Disney Water Parks

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I have held off from posting this Trip report as I wanted to put a more emphases on the Great Wolf Lodge Water Park. But after going to the GWL it is in another whole class by itself. So while I am making a very detailed Trip Report of the Great Wolf Lodge I’m going to go ahead and release this trip report.

Note; PKIC site will only let 18 pictures to be posted to a single post, so I used two posts to fit this trip report in.

During a recent visit to Walt Disney World Theme Parks my family and I decided to take some time to enjoy two of Disney’s water parks named Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. This gave us some much needed rest and a break from the long over stimulating days at the other Disney parks. I believe it would be best to do a separate trip report for each water park then at the end of the trip report make comments regarding both water parks as a whole in the conclusion portion of this trip report.

Short Video is included at the end of this trip report.

TYPHOON LAGOON

1) Humunga Kowabunga...2) Storm Slides..........3) Shark Reef ...........................4) Crush n' Gusher

5) Castaway Creek............6) Bay Slides.............7) Ketchakiddee Creek..............8) Keelhaul Falls

9) Mayday Falls................10) Gangplank Falls...11) Typhoon Lagoon Surf Pool

Typhoon Lagoon is a heavily themed water park and has 11 fun attractions, some have several features or multiple slides counted as a single attraction. The whole water park is centered around its main featured attraction that attracts guest of all ages to enjoy called Typhoon Lagoon Surf Pool, which is basically a wave pool. There are a few distinct feature differences to this wave pool as opposed to others. Most guests will come into the park and find ample lounge chairs that are placed in dived sections around the Surf Pool. Each section is separated from the other sections by lush tropical vegetation of palm trees and bushes which gives each section enough room to seat around 350 guests. Some areas are better suited for small children as they have tropical vegetation in the water to block the large waves washing into the beach area. A view of a boat that sits high above the park is visible from all areas and is used to blow out water and sounds a whistle according to the time of the hour that it is.

A special note here, one of the greatest features of this park is that they use real gulf coast sand in all their seating areas which really adds to the tropical laid back feeling of Typhoon Lagoon.

They offer two different types of waves and are run every other hour. The first type of wave they use is one that most water parks provide and what they call waves, which really are just ocean swells then small waves’ crest towards the swallow end of the pool. What separates Typhoon Lagoon Surf Pool from the other wave pools is that they do have an actual 6 foot waves that are spaced about 2 minutes apart, the wave starts out as a six foot wave from the rope line and grows smaller as it reaches the sandy shore line. In the picture below notice the waterline to the right of the Surf Pool. This was one of my favorite attractions to this park; I loved wading in chest deep water then being pummeled by a six foot wave crashing over my head.

Another Signature attraction that Typhoon Lagoon offers is the Crush ’n’ Gusher.

Crush ’n’ Gusher is a water coaster that is also heavily themed as an old fruit crushing company that has closed down and since then it has been overgrown by the tropical vegetation.

They offer 3 unique slide rides that can be ridden solo or as a 2 passenger ride. As I did enjoy the unique experience of this attraction for it’s length and nice up and down air pops. I will warn others that you need to watch out for the shooting water spray hitting the back of your head as you crest the top of one of the many water jet spray lift hills. This attraction uses a conveyor belt to launch its guests. Guests would go over and put their tube on the belt, and then they would get situated on the tube to be launched by a cast member when they felt it was safe to do so.

Castaway Creek was our next attraction and it is a 20 minute tube ride that takes you around the over sized Surf Pool. This attraction features a continuous theme of caves, grottos waterfalls and rainforest areas.

Ketchakiddee Creek was the next area that Miss Rae said that we must not put off any longer so as dutiful parents we split up, so that one parent could take a nap while the other could watch Miss Rae play or ride 20 kids attractions

After taking turns napping and watching Miss Rae we all decided to walk through Mountain Trail; which is a lush trail that goes through caves and offers some nice scenic picture opportunities. From their I took a picture of the Humunga Kowabunga Slides. As you can see in the picture below Disney does a great job trying to camouflage their attractions into the landscaping.

We did try all three of those slides and I must mention that their was seldom a wait for the waterslides as they allow you to go down one after another, just as long as you are not within touching distance. At the bottom of the splash pool if the guard felt that two guest were to close to each other they would tell them to space out next time.

We decided to have lunch at one of the many counter service restaurants that looks over some of their many attractions.

From there we decided it was time to do some snorkeling at the water parks own private snorkeling Shark Tank. I was pleasantly surprised that the salt in the water really keep you afloat on top of the water with little to no effort.

We then rode took to ride the other water slides that were similar in nature to other various water parks. Typhoon Lagoon closed at 7 pm that evening but we had done everything that we cared to do there by 5 pm.

