Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Review

In last week’s “Blizzard Beach Review” we asked the question: Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach? The question comes from our desire to balance time, money and energy on a Disney vacation that typically lasts only one week. It’s also a question that is impossible to answer unless we also give our opinion on the second Disney water park at WDW, Typhoon Lagoon.

Typhoon Lagoon is different than Blizzard Beach in many, many ways. First, the central attraction- the giant Typhoon wave, is in the middle of the park, not on the periphery like Blizzard Beach’s 12 Switzerland-style water attractions. Don’t get me wrong, Typhoon Lagoon has a lazy river (called Castaway Creek) just like Blizzard Beach, and in fact, it has exactly 12 water attractions, just like Blizzard Beach. But they play a lesser role in the overall park. The other rides are no less spectacular, but the Typhoon Lagoon Surf Pool casts a big shadow that the other rides cannot replicate. Our favorite “other ride” was Humunga Kowabunga. This “triple speed” ride literally shoots riders out the other end after a near vertical, five story, drop in the middle – awesome!

About Typhoon Lagoon

Typhoon Lagoon was built in 1989 and its design was ahead of its time. Traffic flows well and there was no real line to get on any of the rides, despite the fact that we went there during the busiest week of the year – Spring Break. The theme of Typhoon Lagoon is “shipwrecked on a tropical island,” and it is very Gilligan’s Island-esque. At the very center of the park is a mountain with a ship “stuck” on top. Every so often, the ship will blow thousands of gallons of water in the air through its chimney, dousing park goers within a few hundred yards. Thousands of palm trees cover the property and there are many sandy beach tanning areas.

Lazy River Comparison

We felt that the Lazy River at Typhoon Lagoon (Castaway Creek) was better than Cross Country Creek at Blizzard Beach. It was just a little more pristine. Both circled the park and both took 20 minutes, more or less.

There were more tourists at Typhoon Lagoon and more locals at Blizzard Beach. This was neither good nor bad, more of an observation.

Overall Rating: Excellent

We rate Typhoon Lagoon as “excellent” (we rated Blizzard Beach “very good”). We just had a better overall experience at Typhoon Lagoon. As an aside, we had an extra afternoon near the end of our Disney trip and, after having been to both Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, my nine year old chose to go to Typhoon Lagoon.

See the Typhoon Lagoon map for more on the park layout.