My two cents (especially focused on water parks w/ a little AK & EPCOT)

[auntyjenn]

Want tips on the water parks? For what its worth, this is what I thought about it:

To go or not to go:
If you child is too small to ride most of the slides I wouldn't bother going unless you have someone to trade kids off with.
If you've never been and you have some extra time I would definitely do it once or twice. If I had a choice I think I still liked 7 peaks better, but its always fun to do something new.

Which water park?:
Blizzard Beach has way better slides. Way better. It is also more crowded.
Typhoon Lagoon has a super wave pool, but if your child is not a good swimmer and you don't like bumping into people it will make you crazy.

Shoes or no shoes:
We went three days and I really wished I had my flip flops that were thick and cushy because walking on pavement that many days with no support was horrifying. I wore water socks part of the time (with no cushioning), but the places you really need it (at the end of the slide so you don't scrape the heck out of your feet when you hit the bottom) you couldn't use then anyway because you were holding them. Also, if you have kids and let them wear shoes you may end up holding theirs too. I would bring crocks or flip flops with you. You can always wear them or not. If it was just one day I wouldn't have really needed them.

Locker or no locker:
Locker. Very fast and easy to rent a locker. Most stuff you can leave out on a chair, but I felt better knowing the keys, tickets and money were locked away.

Early or later:
In the summer If you go later there is a good chance that the park will get closed due to lightning. If it does open again you will have no one there, if it doesn't you will be disappointed.
Besides the storm issue, I really liked going in the afternoon and taking it slow and easy since most Disney days we start so early and fast.
If the park is only open until 5pm I don't know if it will clear out enough at the end to make going late work out, especially Blizzard Beach. It seemed busier. Within 20 minutes in the morning the line for the big slides is 30 minutes, so if you go in the morning really get there first thing.

Lunch and separation:
It is very hard to round up all the kids to feed them. I just left the lunch in the cooler and said, "if you get hungry go eat." We were in groups of two for parts of the day and everyone was hungry and at a stopping place at different times, so this worked well.

Should I shower and change:
If you go early and leave in the early afternoon you totally have time to shower and change. If you wait until the end or when a storm hits you will have to wait for a shower. If all you want to do is rinse off, hit one of the showers that are out in the park a little ways from the entrance, then change. If you go early you should be all suited up and only use time to grab a locker and throw your things on some chairs.

Tip: make sure you have slowed down after exiting a slide into the pool before you put your feet down. This is what will tear your feet apart, especially at Typhoon Lagoon for some reason their pool bottoms are scratchier.

One final note on the water parks: Do NOT use a paper toilette seat cover if you are wet! (please don't let the tag fairy read this)

AK:
My Animal Kingdom plan worked brilliantly (if I do say so myself). Probably partly due to the fact that it wasn't that busy. Decided to do the Safari, glad we did. My son loved the animals. We did: FP EE, Ride EE, Ride Dinosaur, FP Safari, Ride prehistoric dumbo and the spin coaster, FP Kali River, Watch Nemo (I was surprised, but the 11:15 Nemo filled all the way up. We got there at 10:45 and had the pick of the seating though. We also gave away our FPs for EE because it wasn't that great in our opinion). Then we ate lunch, rode Kali (way lame compared to the one in California Adventure) walked a trail, rode the safari, walked a trail, went through the Oasis (my 8 year old son loved the birds) and then, just before the parade hit at 4pm we headed to...

EPCOT:
We didn't really have a plan here. Just wanted to get a few things out of the way so we could spend a lot of time in the world showcase when we come in December, but I have to say I really liked Spaceship Earth this time. The first time I was very disapopinted because I thought it was going to be a rollercoaster ride. Anyway, this time I was able to appreciate it for what it was and I laughed my guts out at the end. My son had just lost three teeth and there is just something extra cute about a kid missing teeth.

Feel free to comment, its nice to have many different opinions in my opinion.

