Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach? Help us decide...

[anniet]

We are having a family reunion next week at OKW and the family is split on whether to go to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon. The children are ages 3,6,8 and 9--our generation ranges from about 33-42 and our parents (four seniors in all) are in their mid 60's with my Dad being the oldest at 72.

Which water park would be best for all of us? Or does it make a difference???

Thanks,
Annie

 

[safetymom]

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4306180&a=31763104&f=

The families can ride the new water ride Crush n Gusher.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

With children of those ages I would have normally reccomended BB because I think the Ski Patrol area is perfect for them. Typhoon Lagoon doesn't have an area specifically for that age range.

..... but I prefer TL because you can't beat the themeing. All of the adults will love the atmosphere and it is really enjoyable to sit and watch the wave pool. There will still be plenty for the kids to do but the seniors and adults who are not interested in slides and rides might prefer the tropical theme.

 

[anniet]

My dh and I have been to both, but we are the only ones who have- the rest of the family has only done TL and enjoyed it. The ten year old has been swimming since she was three and the 8 and 6 year old have been swimming about 3 years as well. The three year old, I'm not sure, but I'd love to see the kids try the slides, just don't know if TL or BB would be better for them.

We are leaning towards TL but only because BB was a bad experience when DH scraped his knees on one of those rough patches at the beginning of the toboggan racers and we did have to wait about 25 minutes to ride the ski lift in January. The older folks enjoy the slides, but they aren't daredevils either.

What is ski patrol? I thought it was more a teenish kind of area?


Thanks,
Annie

 

[HopperFan]

We have family reunions at the water parks annually and we alternate between them. The ages ranged from 7 - 66. Everyone preferred BB. Not that we didn't enjoy TL, we do, just prefer BB. The older folks preferred the calmer wave pool, the ski lift to the top and the family raft ride. The kids loved the Ski Patrol and no it is not for teens. Your kids will love it ! Actually teens are not allowed to use it. We always get there at opening and head to the Ski Patrol, and in the back corner is a sandy space apart from the deck area, surrounded by shrubbery with 2 covered tables and chairs, lounges. We use that as home base. Right there at ski patrol, backs up to river (feels private), close to bathrooms, ski lift and bottom of family raft ride.

Look at this guy's site from working there http://www.johnremus.com/disney/blizzard.php he has quite a few photos of Ski Patrol.....t-bar, icebergs, slides.........scroll all the way he doesn't have them in order.

 

[justplaingoofy]

We did both while we were there last week. Blizzard Beach has more slides, but we prefer Typ. Lagoon because of its layout and the wave pool is not to be missed. Everytime a wave comes you can hear excited shrieks from everywhere
That park also has Crusher Gusher which is incredible!! Seems like a cross between a Rollercoaster and a water ride. I'm not much of an adventurer but it was ALOT of fun. (7 time) you can ride singles, doubles, or triples.

 

[melk]

I voted for Blizzard Beach, although we haven't been to TL in years, so I don't recall it that well. BB has a wonderful family raft ride and the ski patrol area is great for kids. Our kids also loved all the relay areas. The wave pool is good for older ones and younger ones who don't like to get completely knocked over by the waves!!

 

[stm61]

another vote for BB. We did both and, while they enjoyed TL, my kids (12, 6, 6) preferred BB hands down. In TL I had to stay with my dd's 6, they were really to old for the kiddie stuff and hated the wave pool that kept knocking them over. One isn't ready for the bigger slides and the other is to short. They liked looking at the shark pool but wouldn't go in without me and I couldn't leave one and take one.

They loved BB. We sat in ski patrol and let them run after the 1st hr or so. They went on everything in there many times and had to be dragged out at closing. It was our 1st time there and when I asked directions the guard thought that my smaller dd would do better at Tikes Peak. She's small for her age and looks like she's about 4. I decided to let her try and would have taken her to Tikes if it was to much for her but she did great, even better then her taller sister! I really wanted to check out Tikes for my niece's but I never got a chance to. I was to busy trying to keep track of the 3 kids I had with me!

