Hopping Around the Water Parks & Downtown Disney?

Hey there,

I just wanted some advice on some plans I was making for our upcoming trip to WDW this July. I'm more experienced with planning trips to DLR, so at times I can underestimate the time it takes to get around places at WDW. Okay, so, basically I've planned out the entire trip and everything seems fine except that we kind of didn't leave any time for the Disney Water Parks or Downtown Disney... and we really would like to visit them at some point during our stay.

Essentially from glancing at our plans, I can only really see that we could sacrifice the earlier portion of our 8th day, which was to be spent entirely at the Magic Kingdom. I bumped up our 3 FP+ reservations till later in the day with our first one running from 4:05 PM - 5:05 PM. The water parks open at 9 AM that morning and the way I see it, we have 7 hours before 4 PM rolls around and that is when we would need to be headed over to MK via the bus. I'm thinking we could bus to either BB or TL an hour before they open and spend approximately 2 hours there, hop to the other water park and stay for another 2 hours, and then hop over to Downtown Disney for 2 hours for lunch and a quick shopping/browse before heading back on the bus to make it up to MK by 4 PM-ish since we do have until 5:05 PM for our first FP+.

Is this doable? I'm not sure how the bus system works... is it even possible to hop from BB to TL or vise versa via the busses? Or do you have to stop somewhere else? Can you get to DTD from the water parks using the busses? What about to MK? Can you get to MK from the water parks or DTD's bus stops? A little information on the bus system routes and schedules would be most appreciated!

Am I over-stuffing this? Can this be accomplished or should we just do one water park for a bit longer of time and then do DTD for lunch? I would really like to squeeze both water parks in if possible as it has been ages since I've seen them and they're both open when we're there! We're staying at the Pop Century Resort, it that makes any difference.

Thanks for any tips or suggestions ya'll can provide!

Thats a lot of running around. I would just do one water park if I were you.

I'm not too sure what you are planning would work.

You cannot go from one water park to the other directly. You will need to go to a resort first, then catch a bus to the other water park. I know the Blizzard Beach bus also hits Animal Kingdom, but I believe that it always drops off before AK and picks up after AK on its route, but only to/from a resort. In the same vein, the Downtown Disney bus will drop off at Typhoon Lagoon and pick up on the way back, but does not hit any of the parks.

Since it sounds like you are paying for the Water Park Fun & More option, I would definitely make sure to hit at least one of the water parks to make it worthwhile, but Downtown Disney could be a hit-or-miss visit. If you have an hour or two (plus travel to/from time!) that is unplanned, or you want a bit of relief from the parks, it would be an option.

If it were my family we would plan to spend the morning at one water park, return to our resort to freshen up and change, then to MK. I would not enjoy going straight to a park after a water park. And I am not sure you can really enjoy the water parks with just 2 hours in each. Especially since you mention its been years since you last visited.

I don't know what plans you have for the rest of your trip, but could you do a half day at each water park? Spending a little over a half day at AK then doing a water park after would be easy to accomplish. Do the other water park on your MK day as planned. And could you visit Downtown Disney on your arrival day? Downtown Disney would also work after a day at AK since it closes early.

Also wanted to add that you should allow yourself an hour of travel time between each location. It probably won't take an hour each time, but it certainly could.

We've visited both water parks during the same week-long trip to WDW a couple of times in the past, but not both on the same day. Frankly, we had too much fun at both BB and TL to stay for only a couple of hours. We spent at least 4-5 hours there, and then went to a park that was open late at night, after a break for an early dinner. During a week or longer visit, we found that we could tear ourselves away from one on the theme parks more than once for a half-day or more and still experience most everything during our trip. And we have as much fun at the water parks as we do at the theme parks.

I think it is too much to cram into one day. You'll barely get settled and orientated at the first water park, and it will be time to move.

I'd pick one and enjoy the majority of the day. I honestly think I'd head to MK, and save DTD and the other water park for another day.

Now, we've never done both water parks on the same Disney trip, but a water park morning/DTD late afternoon/evening could be a great day.

Thanks everyone for all your helpful tips!