Blizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon

[WAJAS]

I know we’re still in the middle of the pandemic, but seriously...Blizzard Beach needs some kind of expansion...BADLY. This park is so stale.

Honestly. They used to be the best, and Aquatica and Volcano Bay came and destroyed them.

 

[Scott W.]

I know we’re still in the middle of the pandemic, but seriously...Blizzard Beach needs some kind of expansion...BADLY. This park is so stale.

It will be 26 years old in a few weeks time and it's had zero expansion.

It's pathetic.

 

[Cheezbat]

Honestly. They used to be the best, and Aquatica and Volcano Bay came and destroyed them.

Absolutely. Even Adventure Island is looking better these days. You’d think WDW would care enough to spend a few million on expansion in that park at least every 5-10 years. Instead, nothing but refurbs.

 

[Scott W.]

Absolutely. Even Adventure Island is looking better these days. You’d think WDW would care enough to spend a few million on expansion in that park at least every 5-10 years. Instead, nothing but refurbs.

Disney have become stagnant. If I make it to Orlando later this year, I have zero reason to go to WDW and it will be my first trip in 3 years. RotR is a good excuse but I’m not spending the money to maybe ride it.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Disney have become stagnant. If I make it to Orlando later this year, I have zero reason to go to WDW and it will be my first trip in 3 years. RotR is a good excuse but I’m not spending the money to maybe ride it.

I still wonder if they're only stagnant due to their lack of investment in the 2000s and their need to spread investment across eleven parks across the world. The impression I've gotten is that many of the parks remain stagnant despite significant investment, yet Disney has been trying to catch up. But given their size, there should still be a lot more investment. It's crazy that Animal Kingdom only gets, like, one new thing a decade

EDIT: Also, the fact that Disneyland is getting the best parts of the Hollywood Studios expansion and likely might get a better New Fantasyland someday.

 

[Scott W.]

I still wonder if they're only stagnant due to their lack of investment in the 2000s and their need to spread investment across eleven parks across the world. The impression I've gotten is that many of the parks remain stagnant despite significant investment, yet Disney has been trying to catch up. But given their size, there should still be a lot more investment. It's crazy that Animal Kingdom only gets, like, one new thing a decade

EDIT: Also, the fact that Disneyland is getting the best parts of the Hollywood Studios expansion and likely might get a better New Fantasyland someday.

I think the sad reality is that Disney doesn't need to do anything to remain the king.

 

[Nick]

I think the sad reality is that Disney doesn't need to do anything to remain the king.

Unfortunately for their water parks it is especially true. People don't seem to care that nothing new has pretty much ever been added to BB.

 

[BigHouseFootball]

Honestly. They used to be the best, and Aquatica and Volcano Bay came and destroyed them.

I have to strongly disagree with you on the Aquatica front. My wife and I went a few years back and were excited since it kept getting rave reviews online like this one...we hated it. We didn’t enjoy many of the slides-save for one tower and were very underwhelmed by the park as a whole. We ended up leaving after only a few hours. Compare that to either BB or Typhoon Lagoon where we spend pretty much the whole day.

 

[Cheezbat]

I have to strongly disagree with you on the Aquatica front. My wife and I went a few years back and were excited since it kept getting rave reviews online like this one...we hated it. We didn’t enjoy many of the slides-save for one tower and were very underwhelmed by the park as a whole. We ended up leaving after only a few hours. Compare that to either BB or Typhoon Lagoon where we spend pretty much the whole day.

To each their own.
Aquatica and Volcano Bay have WAY better rides and more of them. Blizzard Beach and Typhoon have the atmosphere. I love the atmosphere of those two parks, but they seriously need more rides to compete with the newer parks.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

To each their own.
Aquatica and Volcano Bay have WAY better rides and more of them. Blizzard Beach and Typhoon have the atmosphere. I love the atmosphere of those two parks, but they seriously need more rides to compete with the newer parks.

It probably does need something new but I still like it better than its tropical counterparts. The slide lineup is still great, maybe not quite as good as VB's but close enough for me, and the setting is so unique and creative. Helps that it has the best mini-golf I've ever seen right next door (Drive In seems like a strong contender, just haven't tried it).

Theming ain't everything of course--TL has fallen hard for me over the years since they took out Shark Reef and the wave pool, somehow, was broken in two separate visits I took almost exactly a year apart.

Could not comment about Aquatica.

 

[BigHouseFootball]

To each their own.
Aquatica and Volcano Bay have WAY better rides and more of them. Blizzard Beach and Typhoon have the atmosphere. I love the atmosphere of those two parks, but they seriously need more rides to compete with the newer parks.

