Disney Dining: Blizzard Beach

Mr. Penguin took me to Blizzard Beach for New Year’s Day this year.  Having some fun is the best start of a New Year.  I’m so lucky to live in a place that is snow free and 70 degrees in the middle of winter.  Even though it was warm out I was still skeptical of being able to have fun at a water park in winter.  I’m glad I was wrong and braved the water.  It also helped that it was heated water!

 

Blizzard Beach is a winter themed water park.  The premise is that there was a freak snowstorm and someone got the bright idea to open a ski lodge.  Unfortunately for the owners the Florida heat soon reappeared and all the snow began to melt.  No worries though, melting water equals fun water slides!

The atmosphere of the park in the off-season is very relaxed.  There wasn’t a ton of people and we didn’t have to wait in line.  Our biggest complaint was the ton of leaves clogging up the lazy river.  Leaf up the butt isn’t pleasant.  Also, stepping on acorns and little sharp spiny somethings isn’t pleasant either.  The poor staff were fighting a losing battle with the foliage.  They tried.

One of the disadvantages to coming to the park during the off-season is that there isn’t very many options open food wise.  Only Lottawatta Lodge, the Donut Hut, Avalunch and a couple pretzel/snack huts were open.  We decided to eat at Lottawatta (and the mini donut place, got to have the donuts!).  The menu isn’t very big:

Bacon Cheeseburger - with apple slices or fries
Chili Dog -with apple slices or fries
Chopped Chicken Salad
Chicken Wrap -with apple slices or fries
Chicken Breast Nuggets (8 pieces) -with apple slices or french fries
Pepperoni Pizza
Stacked Deli Sandwich-with apple slices or fries

Swimming makes ya hungry, very hungry!  We both got the bacon cheeseburgers.  It was the best cheeseburger ever because it had bacon on it.  Bacon makes everything taste great.  Did I mention that it had bacon? I got the fries and Mr. Penguin got the apple slices.  We always do it that way so we can share.  Also, Mr. Penguin isn’t a big fry eater…unless the fries I ordered are in his lap and I am driving (he’s a fry thief!).
 

We really wanted to eat at the Warming Hut, but it was closed.  That restaurant serves ribs. Mr. Penguin loves him some ribs! Since we only get comp tickets good October to February its unlikely we’ll ever get to try out any of the other eateries though.

For dessert we went to the mini donut place.  These donuts are amazing.  I wish I could just go into the park and grab me some donuts!  They make them up fresh as you watch.  We got a big bag and some white chocolate and raspberry dipping sauce. They also have just plain chocolate.  My favorite was the raspberry, the white chocolate taste like coconut which was surprising, in a good way.  We were pretty chilled and ready to go home by this time so these little hot bits of dough were most welcome.  It was a yummy way to warm up.  They also served coffee and hot chocolate, yum!

Overall we had a blast.  I felt like a little piggy eating a huge bacon cheeseburger AND donuts after making a resolution to lose weight but looking back I realize we did a lot of walking, climbing and swimming.  All the slides are very tall and involve a lot of stairs.  I got a pretty good workout.   I can’t wait to go to a water park next year.  Can’t decided if I want to go to Blizzard Beach again or Typhoon Lagoon.  Lagoon was under refurbishment this time so that made our decision easy to make.  Decisions, decisions!