Which water park for a 5-year-old who isn't a strong swimmer?

[MonicaInFlorida]

My 5-year-old daughter can swim very well with a life vest, but isn't a very strong swimmer on her own yet. Which water park would you recommend, Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach?

She's 48" tall and is a daredevil, and would really want to go down all of the slides she sees. Would the kid's areas be too "little kids" for her? Are there any slides or attractions that we should avoid? Each park sounds really cool, but since we haven't been to either one, we have no idea which one would be better for us.

Thank you for any advice you can give!

 

[dougsmom98]

They have life vests at the parks. We just went to Blizzard Beach this past week. The kiddie area might be too young for your daughter, but they do have a pre-teen area that has very reasonable slides for someone like your daughter. My 8 year olds loved this area, and there were also plenty of younger kids in the area too.

 

[Cool-Beans]

My advice is to watch her like a hawk. People drown quickly and you simply cannot count on the lifeguards to save her.

If you watch her like a hawk, it won't matter which water park you visit.

I had to fish a drowning girl out the water at Coronado Springs. Her parents were wildly grateful...and I was super-nice to them, but I was thinking, "What were you morons thinking, letting this child in here where she could have died and not watching her? What if I hadn't been here? You kid just dies if there isn't some stranger around to save her??? You idiots!!" Then they reprimanded her for not staying in the shallow water and not using her floaty tube thingies that other kids use to bonk each other on the head. Idiots.

If nobody had been there to fish that kid out, she might have died. I'm sure you have more common sense than those people. But I just have to say it: Don't be those parents!

Do you have time before your trip to improve her swimming skills? It really doesn't take too long to become a decent swimmer.

Good luck!!

 

[MonicaInFlorida]

Naw, we're really attentive... I was thinking of either my husband or I going down a slide first, then our DD second while parent #1 waits, then parent #2 coming down last. I'm just afraid that it might be against the rules to wait down below to retrieve her once she flies off the bottom of the slide.

We actually stayed at Coronado Springs last October, and liked the fact that we could wait just out of the flow at the bottom of that slide and let her swim to us (in her life vest, lol).

 

[1001 Ghosts]

IMO, Blizzard Beach is far more entertaining for the wee ones than Typhoon Lagoon.

Also, Blizzard Beach's wave pool is much easier to manage at the very shallow end than TLs.

 

[momtimesone]

My son was just learning to swim and trust the life vest the last time we went to BB and typhoon lagoon. For him Typhoon lagoon was so much better. The BB big kids area scared me but there are some good points. Adults can be in the water when they go across the icebergs, They can stand at the bottom of this set of slides but the water in all the pools at BB is deep over little ones heads except the kiddie pool which there too big for. The scariest moment for me was letting him go down a tube slide that was enclosed I did not realize the slide drops them into water over 8 feet deep so when he went down he went all the way under the water life vest and all and I without even thinking jumped in to pull him out without the lifeguards even reacting. I will not be going to BB until he learns how to swim but love Typhoon lagoon because I was allowed on the slides with him so I could make sure he was ok. Humunga Kowabunga was awesome for him it was speed slide and it ended in shallow water so he kept going on that.

 

[hannah_03]

I'm going to vote for TL. There is a huge play area with water guns and lots of water interaction without having to actually swim. BB is good too but I think TL just has more to do, at least from what I can remember from two years ago.

 

[MonicaInFlorida]

Awesome responses so far, y'all! I really appreciate it!

I can a bit of a fretter sometimes.

 

[summermac]

I personally vote neither. LOL. I do not trust my son at a big waterpark just yet. Granted he's only 5. He'll have just as much fun at the resort.

As an adult though, I prefer BB's wave pool over TL's. I had trouble with TL's and like I said, I'm an adult. Granted I'm not that great of a swimmer but my DH also didn't like TL as much and he's an excellent swimmer.

 

[hockey mom]

We took my one yr old grandson to both and he loved them.

My vote would be for BB.

 

[DWFan4Life]

I'll vote for Blizzard Beach. We tried it both TL and BB, my kids loved more the Blizzard Beach, they really had fun.

Have a nice and safe trip to everyone.

 

[d1gitman]

my vote is Blizzard Beach. The preteen area is fantastic. Thereare also other 'big' slides that could work well for your DD5. The other thing is that BB has a chair lift to get to the top, which saves the legs from all those steps.

 

[sandym718]

LOVED BB. My kids were almost 3 and almost 5 when we went. Older one swam pretty good, but we still had him wear his vest (we brought our own). Little one obviously wore the vest, and they went on Everything except the big speed slides (2 I think?) I mean everything else - quite large slides, which they LOVED. So you don't have to stick to the kids' area at all - our little girl was only 36" or so then. It was such a great experience for them, being able to wear the vests on everything gave them the chance to do a lot.

 

[redrosesix]

My daughter is an excellent swimmer (she's 9, but gymnast size) but still had a great time at the BB kids area -- Tyke's Peak, not the Training Station. We were there with friends who have a toddler - the water in this area is not deep at all.

However, the kid's area at TL is also ok, and I can recommend the raft rides -- there is one for families and one that you can go on together. These are good if you're there with a non-swimmer, since you don't end up in the water.

 

[princessgirl2238]

i would suggest BB. I actually like typhoon better but looking at it in your perspective, bb is a little more friendly for not so strong swimmers. they are both wonderful parks, but some of the biggest things at typhoon are the wave pool (which when waves come even good swimmers have problems with sometimes), the swimming with sharks thing where you have to be a great swimmer and the new inter-tube rides that drop off in a somewhat deep splash pool (so if she were to fall out at the end which many do, she'd have to swim in somewhat deep water- you cant wait at the bottom of the slides there because it's a safety issue)
bb has some really fun slides that uses mats and has a shallow ending to it, the wave pool is much more calm and i heard that the play areas are well liked by the younger kids