Latest / Mom Street USA / 126. Orlando Area Water Parks (Disney, Universal & more!)

Transcript

126. Orlando Area Water Parks (Disney, Universal & more!) · Mom Street USA

• 0:05
  Welcome everybody to Mobster USA.
• 0:07
  I am your host Jacque and today I am joined by our good friend
• 0:11
  Kirk from WalrusCarp and we are going to be chatting about all
• 0:14
  things Orlando area water parks. So just a few episodes ago, Kirk
• 0:19
  was on with us and we talked about the other Orlando area
• 0:22
  theme parks and we realized that water parks were probably a good
• 0:26
  follow up to that episode. So that is what you are in for
• 0:29
  today day. Before we jump in, Kirk, how are
• 0:32
  you doing this wonderful Friday afternoon as we record this?
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  I'm ready and rare. It is so poor Jackie.
• 0:39
  It's freezing in her house in her basement.
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  It's in the 50s. Meanwhile it's 90° and all I can
• 0:45
  think about our water parks. So this is perfect.
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  It's great. And it's great for, you know,
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  summer is here. We are like right before
• 0:51
  Memorial Day as we're recording this.
• 0:53
  This is perfect timing. Yeah, unfortunately, Ohio
• 0:57
  doesn't know that it's almost summer.
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  And that is, that is really common in my neck of the woods.
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  So I just grin and bear it and pretend I'm in Florida.
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  So it works either way. Perfect.
• 1:08
  Well, let's go ahead and hop in as we were just talking about
• 1:12
  many families visiting in the Orlando area for theme parks.
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  Sometimes they don't even consider the water parks.
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  So when we talked about the other theme parks in the area,
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  we were, you know, briefly mentioning a few of the water
• 1:23
  parks. So we really wanted to jump in
• 1:26
  and give you an overview of each water park option.
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  So that way if you're considering doing a water park
• 1:32
  on your trip, you will have the information to make the best
• 1:35
  decision possible. So we're going to go through all
• 1:38
  of the water parks today that are in the Orlando, greater
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  Orlando area and kind of give you the rundown.
• 1:44
  Kirk's going to give some of his insight because he's been to
• 1:47
  nearly all of these. So he can give us kind of his
• 1:50
  thoughts and opinions and all of that as we go through.
• 1:55
  But to kind of kick off, we're going to start at Disney and
• 1:57
  then work our way through just because Disney's what we do.
• 2:00
  We do best over here on Mom Street quite honestly.
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  So two different Disney water parks that we're going to talk
• 2:07
  about. We're going to start with
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  Blizzard Beach and I'm going to kind of give you all of the like
• 2:11
  information research wise and then I'll have Kirk kind of fill
• 2:15
  in any of the blanks. I'm especially the food because
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  food is hard to research online and I know that Kirk's got
• 2:20
  experience with the foods that are at all of these water parks.
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  So I. Have eaten at all of them.
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  Yes, so perfect. That's that's why you're here
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  just to give us the food information.
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  So starting with Blizzard Beach, it is a ski resort themed water
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  park that features 7 water slides, 2 Kitty areas, a lazy
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  river and a wave pool. Pricing wise, you can get
• 2:45
  Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon.
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  The next one we're going to talk about like included in some
• 2:49
  Disney packages. So these are just like if you
• 2:52
  want to go just there for one day prices, you're looking at 74
• 2:55
  for adults and 68 for kids. That would be ages 3 to 9.
• 3:00
  But again, you can kind of find deals especially during the
• 3:02
  summer time and during this summer and also happened last
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  summer. So don't know if they're going
• 3:08
  to continue this or not. But resort guests at Disney
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  Parks can enjoy the water park admission included with your
• 3:16
  stay from May 26th to September 8th this year, which is a
• 3:19
  really, really great opportunity to explore these water parks if
• 3:23
  you've never been before. And both of them are going to be
• 3:25
  open again this summer, which last summer was the first time
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  ever that that had happened, I believe, or the first time in
• 3:31
  recent years at least, that that had happened.
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  So they're doing that again this year.
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  So, Kirk, what can you tell us about Blizzard Beach and your
• 3:39
  experiences there? It's awesome.
• 3:42
  So Blizzard Blizzard Beach is really unique in the sense that
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  it it removed friction and pain points that happen in all water
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  parks. And this is the only real water
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  park that integrates this really well.
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  Most water parks require you to climb lots and lots of stairs
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  and carrier tubes, which are two real big pain points for
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  families, especially if you have littles.
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  So when you think about Blizzard beach, Blizzard beach will make
• 4:09
  your life a lot easier because you're not carrying a lot of
• 4:11
  things and you don't necessarily have to go up a lot of stairs.
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  I think that's a massive benefit.
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  I'm going to show a quick picture on here.
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  So this is their gondola system or sky like ride system and it's
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  a chairlift, A chairlift you know, that you would use for
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  something like, you know, a ski lift because everything is ski
• 4:33
  themed here. So this is one way that they
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  take all the stairs out for you. You still can walk on stairs and
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  there are some stairs, but really the only ones are for
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  that summit plummet. Everything else is at this
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  level. So it's so easy to just take the
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  chair lift up and not have to climb around.
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  Plus it's like a really fun way to look at the entirety of the
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  park, which I'll show you in a second.
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  But I want to talk about one more inclusive mobility thing,
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  and that is going to be the use of conveyor belts.
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  And you notice on this photo, there is a conveyor belt system
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  for their matte slides, which are parallel to each side or
• 5:11
  adjacent to each side of the conveyor belt system.
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  And all you have to do at the end of the ride is throw the mat
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  on the conveyor belt. Conveyor belt sucks it up.
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  And then when you're at the top, you just pull it right off the
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  conveyor belt. So like again, that system has
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  made to me Blizzard Beach, one of the best in terms of process
• 5:31
  getting on there. I think the thematic is good.
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  It is a smaller water park. It does.
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  It definitely has less rides where it tends to shine for me
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  and we're still just sticking with attractions here is going
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  to be for the the kiddos because there is a massive frozen splash
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  pad area and then they have like this entire section that are for
• 5:51
  the kiddos in this like it would be like the the upper section of
• 5:56
  here has an entire kiddo friendly.
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  It's it's got slides, it's got those Lily pads, it has a pool
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  area and then that entire frozen splash pad area.
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  The one thing I will say about both Disney park water parks is
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  their lazy rivers stink. They are not good at all.
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  They you. But here's the thing.
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  They used to be great used to be like phenomenal and they had
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  like all these fun floating things in the center of the
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  river and it made it very, very fun and interactive and Disney
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  and that just is kind of lost. So both of the one here, I think
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  the one in typhoon Lagoon is better, but you're essentially
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  just alone in the woods on a tube for a long time.
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  So like, you know, a mile and 1/2 or whatever, right?
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  Yeah, yeah. A little more theming would be
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  nice for that. Yeah, 'cause it doesn't really
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  feel like Disney. It just feels like I'm in
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  Pennsylvania on a lazy river. That's what it feels like,
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  'cause you're literally, especially in Blizzard Beach,
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  it's you're just, you're just wandering around in the woods,
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  so not much to look at. You do go through a small cave
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  section, but other than that, there's, there's, there's
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  nothing really there. This is definitely one of the
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  weaker, if not weakest. It's the second weakest lazy
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  river on this entire list of water parks.
• 7:13
  Yeah, well, and that's super disappointing because the rest
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  of the water park has great theming.
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  The whole thing is so the. Whole thing looks gorgeous.
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  This big giant thing that borders the whole entire thing.
• 7:26
  Right. Yeah.
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  So what can you tell us about the food?
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  OK, so first up, there's lots of seating areas, which also means
• 7:33
  that there's going to be lots of eateries placed throughout the
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  entirety of the park. They also have private cabanas
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  if that's more your speed. And then you can just do
• 7:41
  waitress. We'll bring whatever to your
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  cabana for you if that's something you want.
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  But dining, if they have, they start off with Lotta WADA Lodge,
• 7:50
  which is burgers, flatbreads, rice bowls.
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  I really like the food at Lotta WADA Lodge.
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  I think it's probably the best for savory items and I really
• 8:00
  like the bowls and I know a lot of people feel me on those rice
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  bowls. They're very filling, they're
• 8:04
  affordable and they're they're very tasty.
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  They had the Cooling Hut, which is wraps, pretzels, popcorn,
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  your typical stuff and ice cream.
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  Frostbite Freddy's, though, has ice cream, loaded nachos,
• 8:17
  cheese, fondue, and a bunch of adult beverages.
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  There's adult beverages all over the place, like including Arctic
• 8:23
  Expeditions, which is an entire adult bar.
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  They have Avalanche, which has hot dogs and salads.
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  I see Expeditions has the sandy pail ice cream which is iconic
• 8:35
  for both of the Disney water parks in which it's a giant.
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  You know what you would go to the beach with?
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  Sand pail or bucket and it's just loaded with soft serve and
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  a bunch of top pills. People love sharing that they
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  also do specialty churros over there.
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  They are not good. Don't get the churros they're
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  hard but but then they also have the warming Hut which has
• 8:57
  sandwiches, Turkey legs and ice cream.
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  But for me Lot of water lodge is your don't miss and then if you
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  want something ice cream related you go to Icy Expeditions I.
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  Didn't know they had Turkey legs at the water parks.
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  Yeah, I mean, they it's funny because there's some weird
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  crossover things like you're always going to get Mickey
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  pretzels, you're always going to get Mickey Premium bars and
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  sandwiches. The Turkey leg shows up
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  everywhere except for Disney Springs.
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  It's very funny. What's?
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  It's so interesting 'cause I feel like for and I feel like
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  for the longest time you could only get them at Epcot or Magic
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  Kingdom. Like there was the one spot of
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  Magic Kingdom and then the America Pavilion at Epcot and
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  now I feel like it's just slowly spread across across property.
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  Yeah, I mean, it was, it was a California creation.
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  And it was wild because they only serve the Tom turkeys,
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  which are a bigger Turkey leg. Yeah.
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  So in the 90s, walking around in Frontierland with a big honking
• 9:56
  Turkey leg. Yeah, it was, it was.
