Florida Villas Blog

 

Essentially there are 4 water parks in Orlando. There are the two Disney water parks Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach along with Sea Worlds offering Aquatica and last but not least Wet n Wild.

Typhoon Lagoon.

This water park is my favourite I think. I love the way it is laid out and its Caribbean atmosphere. There are plenty of sandy areas to sunbathe or read a book but for me I just love the wave pool with its tidal wave every 90 seconds. It is quite powerful and can knock you off your feet. Even in the shallow areas it is advisable to take small children by the hand. There is a recently added attraction to TL and that is “Crush n Gusher” this is a unique water rollercoaster where riders get into a 2 or 3 man tube and you ride the high pressure water up hill and down dale. Some parts of the ride go into an enclosed tunnel. Great fun!! There is of course a lazy river that can be quite busy depending on the time of year and day of the week and you may have to wait a short while for a tube. There are several eating places that serve up fast food along with a couple of “tiki” type bars that serve beer and cocktails. TL does have a few slides but nothing to really rave about. There is a kiddie’s area “Ketchakiddee Creek” where everything is geared up for the smaller kids with some mini flumes and plenty of water flying about. Generally I would advise you to get there early the park officially opens at 10:00 but they start to let you through the turnstiles at around 9:45. This is to allow you to get towels and life jackets if required and anything from the shop. You are then held at a rope on the bridge that gives access to TL until 10:00. Then it is a bit of a race to get the best sun bathing areas situated in the right spot.

Blizzard Beach

This water park is for the more energetic of us. It can involve a lot of step climbing to reach some of its many slides and flumes. Probably the most well known and popular slide is of course Summit Plummit. This slide stands over 120 ft tall and you reach speeds of up to 60 mph. There are all sorts of slides here ones where you need a tube, others where you use a mat and then those like summit plummet where you just use your body. There again is a small kiddie’s area “Tykes Peak” that has all manner of

kiddie friendly stuff. There seems to be fewer areas to sunbathe here although it might be deceiving. The wave pool is not as good as TL and it just alternates between choppy water (Bobbing Waves) and calm. As with TL there are several fast food outlets. As with TL it opens at 10:00

 

Aquatica

This is the latest addition to the water parks of Orlando. It is owned by Sea World and one that I was keen to see. However, I was disappointed. The first thing was that you have to pay for parking and also the park seemed a lot smaller than I anticipated. I did like the Crazy River..... It has quite a strong current and takes some getting in and out of. You don’t have any tubes and life jackets are available and small kids must use them. There is also the Commerson's Dolphins on the Dolphin Plunge – it’s a slide with a transparent area that passes underwater where the dolphins are. I also wasn’t impressed with the choices of places to eat. There only seemed to be two places but I would say that the food choices were probably more healthy than the previous two water parks.

Wet n Wild

It has been a few years since I have been here, it just didn’t hold the same attraction for me that the two Disney parks did. Prior to Blizzard Beach this was the only place that you find some fairly good slides and that was the reason I went there but I find that it is not a great place to soak up some sun. I would say that this is more suited to the kids of the family. The slides are still pretty good I guess and admission is probably cheaper than the Disney parks and can be included in the Orlando Flex Ticket. There no real sandy areas and I personally don’t like walking on that plastic prickly green stuff! The really good thing about Wet n Wild is that its location is smack bang on International Drive.

Dates for this years Halloween Horror nights have been released by Universal. The dates are as follows:

September 25 & 26, October 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30 and 31. (Frequent Fear Pass dates are Sept. 25 & 26, Oct. 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 21, 22, 25, 28 and 29.)

The cost of entry has remained the same as last year at a steep $69.99! The ironic thing is you can buy a Frequent Fear Pass for the same price and go to as many of the 13 Frequent Fear dates as you wish.

If you are one of those people who arrive early to the Disney water parks in order to join the race to get a shaded picnic table then things are changing from this week. Provided you are prepared to pay for the privilege you can now book one. The cost is $250 a day and the price includes all-day drink mugs, bottled water, lounge chairs and tables, towels, private lockers and an attendant.