Resort pool or Typhoon Lagoon

[Monima]

So everything is planned, paid for and reserved and NOW they ( husband & 12yr old ) want to fit in a water park.
HELP
We arrive on Thursday 8/31 hopefully around 11am at CBR and have a 6.45pm ressie at Sanna. Will go to AK, EPCOT and MK on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We have DXDDP and regular park hopper due to free dining. All the meals and FPs are booked.
Here are the options I see:
Go to Thyphoon lagoon on Thursday after check in and pay at the gate
Purchase park hopper plus and make epcot a half day to go to Typhoon for the afternoon
Stay at the resort pool on Thursday and be happy that we made it to Disney. As you can imagine, this is the least favorite of the options for our 12 yr old. I saw a post that the pool with the pirate ship is for 8yr old and under.
Any advise is greatly appreciated.
Is it worth $250,- dollars for half a day on Thursday and can we use dinning plan at Typhoon ?

 

[Shellyb84]

Where are you staying? Mentioning the pirate ship pool I'm assuming BC?

 

[Pkltm]

Where are you staying? Mentioning the pirate ship pool I'm assuming BC?

OP states CBR, I think that it is the kids play area she is referring to.

I would say if you are not going to hop, or go to the water park more than once then perhaps it is not worth the $250. We love TL and hop so we always get those passes.

 

[Shellyb84]

OP states CBR, I think that it is the kids play area she is referring to.

I would say if you are not going to hop, or go to the water park more than once then perhaps it is not worth the $250. We love TL and hop so we always get those passes.

Ok - I read through it twice and missed that somehow

I agree, I don't think it's worth is unless you go more than once.

 

[Monima]

Thank you for the input

 

[DisneyWishes14]

So everything is planned, paid for and reserved and NOW they ( husband & 12yr old ) want to fit in a water park.
HELP
We arrive on Thursday 8/31 hopefully around 11am at CBR and have a 6.45pm ressie at Sanna. Will go to AK, EPCOT and MK on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We have DXDDP and regular park hopper due to free dining. All the meals and FPs are booked.
Here are the options I see:
Go to Thyphoon lagoon on Thursday after check in and pay at the gate
Purchase park hopper plus and make epcot a half day to go to Typhoon for the afternoon
Stay at the resort pool on Thursday and be happy that we made it to Disney. As you can imagine, this is the least favorite of the options for our 12 yr old. I saw a post that the pool with the pirate ship is for 8yr old and under.
Any advise is greatly appreciated.
Is it worth $250,- dollars for half a day on Thursday and can we use dinning plan at Typhoon ?

I would upgrade to park hopper plus (that should cost you about $45) and just go after check-in on Thursday. I'm not sure why you think you need to pay at the gate? If you purchase the plus option on what I assume are 3-day PH tickets, you get 3 "plus" options which can be used on days other than your park days. If going to TL, you may want to consider bringing a change of clothes and some small soaps, shampoo, etc. and just changing at TL so you can go directly to your Sanaa reservation. Yes, you can use the dining plan at TL.

 

[Shanti]

So everything is planned, paid for and reserved and NOW they ( husband & 12yr old ) want to fit in a water park.
HELP
We arrive on Thursday 8/31 hopefully around 11am at CBR and have a 6.45pm ressie at Sanna. Will go to AK, EPCOT and MK on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We have DXDDP and regular park hopper due to free dining. All the meals and FPs are booked.
Here are the options I see:
Go to Thyphoon lagoon on Thursday after check in and pay at the gate
Purchase park hopper plus and make epcot a half day to go to Typhoon for the afternoon
Stay at the resort pool on Thursday and be happy that we made it to Disney. As you can imagine, this is the least favorite of the options for our 12 yr old. I saw a post that the pool with the pirate ship is for 8yr old and under.
Any advise is greatly appreciated.
Is it worth $250,- dollars for half a day on Thursday and can we use dinning plan at Typhoon ?

I also would upgrade to park hopper plus instead of buying separate passes. Typhoon Lagoon is definitely worth visiting. Yes, you can use the dining plan there.

 

[Anthony1971]

I would say if you are not going in the morning when they open than do not go at all.... the lines get very long in the afternoon. BUT if you just want to go for the wave pool it may be worth it --I warn you to make your kids wear life jackets good swimmers or not the entry of the pool is rough concrete and waves can and will knock over a child-- it is very common to see a line getting band aids for road rash at the first aid station... we go to TL every year and sometimes BB for the more extreme slides.

 

[OFF2NVRLAND]

If it were me, I would probably cancel my reservation and stay at TL until close . That's just because my family really enjoys the water parks.