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  People would always just go, where'd you get that?
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  Where'd you get that? And everybody would be piercing
• 10:02
  out to grab them, like it was the snack.
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  And it's funny that there's still a huge, huge fan favorite
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  and you always see people with Turkey legs.
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  Yeah, I feel like that's one of those things that you either
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  love them or you hate them and there's no way in between.
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  Yeah, they have a very distinct odor and flavor that you either
• 10:21
  are in or you are out. Yeah, that was the one thing
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  when I visited at Disney when I was pregnant, because I did it
• 10:29
  with both of my pregnancies. That was the one smell that I
• 10:31
  could not do. And I had to just like avoid
• 10:34
  that area at all costs because I was like, Nope, it's too, it's
• 10:38
  too strong. I can't.
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  I can't handle it. It has a very distinct aroma.
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  Yes, that is, that is for sure, for sure.
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  Anything else about Blizzard Beach that we should kind of
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  keep in mind if we are? Thinking about visiting,
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  planning your trips. There's there's so many
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  different rides and they're all different ride heights.
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  You'll find something for everybody.
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  They have tube slides, they have body slides, they have mat
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  slides. They have lots of like pool
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  areas, splash pad areas. The big thing for me is please
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  take advantage in the summertime of this free option on check in
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  day. They want to fill up the water
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  parks but the truth is they aren't filled most of the time.
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  In the summer they'll be more filled just because of this free
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  offering. But on your check in day go to
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  either Blizzard or Typhoon Lagoon.
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  You're really missing out. Like even for us as I live in
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  Florida with my family, we do not have the water parks and
• 11:32
  more feature or the water park season pass.
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  Those are the two different offerings to get in multiple
• 11:37
  times or as many times as you want without having to pay an
• 11:40
  individual ticket price. But I was talking to my wife
• 11:43
  saying we should really take advantage of this and stay in
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  June just somewhere cheap because they have Florida
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  resident rates right now, like 100 bucks because the the ticket
• 11:54
  price alone for us and the kids would be over 450 bucks.
• 11:58
  So the price of the room, we'll just book the room go, you know,
• 12:03
  enjoy Blizzard Beach or Typhoon or both of them.
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  What I would say though, is this is definitely the smaller of the
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  two. And thematically, although
• 12:12
  interesting, I think Typhoon is a little bit stronger on Disney
• 12:15
  storytelling, if that's important to you.
• 12:18
  Yeah, that makes sense. Well, and I think part of the,
• 12:20
  the hesitation too, for some parents is like looking at a
• 12:24
  water park and thinking about like, it's it, it almost seems
• 12:27
  to be more overwhelming than the theme parks just because it's
• 12:30
  more free range, more open and the, and then adding the water
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  element into it. Like if you don't have super
• 12:37
  strong swimmers, I think that a lot of parents get nervous about
• 12:41
  that when it comes to water parks too.
• 12:44
  Well, I mean, all of these places will have a splash pad
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  area where you don't really have to be concerned about kids and
• 12:51
  their abilities. So I, I do think that's
• 12:54
  important. And the one thing that this this
• 12:57
  Blizzard beach has that none of them else is lack of stairs due
• 13:02
  to the chair lift. And you don't have to carry the
• 13:04
  tubes. That to me is a really, really
• 13:06
  big awesome factor. But this, this, this tends to be
• 13:10
  a little less busy than Typhoon Lagoon because Typhoon Lagoon
• 13:13
  has the largest wave pool on the planet.
• 13:16
  It's huge, Edward Park, so. Yeah.
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  And I think to remembering that a lot of these, you know, the
• 13:22
  wave pools are going to be a zero entry situation.
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  So you don't have to go super deep out into, into the water.
• 13:30
  They've got splash pad areas that are really good for little
• 13:32
  kiddos that maybe are not super strong swimmers or that you're
• 13:35
  worried about, you know, and if you especially with the, with it
• 13:39
  being included, if you don't do a ton of the water slides and
• 13:43
  stuff, you're not losing money when you're going, it's already
• 13:47
  being included. You got it for free.
• 13:49
  So go there for a few hours and and give it a shot and see what
• 13:53
  you think. I 100% agree with you.
• 13:55
  Yeah, perfect. Well, let's go ahead and hop
• 13:57
  over to Typhoon Lagoon since you've you've heard us mention
• 14:00
  that several times here so far. So with Typhoon Lagoon, it is a
• 14:05
  shipwreck theme. It includes 8 water slides, one
• 14:10
  Kitty area, a lazy river and a wave pool.
• 14:13
  Same price point as far as if you were to purchase a ticket.
• 14:17
  Again, like we talked about from May 26th through September 8th
• 14:20
  of 2026, that is included if you're staying on property, but
• 14:25
  it is 74 for adults and 68 for kids ages 3 to 9.
• 14:29
  And again, that same note about both of the water parks being
• 14:33
  open this summer for what they're now calling Cool Kids
• 14:38
  Summer, which is this is part of that kind of push that they're
• 14:42
  doing to to draw more people in for the summer.
• 14:44
  Because despite what most people think, the summer is actually
• 14:48
  not always the busiest time at the Disney theme parks because
• 14:52
  it's very, very hot and people don't want to go there when it's
• 14:54
  very, very hot. So.
• 14:56
  I will tell you, we are in this weird segment where you know, I,
• 15:00
  I track crowds and data from crowds.
• 15:05
  This is the lowest attendance for a Memorial Day weekend we've
• 15:09
  had in years. Wow, that's.
• 15:11
  Crazy we are it's and I think I think there's like a multitude
• 15:14
  of things that are happening, but like the real long and short
• 15:16
  because I don't want to derail is too bad.
• 15:18
  But the, I think pricing, economic principles and gas are
• 15:23
  like, I think a lot of locals are not doing their monthly trip
• 15:27
  who live in Florida and maybe they're coming every three
• 15:29
  months because of the cost of gas, because they're four or
• 15:32
  five miles or four or five hours away.
• 15:34
  And then flights with, with the closure of Spirit that has
• 15:38
  really, even though they were only accounting for roughly
• 15:42
  about 10% of MCO flights, it was a low cost carrier.
• 15:47
  And now I, you know, I'm, I'm flying in September and flights
• 15:52
  are very expensive. Yes, yeah.
• 15:55
  I was looking at, you know, the last flight I booked was before
• 15:59
  Spirit closed and before kind of this most recent hike in gas
• 16:03
  prices. And now if I were to try to book
• 16:05
  that same flight, it's at least $150.00 more round trip.
• 16:09
  Yeah, that's and and for, again, that's just if you were going by
• 16:13
  yourself, right, you have to multiple that on families.
• 16:16
  And I, I do think those costs are starting to really eek in.
• 16:20
  And I'm, I'm very curious to see what happens with tourism this
• 16:24
  year in this summer. Yeah, it's going to be
• 16:28
  interesting to see. So all of that being said,
• 16:32
  definitely take advantage. If you are still planning to go
• 16:35
  and are able to go, definitely take advantage of the water
• 16:38
  parks being an option for you. Yeah.
• 16:41
  It's for if it's, if you're staying on property that that
• 16:44
  might be a loan, a decision to pay a little bit more money to
• 16:48
  stay on property at Disney so that you get this as a free
• 16:52
  offering. Because I do think, you know,
• 16:54
  maybe that reduces one of your park days and you can use this
• 16:58
  as a really great Disney park day.
• 17:00
  It's really fun. Like water parks are often slept
• 17:04
  on. And, you know, I think of the
• 17:05
  90s like water parks where the jam.
• 17:08
  Yeah, everybody. I feel like they're not as
• 17:09
  popular. No, no.
• 17:11
  And I think it's, I don't know if it's because more local
• 17:14
  places have kind of stepped up their game to compete, you know,
• 17:17
  and that's just kind of trickled out.
• 17:19
  So that way you get more slides and splash pads and things like
• 17:22
  that just kind of around or if it's just tourism, you know, who
• 17:26
  knows when it comes to that. So what can you tell us about
• 17:29
  kind of the overall experience over at Typhoon?
• 17:32
  Typhoon Lagoon is a giant typhoon hits and it moves the
• 17:37
  ship the Tilly to the top of this like almost looks like a
• 17:40
  volcano. And so the theme is this like
• 17:44
  storm ridden Beachy town and giant wave pool.
• 17:50
  It's very, very aggressive. However, you'll notice in the
• 17:55
  photo here or the the park map, I'll Scroll down a little bit.
• 17:58
  So it's bigger. You notice that there's like
• 18:00
  break points with islands and there's things that are off to
• 18:03
  the side. That's for the littles.
• 18:05
  So if you're in this whole section before this first wave,
• 18:08
  it's actually very calm and very shallow.
• 18:11
  So don't be afraid of the wave pool, even though it is massive
• 18:15
  and you can actually surf in there.
• 18:16
  It's one of the few the wave pools that's in a theme park
• 18:20
  that you can actually surf and it's pretty interesting, but
• 18:22
  they do have a splash pad over here on the left hand side,
• 18:25
  albeit it is smaller in terms of offering from Blizzard beach.
• 18:29
  You know, the a big, large swath of this is taken up by that wave
• 18:33
  pool because it's just so huge. But that also means that you
• 18:35
  have a lot more beachfront with sand.
• 18:37
  So if you're kiddos like sand and beaches, this is a giant
• 18:41
  Oasis of, you know, imagine that you, you feel like you're almost
• 18:47
  in a beach shantytown when you're here.
• 18:50
  And the lazy river is very fun. They have lots of tube slides.
• 18:53
  Again, they have multiple body slides.
• 18:56
  They also have, and this is unique to only this park is they
• 19:01
  have the crushing gusher, which is a three different, what I
• 19:05
  would call like a water coaster because it has the ability to go
• 19:09
  up on a a raft. So it's like a two person
• 19:12
  seating raft and it feels like a roller coaster because it goes
• 19:16
  up and downhill, which is not traditional.
• 19:18
  So it's actually quite fun and thrilling.
• 19:20
  And that is does not exist at Blizzard Beach, but all the
• 19:23
  other styles of slides do exist in Blizzard Beach.
