Volcano Bay: Photos & Reviews

[sjago13]

Just got back after a FULL day at VB for my friends and I' s first time. I will give a more in depth review come Monday when I sober up it exceeded my expectations. Punga Racers were the surprise hit of the day for me.

TLDR- Got there at 8 for a 9am opening. Let us looses at 8.30 and rode every ride except ohno and kal and tai nui and only didnt do the sedcond 2 cause of weight. Park closed down from like 5.30 to 7.15 for weather so drank and then had the last hour alone.

This place exceeded my expectations but that is most likely from knowing to wait and go early. Plus I do not think they hit capacity as well.

 

[sjago13]

So full review time. Went Saturday Aug. 26 and wasn't sure what to expect crowd wise since it was a weekend. The one positive is that the weather hasn't really been good this week and it was projected to rain from 1 to 7. Only ended up raining from 5.30-7 and was overcast most of the day so not too hot.

Knowing the layout and what to hit first and all the other pertienet info my friend and I got there and parked at 7.45 for a 9am opening. Got into the park around 8 and they had a roped off a section of the park from the right side of the entrance all the way down to the fisrt locker location on the right by the entrance to koorakirir and the cabana bay towers. I was expecting to have to tap somewhere first then go get a locker so being able to get set up before they released us was nice. They let us out at 8.30 and did Krakatau and Honu ride now with about 10-15 waits for each in the physical line. After that decided to tap for koorikiri which was 70 mins and went over to maku puihi and did both ride now. Then did Punta racers twice ride now and taniwa twice ride now. At this point went back to do koorikiri and tapped at Ohyeah with a posted 90 min wait. Finally able to hit up the rivers as all rides except taniwa had waits now. At this point I believe it was around 11.30 and the park didnt feel that crowded. The longest wait I saw the whole day was 160 for Krakatau and I believe that is because it went down at some point. Spent a lot of time at the blue bar and doing taniwa tubes since even when the line went to the bottom of the stairs it is only a 5-10 min wait.

Overview of the slides from personal favorite to least favorite:

Krakatau Aqua Coaster- long and fun with some little airtime in the front sear over some of the hills was able to do it 3 times and is definitely the go to ride there.

Punga Racers- wasn't expecting much but these slides blew my expectations out of the water. Did each one ones and orange seemed the most mild with the outside two being crazy both almost throwing me off the mat mod ride and then at the end. Also more fun if you stand and jump in at the beginning instead of lying down and pushing off.

Honu- really fun slide and great hang time. Only rode this as a group of 2 and it looked like the heavier the raft the higher you went.

Puihi- like a mini honu you get some good action in the funnels that are really fun. Only thing is that the 9 person rafts are really wired and overinflated in the middle that make you want to fall off of them versus the 5 seater for honu ika Moana.

Ika Moana- way more fun than I thought but the turns are tight and you build good speed to the point that towards the end you are riding the walls high in the turns.

Ko'orikiri- fast and smooth plus its fun watxhing the people before you go and make faces of terror. Had my friend go first and asked the life guard to screw around with him to he opened on closed the door on him 3 or 4 times faking him out.

Taniwa tubes- more fun than they look and the varying tube size really makes it more exciting. The twists on the blue ones have you pulling some serious g's for a tube slide and almost riding up the side of the walls.

Maku- I would say it was the biggest disappointment. You build nice speed and can ride the wall if you are on the right side of the tube but for being called "wet" you simply don't. They need to have the geysers in the middle spray some of the water at the sides because I got off this bone dry.

Ohyeah- Boring except for the drop at the end. Not worth the inflated waits because of the low cap and visual spectacle of the slide. Also ohno is not worth the usually extra 30 mins of wait for 2 extra feet.

Overall I love this place and am glad I waited to go. Renewed my pass to the 3 park level so I will be back frequently. I'm sure if I walked in at 11 with no clue I wouldn't have been as happy but that's how it works out at every park. Show up early and have some semblance of an idea of what's going on to make the most of your day.

Also forgot my favorite chill place is that pool overlooking the wave pool. There is a railing to hold onto right where koorikiri comes down so you get to watch the people slosh over and have a nice view of the wave pool.

 

[Andysol]

At volcano bay

7:58 There are 18 of us here. Including my family of 4.

 

[Mad Dog]

At volcano bay

7:58 There are 18 of us here. Including my family of 4.

View attachment 5312

Sounds like walk ons today. Irma's gift before she turns rogue.

 

[Andysol]

Sounds like walk ons today. Irma's gift before she turns rogue.

Ya. I'm exhausted. I've climbed those volcano stairs 6 times now. Every time no one is up there. I'd estimate less than 1000 people in the park at this point (10am)
Nice and sunny.
Irma ain't slowin us down (yet)

 

[Mad Dog]

A beautiful wife & two beautiful children:thumbsup:........Are you staying on site at Universal or off property? .......We were at Portofino when Matthew was on it's way. After changing my mind about a dozen times on Weds. morning, I decided to leave three days early and drove off early Weds. afternoon. Good thing I did since all the roads north through Georgia, S. Carolina and N. Carolina were impassable for days/weeks after Matthew hit them. Since you just got there you may as well stay for another week or so.

