Water Park Advice

[Calee]

We have been to Disney a couple of times in the last few years but have never done a water park! I added them on this time because we have free dining/hoppers so adding it wasn't much more.

So. I need advice from the pros! Tell me everything! We are going July 29th-August 6th. I plan to do a water park on our arrival day (the 29th) and on the 30th. We already had our park days planned before we decided to add these so I don't think I want to rearrange everything.

I don't know how crowded to expect them to be, how to plan our day, etc.

On our arrival day we will have about a 3 hour drive, so I don't know if we will make it to park open. Is it worth it if we will get there at 11 or 12? Should I wait until later and stay until closing? I'm thinking I will do Typhoon Lagoon this day.

Planning Blizzard Beach on the 30th. We will be able to arrive at open. Should I plan to stay til close? Take a break when it is most crowded in early afternoon and come back? I have Saana reservations for that evening.

Any thoughts on what I should do as far as food these days? We have the dining plan so we could leave in the middle, or go to a TS after. Or save our TS for other days, although I have most of those days scheduled out.

We could also do a waterpark on Saturday which is technically our break day but I do have nighttime Fast Passes for HS.

There is 5 of us. 3 kids. 7, 9, 11. 11 year old doesn't like slides.

I will take any and ALL tips!

 

[maltdizzy]

DS loves the water parks, and rides all the slides as soon as he makes the height requirement. But a half-day in the sun and chlorine is usually enough for him. If you're there at opening, I would think you'll be ready top paak it in around 3 PM anyway. Though your mileage may vary.

 

[Christine]

For Typhoon Lagoon, if you don't get there at opening, it's tough to get a close in spot to sit your stuff and your family. There's quite a lot of seating areas at Typhoon Lagoon, but your may find yourself on the fringes of things and not readily able to sit in a more central location. This is not a deal breaker by any means and I've done it when I arrived closer to lunch time.

As @maltdizzy said above, for Blizzard Beach, a good half day at one of the waterparks is good enough for us. If we go at park opening, we are generally all ready to get going home by 2PM.

 

[Calee]

Thanks for the thoughts! For our arrival day, if we arent going to be there at open is there a time in the afternoon it starts to thin out? We could go a little later and stay til close if that would be better (water parks are open 10-8 while we are there).

Is there one park that seems to get/stay/feel more crowded than the other?

 

[Christine]

Thanks for the thoughts! For our arrival day, if we arent going to be there at open is there a time in the afternoon it starts to thin out? We could go a little later and stay til close if that would be better (water parks are open 10-8 while we are there).

Is there one park that seems to get/stay/feel more crowded than the other?

I think I've heard they start to thin out around 2:00. Certainly when I'm leaving there are a good number of people walking out with me.

To me, I feel like Blizzard Beach feels more crowded by the way the seating areas are laid out. At TL, you can sit off it some pretty secluded areas and not be totally aware of how many people are there. There have been times at TL, however, where the lazy river was just wall-to-wall people.

 

[Esmeralda91]

I definitely wouldn’t stay all day or leave and come back. You’ll have done everything within a few hours, and transportation is a pain. (Although it might be better now with the direct buses.) 3pm might be a good time to arrive if you can’t get there at opening. That’s when people get hot, tired, and cranky and the crowds really thin out. 12-2pm has the most direct sun, so at least for me, it’s uncomfortably hot and too easy to get sunburned. The least crowded water park day we ever had was Blizzard Beach right after an afternoon storm. We got there at close to 4pm, the weather was warm but not too hot, and we had virtually no waits.

 

[Isabelle12345]

I have to say that I went on a beautiful Sunday at the end of June and the lines were very small
We did TL in the morning until a little after lunch (taking a good 45 min break in the shadow) and crowds were not that bad; then we took an Uber to BB and then again very little lines (some 5-10 min, lots of them a walk on); obviously there were one or two that had longer lines but we just avoided them or went early/late
We left around 4:30 having done almost all slides and the lazy river and we were exhausted but happy (we were just two adults btw)

 

[Klayfish]

We love the water parks, go to each one very often. Quick points...

Park open during summer is 10am. You don't need to be there any earlier than 9:55am. The first hour, you can do as many slides as your legs can handle (you have to climb stairs for most of them). So the best strategy for either park is to hit the "big" things from 10-11am. You will have no problem tackling them all. From there, hit the less popular slides, the lazy river and/or wave pool.

If you go later, I'd suggest showing up around 3pm and do things in reverse order. Wave pool, lazy river, small slides first. Then big stuff before park close.

The parks are never as crowded as the theme parks, even on a Saturday at 1pm in July. However, since there is no FP+ (yet) the slides will get a 30-60 minute wait during midday.

