Blizzard Beach Newbie Needs Tips

[Merriwind]

Hi all-

Well, after what seems like hundreds of park days under our belt, it looks like we are going to give BB a try. I am a little nervous, as I'm not a huge water park fan and I'm not used to completely new experiences at WDW.

Can BB vets give me some advice/tips?

We will be going Saturday, April 8. The cast of characters will be me, DH, DD8 and our friends--another DH, DW and DD9, DS9. The kids are all fish and water park crazy, the dads are good sports, the moms like to stay out of the sun. We used to live on the same block in NY, but now they're in SC and we're in Fl. They're passing through on their way to W. Palm, so we're thinking of hooking up at BB. The kids will be so excited!!!!!!

Oh, several of us are contact lens wearers--any thoughts? Personally, I'm blind without contacts/glasses. Will contacts survive all the water and splashing, or will they be uncomfortably glued to my eyeballs? Are sunglasses allowed on the slides?

Any thoughts on how to maximize our fun would be so appreciated!! Many thanks in advance.

 

[Stitch's Boy]

Blizzard Beach is a very fun place. I'm pretty sure you all will enjoy Teamboat Springs, the family raft ride. There are also a couple of tube slide in the back of the park that a pretty cool as well. The guys might like Summit Plummit, the big tall slide, you can't miss it. I'm not sure about what to do with contacts and glasses. I myself wear glasses but I don't where them to the waterparks. I'm sure on some of the slides they will let you wear sunglasses. One thing you can to do to make the experiance better is to look around at the great amount of work that the imagineers put into Blizzard beach. I think that it is one of the best themed waterparks out there.

 

[allaboard]

I think you will have great fun at Blizzard Beach. There is a place called The Ski Patrol Training Camp where our family usually "lands" at the beginning of the day. We find lounge chairs (shady or sunny there) and put our towels, etc. We rent a locker for fanny packs/keys/etc. Then from there we can head off to different activities. Also, that location is where our kids can do many things. Ours are all elementary aged. We LOVE the Teamboat Springs Family Raft ride. It's ending location is close to that "training camp" so it works well for us. Last time we spent some time at the "beach" area as well and we always eat lunch there at the lodge. People are taking your picture all the time and giving you waterproof bracelets to wear to "claim" your picture at the end. We have gotten nice pics of our whole family - once from the lazy creek ride, and another time from the family raft ride at the end. How fun to have a momento of everyone in one raft. You can buy them or not. The photo people took real cute pics of each of our kids individually, but we opted not to buy them since we got the family pic. If you have little ones in your group, the lil tikes area is close to the "training camp" as well.
Have fun! Wear sturdy bathing suits!

 

[All Aboard]

One additional suggestion. Saturday, April 8 is likely to be a crowded day at BB. If you are staying on-site, take advantage of EMH that morning. Get to the gate at 8:45 am.

Then, if anyone plans on doing Summit Plummet, make it your first stop. It looks huge, but your kids will love it. Our 8 year old daughter can't get enough. And, the line for it gets gigantic a short ways into the day. Also, ride Teamboat Springs early in the day.

Don't spend too much time basking in the granduer of the place when you get there. Get on those slides fast. Save the lazy river and the wave pool for later in the day when the slide lines are huge.

 

[Merriwind]

Thanks for the tips, Stitch's Boy and All Aboard. I was worried about the crowds. Our plan is to drive up that morning, arriving around 9:30am. Maybe I'll see about staying overnight. We will look to make camp near the Ski Patrol Training Camp. I looked at a map and see where it is.

Either way, it will be a blast just spending time with our friends!

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[sconnell]

Great thread! I'm a BB newbie too! Got the free options, so, why not? lol. anyway, we are driving and are going to go to BB when we arrive. Don't know if they will be able to let us in our room when we get there, since it will be before official check-in, but one thing I'm going to do as we are packing is put all of our stuff for BB in our beach bag, so if we can't get into our rooms first, then we won't have to go through every bag to get get this and that for BB. I'll put sunscreen & such in 1 ziploc. Each person will have a ziploc for bathing suit, cover-up, swim shoes. (Maybe two for DH, lol, big feet.) And Towels and such. Maybe even a change of clothes, IDK. I haven't thought it all out. I just thought to do this last night.
Hey, are there showers at BB? I mean could you in theory clean up at BB, before heading back to the resort or DTD? If so, how are they?

 

[stm61]

there are showers at BB. We didn't use them since we were just going back to the rm before dinner. I did see several people using them but I didn't pay to much attention since I'd sent ds12 into the men's rm alone and had to get out quick before he wandered off on me.

 

[sconnell]

Thanks, we'll probably go back to the room first. I was just wondering. Anyone ever use them?

 

[magicmouse2]

Tip - dont wear a bikini on summit plummit. Especially not a thong type one

 

[LeslieG]

Would you say the weekends are always busier at the waterparks than weekdays?

 

[Ride Junkie]

I love Blizzard Beach! I agree, it has the best theming of any other water park. Most of the slides are a blast, and the lazy river is the best. They have a lot more slides than Typhoon Lagoon. My only warning is when riding Summit Plummet. I would recommend wearing shorts on this one (to avoid the "atomic wedgie")!

 

[LarryFmScotland]

Don't forget your swimming trunks.

Cheers Larry.

 

[aunt kelly]

My daughter and I both wear soft contacts and we visited both water parks last week and had no problems at all. As far as sunglasses go, you'll definately want to wear them when you are in the lazy river or sitting in your lounge chair. I wore them as I climbed the stairs to the slides and then just held them as I went down the slide. Bring a cheap pair of sunglasses as I think a lot of people forget to take them off and loose them on the slides. (I lost my sunglasses last week in the TL wave pool).

We had a ball at the water parks and I hope you do too! We were at BB last Wednesday and TL last Saturday and the crowds weren't bad at all. We never had to wait more than a few minutes for any of the slides, and most had no wait at all.

 

[All Aboard]

Tip - dont wear a bikini on summit plummit. Especially not a thong type one

Of course, just about any swimsuit you wear becomes a "thong type" one on Summit Plummet.