Credit: Kevin-Davis-Photography / FlickrCentral Florida’s Memorial Day weekend lived up to its stormy forecast, and for guests inside Walt Disney World last night, the evening made that very clear.
The forecast heading into the holiday weekend was not subtle. WESH warned Central Florida residents and visitors as early as Saturday that the extended weekend would bring dangerous conditions across the region: “Severe Thunderstorms Surge In Central Florida — Wet Memorial Day Weekend Forecast Saturday May 23rd 2026. Expect a hot and humid Memorial Day weekend across Central Florida. Afternoon and evening storm chances will rise each day, with storms capable of producing strong winds, hail, and heavy isolated downpours. Heat index values will push into the upper 90s and low 100s, so stay hydrated and take breaks indoors when possible. Meanwhile, a high risk of life-threatening rip currents continues at all Atlantic beaches — swimming in the ocean is strongly discouraged. Rain chances ease slightly after Memorial Day before wetter weather returns later next week.”
Significant lightning approaching from the west. Heavy isolated downpours. Heat indices touching 100 degrees. Anyone who has spent a summer in Central Florida has experienced some version of this, but last night’s storm activity was reported as particularly intense, with loads of rain and near-constant lightning and thunder across the region.
Disney Springs felt it directly. The AMC theater at Disney Springs went down entirely during the storm, according to Kevin Heimbach, who shared the situation on X: “AMC Disney Springs Is Completely Down. Movies Won’t Start And All Registers Are Not Working. I Just Wanna Watch A Mediocre Star Wars Movie.” Power issues knocked out both the movie systems and the registers simultaneously, leaving guests stranded in the lobby of a movie theater on a busy holiday weekend night with nothing to do but wait.
AMC Disney Springs Is Completely Down. Movies Won’t Start And All Registers Are Not Working. I Just Wanna Watch A Mediocre Star Wars Movie pic.twitter.com/XH7LvRtLXH
— Kevin Heimbach (@kevinHeimbach13) May 23, 2026
Over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Fantasmic! was cancelled. Noah Bergren, posting on X under @NbergWX, confirmed the call: “Fantasmic! Cancelled at Disney tonight, correctly so due to significant lightning approaching from the west.”
Fantasmic! Cancelled at Disney tonight, correctly so due to significant lightning approaching from the west. pic.twitter.com/q38OICavNz
— Noah Bergren (@NbergWX) May 24, 2026
The Fantasmic! cancellation was the right call, made for the right reasons. The show takes place in an outdoor amphitheater that has no overhead protection from lightning. When significant lightning is approaching, there is no version of that show running safely. Disney made the appropriate decision.
What Else Was Likely Affected
The Fantasmic! cancellation and the AMC outage are the two confirmed, documented impacts from last night’s storm, but they almost certainly were not the only ones.
Disney World operates a large number of outdoor attractions across all four parks and Disney Springs. When significant lightning is within a certain radius of the resort, standard operating procedure calls for outdoor attractions to close until conditions clear. That applies to roller coasters with exposed track sections, outdoor queue areas, shows performed outside, and any ride where guests are seated in open vehicles.
At Magic Kingdom, that would include attractions like the Walt Disney World Railroad, outdoor portions of queue lines, and any show held in an outdoor venue. At EPCOT, outdoor areas and attractions near World Showcase and World Discovery would be affected during active lightning. At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which has more outdoor exposure than any other park in the resort, the impact of a lightning storm is particularly broad, affecting safari vehicles, open-air coasters, and significant portions of the land areas.
At Disney Springs, the AMC outage illustrates that the storm’s impact extended beyond the parks themselves. Other outdoor dining areas, entertainment venues, and waterfront spaces at Disney Springs would also have been affected during the peak of last night’s activity.
The pattern is consistent and predictable: when storms like last night’s move through, the outdoor experience at Walt Disney World contracts significantly. Indoor attractions continue operating. Outdoor experiences pause. Guests find themselves crowding into covered queues, merchandise locations, and indoor dining spots while they wait for conditions to improve.
How This Affects a Disney Vacation During Storm Season
Florida’s afternoon and evening thunderstorm pattern is one of the most consistent and most underestimated factors in planning a Disney World visit. Guests who research parks, rides, and dining extensively before their trip often give the weather only a passing thought. Memorial Day weekend’s storms are a reminder of what can happen when a storm system moves through during what is supposed to be a peak vacation period.
For guests visiting Walt Disney World during the summer months, June through September produces the most consistent daily storm activity. Most afternoon thunderstorms develop quickly, move through within an hour or two, and then clear. The key is knowing they are coming and having a plan that does not depend entirely on outdoor experiences being continuously available.
Building indoor time into your Disney day is not a concession to bad luck. It is realistic planning. Scheduling rides like Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tron Lightcycle Run, and the indoor dark rides as anchor experiences that work rain or shine gives you stability when storms roll through. Eating at table-service restaurants rather than grabbing counter-service outside keeps you comfortable and dry during afternoon downpours. Catching indoor shows and theater-based experiences during the most active storm windows turns what could be frustrating downtime into productive park time.
The late evening is when storm activity typically becomes most disruptive for Disney guests. Nighttime shows like Fantasmic!, the Magic Kingdom fireworks, and EPCOT’s nighttime spectacular are all weather-dependent. Last night’s Fantasmic! cancellation was not unusual. These shows get cancelled or delayed regularly during summer storm season. Guests who treat an evening show as a guaranteed anchor of their park day are setting themselves up for disappointment. Treating it as the plan with a backup already in mind is the more realistic approach.
Fantasmic! typically offers multiple showings on evenings when it runs. If lightning forces a cancellation before the first show, Disney will often attempt the later show if conditions clear. That is not always how it plays out, but it is worth checking rather than assuming the evening is over.
What the Forecast Looks Like Going Forward
The WESH forecast noted that rain chances would ease slightly after Memorial Day before wetter weather returns later next week. That pattern is consistent with early summer in Central Florida. The storm threat does not end with the holiday weekend. It is essentially permanent through the summer months, varying in intensity from day to day but never fully disappearing.
For guests with upcoming Orlando trips, building flexibility into the itinerary, keeping an eye on the daily forecast, and knowing which experiences hold up in rain and which ones do not will make the difference between a storm ruining an afternoon and a storm barely registering as an inconvenience.
If you are at Walt Disney World or Disney Springs right now and storms are in the forecast, check the My Disney Experience app for real-time attraction status updates and pay attention to cast member announcements about outdoor closures. The My Disney Experience app updates wait times and attraction statuses in real time, which is the fastest way to know which outdoor experiences have closed and which indoor alternatives are open. And if Fantasmic! is on your evening plan this week, have a backup ready.
