Feedback on combining water park with park time?

[Lisa Pesce]

Need some feedback on the idea of doing one of the water parks in the morning, rinsing and changing in locker room and leaving after lunch to head to AK for a couple of hours? Our original plan was to skip AK this trip (April 2020) and spend 3 of our 4 days in the other parks and do one water park day. However it is cheaper for us to purchase the magic your way 4 day pass plus (includes water park, NBA, mini golf, etc) then it is to buy 3 day ticket and a waterpark pass. We can stick to original plan or try to see AK for a couple hours and end with dinner in park. It’s ok if we don’t get to enjoy the full water park, we just want to check it out. And the only request for AK is to get on the safari from my family.. we did everything there last trip and are ok skipping most of the park this time. I’m worried we will be exhausted just doing a half day at water park after reading reviews. Family trip includes kids ages 9 and 13, and two sets of grandparents. They will want to sit in shade at waterpark, so hoping morning visit will get us a good spot. Or can I book umbrella/covered spot in advance? TIA! Also we have a car this trip.

 

[Calee]

We did a water park and then MK on our last.trip. water park from open until 2 or 3 and then the park. We enjoyed it! Kids were 7, 9 and 11.

We went in July and had no trouble finding shady seats, especially at Blizzard Beach. Also the lines were not incredibly long and we were able to do every slide we wanted to multiple times, even with leaving at 2/3 both days.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Whenever we do a water park (typically BB), we always go at RD, have a QS lunch there and are done around 1:00/1:30 pm. We typically then go back to our resort (if we don't do a round of mini-golf), shower, rest a little and then end at a park in the evening. I think your plan is totally doable especially as your only must-do is the safari. We had no problem booking the chairs/umbrella when we arrived the morning we went to BB last March. I would just try to get to whichever water park you'd like to go to about 30 minutes prior to opening to do any rentals and get yourself situated for RD.

 

[Lisa Pesce]

Thank you both for feedback! We will give it a go then!

 

[DLgal]

We do it but would never go directly to a park from a water park. Wet bathing suits are heavy and awkward to carry around and we always bring resort towels from the pool so we don't have to pay to rent them there, so we also have wet towels.

We do like a previous poster and leave mid afternoon (around 2pm) to go back to the resort and fully shower and change. We then go back to the parks from about 5pm to closing.

 

[cgattis]

Agree with some PP—it’s probably easier to go back to your resort to clean up, especially with kids. Those locker rooms are wet everywhere, so it’s a challenge to keep your clean stuff clean. Plus they’re super hot in the summer, so I felt like I needed another shower after my shower lol. If just adults, maybe, but if I’m having to clean up myself and look after the kids, I wouldn’t do it again.

 

[Melissa Perez]

We are all for going straight to AK after a day at BB (and we do the bus) although unlike PP we do get the towels there so it is not as much to carry with us to the park. We figure that if there is a day to look a little wild and disheveled it's the day we hit up AK!

 

[DLgal]

We are all for going straight to AK after a day at BB (and we do the bus) although unlike PP we do get the towels there so it is not as much to carry with us to the park. We figure that if there is a day to look a little wild and disheveled it's the day we hit up AK!

I would just leave the swimsuits on and hit up Kali River Rapids a few times.

 

[Lisa Pesce]

These are all great tips! Thank you!! Because we have car I was hoping locker room and showers at water park would work for rinse off and change and then throw our wet stuff in a garbage bag in car until we got back to resort. We are off property but close enough to make a pit stop back I guess, but was hoping to save time and just head straight to AK. I guess we can play that by ear if FP to AK won’t be a factor on time. Thank you all again, super helpful!!

 

[DisneyGirlMI]

We did it the other way around. We went to AK in the morning (when crowds are lower), came back to our resort to change, and went to TL. We loved it. It was a great way to cool down after a blistering morning at AK!!

 

[Lisa Pesce]

We did it the other way around. We went to AK in the morning (when crowds are lower), came back to our resort to change, and went to TL. We loved it. It was a great way to cool down after a blistering morning at AK!!

how were the crowds at TL in afternoon? Were umbrellas all taken? Hoping for shade for grandparents who won’t be swimming as much but want to join us. Reading some other posts someone mentioned the risk of pop up FL showers in afternoons.. so wasn’t sure which way we should do it..AK then water park or visa versa. Any feedback greatly appreciated!!

Also not sure if water parks differ in crowds and shade spots? They both look fairly close to AK

 

[kwdw]

I think its easier to find shade at Typhoon Lagoon - especially over by the pool that the three coasters dump into. That's a quiet spot to hang out - and nice calm pool access. It also has the lazy river the grandparents might like.

