First, a history of water parks at Disney. The original water park, River Country, closed a few years ago. You can still see remnants of the slides if you take the boat from the Magic Kingdom to Fort Wilderness. Some of my fondest recollections of childhood trips to Disney involved barreling down the flumes at River Country. Compared to modern water parks, River Country would probably be considered rather quaint - a few water flumes, a tube ride, and not much else. However, for the late 70s / early 80s it was state of the art. Every so often rumors circulate about Disney using the space for something new, but nothing has come to fruition so far. 

Of the two water parks currently in operation, Typhoon Lagoon is the older. As you drive into the entrance of the park there are a series of driftwood signs explaining the story behind the Lagoon. I don't want to include any spoilers, but basically it explains just exactly how that boat, the Miss Tilly, got stranded on top of Mount Mayday that far inland. (Hint: It involves a typhoon.) There are all sorts of cute references to the story in terms of the theming. The general feel of the place is sort of tropical island, sort of Gulf Coast. The central area of the park is the wave pool and it is a fantastic pool. The pool alternates in half-hour long shifts between gentle bobbing waves and heavy duty body-surf quality big waves. The big waves are pretty intense and my son generally prefers to wear a life vest when the big waves come. After a shift of big waves we are usually sufficiently fatigued to either go lounge in our lounge chairs or go off in search of the wimpy slides. We are very partial to Keelhaul Falls and May Day Falls, which are twisty-turning tube flumes. There is also a very entertaining family tube ride, Gang Plank Falls. For those of you looking for more exciting thrills there are plenty - the Crush-n-Gusher (a roller-coaster style slide), Humunga Kowabunga, and the Storm Slides.  I've never been on them but have heard the shrieks of terror. (Just kidding ... kind of.) 

Blizzard Beach is the newer of the two parks, and I have a confession. I visited it for the first time only a week ago. I had heard that it was the more dare-devil of the two parks and had decided to defer visiting until my son was a bit older. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. There are plenty of the drop-to-your-death variety of slide but there are many diversions for the less adventurous souls. As the name would imply, there is a blizzard theme. Again there is a story behind the theming -- a freak blizzard in Florida, resulting in a ski resort. The landscaping is sort of Swiss Alps; I kept expecting to see a lonely yodeling goatherd. It's worth going just for the background music alone: Beach Boys and other surfin' music alternating with polka music and Christmas carols. We went this year on the last day of the season before it closed for rehab. It had been chilly and rained in the morning, so we practically had the entire place to ourselves. My absolute favorite thing about this park is the chair lift which takes you to the slides. You can pack in a lot more runs down the mountain when don't have to climb to the top each time. The chair lift gives you a lovely view of the last split second before those poor masochistic fools descend down Summit Plummet. We rode the family tube ride several times, Team Boat Springs, which we enjoyed immensely. This is a very long slide and I think you pick up a lot more speed and spinning than one generally does on a group ride. This is still not a slide I would call scary. The Toboggan Racers are also delightful. They are very, very fast, and at a few points I was convinced I was airborne. It's a double hump racing slide, no twists or turns, sufficient run-off at the end so that you've stopped before hitting the end, and it's only a few inches of water so it's good choice for timid swimmers. There is also a lovely wave pool. It does not have the rotation of really big waves like Typhoon Lagoon, just continuous, gentle, bobbing waves.

I have been to Typhoon Lagoon a number of times and Blizzard Beach only once, but based on my experience so far I would say I have a slight preference for Blizzard Beach. Here is some general advice for both water parks: Get there early if you want a chair. They go early. There are plenty of counter service dining opportunities, beverage stations, and of course, souvenir shops. I strongly recommend renting a locker. The parks are huge and you won't want to leave your belongings unattended. The refillable mug program is a fairly good deal. Up until last year one had to wait in line at counter service restaurants to get refills and it really wasn't worth the aggravation. They now have sticker on the mugs which you scan at beverage stations, no waiting, which is a much more efficient arrangement. Each of the parks does close down for a month or so in the winter, but they stagger it so at least one of the parks is always open. The water is heated and one can use a Plus Option for admission on the premium park admission tickets. Even paying for a ticket out of pocket I think it's one of the best values for your dollars.

So grab your towel and water-wings, I'll see you on the slopes!

About the Author: Jean Cotting is a first-time contributor to PassPorter News. She is looking forward to planning her next trip to Walt Disney World and perhaps working up the courage to try Humunga Kowabunga! (Ok, not really...)

