Dealing With Rain While Planning Trips

[Shavethewhales]

So for the past year I've been planning a pretty decent road trip through Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and North Carolina - but now it's looking like there will be a good chance that it will be raining off-and-on for a good portion of the trip. I could potentially reschedule to mid-late July, but that could end up being a hassle with my boss and everything else that will be going on in the middle of summer.

 

So who has any experiences with this dilemma? Is there a threshold where you would just go for it, or is it not worth it? I'm kinda wondering if the trade-off between less theoretical ride time and less crowds could be worth it anyway.

[michaellynn4]

How much farther away is your trip? Any weather predictions more than 72 hours out aren't really anything reliable, so I wouldn't fret too much about it.

 

At any rate, I'd still go through with it. You're always going to experience some potential weather issue at some point during every trip.

[boldikus]

Agreed. ^ Depends on how far out you are talking. Weather predictions are just that: predictions. They can change drastically.

 

I usually stress out big time over weather before trips but I'm learning you just have to go with it. I just got back from a 4 day road trip to Kennywood and Cedar Point and a week before we left it was threatening rain two of those days, one of which looked like a total wash out. We were bummed. Lucky for us it slowly changed throughout the week and the most precipitation we felt all weekend were a few random drops that never materialized into anything.

[Nitro1118]

Go with it. In my experience the very best trips I've had have been with a bleek weather forecast. In 2004 I visited SFNE for 2 days with the forecast calling for rain both days. I saw some light rain the 2nd day, but both days the park was DEAD, with me getting on S:RoS 26x. In 2005 I visited BGE with a similar forecast. Once again I only saw spot rain, and everything was a walk on that day except for BBW (running one train I believe).

 

The only time I was defeated by weather was a night trip to Hershey. The rain wasn't what caused tbe coasterz to close, but rather thunderstorms a couple of miles away that never hit the park. After 3 hours the coasters did open and I got on multiple coasters in the 1.5 hours the park was still open, but it did put a damper on things.

 

I say go for it!

[What Now]

It's just as likely to rain in that part of the country in August as any other time during the summer.

[Comeagain?]

I'd enjoy the rainy forecast. Many people will stay away, except maybe mainly season pass holders who generally know what they're doing at the park. Short lines everywhere, and many parks are pretty consistent as to rain policies. And most don't care about rain, only lightning. Just plan to have some extra clothes to change into something dry later in the day.

[Shavethewhales]

I'm planning to leave on Friday, hitting the first park first thing Saturday morning. I theoretically have until tomorrow to change plans...

 

Parks I'll be visiting are: SFStL, Holiday World, Kings Island, Dollywood, Carowinds, and Lake Winnie. Possibly even Magic Springs on the way back. I know HFEC is reasonable with rain policies, and Cedar Fair is usually OK, so I think I'll at least be able to get the major rides in.

 

I think I'm probably going to end up going for it. I'll have to update and let you guys know how it worked out for future reference.

[lk2500]

Usually rain in the Midwest will only last a few hours as the front moves through. I don't know it that is the type of weather pattern moving through where you are going.

 

One of my funnest theme park trips was a overcast/drizzly morning at WOF in KC back in about 2008. We got to ride Mamba in the drizzle, felt almost like being sand blasted . However, we got to re-ride without exiting since there was nobody else in the ride queue . The weather cleared up a bit for the afternoon and ended up not being too bad, just a bit cool. No lines in the entire park though.

[ajfelice]

If it's a day trip, the radar becomes my dearest friend. 100% chance of rain could just be a thin line that passes through for less than an hour and the rest of the day is fine. If the radar looks like a colorful pile of vomit all around the region, I will skip the day trip because I simply rather not be soaked even if the park keeps rides open.

 

As for the longer trips planned well in advance, you just have to roll with it. The summer months of July and August are typically easier to predict especially when you get further northeast or along the Great Lakes. May and June are hit or miss, and they change so fast that you simply have to roll the dice on the day you choose. At least if you do go up north, the days it in July or August it does rain are typically not insanely cold compared to May/June and September/October when a rainy day could keep temperatures in the 50 degree range.

 

Also, if anyone is planning Kennywood, good freaking luck with the weather. Even if the rain has passed and the day is beautiful, they will close the park insanely early if their attendance is not where they think it should be. So that builds to my final point, always good to know each park's respective weather policy when planning trips that might be affected by rain.