How do you fit in the Water Parks?

[1osfan]

We have been to WDW 4 times and generally stay 8-12 days. With 3 kids (11,7,&3), we either hit RD or have a pre-opening ADR and tour until at least lunchtime. We normally take an afternoon break and come back to the park in the evening. We take a day off in the middle of the trip to give the kids a break and rest and normally spend about 2 days in each park.

We've never done either water park, Disneyquest, or miniature golf but this year, the kids have asked to go to a water park. How do you fit it in? I can't imagine taking a park day away since there is so much we like to do at each park. I can't imagine adding an extra resort night because of the cost (WP&M option and resort night).

How do you fit it in? Do you give something up? Do you do half days?

Thanks!

 

[Planogirl]

It's hard if you spend 2 days in each park. We normally only spend 1 day each in DHS and AK and that gives us plenty of time to pursue other things. We haven't done a waterpark in a while but half a day was always plenty of time. We would do a waterpark for part of the day, come back to rest a bit and then maybe play mini-golf or go to Downtown Disney that night.

 

[HopperFan]

We don't do them every trip but we go often and most trips are 7-9 days. We set aside a day to go to the waterpark when it opens. Depending on the group it may be a full day followed by a nice dinner somewhere or Downtown Disney or DisneyQuest. Sometimes when just a few of us we go to the waterpark at opening and after lunch sometime head back to hotel, shower, change and head to a park that has late hours.

We will gladly give up pool time for a waterpark. Having a car we can drive to the waterpark, enjoy a few hours, then be back at hotel quickly to get ready to do something else.

 

[surferdave]

Well, my toosh gets a little tight on some of the slides......

 

[2Tiggies]

We pick a day after a late night the previous evening and use it as a pool day. It's not a late sleep in day, but it gives an extra hour rather than heading out for a 9 am opening. I find it hard to spend a whole day at a water park just because I eventually get bored. We tend to leave around 3 pm, shower and change at the resort and head out to one of the parks for dinner and atmosphere, with little or no itinerary other than just hanging out. Of course it depends what kind of tickets you have. We have the days to play with that don't make this an expensive option but I wouldn't do it with a 4/5 day ticket if I could avoid it, unless my evening park of choice was open super late.

 

[siskaren]

For me, the water parks are half day parks. You said that you take a day off from the parks during your trip, so I would make that a water park day - the water parks are much more low-key than the parks because there's no FP, no ADRs, no parades to stake out, etc.

 

[brennicksmom]

We get 10 day tickets, park hop and water parks. We try to stay 12-14 nights. We usually go to the water parks 7+ times during our trip. LOVE them! We plan water parks on off days, and occasionally open or close them of the other days. They typically close at 5:00 or 6:00 so we may go to a theme park in the morning for RD, then the resort to change and hit a water park a few hours, then when it closes, go back to room and change and hit a different park that evening. We make it work because we feel that they are the best water parks we have ever been to and can't imagine not making the most of them.

We like BB better, the slides are fantastic, but at TL the water coaster is our favorite. The waved pool is intense at TL, and my kids and husband love it there, I don't. It is too much for me there. So. I sit and watch while at the edge. Someone always gets scraped up there because the floor of the wave pool at TL is textured.

Either park is a lot of fun. Enjoy.

 

[2Tiggies]

We usually go to the water parks 7+ times during our trip. LOVE them!

7 times? Wow!!

 

[magicbob]

In order to "fit" a water park in to our vacation, we plan a "non-park" day and just go to the water park that day. We finish up mid-afternoon and then will do some relaxing at the resort, dinner ADR, and get rested up for RD at a park the next morning. But we also are usually using 10-day non-expiring tickets, so going to parks for 1/2 days makes less sense than if you are using expiring tickets and it's only costing $10 more for another park day. In that case, even if you go to the water park in the morning and leave by mid-afternoon, you can go back to the resort to change and then visit a park in the evening (perhaps for evening EMH?). But for us, we usually do 4-5 park days for a 7-9 day trip (with 3-4 days spent doing water parks and other activities).

 

[bigbabyblues]

We did them for thr first time last trip. We had one day off close to the middle of our trip, and we went to BB that day. We went to TL two days as our break in the middle of the day. Definitely worth it for us.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

7 times? Wow!!

For the 10-14 day stay some are mentioning, that sounds about right to me

I'd skip DHS and (gulp) MK before skipping either water park

 

[ABE4DISNEY]

What about hitting them in the afternoon, like 3-6? Is this a good plan? Are they too crowded or is it a nice time?

 

[coley444]

Well, my toosh gets a little tight on some of the slides......

lol that's how I read it at first.

I mean, I typically don't get stuck in an inner tube on a good day myself haha

 

[bobbie68]

Hi,

we do a waterpark usually twice in a 6 or 7 day visit. We make them half days. We go at RD and stay till about 2. Then we go back to the resort get ready and go to a park or DD.

We love the water parks. We could not skip them on a Disney trip.

BB- has great slides a nice lazy river and a decent wave pool.
TL- has the shark reef, an awesome wave pool and some slides.

I would look at both to see which one has the rides that fit your family.

We love BB.

Happy planning.

 

[Networth]

I would skip one of your second days or go to the water park early and the park later. Or if your their for 9+ days use one of your down days to relax at the water parks. That said I haven't been to one in probably 10 years...

 

[Ametista]

Our DD prefers the water parks to theme parks. They are best if you arrive when they open or get there about 1:30 or 2:00 when others are starting to leave. After MK the 2 water parks are my favorite Disney parks.

 

[Shaden]

Well, my toosh gets a little tight on some of the slides......

Buahahaha, this was going to be my reaction as well ... I was thinking.

Well, I am trying to run 40 - 50 miles a week for the next 7 weeks leading up to our trip so I can fit in the parks

 

[tanyaandallie]

I might seriously consider Disney Quest for your older 2. We went on our last trip when my kids were 9 and 7 and they LOVED it.

We went to a water park on our last trip as well. We went in the afternoon but it was CROWDED! It was summer so that is expected but the lines were so long for everything it was a bit of a waste. I would like to get there for opening the next time and stay a few hours then head out.

 

[ZoZo]

I love water parks! I can easily spend a couple of hour just floating the lazy river. Here's my strategy.

I'll often spend the first part of the day at Typhoon Lagoon, and leave around 1:30 or 2:00. It's too tiring to spend all day in a water park (the sun can really sap your energy!), and I've usually had my fill by early afternoon. So I go back to the room, take a shower, take my time getting ready, and then hit one of the major parks in the late afternoon. Often, I'll go to Epcot or MK because they're usually open later in the evening. Then you can have the best of both worlds!

 

[PoohsFan1]

For our upcoming trip we are planning on going to TL twice, DisneyQuest once and play a round of mini golf at Fantasia Gardens. We did purchase the WP&F option and we are going for 11 days. We are going to Epcot 2 1/2 days, MK 2 days, and DHS 2 days...we are opting to not go to AK this trip. And since we arrive on 5/23 which is the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, we know all the parks will be jammed packed so we decided that we are going to stay away from them on the Saturday and Sunday. So on that Saturday we are planning on going to TL for a good amount of the day then head back to BC to clean up and have dinner at CMC then walk over to Fantasia Gardens for a round of golf. Then the next day (Sunday) we are heading to DisneyQuest for the morning/afternoon then the girls and I are heading to GF for some afternoon tea and then meet DH up at our resort for a rest, then after dinner we are heading over to BW to walk around and watch the street performers and just relax. Then a couple days before we leave we planned on going back to TL for 4 to 5 hours and that night we are heading to DTD for dinner and shopping.