The Deluge...or Singing in the Rain

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Wednesday was an interesting day, to say the least. It was a super hot day, even by Florida standards, and my daughter and I were at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The week prior to that, we had a low pressure system stall over north Florida that dumped copious amounts of rain for a solid week. Non-stop rain that caused widespread flooding. But this week, well it was a whole lot different. The rains went away and the sun came out. And it came out with a vengeance. No rain in sight for the entire week and temperatures pushing towards 100. So we knew we were in for a hot one at Disney, but prepared well for it (lots of water, cooling towels, mist fans, hats, sunscreen, etc). And zero percent chance of rain. So, to back up a little bit. My daughter and I are annual pass holders at Disney World, which means we can go as often as we want. Our goal this year is to go on every holiday, and at least once every month, and so far we are well above our goal in attendance. On top of that, every now and then Disney does special events that are not included in our passes, and so tickets must be purchased for these events. Once such event, Disney After-Hours, was held this past Wednesday. That's when one select theme park stays open super late at night. This month it was Disney's Hollywood Studios. My daughter and I bought tickets, and decided that since we're pass holders we'd just plan to stay a couple of days. So we went down Wednesday morning and spent the day at Epcot, before heading to the after-hours event at 7pm at Hollywood Studios. And sure enough, the forecast heat was as bad as they said it would be. We were miserably hot. But then something weird happened right around 8pm. As you can see from the photo, some weird cloud formation started developing right over the theme parks. It sat there and just kept building up and building up. And next thing you know, all hell breaks loose and the fury of the gods were unleashed on us. Thunder and lightning and torrential rain of heavenly proportions (or would that be hell?) descended upon us. The lightning was so bad that almost all of the rides shut down due to power surges, power outages, or technical glitches. One of the greatest things about specially-ticketed events at Disney is that they limit considerably the amount of guests that can attend. So there was hardly anyone at the theme park before the storm started, but after about an hour of hurricane-like rain, what few people were left cleared out of the park. I thought the crowds were light before the rain, it was even better once the storm started. The storm just sat there and continued to build and dump rain on us. It just didn't move or drift or anything. It rained for a solid 5 hours, from 8pm to 1am. Eventually the lightning tapered off and all the rides opened back up, so my daughter and I decided to have all the fun we could, even in the pouring rain. We were soaked to the bone, but we didn't care. We had a blast! And to top it all off, Disney actually offered refunds or credit to all the guests who had bought tickets for the after-hours event. Disney never does that, so it shows just how bad this storm was. Since we had planned on attending another after-hours event at the end of the summer, we chose the credit. So now our next after-hours event is already paid for. It's been decades since I last played in the rain (I've played numerous paintball tournaments in the rain, but that's work and not play). I felt like a little kid again, running around in the pouring rain, clothes and shoes thoroughly soaked, and splashing in puddles of water all around me. It was incredibly gratifying, and I had the time of my life. As my daughter said, we might as well make the best of a bad situation. I guarantee this trip will probably remain a top-5 in my favorite Disney memories. Have you ever got caught in the rain as an adult, and just said to hell with it I'm going to just have fun? I think we should all do it at least once or twice in our lives.