 

[Andysol]

A beautiful wife & two beautiful children:thumbsup:........Are you staying on site at Universal or off property? .......We were at Portofino when Matthew was on it's way. After changing my mind about a dozen times on Weds. morning, I decided to leave three days early and drove off early Weds. afternoon. Good thing I did since all the roads north through Georgia, S. Carolina and N. Carolina were impassable for days/weeks after Matthew hit them. Since you just got there you may as well stay for another week or so.

Thanks! I'm the ugly one taking the pic.
We are at the royal pacific and our flights Sunday got bumped to Monday so we're riding it out. I went ahead and booked the Floridian for Sunday night thinking I'll ride it out there instead of here. If I can get a driver there Sunday morning (we're monutoring). If I can't- royal Pacific it is.
I have travel delay insurance. So I can live it up.

 

[Mad Dog]

Thanks! I'm the ugly one taking the pic.
We are at the royal pacific and our flights Sunday got bumped to Monday so we're riding it out. I went ahead and booked the Floridian for Sunday night thinking I'll ride it out there instead of here. If I can get a driver there Sunday morning (we're monutoring). If I can't- royal Pacific it is.
I have travel delay insurance. So I can live it up.

If it was me, I'd stay at RP. Best to be safe, especially with the kids with you two. Heck, I'd bet that Monday flight gets bumped back anther day or two, also.....Looking at the hurricane predictions at this moment, there's little chance anything will be flying out of Orlando on Monday.

 

[Iwalkpluto]

So after lurking on this website for over a year and a half, I thought I should probably register and contribute.
Recently went to VB for half a day while staying at Lowes Royal Pacific Resort with my wife. A little background, went to Aquatica and Schlitterbahn in Texas which are my basis for any comparison. I went to the other two Disney waterparks before but that was about 10+ years ago. So anyway on with the review.

We took an early bus to get in and arrived a bit after 8:00. We left around 12:00 most of the rides were "Ride Now" until after 10:00 or so when the slides such as Oh No and Oh Yeah increased in times to about an hour +. So here are my observations for the rides :

• Went on Krakatau first, it was ride now but still took 10+ minutes to get on. It was okay.
• Honu and Moana, conveyor broke down, but up again in 10 minutes. We enjoyed them both but not enough for a reride.
• Went on all four of Taniwha Tubes. We both loved these rides, each were pretty different which made it fun.
• Went on both Puihi and Maku, also enjoyed them, but nothing mind-blowing.
  
• Did the Fearless River which the wife loved, but I wished they would crank up the waves. Schlitterbahn has something like this in which you can swim in and it has bigger waves and is so much better. Inside cave area was rather lame, but seeing the interior of the volcano really wasn't as big of a deal as it was made out to be.
  
• Punga Racers, did this once both my wife and I bumped our heads on the ride against the side. Won't ever do this one again.
• Went to the beach area, but yet again the waves were pretty small, but it was still a very gorgeous view.
• Talked with Vol, which was pretty awesome actually. He even has a little story to tell with fog effects occurring.

After that we went home and now my general impressions of the park overall.

• Loved the theme of everything. It is a gorgeous park, but seeing the highway does take out a bit of the immersion. Some of the music could have been more upbeat too.
  
• The Cast Members still didn't know where things were and had a hard time in giving directions. We spent a lot of time finding where they served breakfast after going deep into the park. (Kohola Reef)
• The rides that I went on overall were taming then I thought they would be, but still fun.
  
• Tapu Tapu was neat, but we only went on the Ride Now rides.
• The large amount of Ride Now rides and getting in early really made the park fun. If a person gets in later and sees all of the long wait times I could really see it being a sub-optimal experience.
  
• The food was good and reasonably priced, but I just had the breakfast croissant without the added stuff and a small pineapple dessert.
  
• Bring water shoes there are little rocks here and there on the walkways, also some of the rides you can wear the shoes.

My wife and I really did enjoy our time at VB. That being said it is not the evolution of water parks it was made out to be. If you come to VB early in the morning and keep your expectations in check you'll have a great time.

 

[Mad Dog]

So after lurking on this website for over a year and a half, I thought I should probably register and contribute.
Recently went to VB for half a day while staying at Lowes Royal Pacific Resort with my wife. A little background, went to Aquatica and Schlitterbahn in Texas which are my basis for any comparison. I went to the other two Disney waterparks before but that was about 10+ years ago. So anyway on with the review.

