Walt Disney World Resort - Water Parks
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But a couple of things happened. A trip to a water park is a necessity for Jenny and Cathy during hot trips, and I would be there at the same time. PiC had just bought a waterproof camera (A Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS10) just before my trip. She took it on a canoe trip in case the canoe got dumped, but it never got wet. Add those two together, and I was off to a water park!
There are two water parks at Walt Disney World. I've only been to Typhoon Lagoon, chosen because it was across the street from Downtown Disney. Hey, it's all about location! :-) I'll eventually visit Blizzard Beach. But since I typically go to Walt Disney World in the winter months, water parks are sometimes... A Bad Idea.
I would suggest getting a locker, and some sort of shoes to wear. See Disney's web site for more information on the types of shoes you can wear. It wasn't necessarily hot surfaces when I was there, but it was walking on poolside-rough type surfaces all the time. I was surprised the soles of my feet weren't a raw, bloody mass when we left. Shoes never felt so good...
Typhoon Lagoon
"According To Legend", the Typhoon Lagoon was formed by a typhoon, which is why there's wrecked boats and surf boards all around the park, as well as tilted buildings and broken things... The place is basically a wreck. But it's a safe-for-the-family wreck. :-)Of course, typhoons happen in the South Pacific. They call them hurricanes here. But I digress.
Like the theme parks, if you get there late, you have to park farther away from the entrance. Sometimes quite a distance. We were in the farthest row from the entrance, and they were starting to direct cars to auxiliary parking as we went toward the entrance...
(See my August 2011 Trip Report for more details.)
We went halfway around the wave pool and found seats, and eventually settled on a lap around the park on Castaway Creek, the lazy river. It's a easy place to cool off, but the density of people made for some bottlenecks. As a complete newbie to this place, I noted there were several exits from the river, but I had no idea where I was. Plan ahead and decide where you're going to get off before you get in the river...
Crush 'n' Gusher is a Water Coaster, which means there's a water/lift assist on uphill portions. They're pretty fun, but not long enough...
When you get in line, and past some signage, there's a split in the line for 2 and 3 person groups. The two person line is longer, but there are fewer three person rafts, so the line moves slower. It all works out in the end.
Once you have your raft (of course you're carrying it) you choose your coaster. There are three. Coconut, Pineapple and Banana. I have no idea which name goes to which coaster. What I do know, is the coasters get faster and more intense from left to right. They do not allow three person rafts on the far right coaster. You start to get airtime on the middle one, and the one on the right is definitely the best of the three.
Then you climb some stairs. I've noticed there's a lot of stairs at this park. Bummer. "Butt in first, then swing your legs around." Remember that. You hear it a lot.
Our light turns green, and there's a fastpass photographer at the bottom. Of course...
This was the first time I was in a wave pool.
Okay, I'm not an idiot. I know a water wave has a lot of energy. But I was first in shallow water, and thought nothing of it. We go into deeper water, and the wave slams me down, ensuring my hat gets rinsed, also proving the camera is indeed, waterproof...
The last thing we did before leaving was the family raft ride. Not only are there stairs, but you have to roll the raft up the stairs yourself, creating your own potential energy to be expended on the ride. sigh. At least you can get decent pictures from up here.
We pack up, get dressed, and much to my surprise, I still have skin on the bottom of my feet, even though they feel like raw, bloody stumps. Did I mention we were parked in the farthest parking lot?
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