How long do you stay at a water park?

[jo-jo]

I have no interest in water parks, thus I know nothing about water parks.

We are planning a day at a water park. Mom, Dad, 6 year old, 2 year and me (grandma - in charge of stroller, cell phones and sleeping toddler.)

Planning on using a Minnie van to get there and back.

Are there any shady areas? I'm not beyond looking like a idiot holding a plain old umbrella just to get 1 foot of shade, but a stand of trees would be better.

Any advise or tips?

Thank you

 

[Klayfish]

We love the water parks, they're awesome! There is plenty of shade at both of them, you'll have no troubles there. They have umbrellas and cabanas you can rent, and I know others will say it's worth it, but in my opinion they're a waste of money. There's a large supply of shaded areas you can have for free.

As for how long you go, it depends on your interest in water parks. If you wanted, you could spend the better part of a day there. Because we go so often, we usually are done after about 4 hours. We'll hit the big slides as soon as the park opens, then do the wave pool, then the lazy river. At that point, we're ready to go. But you could easily relax in your chairs for a while, then go hit the slides again if you wanted.

Tips? The parks, at least in the summer, open at 10am. No need to be super early, showing up at 9:55am is fine. You'll have your pick of the litter for seating, grab a nice shady spot. If anyone is adventurous (besides the 2 year old), go hit the big slides first. There's no line for the first hour or so. The wave pool and lazy river have no "lines" since they're pools, so do those after the crowds arrive.

 

[MidgeD79]

Our family (3-56) LOVES waterparks! I am the great-grandma and the lazy river is my friend. We also stay about 4 hours and bring a cooler of snacks. We never rent a cabana or towels but do remember to apply sunscreen often.

 

[jo-jo]

We love the water parks, they're awesome! There is plenty of shade at both of them, you'll have no troubles there. They have umbrellas and cabanas you can rent, and I know others will say it's worth it, but in my opinion they're a waste of money. There's a large supply of shaded areas you can have for free.

For us, paying for the minnie van is bad enough. If there was a bus that went right to the park, we'd use it, but the "going to disney springs and then another bus" route is just too much.

 

[marcais]

The kids areas in both Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach are good for shady areas and don't seem to have the same rush of people heading to them early on as some of the other parts.

When we went to Blizzard Beach last summer there were places where you could book a time slot for certain rides and you'll be given a paper wristband with your timeslot written on it that is effectively a FP for those rides. That would have saved us a lot of time if we'd known about it before we went on the rides.

 

[Klayfish]

The kids areas in both Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach are good for shady areas and don't seem to have the same rush of people heading to them early on as some of the other parts.

When we went to Blizzard Beach last summer there were places where you could book a time slot for certain rides and you'll be given a paper wristband with your timeslot written on it that is effectively a FP for those rides. That would have saved us a lot of time if we'd known about it before we went on the rides.

Yes, they were testing FP+ at BB last summer. We were there for it too, went on two different days, and got to try it out both times. Honestly, except for Summit Plummet, it was a waste of time anyway. The other two rides they were using it for were DDD and Teamboat Springs. For DDD it got you to the front of the line to get a tube, which I guess does save time, but it was still a very long wait to get to the actual ride. So even with FP+, it was a 30+ minute wait. Teamboat Springs rarely has a line anyway, so it was kind of pointless. The CMs we asked said that if the test last summer went well, the plan was to roll it out in both water parks this summer. We'll see...

 

[amcnj]

We tend to stay most of the day, roughly from opening till dinner time. We get there sometime around opening and have never had a problem finding some chairs in a shady area. I also agree with the idea above of going on the more popular rides early to avoid lines later when it will be hotter.

 

[chicagoshannon]

We were at BLizzard Beach in February and they did not have that FP bracelet thing.

We usually spend 3-4 hours in a water park.

 

[1GoldenSun]

Uber might be cheaper than a Minnie Van.

We have the After 2:00pm annual pass to the Disney waterparks. So far this year, the water parks have always closed at 5:00, so we have a max of 3 hours. This has always been plenty of time for us. We can easily do everything as much as we want. I doubt I'd really want to stay longer than three hours, unless you're breaking for lunch or taking a snooze in a lounge chair for a while.

If I had the choice, I'd go early morning, though. Afternoons are hot, although so far this year we haven't encountered crowds. Lines have been fairly short if one exists at all.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I agree about uber being cheaper than the minnie van. You might want to look into that.

As for the water parks themselves, I honestly dont spend more than 3-4 hours. Never longer than 4 hours...thats just too much for us. For shade, yes. I remember there being plenty of shady spots at Typhoon Lagoon (our fave park). Not a fan of blizzard beach thou. Too many uphill-walking-carrying-tubes. Not a fan. It was more tiring than fun.

