Advise: Water Park and more worth it?

[kcrew]

Hi. Just wondering what the consensus is on paying for the Water Parks and more option. Traveling with DH, DS's 6-8-9 and DM. 1st time to Disney, 7 night stay, park hopper. Sure, we love water parks, but is there really time for it to be worth the extra cost? Can do water parks at home I figure...? I want the "full" experience, but I don't want to waste money either. Opinions?

 

[LegoMom3]

There was a thread on this same question somewhere around here (I was just reading it yesterday...! Now can't find it ). Anyway, you will get many opinions on this. You don't say when you're going, but I read another post saying that in the summer, these parks fill up so fast that they often close (as in before noon) when filled to capacity.

Also, with this being your first trip to WDW, you will have plenty to do seeing the parks. However, with 7-day passes, you also can go at a more relaxed pace. Do you want to take a break in the afternoons? Many are content to do so at their resort pool (us among them), others will head to the water parks. I wouldn't think you'd get as much of a true rest there, but it certainly will be fun! Depends on what you want in that respect.

We aren't paying for the Plus option this time around because we want to concentrate on the parks. My kids are 9, 6 and 4, and more anxious to do the theme parks than the water parks. If we feel like taking a day to do Typhoon Lagoon, we'll decide then and get tickets just for that day. Since I know we won't go more than once, it's not worth the cost to me to get the Plus options on my tickets. But that's me.

Good luck in your decision!

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Our family has been to WDW 6 times. We have not yet done a water park. We probably will someday, but we just haven't fit it into our schedule. There is so much to do and see at the parks, and even the value resort pools are great for splashing around in. Parks -rest/pool -more parks.... that's our rhythm. Except sometimes we take out the rest/pool part

 

[dischick4778]

It is worth the add on if you will visit the water parks at least twice. Which is what we always do. Yes, it's a water park like the ones you have at home, but it has the Disney flare all the theme parks have. We love Blizzard Beach. When you walk up to get on team boat springs you can see everything from the Castle to the Sorcerer's Hat. It's just a cool experience and if your family likes water parks than it is worth it. What we usually do is go one day in the morning and then play mini golf (which is right outside the park) and spend then evening at Epcot or Downtown Disney. The second day we usually go to Animal Kingdom in the morning and then leave there around 3:00 pm and take the bus to Blizzard Beach. Yes, the park does fill up and they might tell you it's closed but everytime they've said that we get off the bus and try anyway and they let us in. It's really up to you, but my family enjoys it greatly. Have fun!

 

[miamimama]

We got the Water Parks and more for the first time on our March trip. Although we did not use all of our pluses, or whatever they call them (I believe we had 5 each on a seven day park hopper?) we went to the Water Parks twice for short visits in the afternoon, and DisneyQuest twice. That certainly made it worthwhile for us.

 

[jlb]

We love the waterparks, but rarely make it over (weather, crowds). In fact we still have so many plus options left from previous trips. We hope we can make it to one this year, but there is so much to do and we always like to relax by the pools in the afternoon, I have no idea if we will make it over there.

 

[laura001]

Our family loves the water parks so it is worth the option for us. We usually go first thing in the morning and leave by about 2:00, head back to our room, shower and are in another park by about 4:00 and then make late ADR's.

We have been to a lot of water parks but none quite match up to WDW

 

[disneyluv4]

We love the water parks! In fact our oldest would prefer to do just that! It is worth it to us.

 

[westjones]

We bought the "plus" features so that we could have something to do on non-park days.

We bought the 10 day non-expire with 5 plus (Disney Quest or waterparks). To us, that is like having 15 days of vacation which will last us for 4 vacations.

If I were paying to go into the parks (which I assume you are doing with the 7day passes using every day for 7 days), I wouldn't buy it.

DJ

 

[DisneyArk]

Every family is different and you will get a lot of different answers. We're leaving in 4 days and we got the water parks and more upgrade - my sons are 6 and 8. I would choose park hopping over water parks (we actually paid for both upgrades).

We stay on site and my sons love the hotel pools and the water parks. We usually only spend a half day at the water parks and then spend the evening in one of the theme parks.

The bigest reason DS8 wanted the upgrade is because he wants to go to Disney Quest. We've never been before, but I think he will love it. Although it will take time away from the parks...

You WILL be able to stay busy for 7 days at the 4 main parks. If you don't go to the water parks you won't know what you missed and will still have an awesome trip! If you go to water parks a lot at home then you might want to skip the Disney ones. We don't go to water parks very often, so these are a treat to us. All in all, if money is an issue then you can skip the water parks and spend that money on other things.