Volcano Bay Construction & Preview Discussion
- Thread starter Brian G.
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- Jan 24, 2015
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Ya' never know! :shrug: They still have "WonderSea" trademarked, as well as patents for multiple rafts and drop capsules.
We need to put "BarWatch 2018" on this list.
Getting excited about the Rooftop Bar at Aventura. With views of VB for the nightshow, the Parks... serious, serious potential there
Plus the whole Aventura buildout should be fun to watch
I think Aventura is going to be a crazy quick build.
Given how quick and how much Universal and Disney are building, there's always going to be something to watch for the next 3 years. It's turning into a new golden era.
- Mar 1, 2017
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I certainly don't expect every spot on every raft to get filled, but in general I would expect larger rafts to be carrying more people. As a comparison, 5 largest raft sizes of the waterparks in Orlando:
Volcano Bay: 6, 6, 5, 5, 4
Wet 'n Wild: 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Typhoon Lagoon: 4, 4, 3, 3, 2
Blizzard Beach: 6, 2, 2, 2, 2
Aquatica: 4, 3, 2, 2, 2
The summer will probably be pretty quiet besides Aventura, but I would expect major construction on the first wet n wild hotel to begin late summer or fall, and Nintendo starting late 2017 or early 2018.
Given that Universal will probably want to build hotels as well, I would think one large dry park and one water park (or comparable size attraction) with hotels and a CityWalk equivalent is more likely.
I personally don't see another water park happening, but stranger things have happened, I suppose. I think it would be more likely that Universal purchases Aquatica, depending on what happens with SeaWorld in the future.
This may seem odd, but do they ask for single riders on the rafts at waterparks?
Yeah, I also don't think we'll see another Universal waterpark built in the next 20 years, if ever. I would also be very surprised if Universal build 2 extra parks on the new land. I think they've seen from Disney having 4 parks, that people on a long weekender will simply skip a park rather than commit to staying longer on-site to pack them all in. I believe they'll settle on 3 main parks and VB, with lots of Hotel rooms and some sort of Disney Springs-like site (more shopping and family focused than the current Citywalk)
- Jan 4, 2017
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From 1995-2001 and 2008-2016, there were four water parks in the Orlando area:
River Country (1976-2001)/Aquatica (2008-present)
Wet 'N Wild (1977-2016)/Volcano Bay
Typhoon Lagoon (1989-present)
Blizzard Beach (1995-present)
Volcano Bay will bring Orlando back up to 4 water parks later this month. Five parks may be pushing it now, but if Universal wants visitors to stay "on site" for an entire week, it may need a second water park to get that sixth gate.
If Sea World sells Aquatica Orlando, I could see Universal moving it to the new land off Destination Parkway. If Universal acquires all of Sea World Orlando, then they'll probably keep it right where it is.
River Country (1976-2001)/Aquatica (2008-present)
Wet 'N Wild (1977-2016)/Volcano Bay
Typhoon Lagoon (1989-present)
Blizzard Beach (1995-present)
Volcano Bay will bring Orlando back up to 4 water parks later this month. Five parks may be pushing it now, but if Universal wants visitors to stay "on site" for an entire week, it may need a second water park to get that sixth gate.
If Sea World sells Aquatica Orlando, I could see Universal moving it to the new land off Destination Parkway. If Universal acquires all of Sea World Orlando, then they'll probably keep it right where it is.
I can't see Universal moving Aquatica. They'll build something new.
It's hard to say what Universal will do over the next decade or two. My gut tells me that they won't build more than one new park, but I would say it all comes down to whether they think they can steal another day from Disney off of enough people's vacations, instead of people sacrificing a day at Universal's existing parks.
I wouldn't see Universal moving it, part of the big advantage would be how close it already is to Site B.
- Jan 24, 2015
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Bioreconstruct updates incoming! :clap:
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- Jan 24, 2015
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^I thought I would hate seeing the new Cabana towers standing inside VB. However, they match the color scheme nicely and look quite slick.
- Jan 24, 2015
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Found some more pics on Twitter & Instagram!
Actually there were FIVE.
River Country
Typhoon Lagoon
Blizzard Beach
Wet N Wild
Water Mania
Five is doable. They coexisted from 1995-2001 and did just fine. Of course, there were nowhere near as many tourists visiting Orlando back then...so if Universal added a second waterpark on the new site, I don't see a problem. If anything, with as busy as Universal is getting, and the amount of hotels built up, and with how popular Volcano Bay will probably be, they may need a second waterpark or serious expansion way sooner than later.
It depends. My wife and I have been asked if we would mind going with another group of 2 on Teamboat Springs (the 6 person raft) before, but were just given our own raft on the family slide at Aquatica every time we've gone. I've been asked when I've been at the Disney waterparks and felt like doing the family raft rides to fill in if another single rider or 2 person group is right there as well, but I generally don't do the family raft rides when I'm going solo since it seems most aren't too thrilled about pairing with a stranger for water slides. Crush n Gusher is the only weird one, with one of the three slides being open to singles, but the other two only for doubles/triples. I expect for the water coaster here they'll group singles in, but it looks like those should be more like Splash Mountain style rafts (so hopefully no touching legs/feet when sitting)?
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