Disney in a Minute: What is Water Painting?

We’re here with a series of quick posts, “Disney in a Minute,” bite-sized nuggets of information that can better help you understand a Disney term or planning topic. Enjoy!

A hallmark of the Walt Disney World theme parks is their ability to “surprise and delight” guests – providing them with something unexpected and fun that brings on a surge of warm fuzzies. One of such charming surprise is water painting.

Water painting is typically an illustration of a Disney character, rendered in water on theme park pavement. The artists are custodial cast members; their brush is a broom and their dustpan is a palatte. During a recent WDW visit I encountered this twice, once in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom and once adjacent to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Both times, the images began to fade almost immediately, as the sun started to dry and then evaporate the artwork. There is no set schedule or location for this activity, though typically you’ll see it relatively early in the morning on less busy days, when the walkways have fewer guests that might be inadvertently tripped by a wayward sweep. And obviously this is not something that happens on rainy days.

If you happen to see a water painting, enjoy it while you can, it’s an evanescent art form that will likely be gone within moments.