 

[nyfinfan]

We liked both. My DS(5) loved the 'Water Canon's' @ TL.

Does anyone know if TL has a Family Raft Ride beside's Crush N Gusher like the one @ BB? Thanks.

 

[Ride Junkie]

Blizzard Beach! My husband and I love BB & always have a blast there. The ski resort theming is neat, and the slides are the best. They have several different ones where you can race each other, and the family raft ride is the best.

We just went to TL for the first time in June, and we were disappointed. They don't have as many slides, and the one high-up slide we found was purposely bumpy & not fun at all. They have a family raft ride, but it is totally lame. It's supposed to be like rapids, but it's more like a lazy river, nowhere near as good as the one at BB. The Crush 'n Gusher was pretty neat, that's about it.

 

[Amyg]

Just saw a special on the Travel Channel and they put Blizzard Beach at #3 for Best Water Parks. I've never been to either so I can't personally recommend. That would be a difficult choice for me!

 

[applepwnz]

I voted for Blizzard Beach, but it really depends on what everyone feels like doing. It seems to me that TL is oriented around the wave pool (with some slides) while BB is oriented around water slides (with a small wave pool.) So really it just depends on which you/your family would enjoy more.

 

[Lora]

We just did both of these parks last week (me, dh and 2 dd's almost 8 and almost 10). We had only ever done BB and the kids were excited to go back to do the Ski Patrol area now that they were old enough. It's more pre-teen than teen. It would probably work for you 8/9 yo - and even your 6 yo (except for the ice walk unless he/she is tall).

The kiddie area in BB is also great, but limited to those 48" and under. It's not far from the Ski Patrol, so you could split the group easily without going far.



We really enjoyed our return visit to BB with one exception. I did not like the toboggan ride that goes through the curvy water tube (the racer one is fine) because you have to ride on your stomach and I'm tall so I got bent backwards around the curves.

We decided to try TL as well since we had a brief introduction to snorkeling at a relatives the weekend before. This was a plus for TL. We got there early and did that right after the new Slushin' Gusher which is very cool. You can ride up to 3 people on 2 of the three slides. The others can take 2 (there are no single tubes, but you can ride alone on a double). This is also a plus for TL now.
By the way, when they say to lift your behind on this ride - do. My motto for this was "bottoms up!".

It wasn't really on the park map yet, so you have to find it on the big maps around the park. If you go to the right after the entrance, it's past a beachy lounging area. We also really enjoyed the wave pool at TL. The family raft ride is better at BB than the one at TL. But they both have the "lazy river" going around the park.

If we had to return to just one of the parks again next time, we'd probably do TL for the pluses I mentioned.

Oh yeah, and on the way out... be ready to be lured by the irresistible donut aroma.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Boy that's a toughie. I chose TL on the poll but it's only got a slight lead for us.. mostly the shark reef and crushin' gusher (which btw isn't all THAT great to us- it's just really short compared to the same type of tube rollercoaster we have at a smallish water park here in Texas- but there were NO LINES there at all. I think because it's not even on the map yet? other slides, especially the family raft one, had huge lines- but no one in line for this at all by the time you went down the slide you could keep your tube and go back up the stairs to ride it again!).
But BB does seem to have more things for the "in between" crowd- not babies but not adults wanting to ride huge slides. The under 48" was fun for my kids but my oldest is really a few inches too tall for it- they let her slide on the height thing in June though. We only did TL this last trip- we were going to do both but the day we had BB planned we slept in a little late (planned) and it was raining by the time we were ready to go... so we changed our plans that day. LOL

That really is tough to decide... would really depend on what you want to do, ages of the children and what they like to do, etc. Oh and TL's "wave pool" is one I prefer over all others... not sure if BB does the same thing but the ones here in Texas sure don't. Ours do wave after wave for a certain amount of time (like 8-15min depending on which park) and then pauses for a few minutes. TL did one big huge wave, pause, another huge wave, pause. I like that... helped us catch our bearings in between each wave and keep from panicking about the kids drowning or whatnot. No floats/tubes though...