Typhoon Lagoon is one of two water parks at Walt Disney World Resort. While both are fun in their own right, Typhoon Lagoon seems to be the more family-friendly of the two. The park offers a variety of slides, a lazy river and one central swimming/wade pool.

The thing that separates Typhoon Lagoon from Disney’s other water park, Blizzard Beach, is aside from two (and really it’s just one) rides, none of the other slides rank high on the thrill scale. They’re still fun, just not “thrilling”.

If you’ve been thinking of spending a part of your vacation at the water park, or want something different to do during your visit, Typhoon Lagoon is a great destination for you and your family.

Arriving and Getting Started

Here’s a fun fact to get you started: parking is free at Typhoon Lagoon. That’s right, you’re automatically about $20 to $25 richer right off the bat! Not only is parking free, but also very no-hassle. If you come around the park’s opening time you’re almost guaranteed a spot on the pavement and close to the entrance. Coming in later may require a parking spot on the nearby grass. Those staying on Disney property can also take Disney transportation to and from the park.

The entrance to the park is exactly like every other Disney park. You’ll spot the familiar Mickey-shaped Magic Band touchpads, so just touch your ticket and head in.

The first main thoroughfare has a lot of things packed into a small area. Located here is a snack stand, the gift shop, lockers, bathrooms/changing rooms and towel rental. It can get pretty overwhelming, so it’s best to focus on a few things. The most important thing located right here are the lockers. You may be at Disney, but there’s a good chance you will spend significant time away from your seats, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. This is also the only place in the park where lockers are located.

Lockers

The good news is the lockers are extremely affordable and easy to use. Small locker rentals are only $10 for the day and can be purchased at an automatic kiosk. Simply put your money in, assign a 4-digit code, and the computer assigns a locker for you.

The lockers are great to store valuables such as wallets, watches, wedding rings, etc. A quick tip? Some things to store in the locker might be an extra pair of socks/shoes, a shirt or a towel. It rains a lot in Florida, especially during the summer, and if a rainstorm suddenly pops up you might find everything at your beach chair thoroughly soaked. We may or may not be speaking from experience here.

Finding a Spot

There are plenty of spots around the park to put your stuff, so seating won’t be a problem. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many umbrellas around, so unless you’re really early and/or lucky, you probably won’t find a spot with guaranteed shade.

This may require some advanced weather-related math!

If you can’t get to an umbrella, try tracking the sun’s path. What’s shaded at 11:00 a.m. won’t be shaded at 2:30 or 3 p.m. If you can guess when you’re aiming for a bit of a break, you can try strategizing and using the sun to your advantage.

Another warning: The lounger style beach chairs don’t adjust at all. They’re permanently in a weird, semi-propped position. They aren’t quite laying down, but not quite straight either. It was impossible to read a book in the lounger. The angle was too obtuse to allow the book to prop in any comfortable way. We eventually gave up trying to lounge and spent the entire time on rides.

Speaking of rides…

Rides, Slides, Waves and Tubes

Water rides and slides are a bit of a different animal than traditional theme park rides. Even the most fearful of theme park goers can usually handle a water slide because they’re much slower and less intense than a roller coaster or simulator. Taking this into consideration, there are only two slides out of Typhoon Lagoon’s seven that could ping someone’s fear-meter, and we’ll start with those.

Humunga Kowabunga

This is the one ride at the park that has the biggest skip potential. The layout of the ride is quite simple: sliding down a tall, dark tube. It’s the height and speed that makes this ride so thrilling, and what might keep the average person away from it. Standing at five stories and going almost straight down, this is the largest plunge in the park.

As for the “going straight down” part, it’s not a 90 degree angle by any means, but it is pretty steep. To put into context, there are rides at other water parks, specifically Universal’s Volcano Bay and SeaWorld’s Aquatica, that literally drop you straight down for a bit before evening you out and allow you to go quite fast.

This ride most definitely isn’t that.

You’ll spend about six seconds sliding downward into the dark before splashing into some water. It is the most intense ride at Typhoon Lagoon, but nowhere near as intense as it looks. Here’s a tip: Cover your nose on this ride. You end the ride on your back and water WILL get in your sinuses if you aren’t careful.

Crush ‘N’ Gusher

The other “intense” ride is actually three different rides combined under one roof, though they’re all pretty much the same. Divided into three sections (Pineapple, Coconut and Banana) this ride uses water to not only propel you down a hill, but back up it as well. The uphill part is where you’ll find the intensity, but it’s hardly extreme.

Unlike it’s much more intense cousin at Volcano Bay, going up these water hills is more akin to being pushed forward on a swing more so than being launched out of a roller coaster. We were actually surprised over just how gentle the uphills were. Each fruit-based slide follows the same basic format sending you up and down about three times before exiting.

Even though it’s not as intense as it looks, we will concede the Humunga Kowabunga is a ride some may want to avoid. Crush ‘N’ Gusher, however, is a tick above a traditional water slide on the intensity scale, it’s a ride even the scardiest of cats can (and should!) ride.

Miss Adventure Falls

Miss Adventure Falls is a family raft ride that takes the concept of “family” a bit more seriously than other rides. At least two people need to be in each raft, so single riders will get paired up with another party.