• 19:26
  In terms of dining, the number one spot is going to be the
• 19:30
  leaning palms and that's where I always eat.
• 19:32
  I have a lot of flavorful things.
• 19:33
  You're thinking jerk chicken, but they also have burgers,
• 19:36
  pizza, sandwiches, salads. That's the spot, though you're
• 19:39
  going to eat at the Leaning Palms that they have the best
• 19:42
  offerings. That sandpail ice cream is going
• 19:45
  to be at happy Landings as well. So that's their main ice cream
• 19:48
  spot. They have low tide loos and
• 19:51
  Typhoon Tilly's, which Typhoon Tilly is actually pretty good if
• 19:55
  you like fried fish. So that's really where most of
• 19:58
  the seafood offerings are. They have multiple snack shacks
• 20:02
  and hot dogs. The one thing to note here and a
• 20:05
  Blizzard beach. I didn't talk about it because I
• 20:07
  don't even know if they they post it up on here because it's
• 20:10
  a Joffrey's location, but both have these Joffrey's spots that
• 20:14
  do mini cake Donuts and they come with like little dipping
• 20:17
  sauces. Don't sleep on that.
• 20:19
  This is the only place to get them and they're really, really
• 20:21
  tasty and I thought they were going to be kind of lame because
• 20:24
  like I love Donuts, but I'm not a big fan of just like straight
• 20:27
  up cake Donuts. They're really good.
• 20:29
  They're super shareable. They're like imagine not a
• 20:31
  munchkin in a circular fashion, but like there's little eneman
• 20:34
  style ones, just not coated. And then you have like the
• 20:37
  dippies. I think they do a really nice
• 20:38
  job with those as a as a fun snack.
• 20:41
  That sounds so good. Who knew that you could get
• 20:45
  little Donuts at the water parks, right?
• 20:47
  Yeah. Yeah, you totally can.
• 20:49
  Now you talked about at Blizzard Beach, one of the best things
• 20:51
  being the the chair lift and they don't have a lot of stairs
• 20:55
  and they have kind of the automatic returns for the, the
• 20:58
  tubes and all that kind of stuff.
• 20:59
  What is this that kind of situation at Typhoon?
• 21:02
  Because I know it's probably different than what we saw at
• 21:04
  Blizzard. You're 80% of the time you're
• 21:07
  beat. You're walking up stairs, you're
• 21:08
  walking up ramps, and you're carrying tubes or slides like
• 21:12
  stuff for the slides. There are a decent amount of
• 21:15
  body slides here, but you're still walking up tons and tons
• 21:19
  of stairs. The on this map, 11 and 12, the
• 21:24
  misadventure falls and crush and gusher they do because they're
• 21:27
  newer. They both use a conveyor belt
• 21:29
  system, but those are the only ones that utilize that, so be
• 21:33
  prepared to climb quite a bit. However, there is one thing to
• 21:36
  note here. If you look at the mountain
• 21:39
  itself labeled as #10 here, that's the mountain trail.
• 21:43
  And it actually has really beautiful.
• 21:45
  Like if you don't feel like getting wet, but you just still
• 21:48
  want to like explore a little bit, you can go up all the way
• 21:51
  underneath the Typhoon Tilly and, and just explore like
• 21:55
  caves. There's a giant suspension
• 21:57
  bridge. It's really, really fun and
• 22:00
  interesting and I've never seen that before in a water park,
• 22:03
  cause water parks are not that ornate or interesting enough
• 22:06
  that you want to walk around, but it literally has trails and
• 22:09
  there's a little bit of water that splashes around.
• 22:12
  So it's you still can kind of get cool but not get totally
• 22:15
  soaked. So that's a really fun offering
• 22:17
  that doesn't exist at any of the others that we're going to talk
• 22:20
  about. Yeah, well, and it seems like
• 22:22
  so. Between Blizzard Beach and
• 22:24
  Typhoon Lagoon, it seems like from what we've heard, Blizzard
• 22:27
  Beach would be a little bit more little kid friendly because it
• 22:31
  doesn't have as many steps. It's got a bigger splash pad
• 22:34
  area, those types of things. And Typhoon may be a little bit
• 22:38
  better for older kiddos if you had to choose, but obviously
• 22:41
  both of them are going to have things for everybody like we
• 22:43
  talked about also. Yeah, I always say Typhoon for
• 22:47
  rides, Blizzard for vibes. 1 is much more laid back and chill
• 22:51
  and easygoing, and the other one is Oh my God, we have so much,
• 22:54
  we could ride here and have a lot of fun.
• 22:56
  So you pick your level of thrill or just pick your thematic.
• 22:59
  You'll still have a great experience at either of them.
• 23:02
  And I discernibly wouldn't say that 1 is better than the other.
• 23:06
  It's just what kind of experience do you want to have?
• 23:09
  Yeah, that totally makes sense. And something else to note
• 23:12
  though, if you are going to either of these theme parks from
• 23:14
  your Disney resort, pay attention to if you're going to
• 23:17
  because you're going to have to take a bus to get there unless
• 23:19
  you choose to drive. I'd suggest doing a bus because
• 23:22
  you're the parking lot there is not super big and the parking
• 23:25
  lot will fill up even if the water park is not at capacity.
• 23:28
  So keep that in mind, especially this summer.
• 23:31
  But take a look at how your resort bus gets there because
• 23:35
  sometimes your resort bus may have to take a bus to like
• 23:40
  Disney Springs 1st and then hop on the bus to the water parks.
• 23:44
  So I know. It's still awful, dude.
• 23:47
  It's the worst thing that they I get what they so they do this
• 23:51
  system, you're probably going this is the most illogical thing
• 23:53
  ever. But they systematically do that
• 23:55
  so people because parking is free at the water parks.
• 23:58
  So because parking is free, it's just like Disney Springs.
• 24:02
  They want to try to dissuade people from parking there and
• 24:06
  then using the buses for free to negate having to pay for parking
• 24:10
  at the theme parks. So it's the same thing with the
• 24:12
  resorts, same thing with here is they they're just doing that to
• 24:17
  try to stop people. Yes.
• 24:18
  So it's not great unfortunately. But, and the reason that I point
• 24:22
  that out is just pay attention to that because it may take you
• 24:26
  longer to get there than what you maybe originally think,
• 24:30
  where typically it maybe will take you 2025 minutes to get to
• 24:34
  1 of the parks from your resort, depending on where you're
• 24:36
  staying and what the transportation option is, it may
• 24:39
  take you closer to 45 minutes to get to a water park because you
• 24:43
  have that changeover. And again, it depends on the
• 24:46
  time of day, it depends on the time of year, it depends on your
• 24:48
  resort. So just take a look at that or
• 24:51
  ask at the front desk or concierge.
• 24:53
  If you're not sure how to get to the water park or what your best
• 24:55
  option is, you can always choose to splurge and take a minivan or
• 24:59
  an Uber or Lyft or you can drive.
• 25:02
  I would suggest if it's later in the afternoon, you don't
• 25:05
  consider driving just because that does tend to be when those
• 25:08
  parking lots at the water parks will fill up more.
• 25:10
  So just take all those things into consideration when you're
• 25:13
  considering whether or not you want to visit.
• 25:15
  So that kind of takes care of our two Disney water park
• 25:19
  options. Let's hop next door over to
• 25:22
  Universal now and talk about their water park, which is
• 25:27
  Volcano Bay. Now back a few episodes ago when
• 25:31
  we did our kind of deep dive into the Universal parks with
• 25:35
  Duck and Chess on our hub episodes, we talked a little bit
• 25:38
  about Volcano Bay. Just kind of an overview.
• 25:40
  So if you want more information about like what they have there
• 25:42
  and things that maybe we don't touch on now, hop back to that
• 25:45
  Universal series we did a couple weeks back because they there
• 25:48
  may be more information in there that we don't cover today.
• 25:51
  But Volcano Bay overall is kind of like a Polynesian theme vibe
• 25:55
  over there. They in total have 12 water
• 25:58
  slides. They have two little kiddie
• 26:01
  areas, a lazy river, a rapid river, a wave pool, and then
• 26:04
  they also have two leisure pools that they promote on their
• 26:08
  website. Again, like we talked about at
• 26:11
  Disney, you can often find package deals, ticket deals to
• 26:15
  go to the water parks that are available online.
• 26:19
  But if you're just buying a single day Volcano Bay ticket,
• 26:23
  it is going to be $80.00 for adults and 75 for kiddos ages
• 26:27
  310 nine. And just a note for future
• 26:31
  planning, if you're listening to us and getting ready for a trip
• 26:34
  in the future, from October 26th of 2026 through the spring of
• 26:39
  2020, Seven Volcano Bay is going to be closed for refurb.
• 26:42
  So keep that in mind if you're looking at water park options
• 26:45
  and visiting in that time span. They have not announced an
• 26:48
  official opening date other than just spring 2027.
• 26:52
  So keep that in mind as you are planning ahead for that.
• 26:57
  So, Kirk, what can you tell us about Volcano Bay?
• 27:01
  Welcome to the world's greatest water park.
• 27:05
  It is the greatest water park. It feels like where the other
• 27:10
  ones don't necessarily like Blizzard beach.
• 27:12
  I don't necessarily feel like I'm on vacation.
• 27:14
  Like it's a nice environment. And you know, typhoon definitely
• 27:18
  has more of like a Beachy vibe. This is I went and got
• 27:23
  transported to the Polynesian islands and everything there is
• 27:28
  thematically on point. This also is the best food at
• 27:32
  any water park full stop. Almost.
• 27:35
  The actually Volcano Bay has better food than Universal
• 27:38
  Studios Florida and Islands of adventure.
• 27:42
  The negative is it sucks getting there.
• 27:45
  I don't care if you're staying on property.
• 27:48
  Staying off property is a nightmare to get there because
• 27:51
  you're always going to have to jump onto a bus and then walk
• 27:55
  like half a mile to get to this thing just because of where it's
• 27:58
  located. The only other place that's OK
• 28:02
  is Cabana Bay because it's attached to it.
