheelchair, and we wound up sharing a poncho. I remember looking out at all of the crowds and puddles on the ground through one of the poncho sleeves while being pushed around the world showcase.

[pook@wdw]

WDW in the heat, WDW in the rain, WDW in the cold...who cares! As long as I'm at WDW, it doesn't matter what the weather is like!! last year, just as we were finishing up our 1st attraction for the day (Splash Mountain), it began to rain. (like we weren't wet already). On went the ponchos, and off we went to continue our day. Imagine my surprise, coming thru Frontierland and only seeing maybe 30-40 people walking thru as well. No lines, no crowds inside any attractions, and no heat!! We always hope for rain when we're there!!

[MaryPoppinsFan]

My favorite weather related story at WDW was almost 11 years ago. My son's first trip he was 15 months and we were at MGM. we got caught in a sudden downpour and we ducked into a character lunch somewhere ( i dont remember which one) it was with teh Alladin characters. Meeko the raccoon was there too and there was hardly anyone in there. Meeko asked (as only a raccoon can do) that we take my son out of the high chair so they could play. they promptly sat down on the floor and played and colored for almost 30mins. I have some of the most precious video and pictures of this. I stood there like a goofball and cried the whole time.
It was a magical moment I will never forget. and really made the Magic of Disney so real for us

[BelleBeauty]

My favorite weather related story at WDW was almost 11 years ago. My son's first trip he was 15 months and we were at MGM. we got caught in a sudden downpour and we ducked into a character lunch somewhere ( i dont remember which one) it was with teh Alladin characters. Meeko the raccoon was there too and there was hardly anyone in there. Meeko asked (as only a raccoon can do) that we take my son out of the high chair so they could play. they promptly sat down on the floor and played and colored for almost 30mins. I have some of the most precious video and pictures of this. I stood there like a goofball and cried the whole time.
It was a magical moment I will never forget. and really made the Magic of Disney so real for us

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Rain seems to bring magic to Disney experiences! Why can't it be that way in NYC today?

[BelleBeauty]

Now that I've gone the whole day looking at all of your posts - I've remembered another weather-related moment of my own!

Our first annual siblings trip a few years ago was our first experience with EMH. We were in the MK on a summe evening when it was going to be open until 2am. Right as EMH started it started to pour. We were in line for SplashM and by the time we were off it had stopped and the ground was covered with puddles. It seems that everyone else had left for the evening. I remember doing HM, walking through to Fantasyland, walking on to PPF, Pooh, anything we wanted and we might have seen two other families!

[Llamaface23]

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Rain seems to bring magic to Disney experiences! Why can't it be that way in NYC today?

Speaking of NYC rain today, I got caught in the rain today, minus an umbrella. Only walked blocks but was soaked to the bone!

My favorite weather-WDW memory was the first trip my boyfriend and I took to WDW together. We were eating at Ohana's and seated at next to the window. Toward the end of our meal, it got really dark and began to rain buckets! So instead of heading back to the park we sat in the lobby looking out at the rain and watching kids play. Nothing amazing, but it was sweet and we enjoyed the opportunity to take a step back from our hectic trip and just enjoy a nice, Florida summer rain.

[angedeaile]

I guess I am one of the few that absolutely LOVES the rain. No matter where I am, I just love it. The smell, the sound, the feel...yes...I often go out in the rain.

Anywho, when it poured on our Epcot leg of our trip, it was amazing!

Right before it began to pour, we got a funnel cake and sat over by the Japan Pavilion.

That is when it came down hard and everyone began to run over to take shelter. Once we finished the funnel cake, we went inside the gift shop and bought some ponchos. Go figure that we forgot to bring them that day. The only day on our trip that we forgot.

SO here we are, wandering World Showcase in the pouring rain with no one around. Everyone took shelter inside buildings, so it felt like we were the only ones in the showcase. It was great.

[MickeyDreamer]

I would not really call this a favorite weather related event but in dec. 2001 it was the coldest that I have ever seen it when there. it was in the high 20 several mornings. I can remember going into EPCOT and running into the first store under spaceship earth on the left walking into the park to buy a sweat shirt because I was so cold. When I came out I swear there was flurries in the air and not the type that WDW makes. I know seeing our breath every morning was pretty standard that visit. brrrr CRAZY!!! and I left new england trying to get out of the cold weather. So this has me wondering has anyone else been there and ever seen a brief snow flurry at WDW?

[Alpha Jeanie]

We visited Disney World last May (2006). I had been watching the Orlando forcast for the week we were to be there and it predicted scattered thunder storms for every day we were there!!

I searched several store to find the right ponchos to pack for me, DH, DS9, DD3. We left for Florida from Texas with all of rainy weather gear packed.

To our suprise & delight, the weather was beautiful the whole week we were there (with one exception). We had ADR's at Ohana one night and it looked like it was going to rain. We walked into the Polynesian, got seated at Ohana and the rain came down!! It was a pretty good thunderstorm and very windy. The sky was totally purple! We ate our AWESOME dinner & delicious dessert at Ohana and as soon as we left the building the rain stopped. There was the most beautiful rainbow in the sky. I don't know how we did it, but we timed it perfectly. We totally missed the storm. We could not have planned it better if we knew what was going to happen.


We plan to go back the Disney next May (2008) and I can only hope for such perfect weather.

Always plan for the worst (weather that is) and hope for the best!!! Even a wet day at Disney is magical.