Alexis Senge Johnson
Summer in Orlando can go one of two ways. It either rains almost every single day or we are in a drought and have fires starting in every direction you look. Either way it will always be at least the following: hot and humid! Each summer hundreds of thousands of travelers converge on the Central Florida area and enjoy all that our theme parks have to offer, and possibly even make it out to our beaches as well. Every year people are shocked by the weather here in the area when they come down for their vacation. They are mind blown by the heat and humidity, along with not understanding why they should seek shelter when the theme parks are announcing extreme weather situations.
I didn’t think it was ever a surprise on the weather channel that summer is a part of hurricane season and, although we’ve been lucky thus far with tropical activity not being heavy in our area, we are still considered the lightening capital of the United States. Apparently, Rwanda is the lighting capital of the world since they have 2.5 times the lightning strikes that we do here in Florida. However, the Central Florida area, from Tampa to Titusville, has been called “Lightening Alley” because of our frequency in strikes.
When I tell guests that something is unfortunately suddenly cancelled due to inclement weather you would think that they would be semi understanding after experiencing the weather here for a few hours. However, that is absolutely not the case. Families look at me as if I walked into the theme park that day with the sole purpose of ruining their entire vacation by purposely cancelling whatever offering they had been waiting to see. I know that people save for years to come to Florida and enjoy all the theme parks have to offer, but I also know that it isn’t worth anyone getting electrocuted to enjoy a parade or stage show. It’s not worth the performers being put in danger and, as a guest, you shouldn’t want to be put in danger either.
As a past performer in the industry here, I can assure you it is no fun to be slipping and sliding around on a stage in an attempt to perform a show for an audience being pelted by rain. However, I’ve done it and I’m not really all that sure that it added the value families were hoping for to their vacation. Trust me when I say you’d rather wait and see a full show or parade. That’s what you were expecting anyway, so just be patient and enjoy window shopping or a meal while you wait for the storm to pass. The other option is to wait for the lightening to pass, get a poncho or umbrella and go play in the puddles with your kids for a change. That will leave a memory in their minds that they won’t soon forget!
This year we’ve been fortune to not be taken over by fires and the smell of smoke at the parks, but it has been a very rainy season. From the looks of it, it’s going to continue on being a rainy summer this year, so be prepared and patient when you travel to the area. Know that we do our best to put out as many offerings as we can for you so that you get the full experience that you paid for. We are not cancelling offerings due to a single drop of rain. We’re cancelling them to make a choice for everyone’s safety and we would all appreciate your understanding of that idea.
