Depending on where you live, there’s a fair chance winter has been pretty weird for you this year. That’s true even in Florida where Disney World ushered in the reopening of Typhoon Lagoon after a lengthy shutdown this weekend. It was good news for the water park for all of about 24 hours before the Orlando theme park had to literally shut down again one day after reopening. You can thank Father Winter for that one.
Here’s what happened. Typhoon Lagoon was shut down for rather a long while as part of the parks’ phased reopenings. When I say a long while, I mean it; the water park had been shut down for nearly two years, closing as part of all of the Covid-19 full and extended closures beginning that began in March of 2020. Unlike some of the other Disney parks, which brought back the magic as soon as they could, Typhoon Lagoon sat empty for some time as its counterpart Blizzard Beach reopened, and only sprung back to life as Disney World prepared to shut down the aforementioned other water park for refurbishments.
The first day back, Disney pulled pulled out the red carpet for guests new and returning. A parks blog mentioned a “build their own tropical flavor DOLE Whip” opportunity on opening day at the Snack Shack. A video also showed cast members handing out leis to celebrate the park coming back to life. All seemed to be going well… and then a cold front came in.
When I say “cold front,” I mean cold enough to shut down a water park in Florida. On Monday, one day after Typhoon Lagoon had reopened its doors to the public, it shut them closed again. The reason? The cold front made the weather feel like a chilly 60 degrees, per WDW Magic.
I personally would be delighted if that was the temperature near me; however, for water activities, it’s a little low. even if the park tries to keep the water between 78 and 82 degrees. It does occasionally get cold or at least cold-ish in Orlando, Florida, and this seems like just one of those cases where things did not play out as swimmingly as planned, pun intended.
Meanwhile, however, today the great city of Orlando is seeing a high of 76 degrees, a temperature it will hit at varying points over the next several days before bumping up into the 80s this weekend. The water park has since reopened after this brief opening/shutting snafu and those visiting the resort can plan a time to go now. It’s only one of a slew of delays Disney World has faced in recent months, but it’s nice to know things are back on track and guests will now be able to check out that epic wave pool again.
