Hit the Slopes at Disney

There’s no doubt that Disney is one big sensory overload and by day 4 we were more than ready to SKI DISNEY. I know: Florida, sun…sand…skiing… what the heck? Welcome to Blizzard Beach, folks. One more of Disney’s coups where, the story goes, Disney built a ski resort after a freak Florida snowstorm. But as the lifts went up so did the temperature leaving some of the world’s fastest longest slushing gushing downhill slides ever seen. I gotta say, I was impressed, so impressed that I would actually consider going back to Florida just to hang at the hill.

There really is something for everyone and all ages at this park: Disney has thought of it all.  For the little ones there is Melt Away Bay: a one acre bobbing wave pool and a big beach area with many a sand pail. 

For those of us with pre-teens there is an entire area where the kids can hang at the “Ski Patrol Training Camp” My kids especially liked the T-bar drop where you grab and hang onto a traditional tow rope, until you are tossed off on the other side. It really reminded me of the less than graceful tumbles I have taken off those *%$ tow bars!  Photographers are always on hand to catch the eloquence with which the kids enter the water, and I exercised many an abdominal muscle watching the kids torque their bodies as they went for the perfect 10!

There is also an iceberg walk with Styrofoam ice floes which the kids balance on and then cross the pool. I had no idea my daughter was that flexible until I captured her gymnastic prowess on film. I think she was sore for 3 days following!

All of this is on the tamer side of things, so we head over to water slide heaven on the Green slopes. We started at Slush Gusher. Kids must be at least 48” tall and be ready for lots of speed and one atomic-like wedgie! It’s about 80 feet high and heaps of fun. It is the precursor to SUMMIT PLUMMET, a 120 foot high free-falling body slide. This, my friends, has got to be one of my greatest adult feats to date! As the four of us rode up the ski lift (yup, the ski lift) we were filled with trepidation; but mustering up plenty of courage to tackle the beast.  My son, who was largely responsible for us taking the plunge, actually chickened out the first time but admitted several hours later that he couldn’t be the only one in the  family who didn’t do it. So he dragged dear old Dad with him to prove his male genome! Not to be outdone, he rode that slide 3 more times while the rest of us struggled to dislodge the bathing suits from the cracks of our tiny little buttocks!

There is a great family tube ride where the whole family can pile in or check out the Purple Slopes with toboggan slides, slalom courses and tube races. I thought maybe early November would be a little cool but we lucked out with a 27C day and plenty of sun.

When you need to chill you can sit in a tube and float relaxingly around the entire water park on the Cross Country Creek and disembark at any of the slopes. Heaven on Earth!

No water park is complete without shovels and pails. But these kind of pails you really have got to check out.  Imagine your pail filled with ice cream, cookie crumble, chocolate sauce and whipped cream…my kind of sand pail. Our initial thought was one each but let me tell you, one was all that the 4 of us could muster.

I can’t say enough about this park, it’s a must do!