Taking children to Blizzard Beach/Typhoon Lagoon

[Skyy]

Hi everyone! I will be doing a 10 day WDW stay with my family June/July. We plan to go to TL and BB, but my 3 year old niece will be with us. She's 39 inches and is a total thrill seeker, but is restricted due to height.

I have been to BB multiple times in the past, but never TL. Last I was in BB was like 2006.

What suggestions for rides/slides do you have? And what are some must do's for TL?

xx Skyy

 

[dsneprincess]

There is a kids section called Ketchakiddie creek in the upper left hand side of the park, behind the big wave pool. There are a couple very fast short slides on the way there built into the edge of the wave pool. Neither of my kids liked them much because of the unpredictibility of the waves knocking them under without warning, but I have seen many kids enjoy them. There are 2 raft slides and the big family raft ride also in that upper left hand corner that are ok for her height wise, IIRC. There is also an entrance to the lazy river. We have always spent most of our time there, as the left side seems to be bigger. I am not sure about height on the body slides because my little ones were never strong enough swimmers that young and not big of getting their faces wet, so we stayed more towards the tube rides that kept them above water rather than submerged.

 

[rapunzels]

Watch out for the wave pool at TL, with your 3 year old niece. In fact, you might want to watch while a wave is in action, so you now what to expect... very powerful. My daughter was in the shallow area, and the first wave basically knocked her flat and pulled her across the floor of the pool. The floor is not smooth, and really tore her foot up. If your niece is standing up without an adult near by, the waves will undoubtedly knock her down. We have found the farther out the better when the waves are in motion. Anywhere from the middle of the pool to the shore, everyone gets knocked into each other, if the pool is busy.

 

[Jkpark]

I would say know swimming ability more than height. A few things have height restrictions but there are plenty of slides/attractions - especially at BB, that don't. You just need to know their swimming ability as some slides don't allow adults to wait for them at the bottom. My daughter was a peanut so we loved BB when she was young because she could do more there than the traditional parks. Now I'm scared bc she is finally 48" and I'm not ready for her to go on that giant steep slide. Ugh.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Honestly, there really isn't much there at TL for children who aren't tall enough to ride Crushin Gusher. They have a family raft ride, but it sucks The one at BB is 10X better and usually has a shorter line to boot.

 

[gtpoohbear]

My 3 yo LOVED Ketchakiddie Creek at TL!! He didn't care for any of the other slides in the park or even the lazy river, but he said the creek was his favorite part of Disney World He did the tube ride there at least 20 times, and we spent a total of about 5 hours there. He still didn't want to leave when they made the final closing announcement.

We went to BB when my older DD was 4yo, and she loved it, but she was old enough to enjoy the larger raft-type rides. It seems like there was an area for younger kids that she played at for a while, but Teamboat Springs was the real hit there.

 

[stm61]

One of my daughters was also tiny when she was younger. We took her to both water parks for the first time when she was 4. I don't remember how tall she was, but she was the smallest in her preschool class and her twin had at least 3 inches on her in the pictures. The shorter twin was my dare devil. They both informed me that TL's kid's are was "for babies." They're 15 now, so it's been 11 years and things may have changed a bit. They hated the wave pool after they got knocked down by adults, who were knocked down by waves. They refused to get in the swim with the sharks pool because "there's sharks in there mama!" lol. They both loved the Ski Patrol area of BB. I was worried the shorter one would be to small, but she did fine. They had life jackets to borrow if I'm remembering right also.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

One of my daughters was also tiny when she was younger. We took her to both water parks for the first time when she was 4. I don't remember how tall she was, but she was the smallest in her preschool class and her twin had at least 3 inches on her in the pictures. The shorter twin was my dare devil. They both informed me that TL's kid's are was "for babies." They're 15 now, so it's been 11 years and things may have changed a bit. They hated the wave pool after they got knocked down by adults, who were knocked down by waves. They refused to get in the swim with the sharks pool because "there's sharks in there mama!" lol. They both loved the Ski Patrol area of BB. I was worried the shorter one would be to small, but she did fine. They had life jackets to borrow if I'm remembering right also.

Both water parks have free life jackets to use for the day

 

[twinz]

A little off topic, but I would highly recommend water shoes for your niece. I wear them every time I go to the water parks and I am always thankful I do.