If you’re going to be in Disney World for more than a couple of days, there’s a high chance that you’ll run into a pop-up storm or some rain and potentially lightning during your trip!
When that happens, some rides around the Disney Parks might close for a bit for safety reasons. Here are the rides and attractions that you can expect to see close for weather!
During a visit to the parks where the weather was rough enough to close down attractions, we took a look at the My Disney Experience app to see which attractions were on that list. As expected, most of the outdoor rides temporarily closed, while many indoor offerings stayed open.
Note that most Disney World attractions (including those outdoor ones) don’t close simply for rain. Instead, the attractions will mainly close when there is lightning within a certain distance near Disney World.
Magic Kingdom
Inside Disney’s Magic Kingdom, a lot of rides were down for the bad weather! We saw Astro Orbiter, The Barnstormer, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad…
…The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure…
…Swiss Family Treehouse, Tomorrowland Speedway, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, and Jungle Cruise all on the list for being closed temporarily! All of those attractions are at least partly outdoors.
Some that were still open for guests to enjoy included favorites like “it’s a small world,’ Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Peter Pan’s Flight, Haunted Mansion, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Mickey’s PhilharMagic show!
EPCOT
EPCOT only had one ride down as well: Test Track! However, you may also find that Journey of Water — Inspired by Moana, outdoor live entertainment offerings, and outdoor character meets close with lightning.
Soarin’, Living With the Land, Frozen Ever After, Spaceship Earth, and others were all still operating. It’s important to note that a big draw of EPCOT is the World Showcase, where you can walk around to try different food and drinks and see cool architecture from countries around the world. This is still possible in the rain, but it can be a little more daunting and difficult!
Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios is a good place to be if there’s bad weather, because a lot of the most popular rides are indoors! The only one that was closed for the weather was Slinky Dog Dash!
Other popular rides like Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, Rise of the Resistance, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway were still operating like normal!
If you can brave the rain, we highly recommend putting on a poncho and continuing with all your Disney plans! Don’t let a little moisture get in the way of your vacation.
Animal Kingdom
At Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, many of the main offerings are outdoors. This meant that in inclement weather (with lightning), Kilimanjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids, and Expedition Everest all closed. You may also find that outdoor animal exhibits close (they may move the animals to safer locations) and the Wildlife Express train shuts down in lightning or high winds (meaning you wouldn’t be able to get to Conservation Station). Another offering that won’t operate during lightning is the outdoor show, Feathered Friends in Flight.
When there’s bad weather, some great options to enjoy here are Zootopia: Better Zoogether, Festival of the Lion King, or the attractions in Pandora — the World of Avatar.
There’s the list of the rides that go down in Disney World when bad weather hits! Keep following DFB for more Disney planning tips!
Our Tips and Tricks for Conquering Rainy Days in Disney World
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They don’t close for rain, they close for lightning. If there’s rain and no lightning, they should stay open, barring any technical difficulties.
The rides out side close down inside stay open and the shows . If you go to the parks first timers you should find this out . I use to check the weather to see If it was worth to go if it was going to rain most of the day . If so change our park day today with reservations you cannot do it . I wish it would come back to normal once again .