Best day for water park?

[GADisneyDad14]

As to the above discussion.... my perspective is that each minute of that first hour after water park opening is absolutely critical, even moreso than at a regular park. We want to get in, drop our stuff, and get going PRONTO. We have all day to chill in the wave pool, lazy river, or do a less popular ride... but for that hour, we mean business!!!

 

[Klayfish]

11am - 4pm is the majority of the time the water parks are open, and yes, it's quite crowded then during July. You can't get all of the rides in the water park done between 10 and 11, no matter how fast you are. I'll also assume by the tone of your post that you've never been at a water park on the same day that a large Latin American tour group shows up...They really add to lines and wait times.

Also, it often rains during the mid and late afternoon in summer. A thunderstorm can lower crowds, but it also closes rides, sometimes permanently. I have been there on some days where the rain and/or lightning sighting is so persistent, the park's slides are mostly closed from mid-afternoon onward, so getting on slides after 4pm isn't always an option in summer.

Sure it's nice to have short lines after a thunderstorm (after waiting under shelter for 1-2 hours for the storm to end), but it stinks when after 20 minutes, the slides are closed again because more lightning was spotted. And then it starts to rain again...

Nonlocals who only have one day devoted to the water park have no choice but to do the slides midday, because that might be the only time available to them.

We don't have to agree, and that's OK. In summer, the water parks are often open until 7pm, so you'd get from 4-7pm to hit slides if you do a late day, and you can get a lot done in 3 hours. We do this sometimes...go to the parks during the day and close water parks. Sure, storms can close the park all day, but they don't always...we always have a phone with us to check the radar. If it looks like it's going to be prolonged, we leave...or if it's 5pm and a storm starts, we leave. But sometimes storms come through at 1pm. Those are great.

No, you can't hit every single slide in an hour, but not all of them get big lines, so you can do them anytime. But we can hit all the big slides within the first hour, multiple times. We love Summit Plummet, and typically will do it 3 or 4 times in the first 30-40 minutes, no problem.

And yes, since we go to WDW in July a lot, we've had the...uh, pleasure ... of dealing with the 15s. Yep, they sure can disrupt things, but you just have to go where they aren't.

 

[1disneychic]

So if we get there at 10:00 (or a little before), get a locker right away,can we do these three in the first hour with a minimal (15 minutes or less) wait:

Miss adventure falls
Gangplank falls
Keelhaul falls

DS is nervous about crush n gusher right now so I don’t think we will do that one. If the above rides go well, then we will try mayday falls. Storm slides but not humunga kowabunga are also on our list. Once we do all the raft rides we want, we plan to do the body slides, and then chill in the lazy river and play in the wave pool. Does this sound like a doable plan? Also which raft rides do you need to carry your own tube up?

Thanks for all the responses. They have been very helpful.

 

[disny_luvr]

We love the water parks and usually go every trip. We travel in June a lot and we have never had waits that were terribly long. We usually arrive shortly after the water park opens and stay for the majority of the day. We can ride everything several times with no problem.

 

[Klayfish]

So if we get there at 10:00 (or a little before), get a locker right away,can we do these three in the first hour with a minimal (15 minutes or less) wait:

Miss adventure falls
Gangplank falls
Keelhaul falls

DS is nervous about crush n gusher right now so I don’t think we will do that one. If the above rides go well, then we will try mayday falls. Storm slides but not humunga kowabunga are also on our list. Once we do all the raft rides we want, we plan to do the body slides, and then chill in the lazy river and play in the wave pool. Does this sound like a doable plan? Also which raft rides do you need to carry your own tube up?

Thanks for all the responses. They have been very helpful.

Yes, those three would be super easy. Do Miss Adventure first. Not a ton of people rush to Gangplank or Keelhaul, they go to Humunga and Crush. I would try to convince DS (not sure how old he is) to try Crush...there's really nothing to be nervous about. It's a tube slide, the only difference is the water jets that push you up hill instead of just going all downhill. It's really cool. The rest of your plan sounds very doable. If DS is nervous about Crush, I'd be careful with the wave pool too. Those waves are HUGE, like nothing you've ever seen in a wave pool. We're a huge fan of it, but the deeper end is for strong swimmers only. It's a zero entry pool, so it's safe even for toddlers, but just keep him in the really shallow end.

 

[Linkura]

Crush N Gusher is a really gentle ride compared to the other slides at TL. I'd definitely have your DS try it.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Also which raft rides do you need to carry your own tube up?

I don't remember all of them ride by ride, but I do remember that we loved Miss Adventure Falls because not only do you not carry your tube up, you ride up in it!

 

[Cinderella94]

Regardless of day of the week, get there a bit before they open and be ready to do the slides, as others have said.

 

[StuckinPA]

Thank you for your responses. I think our plans are to go on Monday or Tuesday so hopefully not too busy. We are hoping to get there in the morning but it might not be at park opening as that will be our resort switch day.

We have the same plan for June - a Monday or Tuesday!

 

[1disneychic]

I think DS would be ok to ride crush n gusher. I’m hoping when he sees it he will want to. Plus he will be in a raft with us...some seat three people, right? I won’t make him go if he really doesn’t want to but I am strongly encouraging him! If not then it is just one less line for us to stand in.

And we definitely won’t be going out too far in the wave pool. He can swim but he is not a strong swimmer yet so we might even have him wear a life jacket in the wave pool.

 

[ZoZo]

I think DS would be ok to ride crush n gusher. I’m hoping when he sees it he will want to. Plus he will be in a raft with us...some seat three people, right? I won’t make him go if he really doesn’t want to but I am strongly encouraging him! If not then it is just one less line for us to stand in.

And we definitely won’t be going out too far in the wave pool. He can swim but he is not a strong swimmer yet so we might even have him wear a life jacket in the wave pool.

Regarding the TL wave pool, even with a life vest, it can be kind of scary for kids (and even adults!). You can really get tossed around and scraped up on the bottom of the pool.

The wave pool at BBC is much gentler, with bobbing waves instead of "toss you around" waves. The waves at TL are strong enough to surf on!