Blizzard Beach

Monday found us freezing for the first half of the day at Disney’s Blizzard Beach.  I suppose its fitting given the wintry theme of the water park…  But the chattering of teeth was the last thing J and I expected when we planned our trip.  The sky was overcast and the air was a cool 74 degrees (for Central Florida that’s cool) on our drive over to Orlando.  Even though the radar showed rain bands moving into the area we pressed on with our plans.  Anyone who has ever lived or visited The Sunshine State knows that rains don’t linger.  It pours and then it’s gone.  We were confident that it would clear up making for a great day at the water park.

We hit the kiddie area first.  It was called Tike’s Peak and, as you would expect, everything was miniature.  Tiny slides, tiny rafts, tiny flumes.  So, cute.  The boys really loved checking out all of the fun rides.  The chilly water did not seem to bother them too much.

I’m glad they have signs like this…  To me the first line is kind of a given but I guess it’s not for everyone?

So, um, the rainy, gloomy weather lasted a tad longer than we had anticipated…  We toughed it out with the help of the hot showers in the dressing rooms.  And a visit to the hot chocolate stand also helped tremendously.

Around lunch time the weather made a huge turn for the better.  The sun came out and the temperature soared into the 90s.  Getting in the water never felt better. The boys really enjoyed doing Teamboat Springs.  It was a family flume ride.  We were all able to get into one gigantic raft together.  As soon as we got to the bottom they’d yell “Again!!!!”

There was a child-size obstacle course set up that the boys wanted to try.  I didn’t think either one of them was tall enough to make it across the iceberg/rope challenge but they were.  Look at them go!

I was really surprised by the degree of freedom parents had in regard to water safety with their children.  I expected there to be life vest racks at every turn like Aquatica but that was not the case.  There was a desk near the entrance of the park where a life vest could be checked out but they were not just hanging around for everyone to grab.  The staff at Blizzard Beach left it up to the parents to decide what was appropriate for their children.  They allowed water wings, life jackets, swim suits with foam inserts, you name it.  I totally appreciated this.  Both of our boys can swim so the thought of having to force them into wearing a life vest all day because of some blanket kid water safety policy was not appealing.  Of course, there were lifeguards EVERYWHERE so that made us feel secure.  We never let our kids out of our sight especially in the water but it was still comforting to know that several other sets of eyes were watching out for our children.

All in all it was a great day!  The crappy weather in the morning kept the crowds at bay so we were able to enjoy the park without having to wait longer than 5 minutes for a ride.

Another thing that kind of surprised me was the number of rides that our 2 1/2 year old could do.  He could go on all but three of the rides!  That’s pretty awesome!  He loved doing even the steepest toboggan slide.  He didn’t freak out once.  Amazing!

Here he is going solo on a less intimidating one-person flume ride.

The lazy river was a huge hit too.  We spent a lot of time bobbing along just like this.

Relaxation at it’s finest…

We’ll definitely have to head back to Blizzard Beach some time soon.

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