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Typhoon Lagoon | Blizzard Beach
The beauty of Disney’s water parks is that you can make either experience fit your mood. Like crowds? Head for the lounge chairs along the Surf Pool at Typhoon Lagoon or Melt-Away Bay at Blizzard Beach. Prefer peace? Walk past lush foliage along each park’s circular path until you spot a secluded lean-to or tree-shaded patch of sand.
Typhoon Lagoon
According to Disney legend, Typhoon Lagoon was created when the lush Placid Palms Resort was struck by a cataclysmic storm. It left a different world in its wake: surfboard-sundered trees, once-upright palms imitated the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and part of the original lagoon was cut off, trapping thousands of tropical fish—and a few sharks. Nothing, however, topped the fate of Miss Tilly, a shrimp boat from “Safen Sound, Florida,” which was hurled high in the air and became impaled on Mt. Mayday, a magical volcano that periodically tries to dislodge Miss Tilly with huge geysers.
Ordinary folks, the legend continues, would have been crushed by such devastation. But the resourceful residents of Placid Palms were made of hardier stuff—and from the wreckage they created 56-acre Typhoon Lagoon, the self-proclaimed “world’s ultimate water park.”
Getting Oriented
The layout is so simple. The wave and swimming lagoon is at the park’s center. Note that the waves are born in the Mt. Mayday side and break on the beaches closest to the entrance. Any attraction requiring a gravitational plunge starts around the summit of Mt. Mayday. Shark Reef and Ketchakiddee Creek flank the head of the lagoon, to Mt. Mayday’s right and left, respectively, as you enter. The Crush ’n’ Gusher water coaster is due right of Singapore Sal’s.
You can take WDW bus transportation or drive to Typhoon Lagoon. There’s no parking charge. Once inside, your options are to walk, swim, or slide.
WDW Information.
Call WDW Information or check www.disneyworld.com’s park calendars for days of operation. | Blizzard Beach | 407/824–4321.
What to Expect
You can speed down waterslides with names like Crush ’n’ Gusher and Humunga Kowabunga or bump through rapids and falls at Mt. Mayday. You can also bob along in 5-foot waves in a surf pool the size of two football fields or, for a mellow break, float in inner tubes along the 2,100-foot Castaway Creek. Go snorkeling in Shark Reef, rubberneck as fellow human cannonballs are ejected from the Storm Slides, or hunker down in a hammock or lounge chair and read a book. Ketchakiddee Creek, for young children, replicates adult rides on a smaller scale. It’s Disney’s version of a day at the beach—complete with friendly Disney lifeguards. Most people agree that kids under 7 and older adults prefer Typhoon Lagoon. Bigger kids and teens like Blizzard Beach.
During the off-season between October and April, Typhoon Lagoon closes for several weeks for routine maintenance and refurbishment.
Park Amenities
Dressing Rooms and Lockers: There are thatched-roof dressing rooms and lockers to the right on your way into the park. It costs $8 a day to rent a small locker and $10 for a large one; there’s also a $5 deposit. There are restrooms in every nook and cranny. Most have showers and are much less crowded than the dressing rooms. If you forgot your towel, rent ($2) or buy one at Singapore Sal’s.
Guest Services: The staff at Typhoon Lagoon’s Guest Services window outside the entrance turnstiles, to your left, can answer many questions. TIP A chalkboard inside gives water temperature and surfing information.
Lost People and Things: Ask about your misplaced people and things at the Guest Services window near the entrance turnstiles. Lost children are taken to an area by the Tip Board near the front of the park, where Disney cast members entertain them with games.
Private Patios: The park has a dozen premium, roped-off Beachcomber Shacks (patios, really) that groups of as many as six can rent. They generally offer shade and sun as well as plush loungers and other chairs, a table with an umbrella, and an ice chest with two bottles of water per guest (up to six). Each guest also gets two beach towels and a refillable soft-drink mug. The whole group gets a locker to share and an attendant to take and deliver food orders (cost of meals not included). The patios cost about $325 during peak season (usually March through late August), between $160 and $240 the rest of the year. Reserve (407/939–8687) well in advance or arrive very early to book one at High ‘N Dry. In summer, any patio that isn’t prebooked sells out within a half hour of the park opening.
Visiting Tips
• In summer, come first thing in the morning (early birds can ride several times before the lines get long), late in the afternoon when park hours run later, or when the weather clears after a thundershower (rainstorms drive away crowds). Afternoons are also good in cooler weather, as the water is a bit warmer. To make a whole day of it, avoid weekends, when locals and visitors pack in.
