Summer Rain in Florida

There are some guarantees about living in Florida. In the summer, the “feels like” temperature will definitely hit 100, if not the actual temperature. Tourists will complain about the heat, and wonder how we live here. Another certainty is that, during the summer, most days it will rain. It’s a humid subtropical climate, which means we nearly mimic the conditions of a rainforest. This means it will rain, a lot, and often. So the best way to deal with this is to be prepared, especially if you are planning a trip to Disney World.

Nearly every day in the summer, it rains in the afternoon, when the heat is reaching its highest point. This is one of the many reasons that we try to do all outdoor activities as early in the morning as possible. If you get out and about early, you will most likely have several hours without the threat of rain looming ominously. When we are at Walt Disney World, and particularly the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, where most rides are outdoors, we plan to do all of our favorite outside rides as early as possible. For us, this means hitting Mine Train, Thunder Mountain, Barnstormer, Tomorrowland Speedway, and Dumbo. On our last trip, we had fast passes for the Jungle Cruise in the afternoon, which I new was a gamble. Our fast passes were scheduled for about 20 minutes after this picture was taken.

Needless to say, that ride was not available. A great benefit of this is, when the ride that you have a booked fast pass for is not available for whatever reason (weather or technical difficulties), you automatically get a replacement for almost any ride in the park.  This worked out so well for us last Saturday, because I had really wanted all the kids to meet the talking Mickey Mouse in Town Square Theater on Main Street, but had not been able to get a fast pass scheduled for that at a time that worked for us. When Jungle Cruise was unavailable, we were then able to magically go over and meet Mickey!

If you are traveling with kids, you know it is best to be prepared. In order to be prepared for rainy, stormy summer days in Florida, always travel with ponchos and umbrellas. Almost as importantly, bring something that you can use to cover the seats of the stroller if you can’t find a covered parking spot. But trust me, it’s really worth looking around for a few minutes to try and find a spot that will be covered during a storm. Soggy stickers, maps, popcorn, and worst of all, seats, make for grumpy parents and children.

Don’t let the weather scare you away! I rarely even look at the weather report or check my weather app on my phone because it’s very unreliable in the fast changing Florida summer. It can literally be raining in the front of Magic Kingdom on Main Street, and not pouring in Frontierland. Of course, it’s always wise to be wary of lightning, and take cover if you hear thunder. But wait it out, watch an indoor show or go on a long inside ride, and then go back out and enjoy the lessened humidity and lower crowds!