Surfing at Typhoon Lagoon

Craig Carroll's Cocoa Beach Surfing School

What: About three hours of surfing instruction, which will include 1/2 hour of land-side instruction

Where: Typhoon Lagoon Water Park

Who: WDW Resort Guests, age 8 years and older. Participants must be strong swimmers

When: Monday, Tuesday, and Friday mornings from 6:45 to 10 a.m., unless park opens one hour early for Extra Magic Hour, in which case the surf school starts and ends an hour earlier. (There is also occasionally evening surfing. after park hours, for pre-formed groups in which the surfers have their own boards. There are between 100 and 150 waves and each wave is between $13.00 and $15.00 depending on the size. Total cost can vary between $1,300 and $2,250 depending on the contract. Groups can be as small as six people.)

Class Size: up to 13 people. Two instructors will be present. Spectators welcome.

Cost: $140 per person (tax included). Price does not include general admission to Typhoon Lagoon once lesson is finished.

Payment: Pay when you arrive at Typhoon Lagoon. Cash, credit card, travelers checks, and room charge will be accepted.

Surfboards: Guests must use the soft-side surfboards provided.

Waiver: Each guest will be asked to sign a waiver.

Transportation: Guests will need to provide transportation to Typhoon Lagoon. Disney Buses will be operating after the class to take guests back to their WDW Resort Hotel or to other locations at Walt Disney World.

Reservations: Call WDW-PLAY (939-7529) up to 90 days in advance.

Luis (LRodK@aol.com) surfed at Typhoon Lagoon and files this report!

Surf clinics for beginners are offered every Tuesday for $125 (last year they were offered on Wednesdays) and always before regular park hours. I made my reservations 2 days prior. They require a credit card number to hold the reservation and there's a 24 hour cancellation policy.

We were told to arrive at the park's entrance at 6am. At 6:15am a cast member opened the gates and did a roll call of participating guests and asked to see our charge cards for payment processing. Then we're escorted to the lifeguard towers to the right of the deepest section of the lagoon. There we meet our instructors Craig and Chip. They're from the Cocoa Beach surfing school and drive down once a week for the classes. They go over technique and safety precautions and allow everyone to practice on dry land the basic physical movements required to stand on the board during the wave. There are three different board sizes (6ft,8ft and 9ft lengths) depending on your height and weight. All of them are provided and are made of hollow fiberglass.

Craig and Chip,who look in good enough shape, jumped in the water and give us a demonstration. They performed flawlessly and made it look too easy. Two students surf at the same time in the lagoon. Each instructor positions himself at either side of the lagoon near the back wall. The first two volunteers throw their boards in the water and dive in. They get on the boards face down and paddle to their designated instructor. Your ankle gets strapped to a cord which is attached to the board. If you're "regular" (righty) then they attach it to your right ankle. If you're "goofy" (lefty) then they attach it to you're left ankle. After positioning yourself facing away from the wave,with the instructors help of course you wait for the swoosh of the wave to signal that you have to start paddling hard. Once you're lifted from the water by the wave you need to jump into position and balance yourself properly or face a wipe out in the wave. The waves come in 90 second cycles and after each run you need to paddle back to the starting point for a second try with your instructor. After that you move to the other instructor where you get two more runs back to back. So all told, you get 4 runs in a row, 2 with each instructor. Then each student after you goes in order until your turn comes up where you'll get 4 runs all over again. There were 10 students in our class and all told I got to surf 12 times in a 2 hour and 15 minute time span. They did allow spectators so I brought my wife along to videotape the experience.

I have to say that the experience was wonderful. Living in the northeast I don't think I would ever have the chance to surf in a controlled environment like this. I must say I'm sold on the sport. It is however very physically demanding. I really did appreciate our instructors physical conditioning after paddling back and forth. My shoulders were fatigued after the first couple of runs and my whole body was sore for 2 days. I used muscles that I haven't used in a long time. I would suggest anyone trying this to do some swimming or shoulder exercises in the months prior, to condition your muscles for the demand. I had so much fun though,it was a memorable experience.

I highly recommend it and can't say enough good things about the instructors. They were always in the water with us and offered lots of words of encouragement and helpful advise. I wiped out on most of the runs. I would manage to get up on the board but fall shortly after that. When I finally got a complete run in I felt this great sense of accomplishment. It's not nearly as easy as it looks, but the fun is in trying and watching everyone else struggle along with you. I have some great video shots which I'll cherish forever. I never would have thought a city boy like me had it in him, but you never know until you try. An additional bonus of the program is that you can opt to stay in the park after class.

Admission to Typhoon Lagoon is included in the fee so I guess you can deduct $26.95 from that price to get a final cost. The lagoon can also be rented out after park hours for private parties for $1000. You can get a group of ten friends and split the cost,but you have to bring your own equipment. For that price you get 100 waves total. Apparently there are many people who do this. (7/99)