Disney has two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. Both are accessible by car and Disney Bus. Each has their own unique theming, rides and counter service restaurants.
Typhoon Lagoon
Themed as a tornado hit tropical island, Typhoon Lagoon’s huge wave pool is one of its biggest draws. It also has a number of slides, a lazy river, children’s area and a family style raft ride (new for 2017)
Hint: Don’t underestimate the force of the waves, especially if you have young children. They will knock over anyone in their path and carry them a long way. For this reason, you also need to be careful with any loose belongings - after each wave you’ll see guests searching the shoreline for lost sunglasses, hats and children!
Also, be aware of the pool surface - it's extremely rough. Rough enough to cause some nasty scrapes when the waves hit (we’ve still got the scars to prove it!).
Dining at Typhoon Lagoon
You're welcome to bring your own picnics to Typhoon Lagoon, as long as they don’t contain any glass containers or alcoholic beverages.
If you'd prefer not to bring your own food, Typhoon Lagoon has a number of counter service restaurants. Leaning Palms serves burgers, chicken strips, sandwiches, wraps, pizzas and a very tasty Tropical Salad with Chicken. Typhoon Tilly’s provides barbecue pulled pork sandwiches, fish, wraps and salads, as well as chips and drinks. Snack Shack and Lowtide Lou's have a more limited selection of salads, wraps and sandwiches.
There are also a number of snack kiosks dotted around the water park, which serve: drinks, ice-creams, donuts, nachos and hot dogs.
Blizzard Beach
The fun story behind Blizzard Beach claims a freak snowfall prompted a local businessman to open a ski-resort, once the sun returned and the snow melted, it left behind the ski-lift, alpine lodge and mountain.
Like Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach also has a wave pool (although more subdued than Typhoon Lagoon’s), a lazy river, children’s area and slides. Some of Blizzard Beach’s slides are more extreme than those at Typhoon Lagoon so it’s more of a draw for thrill seeking guests.
Dining at Blizzard Beach
Again, picnics are permitted at Blizzard Beach, as long as they don’t include an glass containers or alcohol. For those guests wishing to buy food at the park, Lottawatta Lodge, Blizzard Beach’s main counter service restaurant serves flatbreads, burgers, hotdogs, chicken nuggets and wraps. There are also hot dogs and sandwiches available at Avalunch. Our personal favourite is a real hidden gem. Warming Hut serves something a little different. We particularly enjoyed the Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl and the Feijao Com Arraz e Galinha - otherwise known as chicken with fried plantains, rice and blackbeans.
Typhoon Lagoon versus Blizzard Beach
If you're wondering which water park is best, it really depends what would appeal the most to your travelling party. To help with your decision, here's an overview of what's on offer for each age group.
Small Children:
If you're visiting with a child under 5, Bay Slides is a great area designed especially for younger children to enjoy at Typhoon Lagoon. There's also a fabulous splash zone, Ketchakiddee Creek, which has more slides, water jets, crawl tubes and a mini rapid ride - all ideal for little ones.
Blizzard Beach has Tike's Peak for those under 48 inches, which also has a variety of small slides, a splash pad and water jets to keep youngsters entertained.
Tweens:
With the exception of Humunga Kowabunga and Crush 'n' Gusher, all Typhoon Lagoon slides don't have a height restriction. For this reason, Typhoon Lagoon may appeal more to older children/tweens who are looking for something a little more adventurous before they reach the heights required for the larger thrill rides of Blizzard Beach.
However, Blizzard Beach does have the fabulous Ski Patrol Training Camp. The slides in this area aren't as big as the ones open to this age group at Typhoon Lagoon, but balancing on the floating islands and whizzing down the zip wire into the landing pool were something our kids thoroughly enjoyed when they were younger.
All the family:
For family fun, the new Typhoon Lagoon family raft ride, Miss Adventure Falls, is good but we still prefer Team Boat Springs at Blizzard Beach.
On the plus side, Typhoon Lagoon does have less slides with a height restriction, so the whole family can enjoy these together.
Both water parks have a large lazy river and wave pool which are suitable for everyone.
Thrill Seekers:
Humunga Kowabunga and Crush 'n' Gusher at Typhoon Lagoon are both exciting rides, but we would still recommend Blizzard Beach for those seeking a more adrenaline inducing experience. Summit Plummet and Slush Gusher, two of the most thrilling water slides, are backed up by the equally fun Downhill Double Dippers, Runoff Rapids and Toboggan Racers.
General Water Park hints and tips:
- Parking is free at Disney Water Parks, so if you are planning a split stay - where you stay onsite for part of your holiday, then move offsite to a different hotel or villa, it’s worth saving your water park visit for when you are staying offsite.
- As with the other Disney parks, your best chance of ensuring minimum wait times is to arrive just before the park is due to open and head straight to the larger slides. If you can’t arrive for opening time, consider leaving it until after lunch. Many guests will only spend half a day at the water parks, so you’ll miss the late morning peak in wait times.
- Also, keep an eye on the weather. Any inclement weather will prompt Cast Members to close the slides and pools. If a storm hits, many guests will leave the parks. Once the storm passes, slides and pools will reopen and the park will be significantly quieter.
- There are plenty of sunbeds located around both parks, but if you want to guarantee securing one for yourself, you’ll need to arrive early. Frustratingly, people will take up a whole group of sunbeds and chairs with towels, then disappear off for hours to enjoy the park. It’s amazing how many sunbathing towels you’ll see throughout the day!
- If you don’t want to take your own towels, you can rent towels at the water parks for $2. There is no charge for onsite guests to rent towels, simply show your valid Magic Band at the shop to receive your complimentary towels.
- Lockers are also available to rent.
- Life jackets are provided, free of charge
- As well as glass containers and alcohol, other prohibited items include: personal flotation devices (large rings, lilo’s etc), snorkels and flippers.
- If you forget your swimming costume, sun glasses or sun tan lotion, both parks have a shop where you can buy these items as well as other goodies such as underwater cameras and waterproof pouches to keep small valuables in.
- There are changing rooms and showers available at the waterparks. To save time, we tend to arrive at the parks with our swimming costumes on under our clothes.
- Although not on the scale of the theme parks, you can still expect to spend a significant amount of time walking around the water parks - sometimes up quite a number of steps to reach the slides. The footpaths can get extremely hot (think walking on the surface of the sun hot!). So, consider buying pool shoes to wear when walking around the parks. You may have to hold them on some slides, but at least you’ll still have some skin left on the soles of your feet at the end of the day.