Pros and Cons of the Magic Your Way Premium Plan
by Dawn Erickson, Guest Contributor and PassPorter Message Board Guide


There are so many decisions that are made when planning a Walt Disney World vacation. How you are going to get there? Where you are going to stay? Where you are going to eat? When planning my most recent trip with my husband to "the World," we decided to go all out and chose the Magic Your Way Premium Plan.

The Premium Plan includes your resort accommodations, Magic Your Way park passes with Park hopping and the Water Parks and Fun Option for the length of your stay, and breakfast, lunch and dinner at over 100 Walt Disney World restaurants. The recreation options available on the Premium plan are spectacular. You could play 18 holes on one of the many championship golf courses or participate in water sports, including parasailing and water-skiing. Some of the other options include a round of golf at one of the two miniature golf courses, watercraft rentals, bike rentals, horseback trail rides, guided fishing excursions, and tickets to Cirque de Soleil's La Nouba. For those with children, there is unlimited use of the Children's Activity Centers. Reservations are required for all recreation activities. Last but not least, you can book as many tours as you want throughout your package stay. Choose from a wide variety of options like the Keys to the Kingdom tour at the Magic Kingdom, Disney's Backstage Safari at the Animal Kingdom, and the Undiscovered Future World tour at Epcot.

The main reason we chose the Premium Plan was for the dining options. We wanted to leave for this trip knowing we did not have to pay for any meals out of pocket. With the plan, we received breakfast, lunch, and dinner at over 100 restaurants on Walt Disney World property. Just like under the regular Dining Plan, alcoholic beverages, souvenir mugs, glow cubes, and in-room mini bars are excluded from the plan. A nice feature is that many of the restaurants that are two (2) dining credits on the Magic Your Way Dining Plan, like Hollywood Brown Derby and Cinderella's Royal Feast, only used one (1) credit on the Premium Plan. We also were able to dine at Fulton's Crab House in Downtown Disney, which is not offered on the Magic Your Way Dining Plan. We were able to dine at restaurants we normally overlooked for one reason or another and took advantage of seven character meals. Since the meals were paid for, we also enjoyed appetizers and desserts at most table service meals.

As far as dining goes, I found two cons with the plan. The first con is that this is a lot of food. Even my husband, who is a big eater, thought the amount of food was too much. There were a couple of days where we cancelled our reservations as we just were not hungry. The second con is in regard to the lack of snack credits that are normally offered on the regular Magic Your Way Dining Plan. The snack credits are a plus for those bottles of water in the park, those Mickey Bar cravings, and during the Food and Wine Festival, those tasty offerings at all the booths throughout the World Showcase. We were unable to exchange any of our credits for what are considered "snacks" under the Magic Your Way Dining Plan, so we did incur some out-of-pocket expenses because we enjoyed the offerings during the Food and Wine Festival.

Of all the extra amenities included on the Premium Plan, we only took advantage of three on our trip. We took the Keys to the Kingdom tour at the Magic Kingdom ($120.00 value for both). This is a spectacular tour and one of the highlights of our trip. We also reserved tickets for a showing of La Nouba in Downtown Disney ($162.00 value for both). We had excellent seats in section 202, row AA, seats 1 and 2. Finally, we played a round of golf at Fantasia Gardens near the Swan/Dolphin resorts. The total value was $21.50 for both of us.

We booked our vacation package through AAA and received the AAA discount.  The prices I am giving to you are based on that information. It will differ for each individual or family. To give you an idea on the cost of the Premium Plan, we calculated what the cost was per day for each of us and compared it to the total cost of our meals and extras. Based on our cost, it was approximately an extra $161.66 per day for the both of us ($969.96 for 6 nights). On our dining alone, we would have spent $984.14. The extras would have cost us $303.50. Grand total: $1287.64. Difference: $317.68 to our advantage.

Overall, the Magic Your Way Premium Plan worked well for us on this trip. We were unable to experience everything it had to offer but it truly made this trip something to remember. We did not have to worry about out-of-pocket expenses except for snacks and souvenirs. I recommend if you are considering the Premium Plan to do some research and see if you can fully take advantage of everything it offers and weigh the cost.

A full breakdown of all the amenities available on the 2007 Premium Plan, as well as the participating restaurants, can be found on the Walt Disney World web site.

About the Author: Dawn Erickson is a Co-Guide in the Disneyland: Making More Magic and Office Forums on the PassPorter message boards. She is currently planning a trip with some fellow PassPorters to Disneyland in February 2007.

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