• 28:05
  There's no like they should just have an entrance at the back of
• 28:08
  that thing that empties out right into the water park, but
• 28:11
  they don't. You have to go all the way off
• 28:12
  to the side, go all the way past another tower, then go through
• 28:16
  security and still walk half a mile.
• 28:18
  So Volcano Bay is the most inconvenient but yet best water
• 28:22
  park you could get to. Why do?
• 28:24
  All those theme parks make them so hard to get to, like because
• 28:28
  Blizzard, beach and Typhoon aren't easy to get to either.
• 28:31
  Like I don't it doesn't make sense to me why it ended up that
• 28:35
  way and it could be just development.
• 28:38
  Because this just frustrates me to no end.
• 28:40
  And you have to see what I'm talking about to, like, really
• 28:42
  get it. Yeah.
• 28:43
  And to know. And my guess is part of it was
• 28:46
  just in development. They had to put things where
• 28:48
  they had to put things because of space restraints and things
• 28:51
  like that. But it just doesn't.
• 28:53
  It's just so frustrating because we talk about that.
• 28:56
  They're often overlooked. Well, yeah, they're overlooked
• 28:58
  because it's it's so hard to get to them.
• 29:01
  It's not convenient. They don't make it easy to get
• 29:03
  there. So here is Universal Studios
• 29:07
  Florida, here's Islands of Adventure, here's the parking
• 29:10
  garage. This is the closest you can park
• 29:13
  to Volcano Bay. No, no, in this map, Volcano Bay
• 29:17
  is not located on this map. You have to, you have to scroll
• 29:21
  all the way over here. So it means like you look at the
• 29:24
  park in the bottom of the parking garage on the right hand
• 29:28
  side and when you check in, they'll ask you if you're going
• 29:31
  to the theme park or the water park because you literally have
• 29:33
  to park in a completely different section.
• 29:35
  And then you will take a bus that goes up this little route
• 29:38
  and they will park right under this or they'll drop off right
• 29:43
  in this corral. But you'll notice there is a
• 29:46
  street here. You have to walk under the
• 29:48
  street upstairs through an escalator.
• 29:51
  And then you finally get. To Oh my gosh.
• 29:54
  That's that exists and it really is.
• 29:57
  Here's the thing, it's so annoying to get there that I
• 30:01
  canceled my pass for the best water park because it really
• 30:05
  like if I could have gotten there quick and easy.
• 30:07
  Never eat in the universal normal parks.
• 30:10
  I would go to the water park and eat because the food is
• 30:13
  outrageously delicious, flavorful.
• 30:15
  Like we're talking about some of the best Polynesian Asian
• 30:19
  flavors. Flatbreads sandwiches, like
• 30:23
  everything they have there is lovely and incredible hope.
• 30:26
  But man oh man is it annoying. Yeah, that's super frustrating.
• 30:31
  So let's talk about let's let's break this down the same exact
• 30:34
  way we did everything else. Like there is a mixture of body
• 30:36
  slides, there's a mixture of tube slides, there's a mixture
• 30:40
  of of speed slides, there's a wave pool, there's splash pads,
• 30:44
  there's jumping off points, there's spots for kiddos.
• 30:47
  This actually has one of the best splash pads for kiddos.
• 30:49
  It is gigantic. They also have fun little water
• 30:52
  guns that you can shoot down at people in the lazy river.
• 30:55
  This is where this really shines for people like me who love lazy
• 30:59
  rivers. They have two.
• 31:01
  One is a very adventurous crazy river which you actually
• 31:09
  everyone is required to wear a life jacket.
• 31:12
  Doesn't matter if you're a good swimmer or not to awa.
• 31:16
  The fearless river actually has a built in wave pool at one
• 31:20
  section or like wave generator. So when you go past it, it will
• 31:23
  create a giant wave and push everybody down.
• 31:27
  And then there's like lots of like splash areas.
• 31:29
  Now that one is fun, but I think it's OK.
• 31:33
  It's definitely like overrated by a lot of people because of
• 31:36
  the experience. I have to put on a life jacket.
• 31:38
  It's super thrilling Problem is if the wave thing isn't working,
• 31:41
  that thing stinks. Half of it is just like boring
• 31:44
  walls, you know? I hate this now the in terms of
• 31:48
  thematics, this has the best themed lazy river because you go
• 31:53
  through the volcano. Their regular normal lazy river
• 31:58
  is very calm. That's the Kopico Y Winding
• 32:02
  River, by the way, this is just an aside.
• 32:04
  Good luck saying any of the sliding here.
• 32:07
  I've been there tons of times and I still don't know how to
• 32:10
  say Oh yeah, oh, yeah. On a drop slides for the Puku
• 32:14
  Uliti or the Maku Maku Puli. Good luck.
• 32:18
  It's just I I just go that one. Do you want to go on that one?
• 32:21
  It's way easier, but the lazy river is lovely and beautiful.
• 32:26
  They also have, I guess I kind of lied.
• 32:28
  They do have a walking path that goes through the volcano and it
• 32:32
  has these fun little secrets. They used to use these things
• 32:35
  called the Taboo Taboo, which would have a virtual queue
• 32:38
  system. So you put yourself in a virtual
• 32:40
  queue and then you'd basically get to walk on to most of the
• 32:43
  rides with less than a 10 minute wait.
• 32:45
  They have removed that system due to cost and budgets.
• 32:48
  So now it's regular standby lines if you are going here and
• 32:51
  rope dropping if you're going to want to go to Krakatoa, the Aqua
• 32:55
  coaster, That one can get lines up to an hour to two hours long.
• 33:00
  Especially in the summertime. This is a very popular water
• 33:03
  park because it's just so expansive, beautiful and
• 33:06
  wonderful. It's it's awesome.
• 33:08
  They also have the best cabanas here.
• 33:10
  So if you want a more private experience, there's ones by the
• 33:12
  way, pool that are almost like a treetop and they're dual double
• 33:16
  Decker so you can get on to the top floor.
• 33:18
  Amazing. Unreal.
• 33:20
  If you're going to spend the money and you have that kind of
• 33:22
  money, that's the experience you want to have.
• 33:24
  You will feel like you are on an island paradise escape.
• 33:28
  They do have lots of rest areas. They have lockers and they have
• 33:31
  that at all the other ones too. But there's a lot more secluded
• 33:35
  areas where you can kind of find a nook even on a really busy day
• 33:39
  in the far off reaches. You just have to go further out
• 33:42
  and they'll be nobody there. Yeah, that's good to know.
• 33:45
  That's so interesting that they got rid of that virtual queue
• 33:48
  because I know that was, it made a selling point for that.
• 33:50
  Yeah. And it and it made those bigger
• 33:52
  ride, you know, slides more accessible to people who weren't
• 33:56
  able to wait in line or didn't want to wait in line.
• 33:59
  They could just use that. So that's that's kind of a
• 34:01
  bummer that they wait. They sell out of like mobility
• 34:04
  access stuff. So if you have mobility or if
• 34:06
  you have needs, they do still have that.
• 34:09
  And it's actually a really lovely system at Universal, the
• 34:11
  one that Disney got so funked up.
• 34:13
  But this one is still really great and very inclusive.
• 34:17
  However, what I would say is like back in the past, you could
• 34:21
  run and go to crack a towel, grab yourself and queue for it.
• 34:24
  And if it was low enough, you could still get in the standby.
• 34:27
  Like right now, you would just pop right through.
• 34:30
  But yeah, that is done now. Food wise, food is here and it's
• 34:36
  you're thinking like think pot stickers, think really unique
• 34:41
  tacos. You're getting lots of different
• 34:44
  flatbreads like BBQ chicken flatbreads with pickled onions
• 34:48
  on them there there are lots of places to eat.
• 34:53
  Honestly, you really can't go wrong with anyone specific spot.
• 34:57
  The one unique thing that they have here ice cream wise is at
• 35:02
  Coco Peroca ice cream and they have a this really, really good.
• 35:09
  It's like multi flavored ice cream, like where it's I forget
• 35:13
  all the flavors of it, but it's delicious like rainbow colored
• 35:16
  and it's it's like that's the can't miss treat if you're going
• 35:20
  to go there. Yeah, very cool.
• 35:23
  Now with the food in a lot of these places, from what I
• 35:27
  understand, it's not like a central food court.
• 35:29
  A lot of it is like spread out throughout the park, so you
• 35:33
  really kind of have to be aware of where you want to eat and
• 35:36
  figure out like where it's located in the water park
• 35:39
  because otherwise you may be traipsing back and forth all day
• 35:42
  trying to get food. Yeah, you're walking around
• 35:44
  everywhere and there's. I mean, when you look at the
• 35:48
  park itself, right, most of the good things are right up in the
• 35:51
  front, so that's at least helpful.
• 35:55
  So like the ice cream coca is right there to the left as soon
• 35:58
  as you walk in and then the Koala, the reef restaurant is
• 36:04
  right there. Those are probably the two
• 36:05
  places I would eat the most. But you're correct.
• 36:09
  If you want to go to Waka Wai Wai E, you got to go all the way
• 36:15
  in the back of this place. And and there's there's lots of
• 36:19
  like bars, like bamboo is back here too.
• 36:23
  I mean, again, if you're looking for something specific, then
• 36:28
  yeah, it's it's you're going to have to very particularly pick
• 36:32
  and choose. However, if you're just
• 36:35
  wandering, there's great food almost everywhere.
• 36:39
  So it's it's not that scary of a thing to try to find stuff.
• 36:42
  Right, Pros and cons to that for sure, because if you, yeah, if
• 36:45
  you're just looking for whatever's close, you're going
• 36:47
  to find something good. Yeah, I remember really liking
• 36:50
  this feasting frog. The other thing too is like,
• 36:52
  again, if you want vibes like you want just like kind of an
• 36:55
  all inclusive island vibe, this is the spot for you.
• 36:59
  OK, this is at night. What time?
• 37:01
  I mean, look at that. Yeah, you can't tell me.
• 37:04
  And there's bars that are located all over the place.
• 37:06
  You just chill and sip. Like it's gorgeous.