No argument from me that BB needs an expansion. It is a bit ridiculous that it hasn’t added a single slide since it’s opening. Personally, I’m partial to tube slides over body slides. And I’m not a fan at all of the trap door slides. I did that for the first time at Aquatica and when I dropped I got water up my nose and in my ears which made the rest of the slide a terrible time for me.

 

[UNIrd]

No argument from me that BB needs an expansion. It is a bit ridiculous that it hasn’t added a single slide since it’s opening. Personally, I’m partial to tube slides over body slides. And I’m not a fan at all of the trap door slides. I did that for the first time at Aquatica and when I dropped I got water up my nose and in my ears which made the rest of the slide a terrible time for me.

I'm actually a huge fan of the drop slides. I feel like the experience of Summit Plummet isn't that different.

 

[SeventyOne]

It probably does need something new but I still like it better than its tropical counterparts. The slide lineup is still great, maybe not quite as good as VB's but close enough for me, and the setting is so unique and creative. Helps that it has the best mini-golf I've ever seen right next door (Drive In seems like a strong contender, just haven't tried it).

Theming ain't everything of course--TL has fallen hard for me over the years since they took out Shark Reef and the wave pool, somehow, was broken in two separate visits I took almost exactly a year apart.

Could not comment about Aquatica.

The problem with comparing water parks is that, with the possible exception of the wave pool. there are no "four quadrant" attractions like a Haunted Mansion or a Spider-Man. Your favorite water park is going to vary based on what you go for -- commandoing thru as many tall slides as you can, tanning with an occasional dip to cool off, letting your little kids play someplace shallow, enjoying a rum drink at the bar with friends then maybe taking a lap on the lazy river ... If you have young kids, it's hard to top Aquatica; if you're a teen boy, Volcano Bay all the way; off-duty princesses flock to Typhoon (that background loop is one of the best in any park to chill to). I do think BB does the best of balancing different options, but that means if you're really into one, another park is going to do it better. It's basically the family compromise water park.

 

[Cheezbat]

The problem with comparing water parks is that, with the possible exception of the wave pool. there are no "four quadrant" attractions like a Haunted Mansion or a Spider-Man. Your favorite water park is going to vary based on what you go for -- commandoing thru as many tall slides as you can, tanning with an occasional dip to cool off, letting your little kids play someplace shallow, enjoying a rum drink at the bar with friends then maybe taking a lap on the lazy river ... If you have young kids, it's hard to top Aquatica; if you're a teen boy, Volcano Bay all the way; off-duty princesses flock to Typhoon (that background loop is one of the best in any park to chill to). I do think BB does the best of balancing different options, but that means if you're really into one, another park is going to do it better. It's basically the family compromise water park.

I love your thought process. I completely agree that the perfect water park would have it all for everyone. I was extremely disappointed in Universal for their waterpark...I really thought they were going to build a ton more slides than they did...I guess that’s what happens when you get your hopes up and listen to ‘insiders.’ Yes, it has the drop slides and some cool family raft slides as well as the best water coaster in Florida....but honestly, I miss the slides like Black Hole, Disco H2O, and Brain Wash...I think the park needs more group and tube slides, but also needs more normal style body slides...and also needs some mat racer slides now.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I love your thought process. I completely agree that the perfect water park would have it all for everyone. I was extremely disappointed in Universal for their waterpark...I really thought they were going to build a ton more slides than they did...I guess that’s what happens when you get your hopes up and listen to ‘insiders.’ Yes, it has the drop slides and some cool family raft slides as well as the best water coaster in Florida....but honestly, I miss the slides like Black Hole, Disco H2O, and Brain Wash...I think the park needs more group and tube slides, but also needs more normal style body slides...and also needs some mat racer slides now.

Blizzard easily wins on non-body slides (Teamboat, Stormers, Downhill Double Dipper, Runoff) , Volcano ekes it out on body slides (even though I like Summit at least as much as any single one of the trio atop the volcano, the fact that there's three of them puts them over the edge), and wins in a landslide on lazy rivers. As for wave pool...I would say Typhoon but given my (hopefully) bad luck with it, it's a wash, Blizzard is def last in that category. Water coaster...I really don't know between Krakatau and Crush N Gusher. Theming, obviously Typhoon and Blizzard win--Typhoon is the coziest but Blizzard has such a unique and creative theme especially with the ski lift.