By the way, here are the days we were there:
Aug 12 Typhoon afternoon. Park closed at 6:30 pm for weather
Aug 13 Blizzard Beach afternoon. Park closed at 3:30 pm, opened at 7 closed at 7:30. That half an hour was golden. Wished it was an hour.
Aug 14 AK, Epcot
Aug 15 Blizzard Beach morning. Storm approached at 2pm we were just leaving.

[auntyjenn]

I forgot to go to the 'cool zone' or whatever with all the different sodas! Doh! Do they still do it off-season?

[auntyjenn]

Last bump if anyone is interested in water park information.

[TifffanyD]

I've worn water socks and water shoes in the waterparks and I leave them on when on the slides.

[Playing With Matches]

THANK YOU for your opinions on the waterparks! Never been to one but this will be helpful in planning our next trip to the world.

[auntyjenn]

They wouldn't let us leave our shoes on for any of the body slides. They said our feet might catch on the ride and flip us forward. Flip flops might fall off, so definitely hold those.

[TifffanyD]

Originally Posted by auntyjenn

They wouldn't let us leave our shoes on for any of the body slides. They said our feet might catch on the ride and flip us forward. Flip flops might fall off, so definitely hold those.

That explains it, I don't go on the bareback slides. I don't like the way the joins in the slide scratch my back.

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Thanks for the TL tips, we have never done a Disney waterpark and don't plan on it this trip but are looking to when we go back in the spring w/ the kids. They waterparks and couldn't get enough of our local one and Water Country when we went on vacation, so of course I need to take them so they can see how Disney does waterparks.

[ShannonMB]

Originally Posted by auntyjenn

I forgot to go to the 'cool zone' or whatever with all the different sodas! Doh! Do they still do it off-season?

It's called "Club Cool", and it's open year-round.

[AnxiousDad]

I am going the week after labor day....

I am planning on hitting AK/Epcot with similar strategy as yours.

You left AK at 4pm... at what time you got to Epcot?
Apart from Spaceship, what else you did? At what time you left?

How old are your kids?

Thanks a lot.

[photolover]

Thanks for the waterpark tips. Just wondering what watersocks are and where to buy them? I only saw watershoes. Can we wear watershoes on slides or do we need watersocks? Now you're making me nervous about potential feet problem in waterparks since we have 10 waterpark& more tickets. I hope it won't ruin our themepark days. If you have any more waterpark tips please post more. We are leaving this weekend. TIA

Originally Posted by auntyjenn

Want tips on the water parks? For what its worth, this is what I thought about it:

To go or not to go:
If you child is too small to ride most of the slides I wouldn't bother going unless you have someone to trade kids off with.
If you've never been and you have some extra time I would definitely do it once or twice. If I had a choice I think I still liked 7 peaks better, but its always fun to do something new.

Which water park?:
Blizzard Beach has way better slides. Way better. It is also more crowded.
Typhoon Lagoon has a super wave pool, but if your child is not a good swimmer and you don't like bumping into people it will make you crazy.

Shoes or no shoes:
We went three days and I really wished I had my flip flops that were thick and cushy because walking on pavement that many days with no support was horrifying. I wore water socks part of the time (with no cushioning), but the places you really need it (at the end of the slide so you don't scrape the heck out of your feet when you hit the bottom) you couldn't use then anyway because you were holding them. Also, if you have kids and let them wear shoes you may end up holding theirs too. I would bring crocks or flip flops with you. You can always wear them or not. If it was just one day I wouldn't have really needed them.

Locker or no locker:
Locker. Very fast and easy to rent a locker. Most stuff you can leave out on a chair, but I felt better knowing the keys, tickets and money were locked away.

Early or later:
In the summer If you go later there is a good chance that the park will get closed due to lightning. If it does open again you will have no one there, if it doesn't you will be disappointed.
Besides the storm issue, I really liked going in the afternoon and taking it slow and easy since most Disney days we start so early and fast.
If the park is only open until 5pm I don't know if it will clear out enough at the end to make going late work out, especially Blizzard Beach. It seemed busier. Within 20 minutes in the morning the line for the big slides is 30 minutes, so if you go in the morning really get there first thing.