The ascent of this ride is unlike anything we’ve experienced at a water park: A conveyor belt slowly takes each raft up to the highest peak of the attraction! Picture the belts that return the rafts to the top of a slide, it’s the same thing … except you get to ride it! The ascent offers a great opportunity to take in some of the views. On the way up, you’ll also pass by a boat with an animatronic in it.

Once at the top, the raft goes into the first “dark” section. It’s not super dark inside as there are fun colored lights. The descent down is pretty smooth. This was honestly such a fun, no-frills ride. We liked it so much we did it twice!

Mount Mayday

Mount Mayday is home to three raft rides – Gangplank Falls, Keelhaul Falls and Mayday Falls. Gangplank is a family raft ride and Keelhaul and Mayday allow riders to go down with their own inner tube.

Gangplank Falls

This was our least favorite of the three. It’s a nice trip down, but when compared to Miss Adventure Falls, it left us wanting just a little bit more.

Keelhaul Falls

Riders take a blue inner tube and make their way to the top for a really mild and relaxing ride down. The one odd part about this ride is the end because time and time again riders get stuck at the end of the slide. There isn’t enough power from the water to propel the tube into the wading pool to exit, so prepare to exit your raft rather quickly to avoid the rider behind you.

Mayday Falls

This ride is the most intense of the three in this section. A yellow inner tube transports you down some rougher water. It’s not crazy, but be sure to hold on tight and take in some of the great views of the park.

Storm Slides

A lot of the rides in Typhoon Lagoon come in threes – three options at Crush N Gusher, three different raft rides at Mount Mayday and three body slides at the Storm Slides.

These body slides are all open, so it’s a great option for those timid riders who are nervous about enclosed or dark spaces. There are some differences between the slides, but nothing drastic enough where we would suggest one over the other.

Be prepared for your back to hurt a bit going down as you can feel all of the joints of the slide. It’s like a really weird massage.

Lazy River

The lazy river has a few entrance and exit points – be cautious around these areas because things can get a little crazy as families are trying to grab tubes for their entire party. Once past these parts though, it is a really relaxing ride save for the couple of spots where you get sprayed with water or go through a waterfall.

(Seriously, are we the only ones who would love for a lazy river to not have any gimmicks and just be a river you float on?)

Wave Pool

The wave pool is the crown jewel of this park with its unique (and large!) wave. The concept of the wave pool is different from other water parks because instead of having a giant pool with constantly forming waves, Typhoon Lagoon periodically creates one gigantic wave that cascades across the entire pool.

This can either be a lot of fun, or cause a lot of stress.

The wave is a lot of fun to jump in and ride as if you’re a surfer, but no matter if you’re in the deep end or the shallow end it’s a harrowing experience. Sticking to the shallow end allows you to ride the wave the furthest, but you spend almost the entire ride crashing into the 40 other people around you.

If you head to the deep end to get the wave when it’s at its highest, then you better be a good swimmer. Between treading water while waiting for the wave and getting your bearings after it washes over you, it can be an exhausting few seconds.

Food

You are bound to get hungry after a day of swimming and Typhoon Lagoon has a lot of great options. It’s important to note, you can bring in your own food. If you are watching your budget or have dietary restrictions, this will make it a lot easier on you if you can pack your own lunch and snacks at home or at your hotel.

If you’re fine with eating in the park, Typhoon Lagoon follows the typical theme park approach to food. There are a variety of snack stations located around the park serving everything from typical hot dogs and burgers, to ice cream and more. The most unique one of the bunch is Typhoon Tilly’s because they serve fried shrimp, fish and BBQ.

Drinks

If there is one piece of advice we can impart when it comes to theme parks in general – get the all-day refillable mugs. It can get hot in Orlando, especially in the summer, and the last thing you want to do is be dehydrated. All-day refillable mugs are also pretty cost-effective too. These mugs work at all quick-service restaurants as well as the Freestyle and soda machines throughout the park.

Looking for beer, wine and frozen drinks? Most snack station in the park feature some kind of alcoholic beverage and there are plenty of dedicated bars throughout the park as well.

The Verdict

Water parks are tailor made for families, so it’s obvious the most family-friendly theme park in the world would do water parks right.

Typhoon Lagoon is chalk full of rides that are thrilling enough to keep kids interested, but not so thrilling they can’t ride anything. The sheer variety of rides is enough to keep lines manageable and other than someone flipping their tube in the middle of a slide there isn’t much opportunity for a ride to break. Offering an all-day drink deal is a fantastic way to keep guests hydrated.

On the downside, there are way too few umbrellas for the amount of space there is to lounge. The loungers themselves are also built in such a way that it’s pretty much impossible to do anything but lay down. The wave pool is a ton of fun to splash around in and ride the giant wave, but the fact there is only one standalone swimming pool means it is always crowded.

We ended up spending a good 7 hours at the park which provided plenty of opportunities for us to do everything we wanted and more. If you need a break from the theme parks and need a way to cool down, but still feel that Disney magic, Typhoon Lagoon is a great choice for everyone.