Typhoon Lagoon Food Prices 2011

With the new season comes new prices. Here are most of them:

The refill mug now costs $10.75 per day

There's a hot dog stand near Crush 'n Gusher (it was there in previous years too).

Here are the prices for the hot dog stand:

Closer to the Sharks we have Typhoon Tilly's Snack Shack:

... and here's that menu:

Next to the Snack Stand is the similarly named Typhoon Tilly's Food and Spirits:

Where the menu is partly visual with pictures:

... and also partly just words, for the smaller items:

First Day of Summer!

Sorry for that long, unanticipated hiatus. But we're back now that summer has returned officially today. We'll celebrate with a quick glance into Typhoon Lagoon.

Apparently, the surf is up!

Let's head on over to Crush 'n' Gusher. Which line should we join? There are three.

Looks like we're in for a bumpy ride. Hang on!!

Kiddie slides at Typhoon Lagoon

If you're not too tall



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Typhoon Lagoon's kid slide

The big wave pool includes these small side by side slides for the kiddies. Maximum user height: 48 inches. They are short (one has a tiny, very brief tunnel), but they are fun for 45-48 inch tall kids (and possibly too much for kids under 35 inches, unless they swim well)




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Crush 'n Gusher: the look

Here's what you see if you gaze over the side of your raft just before starting your plunge down Crush 'n Gusher, at the very beginning of the ride. It looks forbidding, perhaps, but it's fun and not dangerous. The sensation in your stomach is not unlike "dropping in" onto a halfpipe, for those of you who have ever been skateboarders. The comparison is all the more apt because you bottom out and start climbing right away on this ride, courtesy of those jets which push you uphill (and get you 'inside' your swimsuit if you're sitting wrong, if you know what I mean).

Shark Reef fish

When you exit the snorkel adventure is when you're most likely to see this sign, which is probably the most useful time anyway, since the fish types you just saw are so fresh in your mind.

See? Those WERE harmless leopard sharks!







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Welcome to Typhoon Lagoon

The nautical flags at the entrance to TL spell out "Welcome to Typhoon Lagoon". There's a helpful key to decipher the flags nearby.














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Ketchakiddee Creek Cave

The children's play area of Typhoon Lagoon, Ketchakiddee Creek, has water cannons for squirting each other, and fanciful, geyser-inspired landscape to crawl around on. What makes it most unusual among water parks, though, is the cave in the back.

Sporting a waterfall on one side, and simple passage through in the back, the cave lets visitors go from one side of the play area to the other without braving the water cannons. Most water parks would just offer a passageway, or minimal theming at best. Not Disney. This is a fully-rendered cave that must have taken many man-hours (man-months?) to carve and sculpt.

Crush 'n Gusher's Skeleton

Here's a view from October, 2004, when Crush 'n Gusher was taking form.

Crush 'n Gusher

It's hard to overstate how important Crush 'n Gusher is to Typhoon Lagoon. It added three new slides, but more importantly, added a new dimension to slides: a powered water coaster.

These had been introduced at Schlitterbahn, to great effect, but it was new for Disney to get them. No other competitor in Central Florida has a water coaster. The lines here might be a little longer, but it's worth it.

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Typhoon Lagoon's famous vista

Here's the Miss Tilly, seen from a bridge over the lazy river. Some visitors never explore this mountain trail, which merely allows you to switch sides of the park, but offers some fun exploration. Don't miss it!




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Kiddie slides at TL

If you're little enough, you too can sample these minor two slides that land in a corner of the big wave pool. But wait til the lifeguard says it's safe! And real little ones may want a parent to catch them. The water at the bottom is just deep enough to cause problems (or water up the nose).

Gang Plank Falls 2

Here's more of Gang Plank Falls point of view (POV). Most visitors to the Orlando water parks seem not to bring cameras, and of those who do, not all of them bring waterproof cameras. And of the waterproof cameras, most are lower-quality disposables. So I'm really going to try to take as many POV photos as I can... and free you viewers up to just enjoy when you are there :)

Gang Plank Falls POV

The family raft ride at TL is called Gang Plank Falls, and it's an awfully short ride. But it packs in some thrills (you go under a waterfall or two, there are rapids, and some theming).

This view is from the raft-level, and is looking forward toward the splashdown. It looks mild, and it usually is, but even this mild drop can result in big waves crashing over the person next to the wave.

Floating through Shark Reef

They call it snorkeling, but you're really just floating facedown in Shark Reef and not moving many muscles. You're told not to kick for one thing - and that's good, to reduce churn and increase visability. But you won't want to go too fast anyway, since you're here to see the fish.

In this photo, look to the rock in the middle - this is your only place to pull up and catch your breath, or adjust your mask if water has leaked in. To the left of that is the sunken, upside down ship, which non-snorkelers can visit to see you snorkel by. Wave at the portholes as you drift lazily past!

Slides? What Slides?

There are several areas in Typhoon Lagoon where it's possible to forget you're in a water park. The thick, lush vegetation gives you the sense of the tropics (not to mention the Florida heat), and the white sand everywhere implies it's a beach, but this is true even when water and pools aren't immediately nearby.

Grab a lounge chair (there are the reclining ones and the regular chairs) and sunbathe all day if you want - there are people who do that. It may not have the thrills of chasing slides, but then again, some relaxation may be exactly what these folks are looking for.

Shark Reef

Shark Reef at Typhoon Lagoon is one of the few places in the world where you can swim with sharks for free. But don't fret. In this case, they are tiny little bamboo sharks, toppinig out at a few feet long and definitely not interested in humans in the slightest.

While the sharks will keep their distance on the bottom, other tropical fish here will get much closer, and snorkeling among so many fish - some of them colorful - is a thrill no matter where you're from. It's hard to believe it's free and included with admission to Typhoon Lagoon. Even the theming (see pic) is spot on.

Typhoon Lagoon: A tropical paradise, post-storm

Many of you probably hear "Orlando water park" and instantly think of Disney's famous (and famously well-themed) water parks. Pictured here is Typhoon Lagoon, which opened in 1989. At the time, it joined the smaller-scale River Country water park to give Disney a second park. Later, Blizzard Beach would open and River Country would shut down.

Typhoon Lagoon is as much theme park as it is water park. Far from being bare slides accessed by winding staircases, it hides virtually all of its slides from external view. It looks more like a lush mountaintop than anything else, which is entirely by design.

The overarching theme, which we'll see time and time again, is that of a tropical island resort that has recently endured a typhoon (a synonym for hurricane), which has caused all manner of mischief. Buildings lean sideways, debris is strewn about, and even boats have been hurled to land high and dry -- including the highly visible centerpiece of the park, the shrimp boat Miss Tilly stuck atop Mount Mayday.