 

[BigredNole]

Having been to both this past Summer, we only go for a limited time. Since it is DW, DD, and me, it is probably different than others who have kids that can go off together. TL we did the surf lessons in the morning and as the park opened, we were able to do all of the slides without any lines. The surfing takes a lot out of you, the walking stairs wears on you. We stayed until about 1PM. We went to BB and were ready to leave by noon. It is small, not too many slides, and we were able to get everything we wanted in.

I think if my DD had someone else to lug around besides me, I think we would stay longer. But since I was the primary one going on the slides and stuff, it gets over quicker.

 

[disneyvoice]

We love the water parks even though we don't do most of the slides. We get there before it opens and typically stay until abut 2:30. Then we head back to the resort to shower and change, and then go to dinner somewhere.

I don't like to bake out in the sun so we always rent of the umbrella areas. That way I can just hang out in the shade and relax.

 

[BarbieGal457]

We tend to go from opening until maybe 3-4pm. At BB we rented two pool chairs which was really nice and definitely worth the $50 it was. For that we got two guaranteed chairs in this cute little private sandy platform right off the wave pool, with towels as well as a small table which was REALLY nice for eating (no sandy food). They had a really nice shaded portion but you were also able to move the chairs into the sun. We put our valuables in lockers of course but it was really nice to not have to worry about people overtaking your chair as you did stuff. It was maybe 15ish people and we all got wristbands.

I love to get there early because the lines are usually very short. We do the headliners first, multiple times usually, and then spend the rest of the day, when it's the hottest and lines are longest, relaxing in the wave pool/lazy river or eating lunch. I also do think Uber would be cheaper than a Minnie van but the Minnie vans are too darn cute!!

 

[jo-jo]

Uber might be cheaper than a Minnie Van.

We have the After 2:00pm annual pass to the Disney waterparks. So far this year, the water parks have always closed at 5:00, so we have a max of 3 hours. This has always been plenty of time for us. We can easily do everything as much as we want. I doubt I'd really want to stay longer than three hours, unless you're breaking for lunch or taking a snooze in a lounge chair for a while.

If I had the choice, I'd go early morning, though. Afternoons are hot, although so far this year we haven't encountered crowds. Lines have been fairly short if one exists at all.

I've never done uber, but we will have 5 including needing at least one car seat for the 2 year old. Plus stroller I think that would add to the cost making it about the same as a Minnie van.

I'll have my son do the math.

Where would uber drop you off vs. minnie vans? Any advantage with that?

 

[sponica]

I've never done uber, but we will have 5 including needing at least one car seat for the 2 year old. Plus stroller I think that would add to the cost making it about the same as a Minnie van.

I'll have my son do the math.

Where would uber drop you off vs. minnie vans? Any advantage with that?

With the carseat it's a wash (I believe). There aren't very many ubers left with a car seat anyway...

 

[piratepride]

We try to get there right when the water park opens and stay until sometime between 2-3 p.m.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We love the Disney waterparks. We stay from open till 3.

 

[rentayenta]

We enjoy the water parks too; we prefer TL to BB. We arrived a little after opening and stayed until 5 when it closed.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I have no interest in water parks, thus I know nothing about water parks.

We are planning a day at a water park. Mom, Dad, 6 year old, 2 year and me (grandma - in charge of stroller, cell phones and sleeping toddler.)

Planning on using a Minnie van to get there and back.

Are there any shady areas? I'm not beyond looking like a idiot holding a plain old umbrella just to get 1 foot of shade, but a stand of trees would be better.

Any advise or tips?

Thank you

Typhoon Lagoon has plenty of shade near the wave pool. Blizzard beach has some shade near its pool too. but it is more limited.
We usually stay oh from opening until late afternoon or so. Then we usually go back to the hotel, change, and go to dinner. Be cognizant of where the sun is and where the shade will be as the day goes on. Some spots that look optimal in the morning will be in full sun by the afternoon. Others will be shady all day.

 

[Helene_C]

We went last week from opening (10) to a little after 3, but my 8 yo would have happily stayed until close (5). We left because we had evening FP+ plans we wanted to keep. You can find shade if you're there early. We also both reduced our sun exposure by wearing long-sleeve rash guards and shorts (mine were even capri-length swim tights), and wide-brimmed hats. Only needing to sunscreen a few spots was so much easier.

Uber/Lyft/Minnievan is definitely the way to go if you don't have your own car.

You can open/close your locker throughout the day, so it's not the worst investment so grandma doesn't have to always be watching the phones, etc.

Bring watershoes!