BLIZZARD BEACH

1) Summit Plummet..............2) Teamboat Springs..3) Ski Patrol Training Camp.4) Tike's Peak Chair Lift

5) Winter Summerland.........6) Chairlift..................7) Cross Country Creek.......8) Melt Away Bay

9) Downhill Double Dipper..10) Runoff Rapids.......11) Snow Stormers..............12) Toboggan Racers

13) Slush Gusher

Blizzard Beach is also a heavily themed water park and has 13 fun attractions; some have several features or as many as 6 slides counted as a single attraction. As we entered this water park we were immediately awe struck as to the unique atmosphere there. They have everything covered in what looks like snow and many of the shops and buildings have icicles hanging from them with water dripping from the icicles. . The whole water park is centered on its main featured attraction that attracts mainly the more adventuress thrill seekers. Summit Plummet is a 120-foot vertical free-falling body slide which at the bottom tells what your speed was. We actually decided to get a nice location to sit before we ventured out, as we knew that we would at times split up at this park. Buzzard Beach allows its guests to bring in their own coolers and offers hundreds of shelter houses (with picnic tables and ceiling fans) located amongst all the various guests lounging areas. So we picked a location that gave us a shelter house sun chairs and was close by Ski Patrol Training Camp (kid’s area).

We decided that while we were all still together as a group that we would ride Teamboat Springs a 6 person raft ride. This attraction is a great family ride. The line moved rapidly as they launch each raft as quickly as everybody is in the raft, without holding go give separation between rafts. We all loved the length of this attraction and after the big slash towards the bottom you drift slowly down a long passage that is scenically landscaped.

Then we took 2 six lane Toboggan Racers races.

From their Lisa went back to the shelter house and watched Miss Rae play in Ski Patrol Training Camp area.

The rest of us took several long ski lift rides up to Summit Plummet to take the plunge and to take in the other thrill seekers slides that are placed at or near the top of the snow mountain. Something worth sharing here is that you will appreciate the height as you can see almost all the area’s hotels and park icons from atop the snow mountain.

We used the Cross Country Creek to get from one attraction to another as to the length of some slides really took us to the other side of the water park.

This seemed to be one of the hottest days while we were at Disney and it was great to treat our selves to ice cream while standing in what seemed to be a blizzard wearing swim suites.Of course Miss Rae eats ice cream like other typical 6 year olds and the Disney photographer snapped this picture for us to take back home as a wonderful souvenir.

CONCLUSION:

We really enjoyed both water parks for their own unique atmospheres. I loved the laid back feel to both parks as they let us take water cameras on and into all the water attractions. The line moved quickly as they only regulated rider flow on a couple slides. I would go past a closer water park to get to more distant water park that offers real sand, top notch themes and gives some serious ride time to their attractions like both Disney water parks did. Most parties are divided to which Disney Water Park was their own personal favorite as our party was divided when questioned as to which was their favorite too. If you find yourself in the Disney area and are looking for some pool time I would recommend both Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. If you are looking for a water park that offers a lot of thrill slides, then Blizzard Beach may be a great choice for you. But for me I really enjoyed the supper relaxed Palm Tree shaded areas of Typhoon Lagoon, walking through the cool sand and relaxing while watching Miss Rae play in the sand, that was what I really needed at the time.

Here is the Link to; Disney Water Park Video

[BoddaH1994]

Hmmm... you know, we didn't think the 18 photo limit would be a problem.

Excellent photos. Just shows how even with a waterpark, Disney adds that little extra to raise the gnarleyness scale.

[KIfan73]

I am just stunned by the amount of detail. Its also makes it a bit tougher to be in Central Ohio in the middle of winter.

One question...the Summit Plummet...the highest slide has to go somewhere, it looks like it launches you into oblivion. Does it actually go under the rocks?

[TOPGUN1993]

[KIfan73]

Sweet. That would be a highlight for me.

[flightoffear1996]

Yea those waterparks are freaking sweet looking and highly themed.

[JAHill]

Summit Plummet is my favorite attraction overall at both waterparks, followed by Slush n' Gusher. And the view from atop Summit Plummet is awe inspiring! GREAT REVIEW!

[jzarley]

Typhoon Lagoon has pretty much ruined me for all other waterparks. Nothing else (well, other than Blizzard Beach <g>) even comes close to the same level of detail and quality.

That's the main reason I was so disappointed in Boomerang Bay...I actually believed all the pre-opening hype about the "lush tropical vegetation" and "tropical oasis in Ohio" and how wonderfully detailed it was all going to be. So, what did I picture--something like Typhoon Lagoon of course. But, then, it opened...and as a friend of mine said "oh, so they painted Waterworks."

I'm glad those days of over promising and under delivering should be over now...

[pkitrumpet08]

yes the summit plummet is an amazing slide, going down it literally takes your breath away.

[The Interpreter]

Yeah, now the overpromising and underdelivering will probably be at a waterpark chain in Texas....