Free water park day worth it?

[HopperFan]

OP ~ what are your other plans if you don't go to the waterpark? Do they sound more relaxing and fun after your cruise? Have you ever been to a waterpark? If not would be a great free way to check them out to decide if you want to do on another trip.

I think its bad form that Disney won’t offer the free waterpark day for any day of your vacation. It doesn’t cost them any more!

I think the goal is get guests on property sooner and spending money (food/drinks) on property day one, especially the folks with cars. We usually eat and shop offsite before we get to the hotel. We are considering arriving early next couple trips to take advantage of it.

And offering it any day really does end up costing them money. A family that might have added Water Park & Sports option may decide not to because they'll get a free day. Disney doesn't want to lose that money, they are trying to gain spending money from folks check in day.

 

[emilymad]

OP ~ what are your other plans if you don't go to the waterpark? Do they sound more relaxing and fun after your cruise? Have you ever been to a waterpark? If not would be a great free way to check them out to decide if you want to do on another trip.


I think the goal is get guests on property sooner and spending money (food/drinks) on property day one, especially the folks with cars. We usually eat and shop offsite before we get to the hotel. We are considering arriving early next couple trips to take advantage of it.

And offering it any day really does end up costing them money. A family that might have added Water Park & Sports option may decide not to because they'll get a free day. Disney doesn't want to lose that money, they are trying to gain spending money from folks check in day.

We have been to TL a bunch of times before. We enjoy mostly the wave pool and lazy river. Maybe 1 or 2 slides. If we don't do TL we will probably buy a ticket to Epcot since we are staying at the Boardwalk. So no real bad choices but we would prefer the least stressful option.

 

[eticketplease]

Our family says no it is not worth it after just visiting.

We had a patio to eliminate the stress of DS being able to find home base and not worry about chairs.
The patio was nice and if go back to a WP it is a necessity for our family. If you do reserve one make sure to bring some cash as there is no way to tip the attendant with magicband or CC only the bartender.

After dropping off our items at Boardwalk we arrived at around 11 am and there was plenty of parking.

We went up the ski lift and rode summit plummet but did not realize this particular slide you could not wear water shoes so I had to take them off and hold them while I went down.

2 hours after arriving we got the text that our room was ready. So I drove back to BWV parked and called Bell Services to bring up our luggage, groceries and Owners Lockers. Once delivered I unpacked everything and then headed back to Blizzard Beach. This time I was able to grab much closer parking for leaving.

We ended up departing around 5.

Don’t get me wrong we did have a great time but for us we would have had just as much fun relaxing at the quiet pool and community hall. We also then would have been able to just walk to our room and get everything from BS sooner. This would have allowed us to get to Epcot much earlier than we did on arrival day. Time is your number one cost at Disney so taking the time to drive to Blizzard Beach just wasn’t worth it for our family as we value resort and park time much more.

This is just our experience but we also had AP’s. If you don’t have any plans or tickets your first day it could certainly be beneficial for your family

 

[Meriweather]

We will never get to use it.
Fly from the west and with the time change, we don't land until 4:30-5;30....then still have to get to the resort.....using 6-7.
Oh well, I'm tired after flying anyway

 

[eticketplease]

We will never get to use it.
Fly from the west and with the time change, we don't land until 4:30-5;30....then still have to get to the resort.....using 6-7.
Oh well, I'm tired after flying anyway

We are like @mrandmrsthomas0618 and fly in the night before and use a Free Night Certificate from a credit card to save some DVC points before checking in the next morning. If we checked into DVC on arrival it would not be until 10 pm at the earliest and then the perk would not be available for us either.

 

[zdad59]

We are torn on what to do for our September trip. So we have two plans for arrival day. Weather and our mood will determine what we do. We get into MCO at 830am. Should be at the Beach Club NLT 10am.

• If it's a good weather day and we're in the mood, we'll hit the water park, then come back for a fun dinner at Beaches & Cream. Then an early bedtime so we can hit rope drop at MK the next morning.
• If the weather is marginal or we're not in the mood, we'll head for EPCOT, catch a few rides, eat at F&W festival, and head back at a reasonable hour to settle in. Maybe even some time at Stormalong Bay, which should be open by Sept.

So my suggestion it have a couple of alternatives available for Day 1 and do what you feel when you get there. There is no wrong choice. You'll be at Disney....just enjoy yourself.