• 37:10
  It's absolutely gorgeous. There's there's no water park
• 37:13
  that when I walk in, I'm awestruck and like, Oh my God,
• 37:17
  this is incredible. Volcano Bay is the only one.
• 37:20
  Yeah, it's just full stop. That's the spot.
• 37:22
  It is so interesting to me that Volcano Bay and Typhoon Lagoon
• 37:26
  on the surface have such a similar structure in them.
• 37:31
  You know that like they both have the kind of Volcano Y
• 37:35
  mountain looking piece to them. This one's so much better,
• 37:39
  though. Yeah.
• 37:39
  Everything about Volcano Bay smashes any other water park
• 37:43
  you've been to. Like, that's just, there's no
• 37:45
  comparison. Yeah, this is the spot.
• 37:48
  Like, if you're going to pick one water park and you want to
• 37:50
  go all out, this is it. Most people don't go to to like
• 37:53
  Uni is getting a little bit popular, so I think Volcano Bay
• 37:56
  could be in there too. But yeah, it's just so well
• 37:59
  received by guests. Yeah, and again, look for those
• 38:03
  deals through Universal. They have ticket deals all the
• 38:05
  time that you can do contact your travel agent, figure out
• 38:08
  what kind of deals they have. So that way you're not having to
• 38:11
  pay full price because often times you can find some sort of
• 38:15
  a multi day ticket deal that includes the Universal parks,
• 38:19
  includes Epic Universe, includes the water park.
• 38:21
  They have all of those that exists.
• 38:23
  So look into that to help you if you're you know, if, if going to
• 38:28
  Disney because they're free is a draw, make sure you take a look
• 38:31
  at the packages at Universal before you make your decision.
• 38:33
  Cool. Well, now I feel like everything
• 38:35
  else is going to be a let down, but we have to continue on and
• 38:39
  keep going. I know, right?
• 38:42
  I should have put them in a different order.
• 38:43
  Mistakes were made. That's fine.
• 38:45
  Let's move on now to SeaWorld because believe it or not,
• 38:50
  SeaWorld has their own water park that is called Aquatica.
• 38:55
  Its theme is, according to online, they consider it a South
• 38:59
  Pacific wildlife theme. Over at Aquatica, that is their
• 39:04
  terminology. I would call it Australia.
• 39:07
  OK, It's, it's 100% Australia. There you go.
• 39:10
  So it's got 10 water slides, 2 Kitty areas, it's got a lazy
• 39:15
  river, a rapid river, and two wave pools.
• 39:19
  Again, tickets online. If you're going to just
• 39:22
  Aquatica, you're looking at $52 and that's for ages 3 and up.
• 39:27
  So they don't segregate it out based on your age like we've
• 39:32
  seen at the other parks. But also SeaWorld has lots of
• 39:35
  ticket deals that you can find with with the other parks and
• 39:39
  everything. And we'll talk about some of
• 39:40
  those here a little bit later when we get to some of the other
• 39:42
  theme parks that are owned and operated by kind of the same
• 39:46
  entities. And then as far as food goes,
• 39:49
  we'll hear from Kirk here in just a moment.
• 39:51
  But do note that they also have some all day dining, which I'm
• 39:54
  sure Kirk will talk about, that is currently available online
• 39:58
  for $45.00. But I know there are deals with
• 40:00
  that as well too. So, Kirk, I'll throw it over to
• 40:04
  you to tell us all about Aquatica.
• 40:06
  So if Volcano Bay is the best, this is actually the one that I
• 40:11
  go to the most. So I know that sounds
• 40:14
  counterintuitive, but it's because it's so easy to get in
• 40:18
  and out of this place. And it also has my favorite lazy
• 40:22
  river, which is my favorite type of water park attraction.
• 40:26
  They actually have two lazy rivers here, one's loggerhead
• 40:28
  lane. Now what is unique is Aquatica
• 40:31
  is also animal habitat. So this is going to be very
• 40:35
  uniquely different because this is attached across the street
• 40:39
  from SeaWorld and SeaWorld is a big Aza accredited zoo will show
• 40:43
  is Aquatica. They have animal habitats within
• 40:47
  the attractions themselves. So if you go on Loggerhead Lane,
• 40:50
  you'll be able to not only see the Emerson dolphins, we also
• 40:53
  get to see a wide variety of African cichlids in the Fish
• 40:58
  Grotto. So there's wildlife here.
• 41:00
  There's even Reef Plunge, which is a body slide that goes
• 41:04
  through the commerce in dolphin exhibits.
• 41:06
  So the dolphins are around you in the in the slide as you're
• 41:10
  going through, which is a very cool experience.
• 41:13
  It's very, very cool. And then they have easily Ray
• 41:18
  Rush is the best gigantic tube slide in terms of thrill.
• 41:22
  So one of those family raft rides and then they have a, a
• 41:27
  great splash pad for kids called Walk about waters.
• 41:29
  They also have for even smaller kids, the Therese Kid Cove,
• 41:33
  which has lots of different slides, splash pad, that kind of
• 41:36
  thing. They do have wave pools here.
• 41:38
  They do have tons of sand and it's almost always easy to get
• 41:41
  yourself a a chair, which is really nice.
• 41:47
  And then they have tube slides and body slides.
• 41:49
  They've got all that. They even have those drop
• 41:52
  trapdoor slides that go down really, really fast.
• 41:55
  And then they have kind of like an Aqua coaster with Riptide
• 41:58
  race, but that's one of our favorites as well.
• 42:01
  But the the star of the show row is Rapids.
• 42:04
  It is the fastest, most fun, most engaging, beautiful lazy
• 42:09
  river that is almost entirely encapsulated by shade.
• 42:13
  So it means you're not getting burned and I could spend hours
• 42:16
  in that lazy river. It is my favorite thing to do in
• 42:20
  a water park. However, they have just changed
• 42:24
  as of two years ago, they used to have this Tassie's twist, Now
• 42:28
  it's Tassie's underwater twist. It's unique because this is a
• 42:32
  raft ride that goes into a cyclone that is enclosed and
• 42:36
  they put projections on it with noise so as you're going through
• 42:40
  the inside. And they do change this out
• 42:42
  sometimes, like when they have their nighttime events, but it's
• 42:46
  like an immersive thematic experience rather than just a
• 42:50
  raft ride, which I think is spectacular.
• 42:53
  Yeah, seeing your videos of that has been like, oh, that's so
• 42:57
  cool. Like it's, it's absolutely
• 42:59
  incredible. And I'll be sure to link some of
• 43:01
  that in the show notes. That way if you guys are
• 43:02
  listening, you can find that if you want to take a look because
• 43:06
  they're it's, it's pretty, pretty incredible.
• 43:08
  You come out of the tube, slide into this Dome and it's just all
• 43:12
  projections. Very, very.
• 43:13
  Now let's talk the bad thing. So we do have all day dining for
• 43:18
  45 and this is one of those ones where you can eat every 90
• 43:21
  minutes. I really don't suggest you
• 43:23
  getting multiples of these. It's enough food for you to
• 43:26
  share. And then if you want to get more
• 43:27
  food, you just keep going back to these places and getting more
• 43:30
  and more. The best thing that you can get
• 43:32
  here is either BBQ or pizza. So you're going to want to go to
• 43:36
  either the Kookaburra Kitchen down here on the bottom right or
• 43:41
  Walkabout Pizza, which has these flatbreads.
• 43:46
  And then the last one is this Papa's pizza, which they also do
• 43:49
  these like really good like handhelds and they're they're
• 43:53
  almost like pressed sandwiches or like almost like a calzone.
• 43:57
  That's your re safe places. Everywhere else is the Wild
• 44:00
  West. You might get a hot dog, you
• 44:03
  might get something else. It's like, oh boy, the the food
• 44:06
  here. I love Aquatica, I love
• 44:09
  SeaWorld. They're great people, but their
• 44:11
  food services is very lacking and I've had the worst burger
• 44:16
  I've ever had in a theme park at the mango market and I it was so
• 44:20
  sad eating that thing. I it was the actually, no, I
• 44:24
  think it was that water stone grill.
• 44:25
  Stay away from water stone grill.
• 44:27
  It is horrible. Oh no.
• 44:29
  It's really bad, Yeah, it's horrendously bad.
• 44:32
  Yeah, unfortunately that's, you know, it, it's hard because I
• 44:37
  feel like in these water parks, because they're not as populated
• 44:42
  as maybe some of the theme parks that they they get, they don't
• 44:45
  get as much attention from corporate when it comes to some
• 44:49
  of those details. And so they're not putting a ton
• 44:52
  of well. I mean, a $45.00 dine all day,
• 44:56
  like you got to, you can't have super high quality costs foods
• 45:01
  because as a result you would just take a bath on the on the
• 45:05
  dine all day. So they, they have to come up
• 45:07
  with a way to still make it profitable.
• 45:09
  And obviously like drinks and fries, all that stuff is cheap.
• 45:13
  But if you're getting like the higher end stuff, like if you
• 45:15
  ate at Kookaburra Kitchen twice, you're getting probably $70.00
• 45:19
  worth of food because the food cost here are very expensive and
• 45:23
  you can't bring in outside food or Bev into to these spots so.
• 45:28
  Right. Well, and especially because
• 45:29
  they run so many frequent deals also where you're getting like
• 45:33
  the dine all day for next to nothing.
• 45:35
  Yeah, I mean, and the other thing too with this place is be
• 45:38
  prepared for because it's so accessible and it's so easy to
• 45:42
  get there and they really have great water slides and it's very
• 45:46
  inexpensive. It's jammed.
• 45:49
  Yeah, like the summertime here is it Taiki stinks.
• 45:56
  Like you're better off being in the the March through May or the
• 46:03
  September through December because these places still stay
• 46:06
  open as long as it's like 65°. They don't heat the water here.
• 46:13
  So that is one thing to note. If you do show up in the earlier
• 46:17
  seasons, it's going to be a polar plunge.
• 46:19
  Yeah, that doesn't sound, that doesn't sound ideal, especially
• 46:22
  if you're considering taking children with you that you know,
• 46:26
  although most kids probably do better with colder water than
• 46:29
  adults do honestly, but that doesn't sound ideal for for that
• 46:33
  kind of a trip. Well, I think that gives us
• 46:35
  enough of an overview on Aquatica and what there and is,
• 46:39
  is not there. Let's go ahead over to Legoland.