Both parks have plenty of seating. Everyone goes for the seating near the front of the park (us included), so if you show up after park open, just head towards the back and you'll find plenty of shady spots.

Half day is probably more than enough. We're probably as big of a water park fan as you'll find on DisBoard, but even we never stay a full day.

Food is up to you. We pack all of our own food, but that's because we stay offsite and have our own car. They do have burger/fry type stuff there to buy.

 

[Calee]

We love the water parks, go to each one very often. Quick points...

Park open during summer is 10am. You don't need to be there any earlier than 9:55am. The first hour, you can do as many slides as your legs can handle (you have to climb stairs for most of them). So the best strategy for either park is to hit the "big" things from 10-11am. You will have no problem tackling them all. From there, hit the less popular slides, the lazy river and/or wave pool.

If you go later, I'd suggest showing up around 3pm and do things in reverse order. Wave pool, lazy river, small slides first. Then big stuff before park close.

The parks are never as crowded as the theme parks, even on a Saturday at 1pm in July. However, since there is no FP+ (yet) the slides will get a 30-60 minute wait during midday.

Both parks have plenty of seating. Everyone goes for the seating near the front of the park (us included), so if you show up after park open, just head towards the back and you'll find plenty of shady spots.

Half day is probably more than enough. We're probably as big of a water park fan as you'll find on DisBoard, but even we never stay a full day.

Food is up to you. We pack all of our own food, but that's because we stay offsite and have our own car. They do have burger/fry type stuff there to buy.

So helpful!! I know this is a lot, but would you mind telling me what you consider the hot rides in both? No one in my party will do the biggest things like the summit plummet, so I'm trying to figure out what to prioritize.

 

[bigbabyblues]

My tip is something you hopefully won't need, but we did and weren't prepared for it. When you enter the park, find the Lost Kids area and show your kids. Our kids (12 and 10 at the time) got separated from us in the lazy river; they were together but DH and I got caught in a crowd of tubes and the boys didn't. They didn't realize it, thought we had gotten out ahead of them, and got out at some point to try and find us. They didn't stand on the steps and wait for us to come by like we had told them to, but they did find a CM and told them they couldn't find us. They were taken to the lost kids area. We thought they were ahead of us, and DH got out of his tube and went to find them, while I got out and waited on the steps for them to float by. He made it all the way around and didn't find them, and it was getting ready to storm and I was panicking. Another CM heard us talking and called LK on the radio, and they were there.

If you get in the lazy river, make a plan for what to do if you get separated because it can happen.

 

[Calee]

If we were to do a later arrival (2/3- close) at one and an opening arrival at the other, is one better for open and one better for close in you alls opinion?

 

[Isabelle12345]

So helpful!! I know this is a lot, but would you mind telling me what you consider the hot rides in both? No one in my party will do the biggest things like the summit plummet, so I'm trying to figure out what to prioritize.

For typhoon lagoon, we were told to start with miss adventure falls then crush ´n gusher then mount mayday slides
It worked well for us!

Edited with the right names - autocorrect issues yesterday!

 

[cgattis]

If I were driving in that morning, I think I’d sleep a little longer, hit Orlando around lunch. Have a big lunch offsite, then hit the water park. Like another poster said, after that long drive, some time in the lazy river sounds like a great start. Then save the bigger rides for later. You could have dinner there or at your resort and still turn in early to be rested for the next day.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Bring a cooler. Drinks and food are both ok. No glass, no alcohol.
We usually arrive before rope drop and depart around 1-2pm.

Day of arrival is a great way to fill up that day. If you arrive at 11am you will still have a good time.
We sometimes went to a WP from about 1pm to 4pm on arrival day and then we would check into our resort.

 

[Calee]

If I were driving in that morning, I think I’d sleep a little longer, hit Orlando around lunch. Have a big lunch offsite, then hit the water park. Like another poster said, after that long drive, some time in the lazy river sounds like a great start. Then save the bigger rides for later. You could have dinner there or at your resort and still turn in early to be rested for the next day.

We will have a 7.5 hour drive the day before, and 3.5 on arrival day. You are right the lazy river will sound great at that point!

 

[cgattis]

Also, don’t miss the little donuts with chocolate dipping sauce for a snack!! Not sure if they’re at both water parks but they are delicious!!

 

[Wild4Walt]

IF you decide you want to do a full day at BB but take a break in the afternoon you can walk over to Winter/Sumerland and do mini-golf.

Just a PSA - the Florida sun gets HOT. Make sure you drink lots o water and bring a high SPF with you so it can be reapplied as the day goes on.