Disney Parks and the Elements

The weather during a trip to the Disney parks can play a major role in how your week goes. It really stinks to wait for months for a Disney trip, only to have it ruined by a week of pouring rain. Even though most of the rides are covered, the nighttime shows are often canceled because of the rain, and you lose a lot of the park's ambiance not being outdoors. However the elements have made for a few good stories as well.

In 2007, we had been battling the rain for a few days and I was beginning to get frustrated at having to wear a raincoat for most of the week. Additionally, Fantasmic, my favorite nighttime show, is not performed in the rain and it was about 2 hours to showtime. While standing around waiting to get into the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater where the show is performed, I mentioned to a cast member standing by "hey, can you tell the big man upstairs to stop the rain?" Without hesitation, the cast member faced the heavens with his open hand cupped to his mouth and said "HEY WALT!" I burst into laughter, but sure enough, 30 minutes before showtime the rain stopped.

However, my favorite weather/Fantasmic memory was when I was there with my aunt and uncle, who had never seen the show. Like the 2007 incident, it had been raining all day long and the show was about to start. While sitting on the bleachers in the pouring rain, the announcement was made over the speakers that Fantasmic can be canceled due to inclement weather. The crowd moaned - would we be able to see the show? This was our only shot during this trip, as we had plans for the last few nights. As the drizzle continued, at 8 PM the introduction to the show started: "Good evening and welcome to Fantasmic!" The crowd erupted as if the hometown football team just scored a last second touchdown. The rain stopped in the next 5 minutes.

I've mentioned that I'm a big fan of recording the Disney park music that seems to pour from every corner of the park. I really wanted to get the Fantasyland music - that stuff that sounds like Bavarian/Austrian/German ooompah music. Since it was drizzling, I had my recorder tucked into a plastic bag and I hid it across from where Peter Pan is, by where the Skyway used to dock. While it was recording, the mic also picked up raindrops hitting every so often. Even though it's not a pristine copy of the music, when I listen to it it gives me a nice feeling of what that day in the park was like.

Finally, my father particularly likes to go to the water parks when it's raining, and he has a decent reason why: there are no crowds. For some reason, people at the water parks run for the buses when the rain starts. I never fully understood this either; Aren't you supposed to get wet at a water park? We used this to our advantage: I have fond memories of repeatedly hustling to the top of the storm slides over and over again as the line was non-existant. The park had cleared out completely 30 minutes after the rain started.