Should Disney Prioritize Indoor Attractions?
Who doesn’t love feeling the sun on their face and the wind whipping through their hair?
That’s why thrill rides, especially roller coasters, are most people’s favorite attractions.
Slinky Dog Dash
Alas, the problem with this sort of ride is that it’s susceptible to the elements.
With the recent opening of Fantasy Springs, this topic has arisen, as critics point out an arguable flaw.
Photo: Disney Parks Blog
The rainy weather in Tokyo causes problems with outdoor attractions, and Fantasy Springs has some.
So, should Disney prioritize indoor attractions? Let’s debate the weather.
About Outdoor Attractions
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote the Disney World summer rain guide.
As part of that discussion, I mentioned a few high-profile Disney attractions that close due to rainy weather. A few examples are:
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Kali River Rapids
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Slinky Dog Dash
Photo: Disney
Obviously, those are several important attractions, but I included a couple of others to make a point.
Alien Swirling Saucers features cover in the line and on the ride itself. Despite that fact, it will close during stormy weather.
(Steven Diaz, photographer)
Similarly, the entire point of Kali River Rapids is for guests to get soaking wet. Still, Disney won’t operate it during the rain.
That’s because guests are exposed, and park officials don’t want anyone in danger due to lightning in the area.
These are considerations indoor attractions don’t face, but they’re potentially dealbreakers for outdoor rides.
The statement applies to other experiences like Fantasmic! as well. On rainy days, this show will suffer delays.
However, the nightly fireworks at EPCOT and Magic Kingdom rarely experience such delays.
With Fantasmic!, the issues stem from all the Cast Members involved with the production.
The evening presentations that are basically just fireworks and digital projections are perfectly safe.
I say all this to note that park officials think of everything when they design Disney experiences.
Photo: Disney
Alas, there’s only so much you can do in a place that was once swampland.
Central Florida will experience significant rainfall, generally at a rate of a serious storm every three-to-six days, depending on the time of year.
Weather happens in Disney World
That’s far from the only weather-related concern, though. In fact, most people would consider something else the biggie…
About Central Florida Heat
Let’s just lean right into the fact that Florida’s sunny weather can cause problems, especially in the summer.
Last year, the planet experienced the hottest day on record in early July. Then, the following day, it broke that record.
Scorching heat isn’t always a problem, but it seems to come in waves.
During particularly hot weather, tourists complain about many elements of a park visit.
For example, critics lambasted Disney for the lack of shade at Toy Story Land during its first year.
While waiting in line for Slinky Dog Dash, guests just had to stand there and take it.
Slinky Dog Lightning Lane queue
Anyone who forgot to wear suntan lotion on those dates probably had a funny tan (or sunburn) for a while afterward.
How often does that happen? Honestly, it just depends. According to WeatherSpark, daily June temperatures range from 75 to 89 degrees.
Photo: Disney
In July, the average high is 90 degrees, but the low remains 75.
So, that’s what you should expect…but there are always exceptions.
For instance, on June 6th, Orlando’s high temperature was 99, and the daily high remained 95+ for five straight days.
On June 11th, the daily high fell to 87, underscoring the randomness of the weather.
While I can say that the high temperatures should be perfectly tolerable during a summer visit, nobody knows for sure.
That’s why I wrote a summer heat survival guide last week. MickeyBlog wants its fans to be comfortable at all times.
Also, as an aside, Disney has since added more cover at Toy Story Land, negating some but not all the issues.
These kinds of workarounds are possible at the parks when the weather proves problematic.
The Fantasy Springs Problem
Photo: Disney Parks Blog
Let’s start with a quick bit of Disney history. At Walt Disney World, here are the five newest attractions:
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
- Tron Lightcycle / Run
Photo: Disney
Do you notice a common theme with all of them? The ride experiences take place indoors.
In fact, other than Toy Story Land, that statement applies to every Disney World attraction since 2016.
I recently ranked a decade of Disney rides, and the only other outdoor attraction was 2014’s Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
There was one oversight on my list, in that I forgot to include the IncrediCoaster.
Photo Credit: Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort
So, that’s one Disneyland Park attraction that we could add to the list, although it already existed as California Screamin’.
Disney didn’t have much choice there, and California weather isn’t as mercurial anyway.
Photo: WDW-magazine
Generally speaking, Disney has favored indoor attractions lately, though.
At Fantasy Springs, a couple of attractions gained some notoriety, though.
Photo: Disney
Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival could easily be a fully indoor attraction.
However, to add to its beauty, park officials included outdoor portions. Frankly, the results speak for themselves.
During Tokyo’s rainy weather, it must close, though. Similarly, Fairy Tinkerbell’s Busy Buggies takes place entirely outdoors.
As ridiculous as the statement sounds, some cynics are questioning whether Disney should build outdoor attractions.
They point to the frequent rainy weather in Tokyo as proof that half of Fantasy Springs must shut down at times.
Some view that as a reason for Disney to drop outdoor attractions entirely.
Photo: Disney
After all, the Oriental Land Company spent $2.1 billion on Fantasy Springs.
Shouldn’t all the attractions remain open, independent of the weather? That’s the argument, anyway.
Should Disney Prioritize Indoor Attractions?
Photo: Disney Parks Blog
This conversation is about to come up more as Disney advances with the DisneylandForward project.
Disneyland officials repeatedly pointed to Fantasy Springs as an indicator of what they had in mind at The Happiest Place on Earth.
Disney
Disney intends to replicate or imitate several of these attractions at Disneyland Resort.
We may get the exact rides, or Imagineers may take the underlying ride mechanic but theme it to something else.
Still, the belief is that much of the upcoming Disneyland expansion will include outdoor rides.
In fact, the images of the Avatar experience showed an outdoor boat ride rather than an indoor one like Na’vi River Journey.
(Kent Phillips, photographer)
Again, Disneyland officials don’t need to worry about the weather as much, though.
In Central Florida, the combination of heat and rain has become a problem, and that’s before we factor in hurricane season.
Based on recent history, I strongly suspect park officials have already decided their answer.
The overwhelming majority of recent Disney World attractions have been indoor experiences.
Cosmic Rewind ride vehicles
Sure, that one little bit of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is outdoors, as is some of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which debuts next week.
As with the Incredicoaster, park officials didn’t have much choice with Tiana, though. It was already a partially outdoor ride.
Overall, Disney World shows a clear pattern. Everyone is acutely aware of this situation.
That’s why we haven’t seen the last of outdoor attractions, but they’ll be the exception, not the rule.
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