Inclement weather
— and there’s more of the cold variety on the way — can be good news in the great indoors for those Orlando attractions with climate control.
Indoor attractions were hot tickets during Orlando’s recent cold snap.
Sinking temperatures plus rainy, gusty conditions created a Florida-style wintry mix, and tourists sought refuge.
“We were slam-packed” on three of the nastiestweather days, said Paul Hoffine, general manager of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum on International Drive. Visitors liked the warmth and leisurely pace, he said.
“The guests enjoy it. … They don’t have to worry about what’s next,” he said. “They’re just waiting the weather out.”
Central Florida thermometers visited the below-freezing level for the first time in four years during the opening days of 2018, and lows in the 40s are expected in coming days.
Andretti Indoor Karting & Games Orlando, which opened near the Orange County Convention Center in September, did about 30 percent better than projected during the previous cool spell, said Eddie Hammon, one of the attraction’s owners.
“It obviously helps when you have climate control,” he said.
Visitors were a blend of tourists, locals who wanted to get out of the house and folks who escaped even harsher conditions up north, he said.
I-Drive’s Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition also had a small surge in attendance as the weather front passed through, said Michael Mullen, general manager.
“We do get a bit of an increase on those days,” he said. “But being cold as well, it did seem to push people to get out of the house.”
A key portion of the attraction is kept “pretty chilly,” Mullen said, to demonstrate the conditions that Titanic passengers faced on the night the ship sank in 1912.
But at the attraction in 2018, “many people were, of course, already wearing jackets, so it worked out well,” he said.
It was even colder inside the seasonal ICE exhibit at Gaylord Palms, said Christopher Brumbaugh, director of public relations. Normally, the goal for the ice-sculpture areas is 9 degrees Fahrenheit, but “we clocked in with negative degrees” on some mornings, he said.
“For people that wanted that real frozen experience, they found it here,” he said.
Some visitors took in Gaylord’s extended holiday cele-
bration inside the 72-degree atrium while a few others braved the elements and hopped into the Kissimmee resort’s outdoor pool. (They were Canadian, Brumbaugh said.)
“We doubled our projections on certain days,” he said.
The January weather really had the same effect as an afternoon storm, which folks expect in the summer.
“During rainy season, it’s wonderful around here because we’re slammed all the time — everybody’s trying to get up off I-Drive,” said Mullen.
“I’ve learned to kind of characterize what our attendance might be according to that,” he said. “If there’s a 50-60 percent chance of rain, we’ll probably pick up a little bit for that day.”
The more typical Florida heat also pumps attendance, said Hammon.
“Either when it’s too hot or when it’s too cold, you still get people running away from the weather,” he said. “It’s always 70 degrees and sunny inside.” dbevil@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5477; Twitter: @ThemeParks