I noticed that the stay I just booked for next December said that we get free water park visit on arrival day. This apparently applies to stays booked in 2025.
So…I am not sure how useful this actually is due to arriving later in the day…but… let’s pretend we arrived early enough to take advantage of this. Has anyone done water parks in December? Is the water warm enough to bother?
I highly doubt we would bother at all with this…but if the water temperature isn’t warm enough, it isn’t even worth discussing, or trying to find an earlier flight.
I am going in Feb and possibly March. For both of these trips I’m looking at it as a “nice if the weather works out” option but I’m by no means building my plans around using it. Because from Dec until late March anything goes as far as weather. It certainly can be plenty warm for that, but it also can be closed for low temps
It will be interesting to see how it works when it goes live later this week. It’s for all check-in days: cash and DVC, and for every check-in (so multiple days on a split stay)
We have done water parks in December. It’s more about the air temperature which ought to be in the 80s for better enjoyment. Certainly low to mid 70s is not so much fun.
Last December we did 2 pool days and it was comfortable. AoA pool but same concept I guess. There were a couple days during that trip that would have been slightly chilly for us. (Where the high temperature didn’t get above the upper 70s).
We also are considering that on arrival day we don’t tend to do a whole lot. So grabbing a lounger and sitting with a book and or a beverage for a couple of hours might be a nice way to spend part of our afternoon - especially if the room isn’t ready yet anyway. So even if we don’t necessarily swim, it might be a nice space to occupy
In 2019 we did Typhoon Lagoon on Thanksgiving Day. The water was fine, the air was just a little bit cool as we walked from slide to slide, not unbearable though. Earlier this year we did Volcano Bay in late January and it was about the same as our TL experience, maybe a tad warmer. We also had VB planned for earlier this month, but it was closed because it was too cold. It’s a crap shoot really.
I had totally forgotten about the water park on arrival day thing! Kinda crazy to think it’s starting this week. When it was first announced it seemed forever away.
I have gone to a water park in December (VB in 2023) and it was fantastic. The weather was high 70s and pleasant. No rain.
There is no way I would have gone to a water park on my recent December trip though. Even though it was technically warm enough certain days, I never quite thawed out from the freezing nights.
Right. You could luck out with a nice warm sunny day in December. But it’s just as likely you’ll arrive to overcast skies and a high of 70, and under those middling conditions you could do a water park but might not have any desire to run around in a wet bathing suit. And then of course you could get even worse weather, rainy and cold. So have a Plan B, at least.
Water is definitely fine! We wanted to do a water park once in December but it was a “chilly” day so they were closed. DS and I still spent the afternoon in the pool. The lifeguards were in parkas and hats though
We did Typhoon Lagoon this past October on a “cooler” day that I think kept away a lot of Floridians. I want to say high of 79/80? The water was a great temp and honestly the air was plenty warm enough. The only one time I got a quick chill was one of the queues had ceiling fans going! But there were barely any lines so we just got away from the fans.
Worth mentioning we are from New England where “get numb” is a swimming tactic…
We just did Blizzard Beach on our arrival day (Dec 23). It reopened after being closed for two days because of the cold (highs in the 60s). It was 72 degrees. It was great. No lines for anything. You could ride anything you wanted over and over. My kids did Slush Gusher and Summit Plummet several times. We got everything done (multiple times) in less than 4 hours. That said, we are Canadian so 72 degrees is a typical spring day for us so we didn’t find it cold.
I go to water parks mainly for the lazy river. I’m not big into the slides but will do them because DH likes them. I do draw the line at the straight line drop types or anything too rough. But really, lazy river is where I want to be. And I need the sun. Generally a high of 78-80° is the minimum that I would want to be out at a water park all day.
I don’t know if we have even ever been at that temperature. Like ever, lol.