Disney's Typhoon Lagoon
| Disney's Typhoon Lagoon | |
|---|---|
| Park | Walt Disney World Resort |
| Type | Water park |
| Opened | June 1, 1989 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering
|
| Status | Operating |
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon is a water park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Opened on June 1, 1989, it was the resort's second water park, following Disney's River Country in 1976, and it remains one of two operating water parks at Walt Disney World alongside Disney's Blizzard Beach. The park is themed as a tropical bay left in disarray by a powerful storm, and it is built around one of the largest outdoor wave pools in the world.
Theme and design
The park's backstory holds that a typhoon swept through a formerly orderly tropical resort, scattering boats, fishing equipment and surfboards across the landscape. Its central landmark is Mount Mayday, a man-made peak behind the surf pool, on top of which sits the shrimp boat Miss Tilly. The boat is presented as having been thrown onto the summit by the storm, where it plugs the mountain's opening; roughly every half hour, pressure is shown to build until a geyser of water about 50 feet (15 m) high erupts from the peak before the boat's bell sounds. The park's mascot is Lagoona Gator, a relative of the Ice Gator used at Disney's Blizzard Beach.
Much of the park's slide infrastructure is concealed within or behind Mount Mayday, while dense tropical planting and wreckage props — a boat lodged in a roof, a surfboard driven into a tree — carry the storm theme through the walkways.
History
Typhoon Lagoon opened on June 1, 1989, across from the Pleasure Island entertainment district, at a reported cost of about 20 million dollars. Its opening-day line-up included the surf pool, the 2,100-foot Castaway Creek lazy river, the children's area Ketchakiddee Creek, and seven slides: three body slides on Mount Mayday, three tube slides and the enclosed speed slide Humunga Kowabunga. An unusual early feature was Shark Reef, a saltwater pool in which guests could snorkel among rays, small sharks and tropical fish; it closed permanently in October 2016.
The park's largest addition arrived in 2005 with Crush 'n' Gusher, a water coaster installed in the Hideaway Bay area and themed as the remains of a storm-damaged fruit-processing plant. In 2017 the family raft ride Miss Adventure Falls opened, telling the story of Captain Mary Oceaneer, a treasure collector linked to the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.) storyline used elsewhere in Disney parks, and featuring an audio-animatronic figure — a first for a Walt Disney World water park.
Like Blizzard Beach, the park closes for an annual refurbishment period, historically staggered so that one water park remained open while the other was down. Between 2020 and 2025 Disney operated only one water park at a time for extended stretches; both parks operated simultaneously again from the 2025 season.
Attractions
The Typhoon Lagoon Surf Pool dominates the centre of the park and generates waves up to about six feet high, large enough for bodysurfing and for scheduled surfing lessons. Castaway Creek is a continuously flowing lazy river encircling the park, passing through caves, waterfalls and the wreckage theming.
On and around Mount Mayday, Humunga Kowabunga drops riders down enclosed flumes of roughly five storeys at speeds reported near 39 mph (63 km/h), while Mayday Falls, Keelhaul Falls and Gangplank Falls offer tube slides of varying intensity, the last carrying rafts of up to four riders. Crush 'n' Gusher propels one- and two-person rafts uphill on jets of water along three roughly 410-foot routes named Banana Blaster, Coconut Crusher and Pineapple Plunger. Miss Adventure Falls carries families of four on a long raft ride reached by a conveyor lift. Ketchakiddee Creek provides small slides, fountains and water play structures for young children.