Disney's Typhoon Lagoon is a water theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida near Orlando, and is one of two operating water parks at the resort. It is the second water park to open at the resort, preceded by Disney's River Country which closed in November 2001.
The park, which opened on June 1, 1989, is home to one of the world's largest outdoor wave pools[1] where it is even possible to bodysurf.[2] The theme of the park is the "Disney legend" of a typhoon that wreaked havoc upon a formerly pristine tropical paradise. Ships, fishing gear, and surfboards are strewn about where the storm flung them. Its centerpiece is "Miss Tilly", a shrimp boat impaled upon a mountain named "Mount Mayday" that erupts a 50-foot (15 m) geyser of water every half hour, right before the bells of the watch sound on it. Its mascot is "Lagoona Gator".
Typhoon reclaimed the title of most popular water park in the world in 2022, admitting 1.92 million guests, by beating Chimelong's (China) 1.62M, Volcano Bay's (Florida) 1.85M, Thermas Dos Laranjas' (Brazil) 1.7M, and Therme Erding's (Germany) 1.7M.[3] Prior to 2020, Chimelong and Typhoon Lagoon had taken the top 2 spots for years, annually averaging 2.66M and 2.25M, respectively.[4][5]
The park operates year-round, with an annual maintenance closure during either the fall or winter. During the closure, its sister park, Blizzard Beach, will remain open. From 2020 until 2025, Disney operated only one water park at a time, including during the summer. During this time Typhoon Lagoon was open for <30 days (2020), 0 days (2021), 314 days (2022), and 231 days (2023), not counting weather-related closures.
Of the major parks at Disney World, it is the only one that lies within the city limits of Lake Buena Vista. Blizzard Beach and the four theme parks are within the adjacent city of Bay Lake. However, Lake Buena Vista is the mailing address for the entire Walt Disney World Resort.
The water park, along with all the other Walt Disney World parks, closed in March 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The park remained closed whilst the four theme parks reopened July 11–15, 2020.[6] Disney's Typhoon Lagoon reopened at the Walt Disney World Resort on January 2, 2022,[7] after being closed almost two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the last portion of the resort to reopen after COVID-19 related interruptions.