• 46:45
  So the Legoland water Park is a little bit different in that it
• 46:49
  is basically integrated into Legoland.
• 46:54
  They don't actually sell separate tickets to the water
• 46:58
  park alone because it is so integrated.
• 47:01
  It is a Lego Oasis theme, definitely a smaller option.
• 47:06
  It's got 2 water slides, 3 Kitty areas, a lazy river and a wave
• 47:09
  pool. And again, they have no water
• 47:12
  park only tickets. But if you're doing a one day
• 47:15
  ticket to Legoland, you can do what they call a multi park
• 47:17
  ticket, which will get you into Legoland, the theme park and the
• 47:21
  water park. And that's 78 starts at $78.
• 47:24
  And some of that pricing is, you know, it varies and changes
• 47:27
  based on the time of year. But yeah, all of their food and
• 47:30
  all that kind of stuff, it's all connected into Legoland.
• 47:33
  So it doesn't really there's, there's nothing specific to the
• 47:36
  water park to note when it comes to that kind of information.
• 47:40
  Kirk, have you been to this water park?
• 47:42
  This was one that I wasn't sure if you had ever been to the
• 47:44
  water park side of like I. Have I've been here twice?
• 47:47
  OK, So what can you tell us? What do we need to know about
• 47:51
  It's OK Water Park? It's very OK.
• 47:55
  Perfect. Like.
• 47:56
  The bet the best way I can explain it is if you're staying
• 47:59
  overnight in one of the Legoland hotels, which I highly suggest
• 48:02
  you do. Particularly the Pirate 1 is
• 48:04
  fabulous and also includes breakfast.
• 48:06
  It's so well themed. But if you're going to do 2
• 48:08
  days, the water park is really nice on and you got to look at
• 48:13
  the hours because right now like Legoland's hours are 4:50 PM
• 48:17
  like they really cut hours. So you really need to plan ahead
• 48:20
  of time. In the summer, the hours get a
• 48:23
  lot longer, but in we're still in the offseason, they're not
• 48:26
  open late at all. So you're not going to get like
• 48:29
  the biggest bang for your buck. But the the water park itself is
• 48:33
  extremely tiny. They have a lazy river.
• 48:36
  The one thing that's fun about the lazy river, as you saw in
• 48:38
  that previous image, that there's like Lego bricks.
• 48:41
  So my kids like building with these inflatable Lego bricks.
• 48:44
  They also have them at the pools at the Legoland Hotel and the
• 48:48
  Pirate Adventure Hotel as well. They have a big splash pad area.
• 48:53
  There's a nice wave pool. The wave pool also has those
• 48:56
  buildable bricks. So like kids are building walls
• 48:59
  and then the waves knock them down.
• 49:00
  So that's like a really unique only experience had Lego to be
• 49:05
  able to to build brick builds and then have them smash down.
• 49:08
  They also allow you to build like little boats.
• 49:11
  There's a section in here for that which I think is really fun
• 49:13
  and you can like put them down a little course.
• 49:16
  They do have two tube slides and then there's three body slides.
• 49:21
  They're all OK. It's a very small water park.
• 49:24
  But if you're going to be there for two days, I would suggest
• 49:27
  going to the water park or you know, if this is a skip for you,
• 49:31
  because it's, it's not like it's not a it's a nice to have, not a
• 49:34
  need to have, but there's a lot of good deals.
• 49:36
  Sometimes you can get this so cheap that it's like, all right,
• 49:38
  whatever, just throw it on there.
• 49:40
  Right. For sure.
• 49:41
  And if you're interested in hearing more about those resorts
• 49:44
  that Kirk was talking about, we talked about the Legoland
• 49:46
  resorts on the last episode that he joined me for on Mom Street.
• 49:50
  So hop back a few if you want to know more about those resorts
• 49:53
  because we did show lots of photos and they are phenomenally
• 49:56
  themed. And like Kirk said, highly
• 49:58
  recommend if you're venturing out to Legoland because it is
• 50:02
  not super close to the other Orlando area theme parks.
• 50:05
  So it is more. 45 from Orlando theme parks with traffic, it's
• 50:11
  going to be longer and there's nothing else out there like you
• 50:15
  are doing Legoland and that's it.
• 50:17
  That's why I recommend if like this is going to be a part of
• 50:19
  your trip, you really should stay over and get full
• 50:22
  experience because those, those hotels have a lot to offer in
• 50:26
  fun thematic experience experiences.
• 50:28
  And it's the best themed suites I've ever stayed in that there's
• 50:33
  like multiple bunk beds for the kiddos and it's just, it's
• 50:36
  really great. Yeah, so definitely look at
• 50:38
  that. And again, the water park is
• 50:39
  very small in comparison which is why they don't sell a
• 50:43
  separate ticket for it because it's just included in those
• 50:46
  multi park tickets that you can you.
• 50:48
  Can't even get to it. It's literally in the back of
• 50:50
  the park. You have to go through Lego the
• 50:52
  land like there's no other separate entrance.
• 50:54
  So it's you could say if you wanted to.
• 50:56
  You can't even rope drop this traditionally because it doesn't
• 51:00
  open when Legoland opens. So, like, it's hours after
• 51:03
  Legoland's open at the Winter Park opens.
• 51:05
  Yeah. So definitely something to note.
• 51:07
  Take a look at the hours, plan your day accordingly.
• 51:10
  So that way you you're not sorry when you get back there and it's
• 51:14
  not open yet. Definitely take a look at all of
• 51:16
  that. Well, I think that's really all
• 51:18
  there is to say about the Legoland Water Park, just
• 51:21
  because it is very small. Let's continue our way to the, I
• 51:26
  guess, western side of this area and head over to Busch Gardens
• 51:30
  over in Tampa. So again, this is not truly
• 51:33
  Orlando. We are headed over to the Tampa
• 51:35
  side of Florida, but wanted to mention it as an option.
• 51:39
  They have the water park called Adventure Island Crook.
• 51:42
  What is the theme over here? Because when I looked online,
• 51:45
  there wasn't really like a hey, this is what you're going to
• 51:47
  get. Florida.
• 51:50
  OK there, that would be why. It really it so like when you
• 51:55
  distinctly are in Aquatica, there's like all the safety
• 51:57
  spiels are like good. I might make sure you're very
• 52:01
  safe in the river. You know like here it's like the
• 52:04
  endless surf river cursed. It's like very pedestrian.
• 52:09
  I think like in the lazy river, they talk about a lot of things
• 52:13
  that existed in Busch Gardens thematically, why they made
• 52:16
  decisions. Like there's lots of like
• 52:18
  Caribbean language, but it is there's no theme here.
• 52:21
  Cool. Which is probably why I couldn't
• 52:24
  find a theme when I tried to look at There's not.
• 52:27
  Yeah, inside Adventure Island you've got 10 water slides, 2
• 52:30
  kiddie area, splash pad areas, a lazy river, and a wave pool.
• 52:35
  Again, this is one that you can buy a single day ticket for if
• 52:39
  you choose to. It starts at $48 for ages 3 and
• 52:42
  up for that. They do also have an all day
• 52:45
  dining here for $50 currently online.
• 52:47
  Again, that price fluctuates and you can find deals, and we'll
• 52:50
  talk about that here briefly in a moment, But starting at $48
• 52:54
  for tickets to Adventure Island Kirk, what do we need to know
• 52:58
  about this one? This place is actually pretty
• 53:00
  great. Like where Aquatica fails on
• 53:02
  food, this place actually has decent food.
• 53:04
  Like Mango Joe's is their barbecue and it's actually quite
• 53:07
  decent. The Surfside Cafe is like your
• 53:10
  pedestrian hot dog stuff. Captain Pizza is good.
• 53:14
  He's got pizza, but their pretzels are outrageously good.
• 53:17
  And Hang 10 sells like a tiki shaped pretzel with cheese.
• 53:22
  It is very, very good and it's like kind of like a craft beer
• 53:24
  bar. So they definitely plus the food
• 53:29
  offerings here. They also have the Duval Street
• 53:31
  Market, which is never open. So you can ignore that.
• 53:36
  That's a classic thing that happens at SeaWorld and Busch
• 53:39
  Gardens is they have eateries that never open, but lots of big
• 53:44
  raft rides. This one has something that's
• 53:46
  really unique. They have a family raft ride
• 53:48
  that's called Wahoo Remix that plays music.
• 53:51
  So you'll be like listening to the weekend as you're going down
• 53:54
  and it's that's really fun. Like we were.
• 53:57
  I felt very back at home because we got Living on a prayer from
• 54:00
  Bon Jovi. I'm originally from Jersey, so
• 54:03
  my family and I were all singing that just this past weekend on
• 54:07
  Wahoo Remix, which we love. Like we we go to this water park
• 54:10
  a lot. Colossal Curl is their best
• 54:12
  slide, hands down. Not even close.
• 54:15
  That's a big family one with one of those huge like up the wall
• 54:18
  kind of vibes. And then the kiddos.
• 54:21
  The lazy river is God awful here.
• 54:23
  It's really bad. It's really dirty too most of
• 54:26
  the time. Like I wish I had a net to like
• 54:27
  clean it. But they do have splash.
• 54:29
  They have a lot. They just redid.
• 54:31
  There are two splash pad areas for kiddos.
• 54:33
  They're Castaway Falls. There's Shakalaka, really good
• 54:36
  for young kids, and their Paradise Lagoon is just
• 54:38
  basically a pool with those Lily pad things that kids can
• 54:41
  crossover. They have a zero entry wave pool
• 54:44
  that's nice. It's very family friendly and
• 54:47
  there's lots to offer in terms of grill.
• 54:49
  There's mat slides, there's tube slides, there's body slides,
• 54:52
  there's speed slides. They do have like a micro Aqua
• 54:56
  coaster kind of thing called Rapid Racer, which was closed
• 54:59
  for two years, but it's back open now.
