Opinions Please: Which Water Park First?

[Tiffany_m15]

We are trying a water park for the first time this trip. We found out that the one-day tickets are good for both parks and we want to spend a little time in each park. I'm trying to determine a strategy for hitting both parks. Which park would you go to first in the morning: Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach? Is there a bus that still goes directly between the two parks? How long would you stay in each park? We have to be in Animal Kingdom by 6pm, Does this sound like a reasonable plan?

10am: Rope Drop Typhoon Lagoon
Miss Adventure Falls
A few slides

1pm: Blizzard Beach
A few slides
Lazy River
Wave Pool

4pm: Back to Resort to change and head to AK

Is this too much? Do you think we will get back to the resort in time (we are staying on site)? We are going to be exhausted aren't we?

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

As far as I know, there is not a bus that goes between the two water parks. If there's not, then you'd have to take a bus to Animal Kingdom, then a bus to Blizzard Beach if you started at Typhoon Lagoon. If you start at Blizzard Beach, you would have to take a bus to Disney Springs and then a bus to Typhoon Lagoon. That would take a good bit of time. Your other option is Taxi/uber. Even still, by the time you start packing up in one park, get to the other, find a place for your stuff, etc, it personally doesn't seem like it would be worth it. Also I would imagine you would eat something during this time, which leaves you with even less time to enjoy the water parks.

I would pick one water park and stay there the whole time. There's plenty to do in each one. Especially since you are planning on going to a park that night, I think you are trying to cram too much into one day.

 

[Skippyboo]

There isn't any direct buses to the water parks themselves from the hotels. You have to go to AK and then get a bus to BB. TL is the Disney Springs bus. I don't even think you get from one water park to the other without multiple bus transfers. DS buses don't go to the parks so you would have to go from TL to DS to Hotel to AK to BB.

You could uber it but I would just pick the water park that appeals the best to you and stay there until you need to go back to the hotel to get ready to go to the park. The lazy river at TL isn't that much different from BB.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Unless you have the option of driving, I would just do one of the water parks. I think you would be exhausted from trying to do both in the time you have.

If you decide to do both, I would do BB first. The chair lift is a neat experience and it takes you up to SP, the scariest ride in all of WDW. When we were there last September, both the chair lift and SP were walk on first thing in the morning. Literally, no one else was on SP. Not in line. Not at the bottom. Just me. Made it even scarier. But cooler, also. By the afternoon, lines will be quite a bit longer for both of those. After 12 pm, we didn't even bother with the chair lift. The line was long and it was slow loading. Also, it was closed most of the afternoon. Your best bet might be in the morning.

We far preferred BB. It was less crowded than TL, and the theming was so much fun. It was like no other water park I have ever visited. TL was great. Beautifully themed. But the theming was like that of many other water parks. It didn't seem as unusual or special as BB. Some people prefer TL for the monster wave pool, but I found it a bit scary with small children. BB was much more my style. My daughter (9 at the time) really liked the wave pool at TL, but it scared me slightly with her out there in it. If she were not a really strong swimmer, I may not have let her go out there alone. That wave knocked me down and ripped my 4 year old out of her dad's hands. Fortunately, she had a life vest on and was no worse for the wear.

 

[whiporee]

I'd do BB, because it (at least in July) was offering a virtual line you could use to save time, and TL wasn't offering that. If you try to hit BB later in the day, you won't have that option because they will all be gone.

 

[Coral Reef Diver]

We far preferred BB. It was less crowded than TL, and the theming was so much fun.

We like Typhoon Lagoon, but you can't argue with AtlantaDisneyDreamer's depiction of Blizzard Beach. Both are outstanding. I would just pick one to see.

 

[mousefan73]

I would only do it by Ubering between the two parks. IMO if this is your one and only chance, then do both. We usually do water parks from 10-12:30 and find that is enough time to get the must dos. But we do multiple days. I assume you have an ADR at AK? You could also skip going back to. Change. Bring stuff with. They have lockers and nice showers. Have bell services hold your pool bags. Or if Uber also from your resort to AKL. You just have so many nonstop transfers. 2 parks one day is not the issue. Disney buses is.

 

[ArielDreams]

Unfortunately there's not a direct bus between the two (which I think is dumb but I'm sure it has to do with money!) but we did technically go to both back to back on our last April trip. We started at TL, took the bus back to CSR in the early afternoon and luckily for us, the BB bus was one of the first to come next! We didn't go into the park because we wanted to go to Winter Summerland for mini golf but I kind of regret not just going in. It can be done with limited hassle if you really want to do both. But we did choose to transfer back at our resort just in case the wait was too long for a bus and we wanted to abort the mission!

