Soggy spring break giving indoor attractions a bump

A rainy few days in Metro Vancouver has been driving spring break traffic away from outdoor activities and toward places like Science World or the Vancouver Aquarium.

"It's our busiest couple of weeks of the year, traditionally, and this year is shaping up to be a record-breaker," said Jesse Brydle,public programming specialist at Science World.

"It's really all hands on deck. The people from the offices are out ... on the floor.We bring in extra volunteers," said Brydle, adding that they're seeing as many as 5,500 visitors some days.

He said Science World sees a bump in visitors whenever it rains, regardless of the time of year, but this is set to be the busiest spring break in at least a decade.

'Bit of a long lineup'

Sid Vanderwoudand his grandchildren were at Science World on Tuesday, avoiding the morning rainbut braving the crowds.

"It was a bit of a long lineup, parking was a challenge, but we're here," said Vanderwoud.

His grandson, Cole Page, 12, said if theweather wasn't so sloppy, he and his brother Sawyer, 9, would probably be playing on their large driveway.

"We have a lot of things we can ride around on, bikes, [and there's] basketball, hockey, rollerblades," said Page.

Vanderwoudsaid if it weren't raining, he would have likely taken the kids outside, perhaps to Stanley Park.

And over at Spokes Bicycle Rentals near the seawall around Stanley Park, one gets the sense that lots of people had drawn up similar spring break plans, even though the sun was out by the early afternoon.

"It is quiet," said Spokes manager Sarah Vetter. "I think a lot of people make their plans in the morning, so it definitely affects the day. Even if the sun comes out in the afternoon, we're not going to see as many visitors."

The shop was brimming with un-rented bikes, and few customers were trickling through the door.

"The first day of spring break which was a couple Saturdays ago was sunny and busy, and it's obviously been quite wet since then, and drastically different for business," said Vetter.

Roy Brander, who recently retired and moved to Vancouver from Calgary, was one of the customers to rent a tandem bicycle, as the weather cleared on Tuesday.

"Well the day was just looking awful when we started. It actually managed to look worse than yesterday, which was pretty grim," said Brander, who added that he and his out-of-town spring break guests spent the morning watching the weather forecast, ready to deploy.

"Oh my God, there's going to be sun in two hours, everybody be ready! And then we run out, and get some sun for two hours and then run back in," he said.

Not as wet as last year

CBCmeteorologistJohanna Wagstaffesaid that yes, it's wetter than normal for the season, but not by much, and compared to spring break 2017, it's actually much better.

"This week last year, Vancouver actually got about 75 millimetres of rain over March break, adding to monthly totals that were double our normals," said Wagstaffe.

"It could be worse, but there is more rain in the forecast for us this Thursday and again next Monday," she said.

A Vancouver Aquarium spokesperson confirmed that the attraction, like Science World, sees more visitors on rainy days, but added that last year's wet spring break saw more guests than this year, so far.

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