I"m considering getting the waterpark/sports add on tickets for our (me + DS10) trip in April. We haven’t been to them before. I’ve read some articles about them and am thinking of Blizzard Beach since there’s the pre-teen play area.
Plan would be to go at opening and spend a couple of hours there. Maybe doing the mini-golf next door afterwards too. Then back to the hotel and head to a park later in the afternoon.
I’ve read that uber is the best way to get there due to inconsistent busses. Water shoes- yes or no? Any other tips from your experiences?
I haven’t been to a Disney water park since 1995. But regarding water shoes, generally speaking you aren’t allowed to wear them on body slides. But, they are definitely useful when walking around in other areas of the park. When we did the water park at King’s Island this summer, we just left our water shoes at the bottom of the slide area before heading up. (In one case, before we realized we couldn’t wear them, they just had us send the water shoes down the slide ahead of us…but I don’t think they allow that on all of the slides.)
Not sure how many slides this would apply to at Disney…but I say, BRING water shoes to wear to protect your feet, but also know you’ll have to remove them ahead of time.
(Also…most water parks won’t allow swimsuits with metal rivets on them. So check the pockets on the swimsuits to ensure the drain holes are sewn rivets and not metal ones. We actually ended up cutting out the metal rivet for one swim suit!)
In the before times the adult women in our extended family wore either Teva-ish sandals or water shoes with thick soles. I guess like water sneakers.
Most of us were not going on the BIG slides like Summit Plummet or Kowabunga. I do not recall being asked to remove my sandals but if you are you can hold them to your chest under your crossed arms. My sister did take hers off just for Sunmit Plummet.
Walking around on that paved surface is rough on the skin of your feet. That surface can become very hot. Plus, as we’ve gotten older, that hard surface takes a toll on joints by the end of the day if you’ve not got cushioning.
Our favorite Disney water park is Typhoon Lagoon because it’s easier to do the fun slides repeatedly. At Blizzard Beach many of the lesser (not Summet Plummet sort of slide) were fun but nearly one and done because all the steps made for rubber knees. The Blizzard Beach slides are generally taller. I thought it was just me until I heard some teen boys near me in line commenting on worn out legs.
At Typhoon Lagoon the slides are not quite as high, making it easier to slide more times. We also like more shade at Typhoon Lagoon and the wave pool. For chairs, we figure out where west is, and get chairs that will give us afternoon shade. We try to be at the park at opening.
I can’t help you in transport. In the before times we just took the bus.
We loved the water parks. As mentioned, it’s not known when BB will open back up, but when we went a few years ago my kids preferred it of the two. This time we still went to TL and had a lot of fun. There’s plenty to do even if you’re not into the big drop slides.
We didn’t have water shoes and managed, but you have to either move quickly on pavement or find wet/shaded patches because it can start to scorch your feet. They’re very cool about just having people remove and hold things that aren’t allowed to be worn, whether it’s shoes, hats, or sunglasses.
There’s a great little cove near Crush n Gusher that’s shaded and fairly quiet.
I don’t think BB is closed permanently. Didn’t they just apply for a construction permit? I thought it was for a raft conveyor belt similar to Miss Adventure Falls in TL. I could definitely be wrong.
We spent two days at TL in August. We were hoping to do both TL and BB but Disney had other plans. We ordered water socks off of Amazon. They worked great! We were able to keep them on for all of the slides that use rafts or inner tubes. Only had to take them off for the body slides and I just held them on those. I highly recommend.
We upgraded our tix to add the water sports option. It was only $20 a ticket, I think! So well worth it. We had a lot of fun. Didn’t really need a second day, but went anyway and re-rode favorites.
Yeah I was surprised that there wasn’t much of a price difference! DS says he doesn’t want to go to the waterpark because “it will take time away from the rides” (kid, we have 6 full days, you can spare two hours for the waterpark…).
We were able to wear water shoes for all slides at TL except Humunga Cowabunga. We had a blast with the 14 and 17 yr old but only went 1 day. We could’ve done a 2nd partial day for sure but it didnt end up working out.
I swear I just read this recently in the Facebook group WDW News Today. I may be wrong but that is where I believe I got the Permanent closing information on Bizzard Beach water park.
It’s closed indefinitely, not permanently. They are doing refurbishment and there’s strong suspicion that there may not be enough staff to have both water parks open anyway (not sure whether that’s lack of interest or Disney being fine with having fewer employees for now).
I tend to agree that if it was shown that somehow there is more money to be made right now by focusing staffing elsewhere and only having one waterpark open, that’s a big part of the explanation - the ongoing refurbishment being the other one.
We only had 3 day hoppers, so went to the water park on non-park days. Otherwise, I might tend to agree with your son!!