 

[Klayfish]

I'd do BB, because it (at least in July) was offering a virtual line you could use to save time, and TL wasn't offering that. If you try to hit BB later in the day, you won't have that option because they will all be gone.

The FP+ system they're testing at BB is useless, except for Summit Plummet, so don't make a decision based on just that.

We drive, so I can't comment on the buses. But even with our car, your schedule sounds tight and tiring. Yeah, you could do it, but I'd want to sleep in the next morning. Depending on what slides you want at TL, you may want to hit them first before Miss Adventure. Crush n Gusher and Humunga will get long lines before Miss Adventure. By time you get to BB, lines will already be long, so your choices will be limited. If they're still testing FP+, use it for Summit, don't bother with the others.

If you only pick one, it's really personal choice. We love them both. If forced to choose one, we slightly prefer TL, but that's no slight on BB. The wave pool is worth the price of admission itself. Personally, I don't think it's that big of a deal even for small children.

 

[Tiffany_m15]

I'm thinking we're going to stick with everyone's advice and just hit one Water Park. We aren't into the big thrill rides so Summit Plummet isn't an issue for us. We like more of the winding tube type rides. It sounds like a few of the rides at BB that we would like are closed (Runoff Rapids) so I'm torn. I think the wave pool and crowd at BB sounds more our speed but it seems like there are more of the types of slides we like at TL.

 

[whiporee]

I asked my 10-year-old twins, and they both agreed BB is the way to go. It's easier to navigate and they felt there were better things to do. Neither did the plunge, but they really liked the lazy river and the racer, plus they liked using the lift. While you can't count on it, BB seemed a lot less crowded and congested than TL, and the food selections seemed better. Plus, more shady structures.

That said, the TL pool was great, especially if you just want to watch from the beach, because if you sit on the rocks, you still get sloshed.

And as much as I love Klay, I think he's wrong about the FP at BB. It was helpful for all three rides, but we didn't use it for the plunge.

Have fun! they are both as good as water parks get.

 

[Tiffany_m15]

The FP+ system they're testing at BB...

... about the FP at BB. It was helpful for all three rides, but we didn't use it for the plunge.

I'm not familiar with this. What is the Fast Pass system they are using? Are they stopping it after a certain date?

 

[Klayfish]

I'm not familiar with this. What is the Fast Pass system they are using? Are they stopping it after a certain date?

Around the 4th of July, they started testing a FP+ system at BB. It's only in use for 3 rides...Summit Plummet, Downhill Double Dipper (DDD) and Teamboat Springs (TS). It's not like what's in the 4 main parks. They have tables...literally folding tables...set up with CM stationed there. You walk up and ask for the number of FP+ you want. The CM then hands you that many wristbands. The wristbands have a return time slot on them. It's a 30 minute window. So you return during that window and you get to go to the "front" of the line. The bands also have a QR code, so the CM will scan that.

whiporee, thanks for the kind words. Here's why I feel like FP+ is only useful for Summit. For DDD, it takes you to the front of the line to get a tube. So yeah, that helps. However, once you get your tube, you're still in a line to climb the stairs and get to the ride. That can take a solid 20-30 minutes. It happened to us twice when we were using FP+ during the peak of the day. So sure, it's definitely better than the 45-60 minutes you'd wait in standby, but it's not efficient like FP+ is in the main parks (for example, with FP+ you wait 5 minutes to ride 7DMT). For TS, that slide rarely gets a long line. Assuming they have enough tubes on it, it can handle a huge volume of people since each tube can hold up to 6. The line is very often 10 minutes or less. Many times it's nearly a straight walk on. So the FP+ doesn't really do a lot, unless it's uncommonly crowded (sometimes I have seen the line "spike") It does, however, help a lot with Summit. You get to go right to the front of the line where they let people up the steps. You'll wait 10 minutes, instead of an hour. You just have to "excuse me, pardon me" your way through the standby queue...unless they've changed it since we were last there in mid-July. It was supposed to be a 6 week test period, with the expectation that by the start of next season it'll be in place full time for both parks (at least that's what several CMs told us).

Don't let the wave pool at TL concern you. Yeah, the waves are massive. But if you don't want to get hit hard by them, just stay in the shallow section. The waves there become pretty small. I think by yearly count TL has more people, but at least to me, it's not noticeable to where you'll feel like BB is much less crowded than TL. They feel about the same, at least IMO.

Yes, with Runoff Rapids at BB closed, there are more slides right now at TL. Miss Adventure Falls is fun...though a bit short. Teamboat Springs at BB is a longer duration ride.

 

[Spencer Wright]

My personal opinion is to stick to one. Why pack up and go a circuitous route to go to two.

Typhoon Lagoon is absolutely gorgeous, and to me screams a little more fun and sun, as opposed to BB.

However, both are awesome!!