Welcome Back Blizzard Beach! - Theme Park Tourist

UPDATE November 13 – Welcome back Blizzard Beach! The reopening of Blizzard Beach has certainly been a very long time coming but it is finally here. Guests will once again be able to experience everything Blizzard Beach has to offer, starting today.

According to the official calendar, Blizzard Beach will open from 10:00AM – 5:00PM daily until December 31. A slimmed down holiday event is being offered between November 13 and December 31 where guests will get to see snowfall, festive inner tubes and holiday themed treats. There will also be a tropically dressed Santa for that extra piece of festive cheer.

Blizzard Beach reopening, Disney — Image: Disney

Guests will get the chance to try the new beverage, Watta-Melon Passion Lemonade from Lottawatta Lounge as well as returning favorite flavors include seasonal DOLE Whip offerings, the Double Bacon Cheeseburger and the iconic 50^th Ice Dream Sand Pail Sundae.

Watta-Melon Passion Lemonade, Disney — Image: Disney

October 25 – It has now been officially announced that Blizzard Beach will reopen on Sunday, November 13 after over ten months of being shuttered due to its extensive refurbishment. As expected, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon will close from Sunday, November 13.

Earlier today we added an update from Bioreconstruct which shows a recently posted photo giving an aerial view of the park as it currently stands. The photo shows that the crane which had been used in this extensive refurbishment has been removed and all is looking ready to go.

Aerial look at Blizzard Beach. Crane removed. Crane had been used for Teamboat Springs refurbishment, and adding a new inner-tube return at Runoff Rapids. pic.twitter.com/qOkw4UqEVl

— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) October 22, 2022

When Blizzard Beach reopens it will feature areas with new “Frozen” theming .This new Frozen theming will be seen in the Tike’s Peak Kids’ area where guests will see statuettes of Olaf and his friends in the wading pool as well as Elsa and Anna’s igloo castle.

Blizzard Beach Frozen theming, Disney — Image: Disney

A slimmed down holiday event is being offered between November 13 and December 31 where guests will get to see snowfall, festive inner tubes and holiday themed treats. There will also be a tropically dressed Santa for that extra piece of festive cheer.

Are you excited to hear the news that Blizzard Beach will be reopening on Sunday, November 13? Let us know your thoughts by leaving us a comment below or on our Facebook page.

October 17 – We initially thought Blizzard Beach may reopen on October 30, then it looked like it could be November 6 and now it appears to have been pushed back even further.

If you take a look at the Walt Disney World calendar, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon has now got scheduled opening hours until Saturday, November 12 which implies that the earliest Disney is now looking to reopen Blizzard Beach is Sunday, November 13. Although there still hasn’t been anything officially announced by Disney, it continues to appear from rumors online that this delay which could last another couple of weeks beyond November 13, is due to work being carried out from damage caused by Hurricane Ian.

With Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon’s opening hours being updated by a week at a time, it certainly seems to imply that Disney is getting ready to shut Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and reopen Blizzard Beach. The question just still remains, when? We will update you as soon as there is confirmation on the reopening date of Blizzard Beach. We are hoping that guests will, at some point in 2023, have the choice of both Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach when visiting Walt Disney World.

October 10 – We now have an update on the rumored reopening date for Blizzard Beach. Last week we reported that Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon didn’t have any scheduled hours of operation past October 30, which gave us hope that Blizzard Beach would reopen on October 30. However, now on the Walt Disney World calendar, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon is scheduled to open until Saturday November 5 so we are expecting the reopening of Blizzard Beach to be pushed back to Sunday November 6 at the earliest.

Screamscape is now reporting that according to sources the reopening date for Blizzard Beach is going to be pushed back a week or two in order to finish up a few projects and repair the damage that was caused by Hurricane Ian. We are now expecting a November reopening date for Blizzard Beach and will update you as soon as we have confirmation on this.

October 7 – At the beginning of September there was a rumor floated that Blizzard Beach could reopen this Fall. Now Screamscape is reporting that according to a source, Disney is preparing to reopen Blizzard Beach very soon with staff training beginning and final preparations being completed.

Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon currently has no hours posted on the official calendar from October 30, 2022 onwards meaning that it is scheduled to have its last day of the season on October 29, 2022. This seems to imply that Blizzard Beach will reopen on October 30, 2022 but it doesn’t currently have any listed hours on the official calendar. We await confirmation from Disney regarding the very long awaited reopening of Blizzard Beach and we will keep you posted on updates here at Theme Park Tourist.

September 8 – So, we have been eagerly awaiting news of the reopening of Blizzard Beach and there has now been a rumor floated by Orlando Theme Park News that we could see Blizzard reopening “by the end of October or the beginning of November (unless unexpected issues force the park to remain closed for a longer period of time).”

Now, this comes as perhaps surprising news at a time when many Disney fans had resigned themselves to having to wait until 2023 to get to visit Blizzard Beach again. If Blizzard Beach does indeed reopen this Fall, it is expected that Typhoon Lagoon would close for its annual maintenance so we will still have to wait until 2023 for both Disney water parks to be open at the same time.

The article also speculates that improvements have been made to one of the water play areas, Tike’s Peak and there may be the addition of characters such as Olaf.

Please note- this is a rumor and nothing has been officially confirmed by Disney regarding the reopening of Blizzard Beach. We will keep you posted on further updates when they are announced on our news and Facebook page.

August 14 – If someone had said back in January, when Blizzard Beach closed for refurbishment, that we wouldn’t see it reopen again for the whole of 2022, we would have thought they were mad. But here we are in the middle of August and the park is still like a building site with no imminent end in sight for the construction work.