• Women and girls should wear one-piece swimsuits unless they want to find their tops somewhere around their ears at the bottom of the waterslide.
• Invest in sunscreen and water shoes. Plan to slather sunscreen on several times throughout the day. An inexpensive pair of water shoes will save tootsies from hot sand and walkways and from restroom floors.
• Arrive 30 minutes before opening so you can park, buy tickets, rent towels, and snag inner tubes before the crowds descend, and, trust us, it gets very crowded.
Blizzard Beach
With its oxymoronic name, Blizzard Beach promises the seemingly impossible—a seaside playground with an alpine theme. As with its older cousin, Typhoon Lagoon, Disney Imagineers have created a legend to explain the park’s origin.
The story goes that after a freak winter storm dropped snow over the western side of Walt Disney World, entrepreneurs created Florida’s first downhill ski resort. Saunalike temperatures soon returned. But as the 66-acre resort’s operators were ready to close up shop, they spotted a playful alligator sliding down the 120-foot-tall “liquid ice” slopes. The realization that the melting snow had created the world’s tallest, fastest, and most exhilarating water-filled ski and toboggan runs gave birth to the ski resort–water park.
From its imposing ski-jump tower to its 1,200-foot series of rushing waterfalls, Blizzard Beach delivers cool fun even in the hot summertime. Where else can you wear your swimsuit on the slopes?
Getting Oriented
The park layout makes it fairly simple to navigate. Once you enter and rent a locker, you’ll cross a small bridge over Cross Country Creek before choosing a spot to park your towels and cooler. To the left is the Melt-Away Bay wave pool. Dead ahead you can see Mt. Gushmore, a chairlift to the top, and the park’s many slopes and slides.
If thrills are your game, come early and line up for Summit Plummet, Slush Gusher, and Downhill Double Dipper before wait times go from light to moderate (or heavy). Anytime is a good time for a dip in Melt-Away Bay or a tube trip around Cross Country Creek. Parents with young children should claim their spot early at Tike’s Peak, to the park’s right even before you cross the bridge.
You can take WDW bus transportation or drive to Blizzard Beach. There’s no charge for parking. Once inside, your options are to walk, swim, or slide.
What to Expect
Disney Imagineers have gone all out here to create the paradox of a ski resort in the midst of a tropical lagoon. Lots of verbal puns and sight gags play with the snow-in-Florida motif. The centerpiece is Mt. Gushmore, with its 120-foot-high Summit Plummet. Attractions have names like Teamboat Springs, a white-water raft ride. Themed speed slides include Toboggan Racers, Slush Gusher, and Snow Stormers. Between Mt. Gushmore’s base and its summit, swim-skiers can also ride a chairlift converted from ski-resort to beach-resort use—with multihued umbrellas and snow skis on their undersides. Older kids and devoted waterslide enthusiasts generally prefer Blizzard Beach to other water parks.
Park Amenities
Dressing Rooms and Lockers: Dressing rooms, showers, and restrooms are in the village area, just inside the main entrance. There are other restrooms in Lottawatta Lodge, at the Ski Patrol Training Camp, and just past the Melt-Away Bay beach area. Lockers are near the entrance, next to Snowless Joe’s Rentals, and near Tike’s Peak (the children’s area and the most convenient if you have little swim-skiers in tow). It costs $8 to rent a small locker and $10 for a large one, and there’s a $5 deposit. Note that there are only small lockers at Tike’s Peak. The towels for rent ($2) at Snowless Joe’s are tiny. If you forgot yours, you’re better off buying a proper one at the Beach Haus.
Guest Services: Disney staffers at Blizzard Beach’s Guest Services window, to the left of the ticket booth as you enter the park, can answer most of your questions. Get free life vests or rent towels and lockers at Snowless Joe’s. Inner tubes, rafts, and slide mats are provided at the rides. Buy beach gear or rent towels or lockers at Beach Haus. Shade Shack is the place for a new pair of sunglasses.
Lost People and Things: Instruct youngsters to let a lifeguard know if they get lost. The lost-children station is beneath a large beach umbrella near the front of the park. And don’t worry about the kids—a Disney cast member will keep them busy with activities.
Private Patios: The park has 14 Polar Patios to rent to groups of as many as six people. For $325 a day in peak season (usually March through late August) and between $160 and $240 other times of year, you get plush loungers, chairs, a table with umbrella, refillable beverage mugs, an ice chest with two water bottles per person, a group locker, and an attendant who will take your orders for and deliver lunch and snacks (food costs extra). It’s best to book a patio far ahead of time (407/939–8687). If you arrive early enough, there might be an open patio; check at the Shade Shack.