Water Park Questions

[Shellyb84]

Which water park do you prefer? Is one typically more crowded than the other? How long do you stay?

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Personally, I prefer Typhoon Lagoon but my husband and daughter prefer Blizzard Beach. Both are excellent, I just prefer the tropical theme and they prefer the winter theme. I really haven't noticed one being any more crowded than the other. When we go, we arrive first thing in the morning and only end up staying until around 2:00. By then, we have done everything that we wanted to do and are tired - much more tired than that same time when we are in the other parks.

 

[RangerPooh]

We've only ever been to TL and really enjoyed it. I'd like to try BB, but it seems to be down for refurb on the trips where we decide to visit a park park.

 

[FreeTime]

We prefer the wave pool at TL and the slides at BB. DH and DD stay until about noon and the other DD and I usually shutdown a pretty empty park after the rain shower.

 

[Shellyb84]

We prefer the wave pool at TL and the slides at BB. DH and DD stay until about noon and the other DD and I usually shutdown a pretty empty park after the rain shower.

What are the lines like around 12-3PM?

 

[Klayfish]

The "which waterpark" is a very commonly asked question. Not at all trying to sound "snarky", just recommending doing a search and you'll find a ton of info. But I'll give a cliff notes version. We love the water parks. Have been to each of them at least 20 times.

As for which one is busier, they really are about the same. I think by sheer numbers, TL is slightly higher, but really very, very close.

Which one do I prefer? Well, that's really a matter of what you want and there's no wrong answer. If you FORCE me to pick one, I think I'd say 51% TL and 49% BB, but I pretty much love them equally. They both have similar attractions...tube slides, lazy river, "big" slides, kiddie areas, family tube rides. Just different themes. Some of the key differences....the wave pool is the biggest difference. The one at TL has waves like you've never seen in a wave pool. They're humungous. If you want to stand in the deeper end of that pool, you need to be a strong swimmer. But if you are, it's beyond awesome. The beauty of it is that even non-swimmers can go in it, just stand in the shallow end...in fact one of the kiddie areas is off to the side of the shallow end of it. The wave pool at BB is very small waves that are constant. Sort of like bobbing up and down in the ocean. BB has a zip line and iceberg crossing challenge for younger kids, TL does not. TL has a "roller coaster" style tube slide, in that jets of water push you up small hills, not just down. BB does not have that. BB has two "big" slides, TL only has one...however, the "big" slides at BB are only one lane each, the one big slide at TL is 3 lanes.

How long to stay? Depends. If you want to chill and relax, you can stay all day. But we usually arrive at park open (10am usually) and are done by about 2pm. The first hour the park is open, you can get on anything you want with basically no wait. The only limit there is how fast you can climb the stairs...there are lots of stairs. By 11am, the lines for the e-ticket stuff start to build. That's the best time to get in the wave pool or lazy river. Lines will stay long until about 4pm, then slowly come back down.

 

[Pkltm]

We have done both as well. Our preference is TL, we love the pool and the Crush-n-Gusher. We always get the option on the ticket, it is one of our fav things to do on vacation.

 

[NeedMooreDis]

We've done both. Bummed TL did away with the shark reef. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with either one. My little brothers loved the giant slide at BB and the lazy river. I agree the wave pool is better at TL and I also like the raft slides there better. If water parks are your thing, you could easily spend an entire afternoon there. We typically get there around the time they open and leave about an hour before they close.

 

[PollyannaMom]

The "which waterpark" is a very commonly asked question. Not at all trying to sound "snarky", just recommending doing a search and you'll find a ton of info...

I hate to say that to people, though, for two reasons: First, too much info from too many threads at once can be really overwhelming, and second, some of it might be old and confuse the poster even more. But I think your "cliff notes" version is spot on!!


My family also loves both. When we do a water park at all, we pretty much alternate. If I had to choose, I like TL for the littlest ones and then for older teens, and BB for kids in the middle (because of the iceberg crossing thing). - A lot of it just comes down to which theme appeals to you, though!

For crowds/timing, I agree with Klayfish as well.

