Summer weather in Florida is infamous for 2 reasons: extremely hot, humid days, and entirely unpredictable afternoon storms. In the height of summer, it's not unknown for the forecast to look identical for weeks, with every day being about 95 degrees with a 50% chance of precipitation. Flip a coin on an average day, and you'll know as well as the weatherman whether it's going to rain that day. This makes rain and storm response critical in theme parks in Central Florida. In one week I witnessed two very different reactions to bad weather from two very similar parks.
On Monday, July 30th, I visited Busch Gardens Tampa for the first time. Not long into my time at the park, heavy clouds began to dot the sky. Before any rain began to fall, thunder was audible, or lightning visible, the park began closing all attractions. They even closed the train ride, kicking off all passengers who had just waited over half an hour to board. The stated reason was that lightning was close enough to the park to be a risk, but it seems the storms never came close to approaching the park. At worst, a moderate rain fell for a few minutes, and the skies almost immediately began clearing afterward.
