Aquatica, Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach - where to go??

[FoundMyPrince]

We're headed to WDW in May 2010. We've been to Typhoon Lagoon twice and our children love it. They love the wave pool and the slides, too.

Question: Should we try a different water park on our next trip? What are all the water parks in the Orlando area? Pros/cons of each? What is your favorite/why?

BTW: We are staying on Disney property, but will have a vehicle.

 

[tedhowe]

We were in Orlando in April of this year for a Non-Disney trip (horrors...).

We took advantage of our Sesame Place platinum passes and went to Sea World two days and Aquatica one day... we LOVED Aquatica.

Our girls (ages 4 and 7) could spend a WEEK in the water play structure. We liked the lazy river and the not-so lazy river (sorry I don't remember attraction names) and they have good slides.

April was pretty busy... I would guess that May will be even busier... but I would say that Aquatica is my favorite at this time - just slightly ahead of Typhoon Lagoon. I've never really cared much for Blizzard Beach.

 

[Rosie]

I'm not a big fan of water parks and thought aquatica had some growing up to do in terms of shade and services for guests. Typhoon Lagoon is the best for kids imho (the wave pool will keep them happy all day) but I like the themeing at Blizzard Beach.

 

[yaytezIOA]

Here is a vid I shot at Aquatica where we went for my 8yr old daughters birthday.
Now a little bit of comparison. For sheer experience, you can't beat Typhoon Lagoon. I've been twice and loved it both times. It's thrilling enough for the big kids, and has enough tame stuff for the little kids. Blizzard Beach is a little on the scary side for little kids, but still good. Aquatica....there is not a lot of shade at all. The beach is ungodly hot, but hey it's an authentic florida beach! The rides here are not too scary for the little ones, but some may be too much for little ones. Dolphin plunge is one that I thought my daughter was going to hate..dark confined spaces, all alone, big splash at the end....yeah we rode three times. Forget about the wave pool being anywhere near as good as TL. It's not...doesnt mean the park is bad...just different. The animal experiences are okay...but minimal. I am NOT a disney person at all....so this is as about as realistic review as you're going to get.
The play area, I had so much fun in, as well as my kids. We are a bit sadistic so we spent at least an hour dumping water on peoples heads as they came by. One person said "HEY STOP! YOUR GONNA GET ME WET!" At which point my daughter laughed and dumped another bucket on his head. The lines during the day get rather long, but as many people said, do it in the morning or late afternoon. Calms right down. Lots of family slides to do, at least four, and there is a section of slides for little ones as well. Two lazy rivers...one you actually use to get onto one of the slides, the other is a speed river, in which you use provided life vests and go speeding around the pool. Its great. Overall a good place to try. Not disney, so dont go crying that it's not, you've been warned, but definately good.

 

[SandrA9810]

Here's a couple pics of the Kid's play area. It's my favorite part of the park. The rides are tame in comparrison for TL... some stand out though. So if your kids are starting to outgrow TL, I'd go with BB. If your kids still prefer what they did at TL, go try Aquatica.

I think that if you get a 1 day ticket to sea world, you can get a second day free to use at Sea World or Aquatica. It'll help keep you from getting Disney'd out.

 

[SandrA9810]

We are a bit sadistic so we spent at least an hour dumping water on peoples heads as they came by. One person said "HEY STOP! YOUR GONNA GET ME WET!" At which point my daughter laughed and dumped another bucket on his head.

I love doing this. I'm usually kind to wee little ones, but not the parents. I know of all the bucket stations and when to dump. People are amazed at my skills.
But I had a similar experience. There was a g'ma with a wee little one going down the same slide, I was too far away to get her, and wouldn't have anyways. But the g'ma decided to take the little one to "explore" the area some more, she looked up at me scowled and yelled not to dunk her. She did this like the 3 or 4 times she went under me. Well there she is standing in the middle of the bridge, just past me and the great big bucket dumped and got her totally soaked. She looked up at me with the biggest scowl on her face. "I was like, I didn't do it, you're the one that should've listened for the bell ringing" (well that's was my thoughts, I just smiled at her). Truthfully if you don't want to be wet, take the little one to the tykes area, not where there's two giant buckets that dump every couple of minutes.

And unlike at Disney, you can join right in with the kids. Disney is very strict on who is in the play area... part of the reason why we like Aquatica more, cause Kari won't get yelled at for doing things she likes to do. If not she'd be sitting in the lazy river all day.

 

[mbass01]

From what I have heard, you must have a child with you to be in the kiddie areas at the water parks in Disney, which does make sense. There are a lot of sicko’s out there who could be lurking in these areas for kids. My husband or I will be with our children at all times at the water parks but have an adult with no children lurking in that area is just creepy and makes me feel uneasy.