 

[Nick]

I went to Blizzard Beach yesterday as I bought the $100 add-on with my Pirate Pass so I could go to the Water Parks. I've been to Typhoon Lagoon at least two or three times over the past few years for some DVC events, but hadn't been to BB since around 2010 or maybe earlier. While nothing has actually changed (aside from then rebuilding a few slides while the park was closed during COVID), certain things stood out to me. Teamboat Springs is easily the best raft ride i've ever been up there and the thrill from Summit Plummet is as good as anything at VB and the air time you get on the Slush Gusher body slide is great. Also, the Downhill Double Dipper is a fun tube slide, especially in that there's a timer to let you know who won between the two. I'm not quite sure if this was new or not from when they were doing a lot of major refurb, but this whole slide certainly looked new.

To the things that could be improved though - the park needs something new, but the park doesn't really have a lot of expansion space. The most likely option is that they do something like this. Simple, doesn't take up a lot of space, and quite cheap.

Red - New drop slide complex, Added seating
Blue - Connecting to existing pathway
Grey - Service Road Re-route

If they wanted to get crazy though...

Red - New Land in the park featuring multiple new slides, etc. I'd love to see a Rapid River put in as well.
Blue - Connecting bridge to the left after you enter the park.

This is pretty much never going to happen, but it could! There's a lot of possibilities if they ever explored this. I chose a bridge instead of re-routing the road mostly because I think they could make a bridge really cool and then they wouldn't have to worry about the hassle about moving the road either. A bridge themed to an Ice Cave (like you might see in Iceland), would be really cool to fit the theme of the park and to hide the backstage road. Something like this:

Anyway, that's it for my ramblings about things that are never gonna happen

 

[Scott W.]

I went to Blizzard Beach yesterday as I bought the $100 add-on with my Pirate Pass so I could go to the Water Parks. I've been to Typhoon Lagoon at least two or three times over the past few years for some DVC events, but hadn't been to BB since around 2010 or maybe earlier. While nothing has actually changed (aside from then rebuilding a few slides while the park was closed during COVID), certain things stood out to me. Teamboat Springs is easily the best raft ride i've ever been up there and the thrill from Summit Plummet is as good as anything at VB and the air time you get on the Slush Gusher body slide is great. Also, the Downhill Double Dipper is a fun tube slide, especially in that there's a timer to let you know who won between the two. I'm not quite sure if this was new or not from when they were doing a lot of major refurb, but this whole slide certainly looked new.

To the things that could be improved though - the park needs something new, but the park doesn't really have a lot of expansion space. The most likely option is that they do something like this. Simple, doesn't take up a lot of space, and quite cheap.

Red - New drop slide complex, Added seating
Blue - Connecting to existing pathway
Grey - Service Road Re-route

If they wanted to get crazy though...

Red - New Land in the park featuring multiple new slides, etc. I'd love to see a Rapid River put in as well.
Blue - Connecting bridge to the left after you enter the park.

This is pretty much never going to happen, but it could! There's a lot of possibilities if they ever explored this. I chose a bridge instead of re-routing the road mostly because I think they could make a bridge really cool and then they wouldn't have to worry about the hassle about moving the road either. A bridge themed to an Ice Cave (like you might see in Iceland), would be really cool to fit the theme of the park and to hide the backstage road. Something like this:

Anyway, that's it for my ramblings about things that are never gonna happen

I'm amazed that the park hasn't had an update yet.

With the way water park ride design has changed to be more like a coaster, the loading area doesn't need to be where the ride is, having the load area within the park and having the raft cross the outside boundary is a creative solution that could also create a great effect.

I might look at a few ideas, you've got my curiosity ramped up.

 

[SeventyOne]

Second-hand scuttlebutt says the refurb of Typhoon Lagoon and its crumbling mountain has turned into an expansion, designed to make it the single water park at WDW. Theory goes they'll limp Blizzard along until that is ready (probably at least another Summer), then eventually close it. If at all true, I wouldn't count on an expansion any time soon.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Second-hand scuttlebutt says the refurb of Typhoon Lagoon and its crumbling mountain has turned into an expansion, designed to make it the single water park at WDW. Theory goes they'll limp Blizzard along until that is ready (probably at least another Summer), then eventually close it. If at all true, I wouldn't count on an expansion any time soon.

Wait, they're planning on closing Blizzard for good?

 

[randompixel]

I'm amazed that the park hasn't had an update yet.

With the way water park ride design has changed to be more like a coaster, the loading area doesn't need to be where the ride is, having the load area within the park and having the raft cross the outside boundary is a creative solution that could also create a great effect.

I might look at a few ideas, you've got my curiosity ramped up.

Make sure any of your ideas are themed to Frozen. Much higher chance of getting green-lit, I mean it's all the same right? 0