Splish Splash Your Way Through The Rapids & Waves. (Typhoon Lagoon)

Member Name: bubbles12

Product:	Typhoon Lagoon
Date:	28/04/08 (117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great day for all swimmers and non swimmers.

Disadvantages: If you dont take care you can get very sun burnt.

Orlando Florida has become a massive attraction that gains thousands of visitors each year, The major attractions being the Disney world resort, is made up of four theme parks and two water parks, the theme parks are the magic kingdom, Hollywood studios MGM, Epcot and Animal kingdom. The two water parks are Blizzard beach and my favourite Typhoon Lagoon.

We visited typhoon lagoon on our last visit to the USA, when we purchased a park hopper ticket this was one of the attractions listed, so as it was paid for we decided to go as it was a very hot day and a water park would be the best way to keep cool.

HISTORY OF TYPHOON LAGOON

The Typhoon Lagoon Water Park was added to Walt Disney world resort, and opened on June 1, 1989, is home to the world's largest outdoor wave pool and attracts not only tourist but learner and professional surfers from all over the world, as the wave pool is a great way to practice their skills.

The water park gets its name from the Disney's legend of a typhoon that ruined a beautiful tropical paradise. So the park has ships, surf boards and fishing equipment ruined placed as features all around the park and the water rides are based on the actual typhoon.

The center of the park has a fishing boat (Miss Tilly) on top of a mountain (mount mayday), and every 30minutes this mountain erupts with a 50 foot gush of water, this is the center attraction and everything else surrounds this spectacular center piece.

LAGOON ATTRACTIONS

There are many things that attract visitors to the typhoon lagoon one of which is the weather as you need to have a reasonably hot day, as you are in the water or at least getting wet. So I would recommend a nice day otherwise you may find it rather cold.

People visit the water parks to cool down from the Florida's summer sun, and experience magnificent water rides and wave machines.

Here are some of the other attractions that typhoon Lagoon has to offer,

GANG PLANK FALLS, on this ride you will be give a huge inner tube, you sit on it and whip your way down the watery slide that has water fall and fantastic scenery. I have to admit I didn't notice the scenery until I looked back up at it as I was too busy holding on for dear life.

This is classed as a mild but wild ride, so it is tame, but with me not being a strong swimmer I held on so tight that my hands were blue. Children can go on this providing they are a certain height, but it is recommended that they can swim.

KEELHAUL FALLS, this ride also involves massive rubber rings, it is a white water rapid ride that throws you from side to side and spins you around.

This was also classed as mild but I would say wild, you get so dizzy from all the spinning and swaying. As I rapidly got down this mountain I was feeling rather sea sick so I only endured this ride once.

MAYDAY FALLS, is the longest waterslide in the park, again you travel down this slide on a huge rubber ring this is by far the best water slide in the park, yes it was very fast and scared the life out of me but I went on it time and time again. It was like oh well I have done it once and survived so I did it again, this gave me the courage to try all of the slides and rides.

SHARK REEF, This was nice to do, I got to swim into a tank with real l sharks and tropical fish, and I still swear to this Day that the fish kept nipping me.

This a saltwater pool surrounding an over turned tanker boat and you can swim with the shark and fish in and around this, all non-swimming visitors can even go inside the tanker boat and watch the sharks and fish through portholes.

STORM SLIDES, there are three very extreme water slides that go as fast as thirty miles per hour, on these you just throw yourself down the slides and after zooming down the slides you land in a huge pool.

These four slides at the Jib jammer, Stern burner, Rudder buster, all three of these are very close together and they entwine into each other, so you can race other rides or even your friends or family.

When riding these, I would recommend a decent swimsuit as you either flash you bust, as the waves had a habit of pulling down your top and your bottoms get wedged (you know what I mean) so you have to be alert as it will be bum cheeks ahoy.

SURF LESSONS, These are held at the parks enormous wave machine. Professional instructors and small classes help you learn the skill of surfing to become a novice and even a professional surfer.

This wave pool attracts surfers and learners from all over the world as every minute and a half, you can surf the waves. This is great to try because as you improve the wave can get larger. 6 foot waves are the maximum that this will go to.

I tried a little bit of surfing, but as the waves got bigger I chickened out and sat back and watched, I was amazed at how big these actually went.

OPENING HOURS

The typhoon lagoon water park is seasonal and opens from April to October, these month may vary depending on the weather climate.

Usual opening hours are 10.00am - 5.00pm, during high season July - August the park is open until 6.00pm.

Extra magic hours can be purchased and these are every Saturday night, the magic hours are 5.00pm until 9.00pm.

PRICES

Adults $71.00 dollars,
Children under 10 $60.00 dollars, these are for a one day water park pass.

If you are staying for a week you can purchase the weekly pass for,

$219.00 dollars for adults
$182 dollars for children under 10

This is the price for a weekly pass, and will allow you into any of the Disney resort parks.

Extra magic hours can be purchased with weekly passes, for a small extra cost. Extra magic hours entitle you to visit the park when everyone else has left, yes there will be other people there but you will not have to queue or wait for any of the rides.

Magic hours for this park are on a Saturday evening 5.00pm - 9.00pm.
The other six Disney parks magic hours are on different days.

LOCATION OF TYPHOON LAGOON

This themed water park is located at Lake Buena Vista. This is a city in Orange County, Florida, and is mostly known for being home to the Walt Disney World Resort.

The address is 1534 W Buena Vista Dr, Lake Buena Vista, FL, United States.

You will find that most hotels will run free transport to all of the Disney attractions. So if you are staying in a hotel it is worth asking at reception.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED

You will need to take these with you on the day,
A swimsuit, this is needed to go into the park, if you don't have one you will need to buy one.

Sun cream, this is a must as you will burn because you will be in and out of the water, you may not feel like you are burning on the day but the day after you will certainly feel it.

Cameras, yes you can take cameras at your own risk, lockers are available if you need to lock it away, if you want to go in the water.

Beach towel, you will need this at the end of the day but during the day you tend to dry off with the sun.

Money, you are best having some money for refreshments, pictures and gifts.

CONCLUSION

This is a great day out for all of the family, so if you fancy lounging in the sun while the kids play you can sit on the manmade sandy beaches and catch a tan, or you can let your hair down and join in the fun.

All of the rides and pools are manned by trained life guards, so the kids will be fine to go off on their own.

Certain restrictions are in place small children can't ride certain rides if they are too small or can't swim, but the park does make allowances and if accompanied by an adult they too can join in the fun. This is for the mild ride anyway.

I wasn't overly keen on going here as I was not a great swimmer, but I really enjoyed it. I intended to sit around all day with a book and a bottle of tanning lotion, this way I would get a relaxing day and a nice tan.

It didn't quite work out, yes I did relax in the morning but come lunch time I decided to give one of the inner tube rides a go because it looked like great fun but not to extreme, well once I had done one that was it I tried everything and really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this day because it was something I never ever thought I would be brave enough to do, but I surprised myself and had a great day.

Summary: wild day out, zomming around on rubber rings.