Lunch and separation:
It is very hard to round up all the kids to feed them. I just left the lunch in the cooler and said, "if you get hungry go eat." We were in groups of two for parts of the day and everyone was hungry and at a stopping place at different times, so this worked well.

Should I shower and change:
If you go early and leave in the early afternoon you totally have time to shower and change. If you wait until the end or when a storm hits you will have to wait for a shower. If all you want to do is rinse off, hit one of the showers that are out in the park a little ways from the entrance, then change. If you go early you should be all suited up and only use time to grab a locker and throw your things on some chairs.

Tip: make sure you have slowed down after exiting a slide into the pool before you put your feet down. This is what will tear your feet apart, especially at Typhoon Lagoon for some reason their pool bottoms are scratchier.

One final note on the water parks: Do NOT use a paper toilette seat cover if you are wet! (please don't let the tag fairy read this)

AK:
My Animal Kingdom plan worked brilliantly (if I do say so myself). Probably partly due to the fact that it wasn't that busy. Decided to do the Safari, glad we did. My son loved the animals. We did: FP EE, Ride EE, Ride Dinosaur, FP Safari, Ride prehistoric dumbo and the spin coaster, FP Kali River, Watch Nemo (I was surprised, but the 11:15 Nemo filled all the way up. We got there at 10:45 and had the pick of the seating though. We also gave away our FPs for EE because it wasn't that great in our opinion). Then we ate lunch, rode Kali (way lame compared to the one in California Adventure) walked a trail, rode the safari, walked a trail, went through the Oasis (my 8 year old son loved the birds) and then, just before the parade hit at 4pm we headed to...

EPCOT:
We didn't really have a plan here. Just wanted to get a few things out of the way so we could spend a lot of time in the world showcase when we come in December, but I have to say I really liked Spaceship Earth this time. The first time I was very disapopinted because I thought it was going to be a rollercoaster ride. Anyway, this time I was able to appreciate it for what it was and I laughed my guts out at the end. My son had just lost three teeth and there is just something extra cute about a kid missing teeth.

Feel free to comment, its nice to have many different opinions in my opinion.

By the way, here are the days we were there:
Aug 12 Typhoon afternoon. Park closed at 6:30 pm for weather
Aug 13 Blizzard Beach afternoon. Park closed at 3:30 pm, opened at 7 closed at 7:30. That half an hour was golden. Wished it was an hour.
Aug 14 AK, Epcot
Aug 15 Blizzard Beach morning. Storm approached at 2pm we were just leaving.

[auntyjenn]

We actually left AK 10 minutes before 4pm and we were at EPCOT and probably inside by 4:30 (in our own car). They wanted to make us park way far away but we asked (very nicely) if we could go look for a closer spot and they let us. Phew.

We've been to EPCOT and plan to go again, so we just hung out in Future WorldFast passes were gone for Test Track, so we got mission space FPs when we got there and they were for about a half an hour later. We rode Ellen's Energy thing with no wait. We also had dinner at the cafeteria in the Land Pavilion and it was really good. Best pork chop I have ever had. We hung out in the Living Seas for a while. It was nice and leisurely since we didn't feel like we had to see everything. The kids like to 'chase' the dolfin. Origionally we were going to walk around the World Showcase, but our feet hurt too bad. Plus, we want to spend a lot of time there at Christmas anyway. We left EPCOT about 8:45 before the fireworks and crowds.

About water socks: I think they're the same as water shoes. The thing about them is that they won't fall off very easy, but you can't wear them on the body slides and they have no support for your soles. I would wear crocs or flip flops with a nice thick sole as long as you don't have a problem holding them on the rides. I think that will help your feet a lot. We also wore those swim shirt things because sunscreen usually washes off and you still burn your shoulders. I think you'll still have fun in the water parks. If you have 10 days you can take it easy and save your feet a bit.