• 55:01
  So this is a good one. And again, I feel like you would
• 55:05
  be doing better with the dining plan here because their food is
• 55:09
  not as bad. Yeah, well, and it, it tends to
• 55:13
  run a little bit more pricey. So I guess that makes sense if
• 55:17
  the food that they they clearly know their food is better
• 55:19
  quality at Adventure Island because they're charging more
• 55:22
  for the dine all day. Yeah, I think they're, I think
• 55:25
  the food purveyors are different or they share them at United,
• 55:30
  but they they might all be like Aramark or something like that
• 55:32
  or or U.S. Foods or something.
• 55:34
  So who knows? Right, right now, how is the,
• 55:37
  you talked about that they've got a lot to offer.
• 55:39
  How is the step ratio here? We've talked about steps at some
• 55:42
  of the Disney ones. The absolute worst.
• 55:47
  This is like this reminds me of Dorney Park when I was a kid.
• 55:50
  You are lugging rafts, you are climbing stairs.
• 55:54
  It's very utilitarian where it's like wooden staircases or metal
• 55:58
  staircases and they're endless. Solar vortex.
• 56:01
  I love that ride. I hate going on it because I
• 56:04
  have to carry the family raft ride on my head.
• 56:07
  I was just like and go upstairs, downstairs, upstairs.
• 56:11
  It's horrendous but we really like the ride so I do it anyway.
• 56:15
  Right. Yeah, yeah, maybe once or twice
• 56:17
  on your visit, not over and over again.
• 56:19
  Well, and I think that's something to note too.
• 56:21
  If you know Busch Gardens, if you're in the Orlando area,
• 56:24
  Busch Gardens is not just a super close day trip to get out
• 56:28
  there. You know, it's going to take you
• 56:30
  a while to get over to that side of the of the the state.
• 56:33
  So you just have to plan accordingly.
• 56:35
  If you're going to be over there and you're planning to go to,
• 56:38
  you know, Busch Gardens for a day, you know, stay overnight
• 56:41
  one night and then do, you know, Adventure Island for a partial
• 56:46
  day the next day before you head back to Orlando, You know, you
• 56:48
  definitely have to plan out your trek over to that side of the
• 56:52
  state if that's what you're going to be doing.
• 56:54
  I would also caution you it's about an hour away.
• 56:57
  I definitely think it's better if you're doing a day trip, just
• 57:00
  go to Busch Gardens. Yeah, you don't necessarily need
• 57:03
  to do Adventure Island if you're doing a day with an overnight.
• 57:06
  Really be careful on hotels because this area is a little
• 57:09
  bit funky. There's some much better spots
• 57:12
  that are much safer in Tampa than right outside this area, so
• 57:17
  stands out there. Yeah, take a look at some
• 57:19
  reviews of of different hotels in the area and and go from
• 57:23
  there. And if you need suggestions,
• 57:25
  please reach out to us. We can help look at what you're
• 57:28
  looking at and maybe guide you one way or the other.
• 57:31
  If you are someone that's listening that is planning to go
• 57:34
  to Busch Gardens and stay overnight, let us help you with
• 57:37
  that, with that aspect of your trip planning.
• 57:39
  But so that kind of wraps up what I would call the
• 57:41
  traditional water parks that we're going to talk about today.
• 57:46
  We do have one more location that we are going to talk about
• 57:49
  because I feel like we can't talk about water park type
• 57:52
  experiences in this area without talking about Discovery Cove.
• 57:56
  So it is, yeah, it is not a true water park.
• 58:00
  So let me just be very clear on that.
• 58:02
  It is not somewhere where you're going to find a ton of wave
• 58:06
  pools and slides and things like that.
• 58:09
  You won't find any of. That exactly, but what it does
• 58:12
  is it provides you with different water based
• 58:15
  experiences with the wildlife in the area, this area of Florida.
• 58:20
  So it's got several different sections to it.
• 58:24
  Dolphin Lagoon, explorers aviary, Serenity Bay and the
• 58:27
  Grand Reef. And basically what it provides
• 58:30
  is animal encounters and other experiences that are all water
• 58:34
  based. So there's different packages
• 58:36
  you can book. The most common 1 is the dolphin
• 58:39
  swim package where you get to get in the water with the
• 58:42
  dolphin that starts around $185 and then it goes up from there
• 58:46
  with different add-ons and package deals and things like
• 58:49
  that. The other reason that I really
• 58:50
  wanted to mention this is that Discovery Cove does a lot of
• 58:54
  ticket package deals between Discovery Cove, SeaWorld,
• 58:57
  Aquatica, and Busch Gardens. So you can get a multi
• 59:01
  experience ticket through Discovery Cove for some of these
• 59:05
  other offerings that we've already talked about today.
• 59:08
  So to do something like Discovery Cove with SeaWorld and
• 59:11
  Aquatica that starts at $225.00, which that price difference is
• 59:15
  not that drastic. It definitely saves you a lot
• 59:18
  when you're looking at considering some of these
• 59:20
  experiences. If you add Busch Gardens on to
• 59:23
  that, it starts at 2:41. So that's that's a much better
• 59:27
  deal. If you're already planning to do
• 59:29
  a lot of these that we've talked about, you definitely want to
• 59:31
  look at the package deals that Discovery Cove has to offer.
• 59:35
  Now, Kirk, I know that you've been actually somewhat recently
• 59:37
  to Discovery Cove. So what can you tell us about
• 59:40
  the OH? Dude, I can't.
• 59:43
  I can't say enough good things about discovery code.
• 59:46
  Discovery Cove is like an all inclusive resort and that's the
• 59:51
  feel of it. Like a day resort coupled with
• 59:55
  some of the most wild animal experiences that you can have
• 59:59
  and it does not feel like you are in Orlando, FL stepped into
• 1:00:03
  a different world and it is very unique and different.
• 1:00:07
  So the first thing is all of your food and drinks are
• 1:00:09
  included including breakfast and lunch.
• 1:00:11
  They also have snack bars open which unlimited.
• 1:00:14
  Uncrustables so good. I I must have stuffed 40 in
• 1:00:20
  Mel's bag on the way out. The Laguna Grill has actually
• 1:00:23
  really delicious food. We also really like the pizza at
• 1:00:27
  the Hibiscus Hideaway bar. They also had these really good
• 1:00:30
  cookies and brownies at the Blue Bamboo bar.
• 1:00:33
  The food here is really, really decent like cuz again, because
• 1:00:37
  everything's all inclusive and the ticket price is a lot higher
• 1:00:40
  at 185, they can have better offerings.
• 1:00:43
  Now, here's where it gets really cool is that in the Grand Reef,
• 1:00:47
  they have this underwater walking experience where you put
• 1:00:50
  on like a dive helmet and you go like 15 feet under the water and
• 1:00:54
  then they give you like a walking tour with all of these
• 1:00:57
  fish everywhere. I haven't posted any of that
• 1:01:00
  stuff. I posted like 3 videos and it's
• 1:01:03
  not even the best of the best just because I took so much
• 1:01:05
  content and I was like, I got to get back to this another time so
• 1:01:08
  I'll be posting that stuff. But you can also feed sharks,
• 1:01:11
  swim with sharks, swim with giant rays that are like 12 feet
• 1:01:15
  long. The dolphin experience was
• 1:01:18
  incredible. Like you get to literally like
• 1:01:20
  pet and hold and hug a little dolphin.
• 1:01:22
  But this is the greatest thing. And then you have like a whole
• 1:01:26
  other section that's kind of like a lazy river that goes
• 1:01:28
  through an aviary. And then there's a freshwater
• 1:01:31
  Oasis and there's like another area that's called Wind Away.
• 1:01:35
  That area kind of stinks. I'm going to be straight up with
• 1:01:37
  you. It's like it's very, all the
• 1:01:39
  water here is cold. They do have wet suits for you
• 1:01:43
  that you can use, but the water is cold everywhere here because
• 1:01:47
  that's what naturally the are like the wind away river was a
• 1:01:50
  little warmer because it's you know, they also have like a
• 1:01:53
  capuchin monkey area and sea otters and stuff like that.
• 1:01:57
  And it's all integrated because again, this is like a wildlife
• 1:02:00
  habitat Aza accredited zoo. Again, they also have like
• 1:02:05
  flamingos, but this is the I want to get bang for my buck.
• 1:02:10
  Both food, drink with wild animal experiences.
• 1:02:14
  The one that the the experiences that I would say you have to do
• 1:02:18
  Dolphin lagoon and Sea venture. That's it.
• 1:02:21
  Like you have to pay for those extras because that's where this
• 1:02:25
  place really shines. You'll be fine if you didn't do
• 1:02:28
  it, but you're going to miss out on some of the best stuff they
• 1:02:32
  have to offer. Yeah.
• 1:02:33
  And I would also caution you to make sure you look at the
• 1:02:35
  website because they do have some age suggestions and
• 1:02:39
  restrictions on some of these experiences, obviously given
• 1:02:42
  that that you are looking at being around live animals.
• 1:02:45
  So depending on the ages of your group, it may or may not be an
• 1:02:48
  option for you. So just make sure you look at
• 1:02:50
  that before you gung ho start planning because Kirk says it's
• 1:02:53
  awesome. It's like if I could go every
• 1:02:57
  year to Discovery Cove, I would because it's just so and you
• 1:03:01
  know, like Discovery Cove is really interesting because they
• 1:03:04
  have these like crazy deals sometimes for like I'm a
• 1:03:07
  platinum pass holder at Seaworlds and Aquatica and Busch
• 1:03:10
  Gardens. There's sometimes where like we
• 1:03:12
  could go for like 100 bucks, which to me is like they're
• 1:03:16
  giving away. Right, yes, So that's what I
• 1:03:18
  that. Would be, that would be a day
• 1:03:20
  where I wouldn't necessarily splurge on all the other things.
• 1:03:22
  Yes. I'd probably just be like, we're
• 1:03:24
  eating our face sauce and going in the Grand Reef all day.
• 1:03:26
  All right? Just you'd find me snorkeling
• 1:03:29
  forever. Right.
