Typhoon Lagoon Free Seating vs GG Umbrella

[DanielNYC]

Going to TL for the first time on August 20th which is a Tuesday. All the crowd calendars I've been looking at indicate average to lower crowd levels for that day. Our plan is to get there around half an hour before park opening and stay until around 2:00ish (so around 4 hours in the park total give or take). I've been debating whether or not to book a reserved Getaway Glen umbrella. They're up to almost $75 now. From reading some other posts it looks like it will be easy to get chairs in one of the shaded areas especially since we'll be there at rope drop. So my first question is if we want a calmer & shadier area, where should we head too? Also, once you "claim" your chairs with your towels and other belongings do people generally respect this? I realize that life holds no guarantees but just curious as to what the normal experience is in the free seating areas. TIA!

 

[teacher31]

I would not spend the money. We rope drop, go in, then cross the bridge after the restaurant. There are shade areas where we dump our stuff and then head out. We do put things on the chairs for each person and we go back throughout the day. Have never had an issue with something being lifted, including phones. Yes. We did that.

 

[snoopy5386]

I would also not bother. How much time will you realistically spend in those chairs in just 4 hours in the park?

 

[DanielNYC]

Very helpful advice all around. Thanks!

 

[NavyDad]

If you are there at RD you should have no issues getting a shady spot. I would avoid the busy center of the park. We usually head around to the right side at TL and to the left at Blizzard Beach.

In 15+ water park days we have never had an issue with people moving or taking any of our stuff. We don't leave valuables - just towels, flip flops and come clothing items. The only time we ever had an issue was a South American tour group surrounded our seating area about ten years ago. We could hardly get to our seats and one young lady had sat on my wife's towel and gotten in wet. My wife was not too happy but the young lady moved right away and they didn't bother us. We have never had anything stolen or even had things moved.

 

[C&Jx2]

We spent the money once... We put our stuff down and didn’t use it again. It was a waste for us.

 

[DanielNYC]

If you are there at RD you should have no issues getting a shady spot. I would avoid the busy center of the park. We usually head around to the right side at TL and to the left at Blizzard Beach.

In 15+ water park days we have never had an issue with people moving or taking any of our stuff. We don't leave valuables - just towels, flip flops and come clothing items. The only time we ever had an issue was a South American tour group surrounded our seating area about ten years ago. We could hardly get to our seats and one young lady had sat on my wife's towel and gotten in wet. My wife was not too happy but the young lady moved right away and they didn't bother us. We have never had anything stolen or even had things moved.

Thanks for the detailed reply. Very helpful. I've also been looking at some POV videos of both water parks on YouTube in order to get a good "lay of land" before we get there so it doesn't feel so unfamiliar. I see lots of shady empty chairs either under trees or the free umbrellas and open cabanas. I'm confident now that if we're there at RD we're not going to have an issue.

 

[Jelkat]

We spent the money once... We put our stuff down and didn’t use it again. It was a waste for us.

This was the same as us.