Volcano Bay Expansion?

[JunoSynth]

I'm down for a 3rd Lazy River. lol

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I'm interested to see what they could fit in the expansion space. The area isn't huge, but I could see them being able to fit in another couple slides and possibly a dining location.

(Full-service restaurant please)

 

[JohnHammondsCane]

I'm excited for the near future of Universal. I have a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old, so all these expansions and updates are coming at the perfect time.

Question for anyone that's taken littles to VB, is there much to do for them? I know there is Runnamukka and Tot Tikki Reef. Would be it better for us to make it a half day park?

 

[kingcooger]

I'm excited for the near future of Universal. I have a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old, so all these expansions and updates are coming at the perfect time.

Question for anyone that's taken littles to VB, is there much to do for them? I know there is Runnamukka and Tot Tikki Reef. Would be it better for us to make it a half day park?

My daughter was 3 on her first visit so in addition to what you listed we did the lazy River, the wave pool, and the volcano walkthroughs multiple times. We managed to fill out a day while taking turns doing some of the bigger slides ourselves (which was manageable thanks to Tapu Tapu). We spent the whole day, but that might just be us.

 

[Andysol]

I'm excited for the near future of Universal. I have a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old, so all these expansions and updates are coming at the perfect time.

Question for anyone that's taken littles to VB, is there much to do for them? I know there is Runnamukka and Tot Tikki Reef. Would be it better for us to make it a half day park?

If your 2.5yo kid is fine just being in a pool all day it’s an all day park. 6 months? Far too young, I’d think, but can go to hotel for a nap or get a cabana maybe.

While the lazy River and runamaka are really all they can do- runamaka is flippin awesome. Makes me wish I was under 48”

 

[Ahmanet]

VB still has such a wow factor for new visitors that it really only needs additions for operational improvements

Curious to see if any of the Epic hotels will have mini water parks like Cabana Bay

 

[TheCodeMan95]

VB still has such a wow factor for new visitors that it really only needs additions for operational improvements

Curious to see if any of the Epic hotels will have mini water parks like Cabana Bay

It's been 6 years and I've been in the park many times, and it still blows my mind EVERYTIME I see that volcano.

 

[tommyhawkins]

That's what I was thinking. Future development would require additional space they don't currently have for a pond expansion. It's a pretty big pond nowhere near filling up, but wouldn't surprise me after last year that Orlando became a bit more serious with flooding concerns.

Back to VB, I would not be shocked to see park reservations implemented once Epic's hotel capacity opens unless some major work is done. I can't see Universal lock out their onsite hotel guests and let offsite guests show up and get turned away.

This was taken into account on the updated plan I did.

The pond (Sizes) they have now account for all they need for the entire final buildout , where the ponds are located can change as long as they total the same area/capacity.

If you look close I modified the pond, took into account flooding since that's on the extended flood plain.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

This was taken into account on the updated plan I did.

The pond (Sizes) they have now account for all they need for the entire final buildout , where the ponds are located can change as long as they total the same area/capacity.

If you look close I modified the pond, took into account flooding since that's on the extended flood plain.

Well aware, not saying it's impossible... but there's more concern for flooding after the storms last year compared to August 2022 lol

 

[tommyhawkins]

Well aware, not saying it's impossible... but there's more concern for flooding after the storms last year compared to August 2022 lol

They're not going to allocate more than what they have when everything is well over capacity.

There was a lot of hyperbole surrounding what happened at the north campus last year when the flood plain acted exactly as it should despite the large volumes of water

 

[Thorin Groth]

There are these two small buildings in the back where the expansion plot is located that have exterior theming but hollowed on the inside and seem really old (One is named something like Kai Nui Kitchen, distinctly similar to the drop slide), I've always wondered what they were built for but seem like they would've been pop-up carts. An expansion would be helpful to distribute park times for a lot of the major attractions: Krakatau fills capacity by 2PM, Ko'okiri consisting pushes 100 minutes, Kala & Tai Nui reach similar times because Tai Nui hasn't been open since last December, and Ohyah / Ohno usually has an hour or longer. When would this happen? I have no idea: it's still a relatively new park and since it's a water park with limited competition (pretty sure Disney only has one of theirs open at a time now), Islands needs to replace TLC, Studios needs to replace Simpsons, Epic is still opening up and will see expansions soon, and there are a lot of ventures overseas that are being worked at all at the same time.

