Tip on Choosing a WaterPark for Young Kids

[BuzzLightYear3]

Hi....we just returned from a great trip, and I wanted to pass on a key learning about the waterparks for people with young kids. I've seen lots of questions about whether Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon would be the better choice for young kids. Having only gone to Blizzard Beach, I couldn't really compare, but this time we tried them both with 3 kids.....9, just turned 5, and 2 (will be 3 in August.) Blizzard Beach was a clear winner for the 9 year old (although he did admit the Typhoon Lagoon wave pool was cool.) The 5 year old found lots of stuff she loved at both. The key difference was for the 2 year old.....both waterparks have special areas for Preschoolers/Toddlers under 48", but it seemed that nearly every slide and play area at Typhoon Lagoon had water squirting from above.....even the most basic slides had sprays of water the kids had to slide through. In the general water play area, there are lots of 'cannons' which the kids can use to squirt water at each other, and there were a lot of 'big kids' (o.k.....probably 4 or 5 year olds) blasting the 1 and 2 year olds. My 2 year old is o.k. with a spray of water if he knows it's coming or purposely walks into it, but he didn't like getting 'surprise blasts' that he didn't anticipate. On the other hand, at Blizzard Beach, most of the slides do NOT have water spraying from above on them. Anyway, thought I'd mention this here as a tip. I know some kids love or at least don't mind getting squirted 'from above' with water, but I also know a lot of kids....particularly young ones....prefer more control and I'm guessing those kids would prefer Blizzard Beach. Hope that's helpful for someone!

 

[Cora's Mom]

This was very helpful. Going with 3 1/2 year old late August. Going to both water parks (really wanted to go to River Country). Thanks for all the information.

 

[waltandjulie]

Thanks.

This is really helpful. We were planning on going to Typhoon Lagoon in September, but probably should give it a second thought. My daughter (<4) is in swim lessons now so I thought that she would do pretty well in shallow part of the wave pool (with me holding her). Anybody else have luck with young kids?

Also, its been a few years (and never with small kids) since I was at either park. Does one do more in the way of wter slides (or other rides) for little ones?

Thanks for the input.

 

[jx3smom]

I honestly think that BB has more for the the tots and young ones than Typhoon Lagoon. The large wading pool is perfect for kids who don't like waves but want to splash around and go under.

 

[jfis1020]

May I add...........I agree with Blizzard Beach! The one thing that I noticed about it over TL is that it is much easier to monitor kids at BB. There's only one way in and one way out of the kid's area. That is crutial when watching three (8, 5 and 3)!

My daughter at 2 loved the family rafts. At BB the ride is much longer that TL, hence waiting is much more worth it too!

 

[disnaholic]

Walt and Julie

I personally have never been to BB but we did enjoy TL with a 4 and 6 year old. There was a lot to do and the wave pool is a lot of fun with an adult holding a child or the shallow part the water just ripples and your child can play and enjoy. The kids section is OK and there were a lot of rides the kids could enjoy except the flumes. I hope this helps, we want to try BB on the next visit.

 

[skiptomypooh]

My DH and I took our 18month old for the first time back in Nov to Disney. Since we had some old plus days burning a hole in our pockets, we decided to check out a water park with him. We thought that BB would be a good hour or so of looking around for him and us, but that he'd be bored for much longer.

Well, as you can guess, we were totally surprised by the great toddler area. He loved it, and stayed for several hours. He was so tired when he left, he took an extra long nap and wanted to go back as soon as he woke up.

I haven't been to TL yet, but thought we'd try it in September. Do they have a similar toddler area (sounds like it from the thread)? Do they have sandy areas too? He's into sand now and will happily play at digging holes for a hour if he has a place.

Thanks

 

[BuzzLightYear3]

Skiptomypooh.....Typhoon Lagoon does have a Toddler/Preschool area designed for about the same age kids as the one at BB; however, there's a lot of water spraying from above. E.G., the simple water slides have something squirting them from about 3 feet above the slide. There's a pirate ship play area which has water cannons that kids can point where ever they want. If your ds doesn't like getting unexpectedly squirted, he might not like this area as much as the one at BB.

On the plus side though, there's lots and lots of sand all around the park. Most of the lounge chairs are on top of sand, so there's sand all around the kids play area, the wave pool, and just about everything else. Once my 2 year old DS got a little frustrated with the squirting water in the play area, I went over and bought him a little basket of sand toys ($6 for a bucket, a few different shovels/rakes, and a boat all in a carry basket.....didn't seem too bad given that it was Disney!). He ended up having a good time playing with those and carrying buckets of water to the sand areas and handfuls of sand into the water areas. Net, since your DS is very into sand, he might really love Typhoon Lagoon. Bring your own bucket/shovel though if you want to save some money.

Have a great trip!

 

[skiptomypooh]

Thanks for the quick reply. DH and I have been many times to the parks, often on business trips, so we hadn't seen much of the water parks. Sounds like we'll take a look at TL next time. If it doesn't hit DS that day, then we'll just move on. We're there for him now (We do seem to get a little fun in too).

Regards

 

[pattyT]

Thanks for the great post!
WE are going for ten days and I hadn't decided what park to go to (I wanted BB) but i wasn't sure which was going to be best for DD-8 and DS-2.
Maybe we will go to two if we have time !

 

[sha_lyn]

BB wins hands down in my book. The toddler/preschool are beats the one at TL by a mile. 13 DS and I also love BB and really don't care for TL

 

[BevS97]

we did both parks last week with my 4 year old. I much prefered Blizzard Beach's kids area. It has proper versions of the big slides, but much smaller so that toddlers can ride them - and a nice pool where they can splash. There is no water being squirted around, which my daughter also hates.

There is also a very small mountain thing at the top of tykes peaks which is ideal for the really small tots - I would say the under 3's would love this area, really tiny slides for them to play in.

The best bit was that it's very open and you can see the whole area quite easily, whereas at Typhoon Lagoon I kept losing track of where my daughter was - I found it much harder to watch her there. Also, we didn't like the sand - it got into our shoes, and our food and was generally a pain.

If you are looking for a good spot to sit at BB, there are seats right at the top of Tykes Peak, over looking the slides, and also very close to the tiny kids play area, and when we went they were mostly empty, whereas all the seats at the bottom of the hill were full.

Bev

 

[sha_lyn]

My mother sat under one of the trees at the top of the slides. There were also covered tables up there that weren't being used, while the area at the bottom was packed. She could see easily where every she was in the play area from up there