We just got back from a water park trip and the lines are definitely shorter in the morning and closer to closing time. Miss Adventure Falls and Crush n Gusher had long waits all day. If you only have a short time in the park I would look at MDE and maybe YouTube to see what your priorities would be if you won't have enough time for everything. I'm sure the lines will be better at the end of August then my July trip though.
My boys (12 and 5) loved TL! They both did everything in the park multiple times. We stayed from open til close. If you don't mind spending the extra $ and can squeeze it in, it's worth it to me . We can never fit the water parks in on our theme park trips so we started taking summer trips for water parks and Disney Springs.

 

[mkoerner]

Resort pool and use the savings to buy something special you wouldn't find anywhere else.

 

[westie55]

For a 12 year old, there is no comparison between the resort pool and TL. At that age, water parks might have been my favorite thing at Disney. I think TL is definitely worth visiting if your son wants to go. My boys are very little right now and can't swim yet, so for now the resort pool makes more sense for my family. I look forward to the day they will be ready for water slides and all the water parks have to offer. At that time we will definitely build in water park time to our trips.

 

[heidijanesmith]

Another vote for TL! It's our favorite waterpark, we really enjoy the surf pool. We are really good swimmers, so the huge waves are no problem.

We arrive at TL 1st thing, enjoy any of the rides that can get a long and then camp out around the surf pool. We enjoy park hopping and adding the plus option. You can use the dining plan at TL, no problem.

 

[SA mom]

Another vote for TL and cancelling dinner reservation. The 12 year old will be so happy. How bad would the lines be on Thursday, August 31? We've gone at the end of July several times and did not find the lines to be horrible.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Typhoon Lagoon closes at 5 pm on August 31, so, if you get there around noon (you may want to consider using uber or Lyft to get there to save some time), you will have a solid 5 hours to enjoy the water park and still make it to Sanaa for your 6:45 pm reservation.

 

[Monima]

I would upgrade to park hopper plus (that should cost you about $45) and just go after check-in on Thursday. I'm not sure why you think you need to pay at the gate? If you purchase the plus option on what I assume are 3-day PH tickets, you get 3 "plus" options which can be used on days other than your park days. If going to TL, you may want to consider bringing a change of clothes and some small soaps, shampoo, etc. and just changing at TL so you can go directly to your Sanaa reservation. Yes, you can use the dining plan at

I would upgrade to park hopper plus (that should cost you about $45) and just go after check-in on Thursday. I'm not sure why you think you need to pay at the gate? If you purchase the plus option on what I assume are 3-day PH tickets, you get 3 "plus" options which can be used on days other than your park days. If going to TL, you may want to consider bringing a change of clothes and some small soaps, shampoo, etc. and just changing at TL so you can go directly to your Sanaa reservation. Yes, you can use the dining plan at TL.

We have 3 day park tickets for Friday Saturday and Sunday and were hoping to go to Typhoon on Thursday after check in with buying the park hopper plus.
When I called Disney the CM said I would have to use one of my park tickets for Thursday. So that's why I thought we needed to buy water park tickets.
Are you saying the CM is wrong ?

 

[Monima]

Another vote for TL and cancelling dinner reservation. The 12 year old will be so happy. How bad would the lines be on Thursday, August 31? We've gone at the end of July several times and did not find the lines to be horrible.

Thanks. The Sanaa dinner is also one of our 12yr olds choice and the only time we can go there. I'm glad for all the encouraging messages. Leaning towards going on Thursday after check in if it turns out that we do not have to use a park ticket and only need to use the hopper plus option.

 

[Monima]

Typhoon Lagoon closes at 5 pm on August 31, so, if you get there around noon (you may want to consider using uber or Lyft to get there to save some time), you will have a solid 5 hours to enjoy the water park and still make it to Sanaa for your 6:45 pm reservation.

This is great info. Thank you.
When I called Disney the CM told me we would have to use one of our park tickets for Thursday even if we buy the hopper plus.
Trying to find out if that is correct.

 

[Hopefully]

This is great info. Thank you.
When I called Disney the CM told me we would have to use one of our park tickets for Thursday even if we buy the hopper plus.
Trying to find out if that is correct.

@Robo can you answer this ticket question?

 

[Monima]

Another vote for TL and cancelling dinner reservation. The 12 year old will be so happy. How bad would the lines be on Thursday, August 31? We've gone at the end of July several times and did not find the lines to be horrible.

Yes, that's what I thought. It shouldn't be too busy at the end of August.
I need to confirml that we do not have to use a park day ticket as the CM on the phone told me

 

[DLgal]

The only problem with going in the afternoon is the thunderstorms. Can ruin your plans...and is almost a certainty for late August.

I'm not sure who told you the pool was for 8 and under. That's nonsense. We enjoyed the WDW moderate resort pools well into our teen years when we were growing up. My own kids are boys, 11 and 13 and they had a blast at the Grand Floridian Beach Pool last summer (arguably WAY less interesting than the CBR pool). I think you should stick to the resort pool and keep your money and Sanaa reservation. Save the water parks for a longer stay in the future.