• 1:03:30
  And that's what I was saying with some of those package deals
• 1:03:32
  is you want to take a look at those because so many of them
• 1:03:35
  are significantly cheaper, especially considering like you
• 1:03:39
  said, you get all your food, you know, included at Discovery Cove
• 1:03:42
  and then you're getting a SeaWorld ticket for next to
• 1:03:45
  nothing in comparison. So looking at you have to.
• 1:03:49
  Buy those packages, Jackie saying you have to.
• 1:03:52
  Yeah. And again, you can talk to, you
• 1:03:54
  know, if you, if you're booking through a travel agent or you're
• 1:03:56
  doing any work through a travel agent, they're going to be able
• 1:03:58
  to look up those deals for you as as well.
• 1:04:01
  But all of those parks, Discovery Cove, SeaWorld,
• 1:04:03
  Aquatica, Busch Gardens. Now I didn't specifically see
• 1:04:06
  Adventure Island included in the Busch Gardens theme or in the
• 1:04:10
  Busch Gardens package, but I wouldn't assume that potentially
• 1:04:13
  you could look at that also as an option as well.
• 1:04:16
  So just looking at all of those because they all are
• 1:04:19
  interconnected through, you know, ownership and things like
• 1:04:22
  that. Definitely the way to go when it
• 1:04:24
  comes to looking at at any of those.
• 1:04:26
  If you're going to do more than one, you need to look at those
• 1:04:28
  package deals through Discovery Cove.
• 1:04:30
  Cool. So that kind of is the rundown
• 1:04:33
  of different water park and water experiences, I guess in
• 1:04:36
  the kind of greater Orlando area.
• 1:04:39
  But Kirk, I think the last question that we need to chat
• 1:04:41
  about is if a family had like one extra day that they wanted
• 1:04:46
  to plan on doing one of these water parks, what do you
• 1:04:51
  recommend kind of the top 2 or or maybe even three options?
• 1:04:55
  And what do you think is not worth your time at all?
• 1:04:57
  If you're staying at Disney and you have older kids, use the
• 1:05:01
  free water park to go to Typhoon Lagoon.
• 1:05:04
  If you are staying at Disney and you have younger kids or you
• 1:05:06
  don't feel like doing stairs, go to Blizzard Beach.
• 1:05:10
  If you're doing Universal or you just want to have the best water
• 1:05:14
  park experience that feels like you're on a vacation that
• 1:05:17
  doesn't involve animals, you go to to Volcano Bay at Universal.
• 1:05:21
  And then if you want to have the I'm at the Caribbean and I'm
• 1:05:26
  getting a little, you go to Discovery Cove, which is kind of
• 1:05:30
  wild that you can't do some of these things.
• 1:05:32
  I think like at at some point I think they cut off the sea,
• 1:05:35
  venture underwater things and they know you've been drinking.
• 1:05:39
  I would think they have a, they have a limit when it comes to
• 1:05:41
  that, that they're paying attention to.
• 1:05:46
  Well, and that's, that's again, all of that is good to know.
• 1:05:48
  And I think it's, again, like we talked about at the very
• 1:05:51
  beginning, so many of these experiences are overlooked and
• 1:05:54
  so many of them are just awesome that you really need to consider
• 1:06:00
  your time. And even if you've only got a
• 1:06:03
  partial day, or you don't want to spend the entire day there,
• 1:06:06
  doing one of these is still likely going to be worth the
• 1:06:09
  money that it would take to get you there.
• 1:06:11
  Yeah, I would agree. You're, you're not going to have
• 1:06:13
  a bad experience at any of these places.
• 1:06:15
  And, you know, like your budget and your goals for your group
• 1:06:18
  will dictate you know which one of these is a better fit.
• 1:06:23
  Absolutely. Now before we end our time here,
• 1:06:26
  Kirk, I do just want to give you a chance to chat about, we
• 1:06:29
  talked about your theme park app mode last time that we had you
• 1:06:33
  on for Mom Street. Now, I know that some of this
• 1:06:36
  stuff that we've talked about today is actually included in
• 1:06:39
  mode already and more to come. So what can you tell us about,
• 1:06:42
  first of all, about what water park information we can find on
• 1:06:45
  there, and then just what's been going on with the app since we
• 1:06:48
  last chatted? Yeah, so the app is pretty,
• 1:06:52
  pretty awesome. If you haven't seen it before,
• 1:06:53
  it's called Mode. You can get it on the Apple App
• 1:06:56
  Store or the Google Play Store completely for free.
• 1:06:58
  And it has, you know, wait times, predictive reopening
• 1:07:02
  times. Here's the deal.
• 1:07:04
  These theme parks are crazy confusing.
• 1:07:05
  There's a lot going on. And if you want to be an expert
• 1:07:08
  without having to do any research, waste anytime.
• 1:07:11
  Watch zero content. Listen to 0 podcasts including
• 1:07:15
  Jackie's Good Tap. You could download something
• 1:07:20
  like MOWD and it will basically school you up into a theme park
• 1:07:25
  expert instantly, right at your fingertips.
• 1:07:27
  It's got all the information that you're looking for.
• 1:07:29
  Now, in terms of the water parks, the biggest thing that
• 1:07:32
  you'll use is food and dining. So you'll be able to search the
• 1:07:36
  water parks, particularly right now we have the 2 Disney parks,
• 1:07:40
  so Blizzard and Typhoon, as well as Universal's Volcano Bay.
• 1:07:45
  We don't have integration yet of Aquatica, although that is
• 1:07:48
  coming. Same with Adventure Islands,
• 1:07:50
  that is coming. Legoland Florida would be coming
• 1:07:54
  as well. I did take photos and menus when
• 1:07:57
  I was there last. So yeah, download, check it out.
• 1:08:00
  There's over. We have over 12,500 users now at
• 1:08:05
  this point and it's growing like a weed.
• 1:08:07
  People really love it. Someone sent me a message that
• 1:08:11
  said when I use your ride reopening times it feels like
• 1:08:16
  I'm using God Mode in the theme parks.
• 1:08:18
  I think that was a pretty. I love that.
• 1:08:20
  Good endorsements, yeah. That's awesome.
• 1:08:23
  And while you can't find the like wait times for the water
• 1:08:27
  slides and things like that cause Disney just doesn't
• 1:08:28
  publish that. Like it's just.
• 1:08:30
  Not no. There's nothing in the parks for
• 1:08:32
  wait times that any of the water parks.
• 1:08:33
  There's zero waiting times. But if you're using the planning
• 1:08:36
  feature on mode, you still can plan out what food you want to
• 1:08:38
  go to and things like that. So that's at least got part of
• 1:08:41
  your day planned through the app, which is super helpful I
• 1:08:44
  think. The other thing is if if you
• 1:08:46
  already have mode, we're doing a large integration that allows
• 1:08:51
  trip planning. So you know, for example, Jackie
• 1:08:55
  will help folks with planning your trip or navigating
• 1:08:59
  lightning lanes. There's a trip sharing function
• 1:09:02
  that's going to be added within the next month as well as
• 1:09:06
  California. So think about Disneyland and
• 1:09:09
  Universal. And then the entirety of the app
• 1:09:12
  is getting a large graphical overhaul.
• 1:09:15
  So lots of new changes and it's it's really exciting.
• 1:09:18
  Modes. I just want to help you have a
• 1:09:20
  better experience with your family and MOWD will get you
• 1:09:23
  there fast without having to do any of the legwork.
• 1:09:25
  I mean, I've been doing this for 26 years.
• 1:09:28
  We spent three years on the app. And so you don't have to spend
• 1:09:32
  any time. Yeah, and I think that's part of
• 1:09:34
  why I love promoting it over here on Mom Street Not only
• 1:09:37
  because I believe in it and I love the app and I'm friends
• 1:09:40
  with Kirk, but because it truly does make it so much easier.
• 1:09:44
  You know it. It really simplifies the
• 1:09:46
  planning process and it gives you all of the information
• 1:09:49
  without it being confusing. It's easily accessible.
• 1:09:52
  You can find what you need to find without having to scroll
• 1:09:55
  through 4 pages of ads on another app. 100%.
• 1:09:59
  Yeah, absolutely. Well, if they haven't been able
• 1:10:02
  to download or haven't heard of MOWD yet, Kirk, where can they
• 1:10:05
  find more information about it and where can they download?
• 1:10:08
  You can either go to MOWD dot IO, MOWD dot IO or just type in
• 1:10:13
  MOWD in the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
• 1:10:17
  Find the one that's got the burger and roller coaster and
• 1:10:20
  you'll find us. Perfect, I love it.
• 1:10:22
  Well, thank you so much for sharing and thank you so much
• 1:10:24
  for your time today and sharing all of your knowledge about the
• 1:10:27
  water parks. You know, this is something that
• 1:10:29
  I have very little knowledge on aside from just giving you the
• 1:10:33
  facts, which we gave. But I think insight for somebody
• 1:10:36
  who's been there before is so much more valuable.
• 1:10:39
  So thank you so much, Kirk, for taking your time with us today
• 1:10:42
  and sharing your knowledge of all things Water Park.
• 1:10:44
  I love the water parks so you just if you've never done them
• 1:10:47
  before, maybe think about adding them because it's it's usually
• 1:10:50
  not a large cost or sometimes 0 cost.
• 1:10:53
  Right, definitely worth considering for sure.
• 1:10:56
  Well, thank you all so much for being here for this episode of
• 1:10:59
  Mom Street USA. If you've got additional
• 1:11:00
  questions or want additional information about anything we
• 1:11:03
  talked about today or have ideas for future topics for us, please
• 1:11:07
  reach out to us Mom Street usa@gmail.com or at Mom Street
• 1:11:10
  USA on all of the different social media platforms.
• 1:11:13
  Find us over on Patreon at Mom Street USA.
• 1:11:16
  That's a great place to chat with us about upcoming topics
• 1:11:19
  and things that are going on in the Disney and Universal and
• 1:11:22
  more theme parks. But for today, that is going to
• 1:11:25
  wrap up our episode. So thank you all so much for
• 1:11:27
  your support and I will see you on the next episode of Mom
• 1:11:30
  Street USA. Bye everyone.