Visitors at local theme parks brave elements to beat crowds
They imagined the postcard version of Orlando, the one with sunny skies and soaring temperatures.
Instead, they got whitecaps on the Seven Seas Lagoon and whispers of a four-letter word: Snow.
But vacationing theme-park fans persisted through Wednesday’s inclement weather, which included temperatures in the high 30s early in the day and intermittent rain from gloomy, gray skies.
Teresa Millner said the trip from Baton Rouge, La., with her husband Scott had been planned for six months. They spent Wednesday at Magic Kingdom.
“So far, it’s working for us. The crowds are light. We brought the right gear,” she said. “We had FastPasses, so we’re committed.”
As Walt Disney World workers squeegeed the streets, wiped down table tops and sold ponchos, visitors did the usual touristy things, such as take selfies with Cinderella Castle in the background, line up to meet Peter Pan and ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, although more bundled up than usual.
They also checked weather apps to see if/when the rain was passing by.
“We expected it to be a little bit cold, but maybe not quite this chilly,” said Chris Jones, a visitor from Houston, who was sipping his first-ever warm butterbeer at Universal Studios theme park. Guests’ full length — and ever-present — Hogwarts robes looked appropriate in the weather conditions.
“I told somebody the other day that if I were anywhere else, it would be miserable,” Jones said. “But when I’m in a theme park, it’s bearable.”
Theme-park companies do not give out attendance figures, but the contrast between Wednesday and last week’s throng at Magic Kingdom, where capacity was reached multiple times, was stark. Some concession stands were shuttered, and the piped-in music seemed unusually obvious. Music from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies blared in Adventureland.
“Let It Snow” played on the New York streets of Universal.
Maurice and Tobi Fell were visiting Tampa from Tulsa and made a one-day Disney World detour.
“We want to be here when it’s cold and rainy because it will keep the Floridians away a little,” Tobi Fell said.
It was the Fells’ first Disney World visit without their 3-year-old daughter.
“We would not be dragging her out in this weather. … Well, we might be,” Tobi Fell laughed. “I don’t judge the parents who do.”
The dress code did not stand on ceremony Wednesday. SeaWorld Orlando umbrellas and Harry Potter gear were seen at Magic Kingdom; Disney Parks ponchos popped up at Universal.
Most visitors were decked out with heavy coats and knit caps or toting umbrellas through the park. Double-wide strollers were draped in plastic to keep youngsters dry. Earlier in the week, some SeaWorld Orlando visitors wrapped beach towels over skin exposed to the elements.
Darrick Miller and family, visiting from Baltimore, stood beneath a ledge on Main Street U.S.A., forming a game plan while watching it rain at Magic Kingdom. They put on clear ponchos “and then just came, honestly,” he said.
“We’re going to try to ride it out, and hopefully it will calm down,” Miller said. His goal was to make it to the end-of-night fireworks show.
“That’s the plan,” he said.