Our initial poll back in April showed that 65% of people thought Blizzard Beach would reopen in 2022, however as predicted our recent poll flips that on its head and now 84% of people think Blizzard Beach will remain closed for the entire year. We hope we can bring you positive news before 2023 but as we swiftly head through the summer months it is looking more and more unlikely this will happen. At least when Blizzard Beach finally does reopen we shouldn’t see any lengthy downtime for a while!

UPDATE August 8 – We reported at the end of July that further permits had been filed for work at Blizzard Beach. Bioreconstruct has posted a new photo on twitter of the current state of construction work at the park. As you can see the tall crane still towers over the long shuttered park. This crane is expected to soon move further into the park for the next phase of the refurbishment.

Aerial look at a tall crane towering above Blizzard Beach. Seems like the crane will soon move closer and with an extension truss reach deep inside the park for next phase of refurbishment. pic.twitter.com/0J1jHiAWk5

— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) August 7, 2022

The rumor that Blizzard Beach would remain closed for the entire of 2022 came all the way back in March. At that point it seemed like a ridiculous rumor. However, now I must say I feel it is becoming more and more likely. Even if construction work is complete say by the end of September which currently looks dubious, the summer will be over so there would surely be no point Disney reopening Blizzard Beach at this late stage in the year.

When we did an initial poll asking you what you thought, fans were hopeful that this rumor would be wrong with 65% saying they thought it would reopen. We are now starting a new poll. I will predict that the results will be very different to last time with the majority of fans now saying they think Blizzard Beach WILL remain closed for the whole of 2022. Have your say below.

July 30 – We are still waiting patiently for Disney to announce a reopening date for Blizzard Beach. A further permit was recently filed on July 21, for work to be done on the wave pool, Melt-Away Bay. The contractor is listed as Page Piping Inc to carry out construction work so we are assuming this means work is being done on the pipe work.

Construction work continues at Blizzard Beach and with further permits being filed, it certainly looks like Blizzard Beach is going to remain closed for the foreseeable future. The initial rumor floated online back in March that Blizzard Beach will remain closed for the whole of 2022 is unfortunately looking more and more likely. On a positive note, as Disney is doing such an extensive refurbishment we are hoping that when the park does eventually reopen we shouldn’t see any further extended closures for a long time. We will keep you up to date on any further developments on when Blizzard Beach will reopen when it is announced.

UPDATE July 13 – We have been trying to dig deeper to try to find further news on a potential Blizzard Beach reopening but unfortunately it is still looking very quiet, with nothing still having been said by Disney about this continued extended closure.

There are currently a number of large cranes on site as refurbishments continue around the park including the replacement of sections of slide at Team Boat Springs. We also still await further news of what the permit filed at the end of May to “install show items” will bring.

Team Boat Springs, Disney — Image: Disney

When the rumor was originally posed back at the end of March that Blizzard Beach would remain closed for the whole of 2022, Disney fans thought this was ridiculous. But, as we head through the summer months without word of a reopening and as cranes continue to arrive and extensive refurbishments remain ongoing, we are getting increasingly worried that this rumor may turn out to be true.

We will update you as soon as there is further news on this. At least we do know that when Blizzard Beach does reopen, the park should be in tip top condition to be enjoyed for the future.

UPDATE June 10 – This week a large yellow crane has been spotted at Disney’s Blizzard Beach which signals even more work is being done at the park. While refurbishments are of course needed, this extended closure at Blizzard Beach is certainly disappointing and unexpected. When Blizzard Beach closed in January 2022 we were all expecting a reopening by May ready for guests to enjoy the water park at the start of the Florida summer.

This certainly hasn’t happened and with further cranes being delivered to the park along with the permit filed at the end of May to “install show items” which made us think that there may be a new attraction coming to Blizzard Beach, it looks like Blizzard Beach won’t be opening anytime soon. At this point, the rumor back in March that Blizzard Beach will remain closed for the whole of 2022 is starting to look more and more like it may become a reality. We will keep you posted with further updates when we get them on our news and Facebook page.

UPDATE May 29 – In April, Disney filed a permit for a laydown yard to store materials and machinery for refurbishment projects at the park. This week various construction vehicles and wood have arrived at Blizzard Beach. The laydown yard is situated near to the Downhill Double Dipper, Snow Stormers, and Toboggan Racers on the Purple Slopes and the Runoff Rapids on the Red Slopes.

Disney hasn’t confirmed exactly which attractions are set for refurbishment but what with this latest development it doesn’t look like Disney has any plans just yet to reopen Blizzard Beach. With the summer months quickly approaching we are hoping that these refurbishment projects which are continuing at the park will be completed as soon as possible so guests can once again enjoy everything Blizzard Beach has to offer in the heat of the Florida summer. We will keep you posted on further updates when they are announced.

PLEASE NOTE – this is a rumor. Disney has not made an official announcement yet regarding when Blizzard Beach will be reopening.

March 23 – Blizzard Beach closed for refurbishment back in January 2022 when Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon opened after its refurbishment. From Disney’s official calendar we know Blizzard Beach will remain closed until at least May at the earliest.

It has been reported on Screamscape that Blizzard Beach may remain closed for the rest of 2022 in order to complete a number of maintenance projects including possibly adding a Red Slope tube conveyor for the three Runoff Rapids slides, improving night lighting for after hours events and carrying out work on the chairlift.

We were certainly expecting Disney to reopen Blizzard Beach in time for the extremely busy summer season so this rumor comes as quite a shock. This rumor has not been commented on from Disney or confirmed so we will be sure to keep you up to date with further news as and when we get it.

As Walt Disney World is seeing massive crowds for Spring Break and the remainder of March and early April we can’t see Disney keeping Blizzard Beach closed for the whole of 2022. Although there must be a list of maintenance projects to do, we don’t understand how this decision will make sense for Disney or for guests especially as COVID-19 measures continue to lessen and Walt Disney World is celebrating their 50th year.