First time to Blizzard Beach

[sleepingbooty]

We'll be at the World in May, and we are planning to spend a day at Blizzard Beach with our 5 and 8 yr old girls. Having never been there, I'm wondering what your typical routine is when you go: Do you head straight for a particular ride? FInd some chairs to park your stuff? Or do you keep all your stuff in a locker? What kind of things do you bring with you? Will we need our own towels, or do they have them? What about water shoes or Tevas / flip flops? Can you wear them on the slides? What about the places to eat lunch - what kind of food do they serve? Anything else I need to know? Basically, any water park advice you can give me would be great, thanks!
Oh - also, I'm curious about the "pre-teen" area at BB, is there an age or size limit for that area? I'm hoping both my girls can play there together. They are both strong swimmers if that makes any difference.

[Luv Eeyore]

We first go and rent towels and a locker. We leave most of our stuff in a locker, but take a few things, like sunscreen with us. Then we find chairs for all of us, preferably in a shady location - I do highly recommend getting chairs as early as possible. DH and DD go barefoot all day, but DS and I wear water shoes, we've never been asked to take them off on any of the slides. I do thing both of your children can play together in the pre-teen area. Both my kids love it.

There is not a typical slide we do first. We tend to start wherever the mood takes us. As for the food, it is typical counter service food, but I must say I do love the donut shack for a snack.

[g8rgirl29]

The first thing I would do is get there at opening if you want to get any lounge chairs. I would go grab a spot with chairs for your meeting place. They also have a few covered areas that if you get there early enough you can grab. Then head off to the rides. We got a locker the first time and brought our own towels. It was a waste of a lot of time running back and forth I thought. The next year we brought a cheap bag, packed it with snacks and ice water, sunscreen and towels(although you could rent). We didn't bring anything that we would be broken hearted if it got stolen. We got one of those waterproof universal keepers(you can find them around the pin trading section in the stores in disney) and put all our key to the kingdom cards in there(not more than 3 fit well) and attached it to a stretchy wrist band(like for keys). We didn't have any problems with theft. My DD wore water shoes, I don't think they would let you wear flip flops as they might fall off. I am not sure about the teen areas because we have a 4 yo and haven't ventured into the teen area much. I will pm you a link with info for BB. Have a great time.

[Mousemates]

Ditto on the grab the chair first play...we prefer the shaded cabanas on the far side of the wave pool...I generally go for the chairs while DW takes care of the locker rental...from their our strategy is somewhat similar to a day in the theme parks...ride the main attractions first and early..(by the way as is often "advertised" on disney chat sites... the female members of your party really will want to be careful with their suits (tops pop up and bottoms go "super wedgie") on Summit Plummet)...then when the park begins to fill move onto other more relaxed things (i.e. wave pool and lazy river).

[dmosher]

We start by renting a locker, leaving pretty much everything there. We usually bring a towel and leave it in the locker. Unless you are going late in the season (we go late Sept/early Oct), you will dry very quickly anyway, between rides. We slap on extra sunscreen when we get there and pretty much just carry our sandals/water shoes around and a room key(in a secured pocket) for food/drink charges and the locker key around my wrist. Everything else goes into the locker for safe keeping. Then we check out the lines and wait times, go for a few things we can do together, the separate here and there as I like the faster body rides. In the end we usually do the large family rides/toboggan side by sides together, then head for food and do it all over again.
hope that helps.

D

[TheVBs]

We all wore water shoes the whole time we were there and didn't have any problems with them. In fact, there are lots of signs around recommending them - and I would highly recommend some kind of footwear there because the sidewalks got so hot it hurt not to have them on!

[dmosher]

We all wore water shoes the whole time we were there and didn't have any problems with them. In fact, there are lots of signs around recommending them - and I would highly recommend some kind of footwear there because the sidewalks got so hot it hurt not to have them on!

I was asked to take mine off on a few rides at TL. That's weird. Never had that problem.

D

[PlutoPlanet]

The Ski Patrol area is great for kids 5 to 12. Our DD13 loved that part of BB in her younger years.

[PlutoPlanet]

Yes, I keep just about everything in a locker. They give you a key with a bungie type wristband. The wave pool at BB is nice too. The wave pool at TL is bigger and better, but you can wait until the kids are older.

[Woozle]

My recommendation is get those chairs then head off to the slides you really want to do because it is a good hike up some of those slides if you don't take the lift. The water parks can be more exhausting than standing in line at one of the other parks.
Enjoy!

[dancin Disney style]

I highly recommend that everyone wear watershoes. The walkways get very, very hot and walking barefoot puts you at risk of an injury. In general you will not be asked to remove them but once in a while a CM will ask you to take them off for the slide. You can also wear flip flops but you will have to hold them in your hands on quite a few slides. I've even seen people wear velcro Teva type sandals.

We always go early and get shady chairs. We bring a couple of clothes pins to attach our towles to the chairs. Then we hit the major slides and ride each one multiple times. We are usually then ready to have lunch so head back to our chairs have lunch and relax for a bit. After that we will do the lazy river and the wave pool.

[sleepingbooty]

Thanks for all the replies! I'm really getting excited for this!

[MomtoRooandRie]

After renting a locker and getting some chairs for later, we always do the family raft ride, usually twice, before it gets busy!!

[joonyer]

Be sure to ride Teamboat Springs (family raft ride) early, that way you'll have time to ride it again several times before the day is over. Trust me you'll want to ride it several times. It's loading area is at the top of the mountain, so you have to climb a lot of stairs, but it's worth it. You can ride the chair lift, but once the park is crowded it is much faster to walk up the stairs than to wait in line for the chair lift. We rented a locker the first time we went, but it was so inconvenient going back and forth from then on (many trips) we just leave our stuff (towels and a cooler) beach bag at some beach chairs. We have never had any of our things bothered. We don't bring any cash, we just use our room keys to charge anything (food etc.) we want to buy. They are water proof so there is no concern about carrying them in a pocket on the slides, etc.