Since the day before was our rest day, we were looking forward to Day 5 because we were heading to the water park! Growing up, my parents took my brother and I to water parks all the time. I have visited all of the water parks in Orlando since we frequently visited during my childhood. So we were excited to spend the day with Granna and Granddaddy again, but we were also getting the pleasure of spending that day with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew! They don't live far from Orlando so they planned to take off on this particular day to meet us. The park opened at 10 and Adam, myself and the kids arrived right at 9:15 ish. We were the second people in line! There may have been 10 people there by the time we got there and then the rest of the crew arrived shortly after. Adalyn and Landon were SO so excited to see them and play with Hunter. It was a beautiful, hot day- the perfect kind of day to spend at a water park!
When doing my research, Disney has 2 water parks. 1. Blizzard Beach 2. Typhoon Lagoon.
So, I knew I had to make a decision and figure out which one would be best to visit for the day. I have been to both when I was younger, but of course then, I didn't pay any attention to the kiddie area whereas now, that was our main focus. With a 6, 4, and 2 year old, I knew an awesome kid area is what we needed. I searched online for a few days reading reviews, blogs, etc and learned Typhoon Lagoon had 1 play area targeting small kids and Blizzard Beach had a couple of areas each targeting a range of ages. So I decided Blizzard Beach would be the way to go. Just like with the parks, getting to a water park early is essential, too. You HAVE to have shade! If you come in after park opening, you can seriously forget finding a nice, shaded area that hasn't been taken by a family. I looked at the map of the park online before going and knew "Tike's Peak" would be the area we needed to claim for the day. Tike's Peak was the main kid play area and we were able to snag a huge hut and claimed a ton of chairs for everyone in the family. Score! You can bring in coolers if you wish, just no glass. Since we were on the Dining Plan, we didn't have to worry about food or snacks! Sooo nice!
Once we settled into our area, we hit up the slides in Tike's Peak!
See how fun?! As you go further "in", there are more play areas at the top that is shaded by the trees.
After playing in this area, my dad, brother, Adam, myself and the kids took off to the big slides! Landon is tall for a 4 year old so he was able to hang with us on the majority of the slides! My mom, Brandy and Hunter played in the wave pool while we hopped from slide to slide. We also really enjoyed the lazy river. We did that multiple times throughout that day! We would check the map and see which slides we wanted to do next, then instead of walking, we would just float around the lazy river to get to where we wanted to go.
We ate lunch and then later in the day, we grabbed some ice cream. I think we had popsicles every single day of our trip!
After lunch, we kept on moving! There is so much to do. We had such a fun time!
At one point in the afternoon, they had everyone out of the water and slides for 30 minutes due to lightening in the area. It was sunny and hot, but we learned if it's in so many miles of the park, they make you wait for a bit. So, the kids played in the sand with other kids and a lifeguard plopped down and played with them, too. Once, the lightening was far enough away, we got back to swimming!
The main attraction at Blizzard Beach is Summit Plummet. I did it back in middle school when we were visiting so I knew I wanted to do it again. If you have ever watched The Discovery Channel, they occassionally will show the Top 10 water parks in the country and Blizzard Beach is always mentioned. Thanks in large part to this slide!
We waited until the end of our day and then my dad, Adam and I went to get in line. We waited maybe 20 minutes in line and talked to a couple in front of us from the United Kingdom. It was a mom and her daughter and they went on to tell us they were on a 2 week vacation. It was neat talking to them and the girl was 10, so I kept reminding myself, she's 10. If she can do this slide, so can I. lol Although I did go down it years and years ago, I'd like to believe I've grown wiser in my years hahaha
Adalyn begged us to let her go down, too, but we told her no. She met the height requirement but I would just feel better if she weighed a little more and not be 6 years old. lol Lord willing, we hope to go back to Disney in 2 years and she'll be 9- I'll let her do it then! ;)
After the girl went, Adam was next, then myself, and then my dad. What a rush!
Here are a few pictures I took off the internet. If you visit, it's a must!
Your view as you lay flat waiting on them to tell you when to go!
Oh we had so much fun! We packed up and left around 6:00. We had a FULL day! Christopher and Brandy took my parents back to their resort before they went home, and we hopped on the bus to The Art of Animation. We went straight to our room and I gave the kids a bath while Adam walked back up to the food court to get us all supper. We ate dinner in our room on the beds while watching old school Mickey cartoons on TV. We then called it a night and rested up for another early morning at Magic Kingdom!!
Landon put on Adams hat before we left :)
Our housekeeper, or "mousekeeper" as they go by, created a towel animal for us and put the kids glow sticks and such around it. They kids were so tickled when they walked in and saw it!
So, there you have it! Blizzard Beach! I truly believe that whatever water park you choose to visit in Orlando, you will have a blast and can't go wrong. For us though, on this particular trip, Blizzard Beach is what was best for us!
We enjoyed our day with family so much!!
In case you have missed it, here's a re-cap of the first 4 days of our trip!
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