Rainy day - which park is best?
looking for park with most inside attractions to visit on a rainy day.
I am visiting 5 Theme Parks this weekend, IOA, Universal, Magic Kingdom, Epcot & Hollywood Studios. Saturday forcast looks like rain..which is the best to visit on a rainy day? Need park with lots of indoor attractions.
At Universal Studios, every attraction except for Rockit, Jaws, and Woody Woodpecker is inside/under cover and the queues are either inside or under cover. Plus, the 3 attractions mentioned still run in the rain - they only shut down for lightning or high winds and re-evaluate every 10 minutes.
Definitely do NOT go to Islands of Adventure - it's the complete opposite there. Only Forbidden Journey,Spiderman, Poseidon, and Cat in the Hat operate in lightning storms.
As for Disney Parks, I'm thinking EPCOT is the way to go because all the rides are inside pavilions for the most part, except Test Track would likely close for lightning.
As with all parks, you would have to be brave enough to run from ride to ride ;)
Everything is inside for EPCOT except Test Track. I would pick that one!
From David L.
Posted February 2, 2011 at 7:12 PM
I actually would not pick Epcot. Tons of Epcot's fun comes from the architecture of the buildings(world showcase and future world). While most of the attractions are indoors it is very hard, if not impossible to enjoy the world showcase in the rain(except mexico). Illuminations most likely doesn't run in the rain either so that would a huge miss. Universal would probably be better as there is less to see outside and it is much smaller(certainly not the 300+ acre themepark that Epcot is).
From Rob P
Posted February 3, 2011 at 3:03 AM
The rain doesn't bother me at all. All the major parks have indoor stuff anyway but if the outdoor rides are still running then it doesn't much matter to me.
EPCOT's world showcase is still okay in the rain too. In fact in some places, like "my very own" UK exhibit, the wet weather lends a touch of authenticity. ( lol )
Hollywood Studios would be my choice...I think all you would miss out on is the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show (not sure if that would run in the rain or not, seems like it would be a safety concern). The big three attractions there are: Toy Story, Rock and Roller Coaster, and Tower of Terror, and they are all indoors. Also, Indiana Jones Stunt show and the Great Movie Ride are indoors...its also, in my opinion, the easiest crowd to walk from attraction to attraction in. Also, it has the American Idol experience, which takes place in a huge indoor theater. I would definitely go Hollywood Studios for a rainy day.
A water park! Haha just kidding although that does have to be my most pleasant experience in the rain.
Lets see what theme parks have I done and remember doing in the rain?
DHS
IOA
Epcot
and I believe we were dodging the rain storms last time we went to Universal.
DHS was miserable because we had a group of 15 girls none of us had a poncho and we couldn't keep everyone together. Once we set up a system however it was all gravy. We just took extra long in the shops and when everyone was read high tailed it to the next thing. (Very heavy rain that day)
IOA was miserable. There was no where to duck into to get your ponchos out if you had them. The little shelter there was in the area was overcrowded and you couldn't sit down to eat if you chose to do that. We ended up leaving within the hour and waiting the storm out. Luckily we stayed on site. (Semi light-medium rain)
Epcot was okay. We had a group of maybe 10 I think it was a little less. 2 adults the rest were older children (late middle school/highschool). All of us had been there before so we didn't waste our time looking at the buildings and such. Again we spent more time in the shops did a few things/rides we wouldnt normally do and just walked quickly to the next one. This was my my enjoyable experience but then again it was only sprinkling/scattered.
Universal was okay too. Again we had all been there before so we didn't look around much. We pretty much just road Men in Black back to back and Mummy back to back waiting on the shower to stop. When it did we moved on to the next things dipping in and out of shops as needed.
Long story short- bring a $1.00 poncho that you buy AT HOME and you should be fine. Better yet buy/bring a nice rain jacket and a pair of good shoes. As long as you're prepared most theme parks in Orlando are just fine in the rain.
From Tim Odom
Posted February 3, 2011 at 11:28 AM
I have done every single park down there in the rain (damn Tropical Storm Fay just would not leave, but it did make riding Splash Mountain hilarious.)
Right off the bat, take out Island of Adventure and Animal Kingdom. AK has a lot of outdoor attractions that really are kinda meh in the rain. Islands is almost all outside, so I would skip that too. Universal is ok, but (and this is just me), I tend to do Universal and Islands in 1 day, so I would not do Universal in the rain.
MK is ok in the rain, but it depends on what you do. Really, there are only a few major attractions that are outdoors and uncovered. But, and I advise this out of experience, do NOT ride Thunder Mountain in the rain unless you have someone sitting next to you. Plastic bench seats, when wet, can be very slippy. That makes this a painful ride.
DHS is ok, but the shows there might not run in the rain. At least the major attractions are inside, but, honestly, I would do DHS on a clear night that they are running Fantasmic.
Epcot is almost all indoors, and Test Track is almost always running. This is a great choice, to be honest, as when it starts really raining, you can just go into come pavillion and shop or something.
So, I would recommend MK or Epcot, depending on what rides you are interested in and what (if any) fireworks show you want to see. Disney is good about running rides in the rain (almost everything runs to the point of hilarity, I mean I rode Splash Mountain in a monsoon, and could have ridden again.) So I would stay there, probably at Epcot.
Tim- I can't even imagine being at Disney World during that one! I'm five hours north and it was only a tropical storm when it got to us but it dropped 15" of rain before she finally left. It flooded out my current city and we're still feeling the repercussions.
I just imagine coming around the bends on Splash mountain and being stuck underneath a waterfall the entire time!
From Tim Odom
Posted February 4, 2011 at 6:19 AM
Oh Splash Mountain was a blast to be honest. By that point, we were all drenched, so it was more of a 'oh, what the heck, let's ride a flume in a downpour.' The best part was we were asked if we wanted to ride again (since the line was empty) but declined due to having non-riders waiting for us.
Don't go to EPCOT. When we went to EPCOT, it began to rain like crazy and it honestly wasn't any fun. Definitely go with Universal studios Florida, that park is perfect as like said above, almost all of the attractions are indoors!
From Rob P
Posted February 4, 2011 at 9:59 AM
Tim......we experienced the same on Jurassic Park River Adventure during a torrential storm.
In fact I think the gung-ho spirit of " we're all in this together " shared by everyone in the Parks that year added immensely to my enjoyment.
Most of us were kitted out in those plastic yellow raincovers which was bizarre as you could barely tell if you were still with the same people you set off with. I lost my wife at least 3 times and grabbed the hand of some poor unsuspecting soul before realising my mistake.
All good fun.Which only goes to show that bad weather in the Parks isn't always a bad thing. Just different.
One day we got stuck in the rain at Magic Kingdom without rain gear not fun, we ran to the car grabbed our $1 rain ponchos and headed to Hollywood Studios which worked great. Also because we had no choice but to go to IOA in the rain and I would definately NOT recommend going there on a rainy day..the plus side was line ups for Harry Potter were great and the village looked awesome on a wet day. We went to Universal and had a great day...definately the best park on a rainy day : )
Thanks for all the great advice!
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