Sometimes, a trip to Walt Disney World needs a bit of a break in the middle. If you’ve been going hard, walking around Epcot, the Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, or Disney’s Hollywood Studios all week, it can be hard to resist the siren song of Disney’s fantastic water parks.
Usually, guests don’t stay long enough to give both parks a full day in their vacation plan — and so, many are forced to choose one water park or the other.
So, if you need help deciding which Disney water park is most worth exploring, or if you’re just looking to figure out which one you should do first, here are how Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon stack up head-to-head.
Slides
Image: gnislew, Flickr (license)
What separates water parks from, say, a day at the pool or at the beach is, of course, the water slides. Disney’s water parks in particular are chock full of amazing body slides, tube slides, and raft adventures with plenty of re-ridability.
Typhoon Lagoon has Disney’s most technologically-advanced water slide in Crush N Gusher — a water-coaster style ride that uses high-pressure water jets to launch rafts uphill before plunging down into the pools. It’s also home to Disney’s longest water slide, Miss Adventure Falls — a family-style raft ride that includes a conveyor belt lift hill, making climbing stairs a thing of the past.
Blizzard Beach, on the other hand, offers up the Toboggan Racers mat slides, the Downhill Double Dip, and — of course — the iconic speed slide, Summit Plummet.
Both parks have tons to do, and you could spend a full day at each without getting bored. However, Blizzard Beach’s water slides are just a bit more thrilling and more inventive than the ones you’ll find at Typhoon Lagoon, whose regular slides don’t quite match the peak of its headliners.
Lazy River
Image: gnislew, Flickr (license)
Both Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach offer the now-standard lazy river, but they each do it in wildly different ways.
Castaway Creek, Typhoon Lagoon’s offering, is the more traditional option. It encircles the entire park without much in the way of fanfare or in-your-face imagineering. There are a few forks in the road along the way, but they’re never so long that you really start to feel like you’re caught in an adventure. In a word, Castaway Creek is serene (when it isn’t too crowded).
Blizzard Beach offers Cross Country Creek, a much more intricately designed lazy river complete with animatronics, faster flow sections, and even ice-cold water falls. It is lengthy, with a full circuit clocking in around one mile in total, and it has an indoor section as well as secret water jets placed around the course. It is, as much as a lazy river can be, action packed.
If you’re looking for the classic lazy river experience, Typhoon Lagoon has a great option. But, all things considered, Blizzard Beach’s Cross Country Creek it too fun to beat.
Wave Pool
Image: deegephotos, Flickr (license)
Melt Away Bay at Blizzard Beach is far better than the wave pool at your local water park. It serves up bobbing waves in a wide-open space that keep you entertained enough while passing the time between meals, slides, and Summit Plummet trips.
But, even the biggest Blizzard Beach fan would concede that its wave pool has no chance in this contest.
The Typhoon Lagoon Surf Pool is world-renowned for its ability to reproduce massive, surfable waves. Averaging around 6-feet in height, the enormous walls of water can come as regularly as every 90 seconds at peak times. And, with a massive footprint within the water park, it’s never too hard to find a wave to catch even on the busiest days.
By itself, the Surf Pool is amazing and entertaining enough to make a full-day’s admission to Typhoon Lagoon worth it. It’s an E-Ticket Attraction, and it easily wins this category.
Shade
Image: chad_sparkes, Flickr (license)
While guests visiting Walt Disney World likely want to enjoy the Sunshine State in all its splendor, there is such a thing as too much sun. Sometimes, all you want is to find a bit of shade to sit back, relax, and pass the time undisturbed.
Perhaps surprisingly, Disney’s water parks are amazing places to find a place to escape all the stress of daily life — with plenty of shade to go around.
Blizzard Beach has several pods of lounge chairs spread around the property, with trees and artificial coverings ensuring that after you’ve gotten your necessary dosage of vitamin D, you can find the shade you want.
Typhoon Lagoon takes this concept to an entirely different level, offering tons of covered beach chairs, umbrellas, pavilions, and trees to block the mighty sun’s rays. Even at the busiest hours, not only can you find somewhere to sit in the shade, but you can also get far enough way to escape the run-run-run energy of main water park area.
Bring a book, a pair of sunglasses, and the beverage of your choice, grab a chair in some shade, and enjoy the most relaxing day of your vacation at Typhoon Lagoon.
Overall Theming
Image: Steve Bozak, Flickr (license)
Blizzard Beach, as all Disney theme parks do, has a story. According to lore, at some point in the 1990s, a snowstorm shocked the state of Florida and dropped inches and inches of white fluff. To capitalize on the event and provide a bit of wintertime fun, an enterprising alligator founded a ski resort for locals to enjoy. Unfortunately, the snow began to melt in the southern heat, and as such, the ski slopes turned into water slides.
While it might sound silly, the theme is ever-present throughout the park, from the charming faux ski-lift ride from the base of Mount Gushmore to its peak, to the ski lodge near the park entrance, to the gear and signs littering the property. It’s an incredibly clever idea that Disney totally runs with, even going so far as to have cold water dripping in spots where the snow would be “melting.”
Typhoon Lagoon also has a story, but it’s much simpler: One day, a tropical waterside resort was hit by a massive typhoon, sending water, debris, and even a shrimp boat flying through the village. The boat eventually came to a rest atop Mount Mayday, while the water flowed out through ridges and creeks that proved fun to slide down. In the aftermath of the “storm,” the water park was born.
Everywhere you look, you see references to this small resort village, as well as the toll nature took on it. The enormous Miss Tilly boat at the peak of the mountain is a joy to behold, and the other thematic elements — such as the wave pool’s enormous wall — tie together a visual aesthetic that screams south seas beauty.
Blizzard Beach’s story and ironic detachment is charming, but when it comes to the whole package — from greenery to music to sets — Typhoon Lagoon’s theming is just perfect.
In all, both Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach offer something unique, and they each are the best park for a different kind of person. If you’re the type to look for the best slides, the most exciting thrills, and the most to do, Blizzard Beach is absolutely the place for you. If you want more laid back entertainment, a tropical drink, and a float along the laziest lazy river of all, Typhoon Lagoon is more your speed.
If you can’t decide, lucky you — Disney Water Park admission actually includes access to both parks in the same day. So, you can enjoy both and then decide which one was the best to you.
