Waterparks

[RDP]

Tell me the best way to 'do' a water park ? We've been going to Florida for 14 years but never gone to a water park. Plan on going this August.

 

[thestevied]

I guess it's each to their own but personally speaking, the wife and I always hit a waterpark at opening... 10am I think. We don't reserve any seats or loungers, just put on the sun cream and load all our stuff into a locker. We then spend about 2 or 3 hours doing all the slides and attractions. We end our time there by spending a good hour or so just floating around the lazy river. That's our favourite part of the day!
We dont stop to eat, but when we leave the park, at about 2pm, we will then get some lunch either in one of the parks or maybe downtown disney.

 

[scoobydooby]

We do one of two things.

Arrive for rope drop. Grab a locker. Grab a couple if chairs. Hit the slides for a couple of hours. Lazy river. Lunch. Pool. Bail.

Or.

Arrive for the last three hours the park is open when hoards of people have left.

 

[jen_uk]

We get there for rope drop, one of us goes to get a locker and the other grabs some sun loungers. In August it will be mega busy and the loungers with shade will go within minutes so best to try and get one asap if you want one.

 

[chmurf]

how we do it.

1. 8:30ish hearty breakfast buffet to last as long as possible
2. hit at rope drop at 10
3. get floatation device (life vest) for the kids who need that.
4. get a locker
5 .put some sun screen
6. do the more popular slides
7. lazy river
8. kiddie slides
9. get out of the park at 1:30 / 2pm
10. Eat somewhere on property

we're on ultimate tickets, so we don't really care about staying a whole day ( = maximising the price of the WaterPark ticket or add-on)
We only stay a maximum of 4 hours, after 2 it gets too hot and too crowded for us. We go back to the resort, eat there, nap, and hit a park for the evening.
Usually DS (5) is too exhausted to go on after a few hours at the waterpark. So it's no use to eat at the park, and we don't like to play lizards on loungers.

 

[scoobydooby]

Bit off topic but I thought I'd give what I think is a good tip for anyone visiting BB with 'Tweens'.

There is an area called (I think) Ski Patrol where your Tweens WILL want to spend an age. There are also shaded loungers there -but not many! Also there are lockers right next to it and a food cart.

If you think you your kids will want to spend a lot of time here it is a great strategy to split parents in two at rope drop, with one heading for the loungers in this area and one for the lockers in this area. It is a fab place to set up camp if after you've done the slides you will be parked here for a while. Mine are too old for this area now but for a few of trips they spent up to three hours in this area while me and DH enjoyed a really relaxing time together!

It's also near the chair lift.

I hope that helps someone. When our kids were between the ages of 5 and 10 this strategy served us really well.

I would note they could both swim like fish by aged 5.

 

[xxpeplyxx]

If your staying at a Disney resort I'd suggest going to the morning extra magic hours! My mum and cousin did all the slides with no queues then by early afternoon we headed back to the hotel with most of the day to do as we pleased

 

[disneyholic family]

for blizzard beach - we always get there before rope drop, get a locker to get rid of all our stuff (wallet, glasses, clothes, etc)..

then the moment the rope drops we race to the back where we do the downhill double dipper twice...
then we continue to where the 3 tube slides are together - i can't remember the name....we ride in the closed one 2 or 3 times, then the open one another 2 or 3 times..

then we backtrack back to the tobaggan run....do that one 2 or 3 times..

then teamboat springs (the family raft ride)..
doing that one twice..

then head for the lazy river....ride that one around 3 or 4 times..

and then we're done...

by that point, it's about noon and the lines are getting to be hideously long..

so we get dressed...

buy ourselves a snocone....

eat it..

then head back to the hotel to get changed and have lunch..


as for typhoon lagoon - we go there in the late afternoon, usually after the thunderstorm has cleared everyone out...
we do crush and gusher about 10 times..
then the wave pool for about 15 minutes..
then soft ice cream..
then the lazy river until closing..

we're creatures of habit....

but since you're never done typhoon lagoon, i would also get there before rope drop if i were you....there's lots of stuff to do there..
we've done it all multiple times and now only do our favorite things..

i should add that blizzard beach and typhoon lagoon are the best water parks we've ever been to, and we've been to many...
(we're all water babies - i used to be a lifeguard and teach swimming)..
the only water park you'll find in the US that might possibly be as good or better is in texas....and since i'm sure you're not going to texas any time soon, you can't go wrong with BB and TL...

 

[bazzanoid]

the only water park you'll find in the US that might possibly be as good or better is in texas....

Schlitterbahn is very muchly on my to-do list one year

 

[loveysbydesign]

for blizzard beach - we always get there before rope drop, get a locker to get rid of all our stuff (wallet, glasses, clothes, etc)..

then the moment the rope drops we race to the back where we do the downhill double dipper twice...
then we continue to where the 3 tube slides are together - i can't remember the name....we ride in the closed one 2 or 3 times, then the open one another 2 or 3 times..

then we backtrack back to the tobaggan run....do that one 2 or 3 times..

then teamboat springs (the family raft ride)..
doing that one twice..

then head for the lazy river....ride that one around 3 or 4 times..

and then we're done...

by that point, it's about noon and the lines are getting to be hideously long..

so we get dressed...

but ourselves a snocone....

eat it..

then head back to the hotel to get changed and have lunch..


as for typhoon lagoon - we go there in the late afternoon, usually after the thunderstorm has cleared everyone out...
we do crush and gusher about 10 times..
then the wave pool for about 15 minutes..
then soft ice cream..
then the lazy river until closing..

we're creatures of habit....

but since you're never done typhoon lagoon, i would also get there before rope drop if i were you....there's lots of stuff to do there..
we've done it all multiple times and now only do our favorite things..

i should add that blizzard beach and typhoon lagoon are the best water parks we've ever been to, and we've been to many...
(we're all water babies - i used to be a lifeguard and teach swimming)..
the only water park you'll find in the US that might possibly be as good or better is in texas....and since i'm sure you're not going to texas any time soon, you can't go wrong with BB and TL...

Thanks for the tips! We are doing the WP this time and our kids are 14, 10 and 6....trying to please them all seems difficult. we are planning to go for just the last 3 hours the parks are open unless they are up early for some reasone. we have late nights the night before we are doing the WP's.

 

[disneyholic family]

Schlitterbahn is very muchly on my to-do list one year

 

[RDP]

Thanks all, great tips.

 

[WiganTony]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but we usually visit in August and generally try and avoid the water parks at weekends as they can get extremely busy then. Monday-Wednesday seem to tbe the quietest days, getting progressively busier towards the weekend.

We also find in August that you can get some quite heavy downpours mid to late afternoon with subsequent temporary closure of rides/pools, so as has been mentioned above, aim to get there early with a view to planning on leaving around 3pm.

Also worth buying one of those waterproof containers that you can keep around your neck, so that you can put some cash in here to save trekking back to lockers etc. We usually put our dollar bills and park tickets in a sealable plastic bag first then in the container, which makes sure they stay dry. This means we can usually do without hiring a locker, so saving a few $s on each visit.

Worth noting at Disney water parks you can buy a refillable cup for around $11. We usually buy one, then keep topping up and sharing. You can also use the cup again another day amd just get a barcode sticker for that day fora round $5-$6.

With regard to what to do in the parks, last August we visited Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. At the latter, we were there at park opening time, grabbed some good beds around the bottom of the chairlift, then found for the first hour/90 minutes the queues were fairly minimal so we got a lot done in that first period. Worth getting up a bit earlier to take advantage of that quiet period.