 

[Shellyb84]

I hate to say that to people, though, for two reasons: First, too much info from too many threads at once can be really overwhelming, and second, some of it might be old and confuse the poster even more. But I think your "cliff notes" version is spot on!!


My family also loves both. When we do a water park at all, we pretty much alternate. If I had to choose, I like TL for the littlest ones and then for older teens, and BB for kids in the middle (because of the iceberg crossing thing). - A lot of it just comes down to which theme appeals to you, though!

For crowds/timing, I agree with Klayfish as well.

Is it worth going to both? I'm not a water park person, but we haven't been since DD was 5 (and that was just for a few hours because she decided she wouldn't get on the slides. We figured we could do the lazy river back at the BC). Now she's a little older and more adventurous (8) she's begging to go. I'm planning a 13 day trip so we have the time. We usually do 2 park days/1 off day. Just wondering if it's a better idea to go to one for an entire day or do two half days at each.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Is it worth going to both? I'm not a water park person, but we haven't been since DD was 5 (and that was just for a few hours because she decided she wouldn't get on the slides. We figured we could do the lazy river back at the BC). Now she's a little older and more adventurous (8) she's begging to go. I'm planning a 13 day trip so we have the time. We usually do 2 park days/1 off day. Just wondering if it's a better idea to go to one for an entire day or do two half days at each.

I'd probably initially plan one, and place it early in the trip. That way:
A) You can swap it to a later day if weather is a problem, or
B) You can add in the other park if you have so much fun that you want to (either by dropping a second day at your least favorite park or turning a rest day into a half-day).

 

[Shellyb84]

I'd probably initially plan one, and place it early in the trip. That way:
A) You can swap it to a later day if weather is a problem, or
B) You can add in the other park if you have so much fun that you want to (either by dropping a second day at your least favorite park or turning a rest day into a half-day).

Good plan! Thanks!

 

[Klayfish]

Is it worth going to both? I'm not a water park person, but we haven't been since DD was 5 (and that was just for a few hours because she decided she wouldn't get on the slides. We figured we could do the lazy river back at the BC). Now she's a little older and more adventurous (8) she's begging to go. I'm planning a 13 day trip so we have the time. We usually do 2 park days/1 off day. Just wondering if it's a better idea to go to one for an entire day or do two half days at each.

That's really up to you if you want to do both, but since it seems you'll have the time, I'd emphatically say yes! Our trip this summer was over two weeks long, and one of the things our kids said was that they wanted to get to the water parks more than we did last summer. I don't remember how many times we went to each, but I think it was 3...so 6 total visits in 2 weeks. We had plenty of days where we'd hit the water park from 10am to 2pm, then go back to the rental house, shower, chill for a bit then go to one of the 4 parks from 5pm to 10pm or something like that.

That's one of the beauties of the water parks...they can be as adventurous or relaxing as you want. If you don't want to burn all your energy, float in the lazy river or chill in BB wave pool...or even take your time going to slides. If you want to hit slide after slide, you can.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

@Shellyb84 I pretty much agree with the PPs above. I probably would have never considered going to one of the water parks until a few years ago.... we were staying at Poly when the feature pool was under construction and they gave guests free passes to BB to make up for it. DS (4 or 5 at the time) and I had an off day so we ventured over. We had the BEST time ever... got there at RD and stayed until mid afternoon. He was totally worn out and so was I... but it was AWESOME.

Since then, we've been hooked and make it a point to go to one of them per trip. For a longer trip, we wouldn't definitely do both if possible.

BB gets the oh-so-slight nod for us (mainly given the better toddler area which is still important for us), but TL is great too. I'm actually going to TL next Saturday and I'm totally stoked!

Sometimes we go at RD and just hit the rides and head back after lunch... sometimes we rent a cabana and make it a total CHILL day... sometimes afternoon storms force our hand. We never really plan a water park day all that much... really just go with the flow.

 

[whiporee]

Just to jump in, if you're staying onsite (or even if you've bought Park Hoppers) you can add the +more option for not too much, and that gives you access to the water parks (and mini golf and other stuff) for a lot cheaper than it is to add the ticket on. We had two day Park Hoppers that ended up netting us four days -- two park days and two water park days. Just something to keep in mind when you're planning if you think you might enjoy the water parks.