Volcano Bay: General Discussion

[Latveria]

Passive aggressive asshats gonna asshat.

No personal attacks on this board good sir.

 

[Ryan]

Passive aggressive asshats gonna asshat.

Okay, let's try to lessen the personal insults.

 

[12th Man]

Drone footage!

Don't know about you, but this park exceeded my expectations with only a few exceptions that will hopefully be fixed soon!

 

[Donald Razorduck]

Just to bring it back to reality... While the park definitely feels void in several ways, I will say I don't see it hurting attendance.

This is the first true complex in Orlando that most annual pass holders can do the theme parks and water park in the same day by just using a locker (Aquatica/SeaWorld required getting in your car and driving to each gate, and Disney only afforded water park access to very upper echelon pass holders). And of course an on-site water park is a good value proposition for resort guests booking vacation packages with the hotels. In fact, I do wonder if Universal will have to revaluate pass holder access in the future.

As for the park itself, my two biggest complaints:
1- Monotonous theme. Everything is the same exact theme throughout.
2- Nothing is special. It doesn't offer a world class theme park escapism, it just feels like an extended resort with more slides.

I am eagerly looking forward to Volcano Bay next March. My question will be repeatibility, will I want to come back, will it make me want to stay on resort again or will I check out the new Margiritaville resort. I figure we'll get more substantial response from Disney soon at both their parks. Let's be honest, even highly themeing water parks is a much cheaper thing to do than additions at dry parks. I'll curious if Disney answers with nightime hours.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

There are definitely some users on here who spew negativity towards Universal and/or Disney; sometimes it's one or the other, and sometimes it's just a pessimistic personality. I welcome criticism- in fair, moderate use. There have definitely been some valid complaints made in this thread, but some of you are going overboard. That's not to say the more "positive" people are saints either; some of you guys have been staunch defenders of this project to the point where criticism should be a dirty word and and that everything is going GREAT. This park isn't 100% perfect right now, but it is in no way a disaster either. It's ok to let your guard down and acknowledge the faults. Hell, do you honestly think we as humans are perfect? The same crap happened with the Pandora thread, albeit on the opposite end more often. There were definitely big fans and big critics in that thread, but it was a little more passive aggressive. Many people never believed anything with the project and attempted to downplay it, but, again, some people defended it too much. There's never a right balance with this community, and it often feels like an Us vs Them mentality when it comes to Universal and Disney, positive and negative, etc. I've been skimming through threads like this and Pandora because of the hostility. It's made me feel on the outside for discussions, and I don't want to get caught up in flame wars. I do think and hope to GOD the hostility winds down over the next few weeks, but who's to say this wont happen with Furious? Toy Story? GOTG? Nintendo? The DC replacement? Ratatouille?

TLDR: Put the knives down and cooperate.

 

[quinnmac000]

Its not like Universal didn't lose inventory with that fire but it seems everyone seems to forget about that. This is also probably why we will never get non IP based attractions again.

 

[sonoma15]

Are they doing the eruption today?

 

[JunoSynth]

Oh wow, I didn't even realize the wall theming difference until you looked at it in the comparison pictures.

You can find flaws in anything if thats what your looking for.

There are definitely some users on here who spew negativity towards Universal and/or Disney; sometimes it's one or the other, and sometimes it's just a pessimistic personality. I welcome criticism- in fair, moderate use. There have definitely been some valid complaints made in this thread, but some of you are going overboard. That's not to say the more "positive" people are saints either; some of you guys have been staunch defenders of this project to the point where criticism should be a dirty word and and that everything is going GREAT. This park isn't 100% perfect right now, but it is in no way a disaster either. It's ok to let your guard down and acknowledge the faults. Hell, do you honestly think we as humans are perfect? The same crap happened with the Pandora thread, albeit on the opposite end more often. There were definitely big fans and big critics in that thread, but it was a little more passive aggressive. Many people never believed anything with the project and attempted to downplay it, but, again, some people defended it too much. There's never a right balance with this community, and it often feels like an Us vs Them mentality when it comes to Universal and Disney, positive and negative, etc. I've been skimming through threads like this and Pandora because of the hostility. It's made me feel on the outside for discussions, and I don't want to get caught up in flame wars. I do think and hope to GOD the hostility winds down over the next few weeks, but who's to say this wont happen with Furious? Toy Story? GOTG? Nintendo? The DC replacement? Ratatouille?