Since you are off property - I agree with your desire to not waste time going back to your resort. One tip for surviving the water parks and changing - really take the minimal amount of stuff you can to the water park and those locker rooms. For example - maybe leave your "park shoes" in the car - you can change them there. You can adjust at the car, too. My male significant other, for example, put on the shirt he really intended to wear to the park - at the car (male privilege!).

 

[seashoreCM]

Or buy the 3 day pass-plus (no separate water park ticket) if you feel that it would be too hectic to also go to a theme park (after the water park) on the 4'th day.

I also find it advantageous to drive to the water park if I have a car because I can get changed and leave stuff in the car.

 

[DisneyGirlMI]

how were the crowds at TL in afternoon? Were umbrellas all taken? Hoping for shade for grandparents who won’t be swimming as much but want to join us. Reading some other posts someone mentioned the risk of pop up FL showers in afternoons.. so wasn’t sure which way we should do it..AK then water park or visa versa. Any feedback greatly appreciated!!

Also not sure if water parks differ in crowds and shade spots? They both look fairly close to AK

We only did TL, so I can’t speak to BB, but when we were there, it was busy but we were able to find chairs. We spent most of the time in the water. There were lines, but they moved fairly quickly. There was a MAJOR thunderstorm, just as we were leaving that closed everything down for maybe 45 minutes, but we were already on our way out. The craziest thing was seeing Miss Tilly get struck by lightning! It would probably be less crowded in the morning, but we wanted the less crowded AK more. And we wanted the water park for cool down. I don’t know when you are going, but the heat index when we were there was 110-115° every day. AK always seems like the hottest park to me and I do not like being there in the afternoon.

 

[Lisa Pesce]

Or buy the 3 day pass-plus (no separate water park ticket) if you feel that it would be too hectic to also go to a theme park (after the water park) on the 4'th day.

I also find it advantageous to drive to the water park if I have a car because I can get changed and leave stuff in the car.

After pricing it out it is about $40 cheaper to do the magic your way 4 park pass plus then it is to do the 3/day park pass plus. So that is why AK is back on the possible agenda for us. I figured buy the cheaper ticket and if we decide to stick to 3 park one water park day it’s cheaper but we now have option to also do that 4th park with water park if we want to.. and more if we felt we could do it without burning ourselves out. Hard to really be flexible with Disney vacations, but this does give us some more options and is the cheapest option if we want to do water park.

 

[Heather07438]

I think your plan is fine without getting burned out that day. You could even ropedrop the water park, go back to your room for a 1-2 hr respite in the AC, then head to AK.

Honestly, you'll probably not want to spend much more than 3 hours at the water park midday with 4 grandparents (even in the shade). That's plenty of time have fun. Then maybe 4hrs at AK which is enough time to eat dinner and even use all 3 FPs.

You might as well book 2 other FPs beside Safari Maybe plan them with not to much traveling, like hit Na'vi or Dino on park entry, Dinner & Safari in either order, then another ride on the way out? You don't have to use them but they can make more efficient use of AK time.

Ex:
Wake up 8am. Ropedrop WP 10a. Leave by 1:30p.
Hotel 2-4pm. Head to AK.
FP1 4-5p
FP2 Safari & Dinner 5-7p
FP3 before 8p then leave
Gets alot done but at an easy pace.

 

[Lisa Pesce]

I think your plan is fine without getting burned out that day. You could even ropedrop the water park, go back to your room for a 1-2 hr respite in the AC, then head to AK.

Honestly, you'll probably not want to spend much more than 3 hours at the water park midday with 4 grandparents (even in the shade). That's plenty of time have fun. Then maybe 4hrs at AK which is enough time to eat dinner and even use all 3 FPs.

You might as well book 2 other FPs beside Safari Maybe plan them with not to much traveling, like hit Na'vi or Dino on park entry, Dinner & Safari in either order, then another ride on the way out? You don't have to use them but they can make more efficient use of AK time.

Ex:
Wake up 8am. Ropedrop WP 10a. Leave by 1:30p.
Hotel 2-4pm. Head to AK.
FP1 4-5p
FP2 Safari & Dinner 5-7p
FP3 before 8p then leave
Gets alot done but at an easy pace.

Wow!!! Thank you so much for providing these suggestions! This sounds like a great plan! Greatly appreciated!

 

[cgattis]

Wake up 8am. Ropedrop WP 10a. Leave by 1:30p.
Hotel 2-4pm. Head to AK.
FP1 4-5p
FP2 Safari & Dinner 5-7p
FP3 before 8p then leave

Ill offer one alternate detail...start with Boma breakfast buffet, and you wont have to stop for lunch at the water park. Just have some mini donuts as a snack before you leave for your resort.

 

[Lisa Pesce]

Ohhh.. great idea! We’ve never eaten at Boma but I’ve wanted too! Thanks for suggestion!

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

I don't know about the grandparents, but our family (ages 34, 35, 2, 5) was able to do both in 1 day. We did this twice, once for each water park.