WDW Water Parks - summer 2018 - please share your tips

[HappyGrape]

Can we talk about water parks please? Is there better day to go, or are they all equally busy? Any tips on planning, favorite rides, food? I have not been at WDW waterpark since 2013

 

[Capang]

I’ve always been told to avoid weekends. Get there early and do the big slides before the lines get long. The food is not great, chicken fingers/burgers type of stuff. We rent a locker but the things we put on chairs have never been bothered. Getting to a waterpark using Disney transportation is what requires the most though/planning. To get to BB you transfer at AK. To get to TL you transfer at DS. It takes forever and may be worth an Uber, at least on the way back. We tend to go early and leave by 1ish having done everything we want.

 

[HappyGrape]

We are hiring a car. Thanks for the tips - it sounds like it's better to drive to the water parks

 

[yaya74]

We went to TL and BB two summer ago. We drove to the water park early in the morning. Crowds start building up around noon. We are gonna try go to water park in the afternoon/evening this summer to see how it goes.

 

[Shanti]

Can we talk about water parks please? Is there better day to go, or are they all equally busy? Any tips on planning, favorite rides, food? I have not been at WDW waterpark since 2013

It usually rains each afternoon in summer, so arrive early to get as much done as possible before the rain and/or lightning begin. Have fun! Disney's water parks are great.

 

[garada3]

We went to TL and BB two summer ago. We drove to the water park early in the morning. Crowds start building up around noon. We are gonna try go to water park in the afternoon/evening this summer to see how it goes.

That is our plan too - we should arrive between 4:00 and 5:00pm. I figure the “morning” plan in reverse will be the way to go. Lazy river and wave pool first, then the slides. The focus will be what the 4.5 year old wants/ can do so the time of day shouldn’t matter too much.

Just need to time it for after the afternoon storm.

 

[yaya74]

That is our plan too - we should arrive between 4:00 and 5:00pm. I figure the “morning” plan in reverse will be the way to go. Lazy river and wave pool first, then the slides. The focus will be what the 4.5 year old wants/ can do so the time of day shouldn’t matter too much.

Just need to time it for after the afternoon storm.

Just remember the H2O event at TL this summer on Thursdays and Saturdays. I would imagine the park be a bit more crowded on those nights. Ppl going to the event will enter the park as early as 7pm.

 

[Mainemama]

We have only been at Christmas time. I am curious how summer crowds compare. We visited BB on a 90+degree day, when TL was closed. We followed the same advice mentioned above, and it worked great. We were there at opening, lines for slides were pretty long by noon. I am hoping this summer to go to either HS or AK for EMH before going to BB. Has anyone tried this? I am thinking uber might be the way to go. HS opens at 7, or AK at 8, so we would have an hour or 2 before leaving for he waterpark. We would be going back to the park in the evening.

 

[Elle :)]

I can't recommend RD enough. They let you into the park early to rent lockers and change then you all line up at the "second entry" (held back by CMs). We ride the slides first because the lines get exponentially longer as you get closer to noon. Then we do the lazy river and wave pools. We're usually done by 12-1pm and take off for a delicious lunch at Disney Springs.

 

[Shanti]

That is our plan too - we should arrive between 4:00 and 5:00pm. I figure the “morning” plan in reverse will be the way to go. Lazy river and wave pool first, then the slides. The focus will be what the 4.5 year old wants/ can do so the time of day shouldn’t matter too much.

Just need to time it for after the afternoon storm.

The problem is that afternoon rain could hit at any time after noon. It could hit at 12:30, at 2, or at 5. And the rain sometimes goes on well into the evening. So it's safest to tour in the morning before the rain starts.

 

[yaya74]

The problem is that afternoon rain could hit at any time after noon. It could hit at 12:30, at 2, or at 5. And the rain sometimes goes on well into the evening. So it's safest to tour in the morning before the rain starts.

That's true.. just time it. Last summer when we went to Universal Studio, the Volcano Bay was just opened and the park was hitting the capacity 30 minutes after RD. My hubby and I refuse to wake up at 5am while we are on vacation (since we always wake up at 530am when we are NOT on vacation), so we went to VB only in the evenings and the park was empty. It did rain on a couple days during our trip but we got lucky that rain stopped around 6pm.

 

[HappyGrape]

The problem is that afternoon rain could hit at any time after noon. It could hit at 12:30, at 2, or at 5. And the rain sometimes goes on well into the evening. So it's safest to tour in the morning before the rain starts.

That's great to know and it probably applies for all theme parks. We usually visit in October and afternoon rain was not at all on my mind

 

[Klayfish]

It usually rains each afternoon in summer, so arrive early to get as much done as possible before the rain and/or lightning begin. Have fun! Disney's water parks are great.

The problem is that afternoon rain could hit at any time after noon. It could hit at 12:30, at 2, or at 5. And the rain sometimes goes on well into the evening. So it's safest to tour in the morning before the rain starts.

This may or may not be true. Summer is t-storm season, yes. And they often come in the afternoon. That's also true. But I definitely would not say it "usually" rains each afternoon. It's very hit or miss. We've been to WDW during summer 8 or 9 times, including the last 3 straight...each very long trips. We've had trips where it rained a lot of afternoons. We also had trips, including last summer, where out of the 17 days we were there, we had afternoon t-storms 2 or 3 times only. The rest were sunny days, including a streak of 10 or 11 straight (rained overnight a few times). Storms may not happen at all, they may happen overnight, in the morning, you never know. So don't necessarily plan on it storming in the afternoon. It may or may not.

Water parks are the only place we ever "rope drop". They open at 10am and we show up at 9:55am...plenty of time. Go right to a chair, drop our stuff and hit the big slides. You can go on them over and over and over...the only limitation is how fast you can climb the stairs again. That will last for an hour or so. Then the lines start to build. That's when we hit the smaller slides, wave pool and lazy river. By 2pm, we're ready to head out. You can also do the reverse...show up at 4pm, do lazy river, etc...and do slides late.

Weekends are a bit busier because of locals, but otherwise no real difference in days.

I would not be surprised at all to see FP+ in the water parks this summer, so that will alter things some. They were testing it last summer at BB, and we got to try it out a few different days.