TLDR: Put the knives down and cooperate.

Good observation. It goes beyond that. Our whole society seems like it has to pick a side and blindly stick to it to the end. But thats a whole other discussion.

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

I'm trying so hard to delay judgments on this until seeing it in person, like I have advocated myself in the past on the other thread but i really hope there is much work left to be done in this park. I have been a Universal fan my whole life and I honestly can not be more disappointed in the back end of the river video posted today. It looks like an indoor water park in Sandusky, Ohio. This is not the universal standard of theming we have been so lucky to experience in the last 5-6 years. Maybe my expectations where unrealistic. What's with the mandatory life jackets in that river?!? There aren't even rapids, some places where choppy at most, hopefully this isn't up and running 100%. Even the theming that appears to be done doesn't even come close to meeting my expectations for this.

Very disappointed life long Universal fan, based on opening day day pics and video mind you, but disappointed non the less. I desperately hope I am proven otherwise

 

[Happytycho]

Good observation. It goes beyond that. Our whole society seems like it has to pick a side and blindly stick to it to the end. But thats a whole other discussion.

I think this is a case of everyone being so determined to defend their side that we don't realize that we could agree on a few major points:
1) Volcano Bay looks like a good, fun park.
2) It's clearly not done, with details still being worked on.
3) Once those details are done, this will be one of the better themed water parks in the world, though not necessarily the best.

 

[Ryan]

What's with the mandatory life jackets in that river?!? There aren't even rapids, some places where choppy at most, hopefully this isn't up and running 100%. Even the theming that appears to be done doesn't even come close to meeting my expectations for this.

It isn't, and that isn't either.

 

[Clive]

I think this is a case of everyone being so determined to defend their side that we don't realize that we could agree on a few major points:
1) Volcano Bay looks like a good, fun park.
2) It's clearly not done, with details still being worked on.
3) Once those details are done, this will be one of the better themed water parks in the world, though not necessarily the best.

Yep.

Mountain looks amazing from the front - functional / "okay" from the back.
Some great detailing in the entry areas and nice touches throughout.
Fantastic looking slide lineup.

TapuTapu yet to prove itself in high volume conditions.
Critically unfinished in many (most?) areas.
Disappointing commitment to theme in some areas relative to similar water "theme" parks.

 

[sonoma15]

Interesting that the park is closed and the volcano never erupted

 

[quinnmac000]

Universal spokeswoman Tom Schroder said in an email, “We know there were some opening-day glitches and we’re working hard to resolve them. We are also working especially hard to take care of our guests. We are sorry for any inconvenience we’ve caused them and we are grateful for their patience with us.” He declined to elaborate.

Still, he said, “thousands of our guests had exactly the kind of great experience they came to Volcano Bay to have today.”

 

[JT308]

Maybe it's the engineering student in me, but I kind of like all the exposed steel and being able to float under it/see the structure. To each his own though.

When I go to a water park I care about the slides, and how fun they are. It looks like VB nailed this and is a success in my book, TapuTapu will adjust over time, though when I do go I'll definitely go with the Unlimited Express.

 

[wizwit]

Interesting that the park is closed and the volcano never erupted

Park closes at 8pm every night in May.

June 1st is the first 9pm closure. Sunset is 8:18 on June 1st.

So, fingers crossed that there will be a proper eruption next Thursday night.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

Huh, seems odd they wouldn't show it off on opening night. Must not be ready. Gives workers a full 14 hours to work between operational hours.

 

[MattA]

Did anybody else notice a drone crashed into the volcano right before the opening ceremony XD

 

[Ryan]

Huh, seems odd they wouldn't show it off on opening night. Must not be ready. Gives workers a full 14 hours to work between operational hours.

Well, no, they're closing early tonight as always scheduled. As you can see, the park closed near sunset.



This will obviously help giving crews more hours to tinker on the park.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

^The show was an important part of giving this project the Water Theme Park title. You're going to rush a grand opening for Memorial Day weekend and not show those goods because someone already set the operating schedule? As if Universal doesn't know when the sun sets? I don't think so man lol...