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A flyer that Disneyland once gave to guests on to announce rainy day procedures.

When I was younger, I went to Disneyland on an otherwise beautiful day. Once inside Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, I thought my day at the Magic Kingdom had come to an end when my uncle said we'd have to leave because of the rain storm conjured up by the gods and goddesses. Imagine my surprise - and delight - when I left the Adventureland attraction to find the same blue skies waiting for me as when I went in.

I was a lot younger then, young enough to be fooled. But in subsequent years, I've done my best to avoid rainy situations before setting foot inside the Happiest Place on Earth. I've been to Disneyland with darkened clouds overhead, with some sprinkles landing upon my head and even once in a wintery storm but I hadn't ever made the conscious decision to go to Disneyland in the rain. That is, until Saturday, March 15.

Kathy invited her sister, Janet, to join us for a day at Disneyland. It would be a chance for the two sisters to enjoy some time together and for us all to celebrate Janet's 25th birthday. At first Janet was concerned about the rainy day schedule until Kathy pointed out that the park would be less crowded. So the decision was made and off we went.

We got a little later start to our day than we would have normally if it was just Kathy and myself. We left for Anaheim around 9 or 9:30 in the morning, navigating our way on the rain-slickened California freeways. After we parked, we decided to put on the ponchos that we laughed at the day before and grabbed our umbrellas.

The first unpleasantness of the rainy day was the parking lot tram with soaking wet seats. It didn't seem the best way to start our day, but figuring that we'd get plenty wet the rest of the day, we pulled our ponchos down and sat down for our ride to the main entrance.

Kathy had planned for us to eat breakfast at La Brea Bakery, which has become sort of a tradition for us to do. Luckily, the restaurant side of the complex was closed to allow those of us ordering from the a la carte bar to sit inside instead of having to brave the rain on the patio. Our bacon, eggs and breads were good and the hot chocolate warmed my insides.

Janet bought her ticket without too much of a wait. There weren't that many guests braving the weather this Saturday. Even the security check and entrance into Disneyland were quick.

Since Janet was with us, it was a ride day. We headed over to the Indiana Jones attraction, hoping to get a FastPass. It seems that on rainy days, many FastPass machines are turned off. I'm not sure if that is because the smaller crowds don't warrant the machines to run or whether those attractions where they make you stand outside in the stand-by queue were re-done to allow waiting inside the attraction. It was only about a 10-minute wait to ride, so we elected to go right on in.

After narrowly avoiding the wrath of Mara, we hopped on Pirates of the Caribbean. Again, no FastPasses available and again, not much of a line. I liked all of the signs warning us that we may get wet on this attraction since we had already done a pretty good job of that walking to it.

A sign outside Pirates of the Caribbean warns about getting wet on the ride but you had a better chance of getting wet waiting in line outside the show building.

After riding down a waterfall and back up another, we headed further in New Orleans Square, where Janet got some coffee to warm up. We would get a FastPass for Haunted Mansion (one that was on) and head to the newly re-opened Critter Country to see if the new Winnie the Pooh store was open. It wasn't but the doors to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride were. You could see one or two sets from the walkway. I tried to take a picture but without any zoom, the most you can see is one of the ride vehicles parked inside the building.

We returned to the Haunted Mansion and took a trip with 999 of our closest spooks before heading to Tomorrowland. We stopped in Frontierland so that Kathy could replace a bead and a string from her keychain. Inside Pioneer Merchantile, the rain was coming through the ceiling and dripping onto a fixture. It was wet and the rain, rain, rain did come down, down, down.

Since Janet hadn't been to Innoventions and because it was a good place to get out of the rain, we decided to enter the carrousel building. We stayed for awhile, playing with the various games and checking out some of the exhibits, including the new Pioneer Virtual Resort. We really wanted to interact with Stitch, but he was unavailable and we didn't feel like waiting almost an hour for his return.

Exiting Innoventions, you got a good look at the "official" dress of a rainy day at the Magic Kingdom - blue Disneyland Resort ponchos.

By this time, we were hungry and Janet wanted a corn dog, so we headed down to Main Street. Most of the outdoor vending, including the Red Wagon corn dog cart, was closed because of the rain, so we decided once again to find someplace to sit down out of the wetness. So we headed over to Storyteller's Cafe to get some corn chowder.

