Blizzard Beach - What Kind of Shoes?

[beansprout]

Hello All!
I will be leaving for wdw in 2 days - and we plan on visiting Blizzard Beach...I dont have a pair of those water socks nor those sandals that have straps to stay on your feet - will I be ok wearing flip flops in the park and on the slides? I know that some people do not wear shoes at all while in the park but I would rather have something on my feet.
Should I go out and buy a pair of water socks? or can I get away with the flip flops? Will Ibe able to hold onto them in my hands or something while I'm sliding down?
Thanks in advance!!

 

[beansprout]

Also, are there a lot of slides that end with a plunge into the pools? Are the pools deep or can an adult stand in them? Thanks!!

 

[babybunrab]

My recollection is that an adult (and I'm a short adult) can stand in the plunge pools. I wouldn't wear flip-flops on the rides, but I'm a klutz, so maybe you'd be o.k. I usually wear my flip-flops only if I'm walking to get food or something. Otherwise, I grin and bear it, though it does get quite hot.

If you have sensitive feet, I'd get swim shoes or socks.

 

[ganggreen4jc]

I, too worried about this prior to our family's trip last month.

Bottom line - no shoes were needed by my son (15) or myself. The walkways never, ever got as hot as I thought they would. Well placed walkway "misters" and the constant drippings from wet bathing suits made for an always cool walkway, even when it was 95 degrees outside. I'm not even sure I saw ANY water shoes while in the park. We just wore our sandals from our resort to BB and put them in a locker with our towels and other stuff.

Also, the landing zones for almost all the slides are very shallow. 3-5 feet at the deepest. The exception being the two highest slides, (Summit Plummit and Slush N' Gusher) who's landing areas are a trough about 1-2 feet deep.

 

[GrumpyBa*D]

I personally would run to walmart or target and pay the 6 bucks for the shoes.... the pavement usually isn't too hot but running up and down the steps and concrete is too much for my sissy feet.......i know it's a pain with more to pack, but i for one will be finding the space

also once you are there you can buy them but they were like twice as much as walmart and couldn't get my mom's size when we were there....

 

[tikkipoo]

I agree. Go for the shoes. Especially since they're very cheap at home. If you don't like them, you can always take them off, but if I remember correctly, adult watershoes there run around $13.

 

[freakylick]

I have never been to BB or TL, but I have a hard time believing that they would let you wear flip-flops on the slides. They are generally considered loose articles and they could come off during the slide and potentially get stuck and hit the next person as they come down. It probably wouldn't happen too often, but for that reason, I would think that WDW would not allow them on rides.

I have very tender feet and I NEED to wear something...but that aside, I just find it more sanitary to have something on my feet (I know I am wierd ). We have water shoes and they work great. I highly recommend them.

Enjoy your trip

 

[wishspirit]

i have just got back from disney, and i wished i could have bought some shoes, you can buy them there, but they can be expensive. The concreate is hard and a lot of watery smushy sand around which wasnt nice. I say a lot of people wearing shoes. I am not sure they let you on the slides with flip flops, you could get a non rider to hold them? The pools i went in were fine, im average height and none that i went on were higher than my waist to my recollection. oh p.s do the family tyre ride one, its great! if you want to do most of the slides get there at opening, when we left the park (at about 12) it was a 60 minuite queue in the hot sun for sumit plumit! No thank you!

 

[twoeeyy]

The only place I would NEVER walk without shoes is into the bathroom

 

[AnaheimGirl]

Can I sort of piggy-back a question onto this thread?

Is smoking allowed anywhere at the water parks?

Our family usually goes barefoot at our local water park. But then my 2yo stepped on a smoldering cigarette butt Even though smoking at that park isn't allowed close to the pools and in the lines, it is allowed on the pathways, where 90% of the people are walking around barefoot. So, I'm wondering if smoking is allowed at BB/TL. dd2 now has aquasocks, but she hates to wear them.

 

[tikkipoo]

I have my map from 2003 and it lists 4 different smoking spots. So, unless it has changed, yes, you can smoke!

 

[llij]

We just went to BB last week and I saw lots of barefoot people as well as those with water shoes. Flip flops on slides, rides, etc. were a no no as I heard CM's telling people they couldn't take them with them down the slide.

Since I couldn't ride any of the slides due to being pregnant, I had fun people watching! Sadly, I did see more than a few people smoking where they shouldn't have been. The CM's were on top of it though and nicely reminded them that it wasn't a designated area so all ended up ok.

We ended up buying water shoes before our trip which was significantly cheaper than what they charge at the parks.

Enjoy! The water parks are great! We love them!

 

[beansprout]

Thank you everyone for your input! I will go to target later today to pick up the shoes!