Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach for non swimmers

[kotto1234]

Will go to one of these 2 parks this June and still can't decide which park. We've never been there before. Help us to decide!
Kids 7 & 9 know how to swim and will love the slides. However, us parents don't know how to swim. Is anything that we can enjoy other than hanging around and waiting for kids?

 

[suzicute20]

Almost all of the rides at both parks have shallow pools at the ends of the rides. I can't think of any where you actually have to swim. If you fall out of the tube ride or at the end of a body flume, all you have to do is hold your nose and then stand up. So, I think you could do all of the rides. Ever the lazy rivers are only a few feet deep. The only thing I would not recommend is either of the large wave pools.

That said, I will give a plug for Typhoon Lagoon. The water coasters are awesome and your kids would also probably like the shark reef where they can snorkel. You two can watch from a submarine in the middle. Have fun! I love the water parks. If you can go to both, do so. They are awesome!

 

[DaniB]

Will go to one of these 2 parks this June and still can't decide which park. We've never been there before. Help us to decide!
Kids 7 & 9 know how to swim and will love the slides. However, us parents don't know how to swim. Is anything that we can enjoy other than hanging around and waiting for kids?

Blizzard Beach would be the best with kids your age! It has a great area for kids up to age 12. Ski Patrol Training Camp. We had a hard time pulling our kids (11 and 6) away from here. My son loved crawling over the ice-burgs, and my daughter loved the zip-line.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/blizzard-beach/attractions/ski-patrol-training-camp/

First off, you'll all love the Cross-Country Creek. No worries if you can't swim as it's only 48" deep. Grab an inner tube and float as it circles the waterpark.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/blizzard-beach/attractions/cross-country-creek/


Melt-Away Bay is a fun gentle bobbing wave pool, where again you float in inner tubes. Starts of zero-entry and gets deeper. But you should be able to stay in the shallow end without difficulty.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/blizzard-beach/attractions/melt-away-bay/

The only thing about the Surf Pool at Typhoon Lagoon is that the wave is *strong* and *will* knock kids over. The floor is very rough (better for gripping I suppose). But I never had a chance to warn my daughter and the very first wave knocked her over and scraped her up. She refused to go back in there after we returned from First Aid.

 

[ronnmel]

I'm going to put a vote for Blizzard Beach.

As others have said, all slides at both parks end in a shallow pool, so no need to avoid any of those. Same with the lazy river, you can easily stand up in it should you fall.

However, as a PP mentioned, the waves at Typhoon Lagoon are STRONG! Even in the shallow part it will knock over children (and even some adults not paying attention). At Blizzard Beach the waves are very gentle so you can easily stand up in the shallow portion, or even sit at the entrance (as the ground is not as rough). My step-daughter (9) was a non-swimmer at the time of our trip and she LOVED Blizzard Beach's pool.

 

[ilovecoasters]

I am a non-swimmer, just never learned and honestly I'm also very freaked out about going under water. With that said, I love both of the water parks. There are only two things I avoid, one is the snorkeling at TL, the other are the storm slides at TL. I can't wait to start going to the water parks in a month or so.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

In the outlet area of all slides the water is no deeper than three feet.

Shark Reef does have a 12 foot depth. And the wave pools in both parks do get fairly deep, but that is quite a ways from the shore.

 

[mikamah]

I am a very weak swimmer, and we did both last summer, and the only thing I felt uncomfortable in was the tl wave pool when the huge waves hit. My son loved it, of course, so when the big wave was coming, I'd run back to ankle deep water and it was still a very strong wave. There are 2 different wave patterns, and one is huge and strong.

I think they both were great, but agree with pp who's kids love the zipline at bb. Ds loved that as well, and I sat in a chair in the sun and watched him for about an hour.

The tl shark reef has life vests if you want to use them too, since it is deep and you're just snorkelling on top of the water.

I don't think you can go wrong at either. Ds 9 said he like Bb better though.

 

[kotto1234]

Cool!!
I keep telling my husband that we need to learn how to swim in order to enjoy water parks.
Now that I know, I'm sooooooo looking forward to, since I love water even though I can't swim
That's why we'll head to St. Pete Beach after Disney.
Thanks so much. You guys are AWESOME!!!

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

We went to both water parks in October. I can swim, but don't like water slides. Both parks are very relaxing, but the family's fav was Blizzard Beach. I did ride the family raft ride at BB, which is very fun. It unloads in a shallow pool. I also enjoyed the lazy river.

At both parks, I really enjoyed finding a shady spot to read my book or take a short snooze. There is music at both. It's just very relaxing! For a non-water park person, I had a great day!

 

[Rhonna]

I'm going to put a vote for Blizzard Beach.

As others have said, all slides at both parks end in a shallow pool, so no need to avoid any of those. Same with the lazy river, you can easily stand up in it should you fall.

However, as a PP mentioned, the waves at Typhoon Lagoon are STRONG! Even in the shallow part it will knock over children (and even some adults not paying attention). At Blizzard Beach the waves are very gentle so you can easily stand up in the shallow portion, or even sit at the entrance (as the ground is not as rough). My step-daughter (9) was a non-swimmer at the time of our trip and she LOVED Blizzard Beach's pool.

I totally agree with you.

We like both themes and try to do both on our trips but we favor BB because:

We don't like the wave pool at TL and I can swim. If you can't swim I would NOT go in it.

The lazy river at BB is longer at 3,000 feet. TL is 2100 feet. We love the Ice Gator theming of the BB lazy river - look out for his house and the audio from him there.

The family tube ride is longer and better than at BB.

CM's are stationed all along the lazy rivers to keep an eye on you. The hardest part (for some people) is getting ON the tube. Pull one over to the steps and help each other get on. If it's not busy or logger jammed with people you can even hold onto each others tube handle to stay together.

It's easy to get on and off most slides. CM's are always at the top and I believe usually at the bottom. Only a few let out into deeper water at the end and you can see where each slide lets out at its end pool before you go up and get in line for each them.

If you can go during a weekday rather than Fri-Sun you will have less crowds. Tues and Wed are good. The locals come in on the weekends.

Have fun!

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

VERY weak swimmer here and TL was great!!!!
I could lazy river all day!!!

 

[mountdew1]

I would wager it depends on how comfortable you are in going after your kids in the wave pool, or if you will be able to convince them to stay out. I feel that TL is a bit stronger waves, so you stand a better chance of getting knocked down or separated from the kids. If you think that is a concern, then I would go BB. Otherwise they are both extremely well themed, and as several PP's have said, you don't need to be able to swim to enjoy either.