As a professional theme park writer, I’ve been lucky to go to Walt Disney World more than a few times in my life, both for work and for fun. When I’m there, I try to focus my time on what's new at Disney World, or things I've simply never done, if only so that I can write about it all from an educated perspective. But I have a confession to make: I’ve never visited Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon, at least to actually use them. But when the first time I visit Disney World in 2025, that may change, as a new hotel perk is going to make doing that a lot easier.
Disney World recently announced that starting next year visiting either of the resort’s water parks, whichever is open, Typhoon Lagoon is currently closed at Disney World, will be free on the day of check-in to a Disney World resort hotel. It’s a brand new perk to help incentivize people visiting Disney World to stay on property, and as perks go, it’s pretty nice.
Disney World Is Making Their On Property Hotels More Attractive
A lot has been said about Disney World hotels. While the benefits of staying on property are obvious, it can't be argued that Disney World hotels can get really expensive. And it's hard to justify the price when Universal Orlando Resort hotels are really competitive, with as good or better perks, without the extreme price tag. This adds a significant additional perk which may make Disney hotels more attractive for some.
That first day of a Disney World vacation is always a bit tough to figure out. If you arrive early enough that you need to do something, but not early enough to get a full day at the parks, you don’t want to waste a full-price theme park ticket just visiting for a few hours. Especially if your room isn’t ready when you arrive, you have to burn some time somehow.
Free access to a water park is great because, well, it’s free. If you don’t get a chance to do everything and fully experience the park, it’s fine, because you didn’t actually pay for it. It’s a great way to give guests something to do, something which many guests might overlook.
Disney World Water Parks Never Feel Like A "Must Do" Experience
For as many times as I’ve been to Walt Disney World. I’ve never spent much time at the water parks. The only time I was ever inside one was as part of a press event, where I fell in love with Disney World After Hours Events, and Blizzard Beach was closed to the public at the time. So while I saw the park, I couldn’t use the park. Not that I necessarily would have.
I’ve never really been a water park person. Any activity that requires an entirely different set of clothing has to be pretty appealing to get me to go through the effort, and I’ve just never felt that way about water parks. But if I had free access to a Disney World water park, I would feel almost obligated to go check it out.
It will be interesting to see how popular this new hotel perk will be. If people really take advantage of it, Disney World may need to have both Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon open at the same time, something that hasn’t happened since the resort reopened following the pandemic.