It wasn't very busy at Storyteller's. At least, there was plenty of seating available. But we still had to wait 15 to 20 minutes to be seated. It was warm and dry inside. It was raining cats and dogs outside. Our food was brought and it was very good. Storyteller's turned out to be a good place to wait out the rain.

We cruised through the World of Disney on our way back to Disneyland. Another dry spot was waiting for us at the Walt Disney Story featuring Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln. The infamous Maynard was working there. I have never seen him so subdued. Janet liked this version of Lincoln better than the previous one, saying that it wasn't quite so boring.

When we exited the theater, the rain had stopped and you could actually see some evening sky between the parting clouds. We made our way down Main Street back to Tomorrowland, where we got a FastPass for Space Mountain, then got in to see Honey, I Shrunk the Audience with no wait. After the show, we hopped on Space. There wasn't much of a line but the cast members seemed to be in a race to see how quickly they could load and unload the rockets.

We were going to leave for home at this point since there wasn't going to be a parade, but Janet decided to ride Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. On our way from Tomorrowland to Toontown, we stopped and rode the Matterhorn. It hadn't been raining when we began our journey but as we were coming around the crystal cave, it was pouring - absolutely pouring - outside, which we would go in and out of as the sled made its way down the mountain.

The girls went on Roger, which they walked onto. We were going to take the train back to the entrance but had just missed being allowed on. One of the conductors said another train would be there in 10 minutes, so we decided just to walk back instead. Janet and Kathy stopped at one of the merchandise kiosks so that Janet could put together her own keychain. I hung out, taking pictures of it's a small world. Then the Rainy Day Calvalcade began its trip down the parade route. The R.D.C. is a three-vehicle "parade" of Disney characters that is supposed to substitute for the regularly scheduled parade. It's a nice thought, but don't blink, you might just miss it.

A bunch of characters piled into the Omnibus as part of the Rainy Day Calvalcade that replaces the regular parade during inclement weather.

Janet was still hankering for a corn dog so I offered to hop to Disney's California Adventure and get one for her from Corn Dog Castle. I arranged to meet up with Janet and Kathy at Whitewater Snacks. It was somewhat weird walking through DCA alone, near closing and in pursuit of a corn dog. Unfortunately, Corn Dog Castle had already closed for the evening, so I headed through the exit to the Grand Californian Hotel. Everyone decided to get something from Whitewater - Kathy, some soft tacos; myself, a hamburger; and Janet a "Coney Dog," a chili and cheese hot dog that just didn't hit the spot like a corn dog would have.

That ended our day. Twelve hours at the resort with rain for about 11 1/2 of them. Overall, it was a really fun day despite the cold and the rain. It helped that the park wasn't very crowded. I have never been more wet in my life and glad that we brought the ponchos and umbrellas with us.

Some tips for enjoying a rainy day at a Disney theme park:

• Bring a poncho or rain coat to wear over your regular clothes. Even though I had a hooded jacket, I was still glad to have the rubber overcoat to help keep some water off of me.
• If you don't bring a poncho, buy one at any of the stores. They used to bring ponchos out and put them on the counters near registers but it looks like you have to ask for one and a cast member will pull one out. So many people were wearing them throughout the day, it was pretty funny. Children's sizes were sold for $5; Adult sizes for $6.
• Consider bringing a pair of dry socks in a waterproof bag. My feet were soaked the entire day and became soar from the wet socks rubbing them the wrong way. Even though the new socks would have also gotten wet through the day, I could have used a change at least once. The waterproof bag would have kept the dry ones dry and would have helped to keep the wet ones from soaking everything else.
• Watch your step. Your shoes are wet. The ground is wet. There are puddles everywhere, despite the best efforts of cast members with brooms pushing water to drains. Especially be careful of areas where you have two surfaces meeting. I almost ate it stepping from concrete to the metal base of an escalator.
• Take in as many shows or attractions that are inside or have inside queues. Many outdoor attractions are closed anyway but make sure that you sit and dry out as many times as you can throughout the day.
• Enjoy yourself! A little rain shouldn't ruin anyone's day. A number of children were fussing but I'm not sure if it was any more than in dryer situations. Overall, there are less guests, making hopping on attractions a little quicker. You can enjoy a little slower pace because of this. And you can try attractions, like Innoventions or Lincoln, that you might pass up in better weather.

- Story and Photos Matthew Walker
Posted

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