An expansion before 2030 would be nice and would certainly complete the park since I don't think there's any room outside of the small expansion plot anyway. Add in another coaster for novelty, a body slide to compete against the tamer Punga Racers after it lost its mat feature, and some unique third attraction to round the area off. Oh yeah, and redoing the lazy river cave to its grandiose concept art would make it a lot better to work in!

 

[Jake S]

That reminds me that I strung together some Google Earth screenshots a while back of the expansion plot over the years. Obviously, not much has happened other than some staging of equipment and what not. But it's a helpful dose of #copium when I start to dream about Volcano Bay expansion.

 

[TheUniC6]

Maybe Universal could fast track an expansion to VB during an off year when nothing major is added to the soon to be 3 existing parks. Maybe they are waiting on the next major new slide model from Proslide. (They are the contractors who built the slides at VB)

 

[IzzyB]

There are these two small buildings in the back where the expansion plot is located that have exterior theming but hollowed on the inside and seem really old (One is named something like Kai Nui Kitchen, distinctly similar to the drop slide), I've always wondered what they were built for but seem like they would've been pop-up carts. An expansion would be helpful to distribute park times for a lot of the major attractions: Krakatau fills capacity by 2PM, Ko'okiri consisting pushes 100 minutes, Kala & Tai Nui reach similar times because Tai Nui hasn't been open since last December, and Ohyah / Ohno usually has an hour or longer. When would this happen? I have no idea: it's still a relatively new park and since it's a water park with limited competition (pretty sure Disney only has one of theirs open at a time now), Islands needs to replace TLC, Studios needs to replace Simpsons, Epic is still opening up and will see expansions soon, and there are a lot of ventures overseas that are being worked at all at the same time.

An expansion before 2030 would be nice and would certainly complete the park since I don't think there's any room outside of the small expansion plot anyway. Add in another coaster for novelty, a body slide to compete against the tamer Punga Racers after it lost its mat feature, and some unique third attraction to round the area off. Oh yeah, and redoing the lazy river cave to its grandiose concept art would make it a lot better to work in!

So it is funny I was just talking to a friend who ended up doing SW passes because he wanted Aquatica and he wanted nothing to do with VB. He said the people who he talks to got to barely ride any slides because of the VQ process and he wanted to be able to ride more things. So they went with SW with Aquatica APs. I haven't been to VB but he made it sound like the process was horrible and the waits were insane and you mostly had just lazy river/wave all day with slides here and there. These a GP people and do not keep up with theme parks at all, in fact I am not sure he even knows Epic is coming, I will need to ask, he has never mentioned it.

 

[Grabnar]

So it is funny I was just talking to a friend who ended up doing SW passes because he wanted Aquatica and he wanted nothing to do with VB. He said the people who he talks to got to barely ride any slides because of the VQ process and he wanted to be able to ride more things. So they went with SW with Aquatica APs. I haven't been to VB but he made it sound like the process was horrible and the waits were insane and you mostly had just lazy river/wave all day with slides here and there. These a GP people and do not keep up with theme parks at all, in fact I am not sure he even knows Epic is coming, I will need to ask, he has never mentioned it.

This is like the opposite of my experience but I'm also an early morning water park person and I usually leave in the early afternoon when the park fills in.

I do wish they'd do something like the H2O Nights at Typhoon Lagoon, I'd love to check out VB at night.

 

[Jake S]

This is like the opposite of my experience but I'm also an early morning water park person and I usually leave in the early afternoon when the park fills in.

I do wish they'd do something like the H2O Nights at Typhoon Lagoon, I'd love to check out VB at night.

Yeah, when my wife and I go to Horror Nights this year the only park we'll be doing during the day is Volcano Bay. We similarly are morning water park people, but are also big fans of the lazy river and wave pool. A water park that is 50 percent lazy river/wave pool is the kind of water park I'd love to get a season pass for.

 

[IzzyB]

This is like the opposite of my experience but I'm also an early morning water park person and I usually leave in the early afternoon when the park fills in.

I do wish they'd do something like the H2O Nights at Typhoon Lagoon, I'd love to check out VB at night.

The crowd he hangs with are night owls, so my guess is they are not going first thing in the morning. He said they stated they would scan and have to come back in an hour and could only do wave and lazy (I don't think they had small kids with them, I assume there is a kids bucket area too?) and that they only got to ride a couple actual slides.