waterparks ? with kids

[tinkerbellmichelle]

Which waterparks do you think have the best slides/attractions for kids... 5/6 years of age....

Do any of the waterparks allow you to ride the slides WITH your kids??

What parks provide life vests and allow the kids to wear them on the slides???

Basically, with younger kids who are a little timid with water (but have enjoyed waterslides riding with us the first time) - what park do you think has the most for THEM?

Thanks,

 

[MinnieForMe]

We have been to all four Orlando area waterparks and hands down Aquatica is the park for that age group. They have two areas that will keep that age group entertained. A splash down area with the huge bucket with lots of small/medium slides and a toddler area (for those under 48 inches). I don't believe any of the slides there are really dare devil slides and if they are tall enough they will be able to ride them all with parents. Their wave pool is very tame in comparison to TL.

All parks have life jackets available free of charge.

We didn't find BB or Typhoon Lagoon had much to offer if the child didn't like bigger slides. There are toddler areas at both which were fine. BB has a great pool with ice caps to cross. Check out all the websites and see what will interest your family the most.

 

[kidd_freeper]

Typhoon Lagoon is probably better than Blizzard Beach for those ages. But either would be ok.

Both have good kiddie areas. Both have lazy rivers.

TL has milder slides. If your kids are somewhat brave, TL has Crush-n-Gusher - a mild water coaster - which you can ride in groups of 2 or 3.

TL has the big wave pool - the shallow part would be a lot of fun, and your kids could go out as far as you want them to.

OTOH - BB has the family raft ride which shouldn't be missed - longest in the world, extremely safe and a whole lot of fun.

 

[Tltypes]

Aquatica is the best choice for that age group. I second everything MinnieForMe posted. We were there about a week ago and it seemed less busy than BB and TL, too.

 

[moongirl]

My 8 year-old spent the entire day at the ski patrol area at BB. There was a zip line, floating ice that they could cross with the aid of a rope and mini water slides into a small pool there with shade. We used this area as our "base" and our 8 year old stayed there for most of the day. The family raft ride was awesome and so is the lazy river. There was at least one other inflated tube ride that was a 2-person ride. We have never been to the other water parks but BB was great for our 8 year old who is also a little timid.

 

[houndz17]

great place

 

[Siddhartha]

Yep, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach are good ones!

 

[Siddhartha]

If you're going to Disney, rent a private home 8 minutes from the parks with heated pool. Check out our website at:

http://disneyfunvilla.com/welcome.html for info and rates.

 

[haPevraftr]

I think that the height of your children plays a role in which is better. 2 years ago both of my kids were under 48 inches and BB was the best choice for us. BB has better longer slides in the kiddie area (Tike's Peak) than TL. Both kids (age 5 and 2 at the time) were content to do those slides all afternoon. Then we did the lazy river and wave pool and DH snuck off to ride "big kid rides" right before the park closed.

Last year DD was 6 and over 48 inches so she was too tall to do Tike's Peak (they monitor it closely and measure every time you try to ride--too tall, can't ride). For this reason, we went to TL b/c it has more "easy for everyone" rides and DS 3 with a life jacket could ride a lot of them. Beware of the wave pool here, though. It is really strong and leveled him and dragged my husband along the shallow area on his back (he ended up all scraped).

This year DS is 4 and much more comfortable in the water. We will be going to BB b/c he and DD 7 will be able to go to Ski Patrol Training Camp together. There are several other rides he will be able to do, as well. Then DD and DH can ride some that he can't and DS and I will visit Tike's Peak for a bit.

There are quite a few youtube videos of the different rides. That has helped me over the years make better choices. People take their video cameras on them and you can get a great sense of how they are. You can also see video of Tike's Peak, etc...

 

[Taratink]

We love bb. There are more double tube rides in this park compared to TL. There is an intermediate area there that my young kids loved. The wave pool at TL is terrible for little ones. The waves are so rough that it pushed us over and the bottom of the wave poll is so rough that our knees were all scraped up. We absolutely love Blizzard beach.