We took an early bus to get in and arrived a bit after 8:00. We left around 12:00 most of the rides were "Ride Now" until after 10:00 or so when the slides such as Oh No and Oh Yeah increased in times to about an hour +. So here are my observations for the rides :

• Went on Krakatau first, it was ride now but still took 10+ minutes to get on. It was okay.
• Honu and Moana, conveyor broke down, but up again in 10 minutes. We enjoyed them both but not enough for a reride.
• Went on all four of Taniwha Tubes. We both loved these rides, each were pretty different which made it fun.
• Went on both Puihi and Maku, also enjoyed them, but nothing mind-blowing.
  
• Did the Fearless River which the wife loved, but I wished they would crank up the waves. Schlitterbahn has something like this in which you can swim in and it has bigger waves and is so much better. Inside cave area was rather lame, but seeing the interior of the volcano really wasn't as big of a deal as it was made out to be.
  
• Punga Racers, did this once both my wife and I bumped our heads on the ride against the side. Won't ever do this one again.
• Went to the beach area, but yet again the waves were pretty small, but it was still a very gorgeous view.
• Talked with Vol, which was pretty awesome actually. He even has a little story to tell with fog effects occurring.

After that we went home and now my general impressions of the park overall.

• Loved the theme of everything. It is a gorgeous park, but seeing the highway does take out a bit of the immersion. Some of the music could have been more upbeat too.
  
• The Cast Members still didn't know where things were and had a hard time in giving directions. We spent a lot of time finding where they served breakfast after going deep into the park. (Kohola Reef)
• The rides that I went on overall were taming then I thought they would be, but still fun.
  
• Tapu Tapu was neat, but we only went on the Ride Now rides.
• The large amount of Ride Now rides and getting in early really made the park fun. If a person gets in later and sees all of the long wait times I could really see it being a sub-optimal experience.
  
• The food was good and reasonably priced, but I just had the breakfast croissant without the added stuff and a small pineapple dessert.
  
• Bring water shoes there are little rocks here and there on the walkways, also some of the rides you can wear the shoes.

My wife and I really did enjoy our time at VB. That being said it is not the evolution of water parks it was made out to be. If you come to VB early in the morning and keep your expectations in check you'll have a great time.

Welcome to the IU Forum. That was a slam dunk intro. :thumbsup:

 

[Alicia]

So after lurking on this website for over a year and a half, I thought I should probably register and contribute.
Recently went to VB for half a day while staying at Lowes Royal Pacific Resort with my wife. A little background, went to Aquatica and Schlitterbahn in Texas which are my basis for any comparison. I went to the other two Disney waterparks before but that was about 10+ years ago. So anyway on with the review.

We took an early bus to get in and arrived a bit after 8:00. We left around 12:00 most of the rides were "Ride Now" until after 10:00 or so when the slides such as Oh No and Oh Yeah increased in times to about an hour +. So here are my observations for the rides :

• Went on Krakatau first, it was ride now but still took 10+ minutes to get on. It was okay.
• Honu and Moana, conveyor broke down, but up again in 10 minutes. We enjoyed them both but not enough for a reride.
• Went on all four of Taniwha Tubes. We both loved these rides, each were pretty different which made it fun.
• Went on both Puihi and Maku, also enjoyed them, but nothing mind-blowing.
  
• Did the Fearless River which the wife loved, but I wished they would crank up the waves. Schlitterbahn has something like this in which you can swim in and it has bigger waves and is so much better. Inside cave area was rather lame, but seeing the interior of the volcano really wasn't as big of a deal as it was made out to be.
  
• Punga Racers, did this once both my wife and I bumped our heads on the ride against the side. Won't ever do this one again.
• Went to the beach area, but yet again the waves were pretty small, but it was still a very gorgeous view.
• Talked with Vol, which was pretty awesome actually. He even has a little story to tell with fog effects occurring.

After that we went home and now my general impressions of the park overall.

• Loved the theme of everything. It is a gorgeous park, but seeing the highway does take out a bit of the immersion. Some of the music could have been more upbeat too.
  
• The Cast Members still didn't know where things were and had a hard time in giving directions. We spent a lot of time finding where they served breakfast after going deep into the park. (Kohola Reef)
• The rides that I went on overall were taming then I thought they would be, but still fun.
  
• Tapu Tapu was neat, but we only went on the Ride Now rides.
• The large amount of Ride Now rides and getting in early really made the park fun. If a person gets in later and sees all of the long wait times I could really see it being a sub-optimal experience.
  
• The food was good and reasonably priced, but I just had the breakfast croissant without the added stuff and a small pineapple dessert.
  
• Bring water shoes there are little rocks here and there on the walkways, also some of the rides you can wear the shoes.

My wife and I really did enjoy our time at VB. That being said it is not the evolution of water parks it was made out to be. If you come to VB early in the morning and keep your expectations in check you'll have a great time.

Thanks for the great review. Really informative. I haven't visited yet myself, but I'm actually looking forward to Taniwha Tubes most. Those old-school raft rides are usually my favorites at water parks and it's good to hear you like them -and that they're all kind of different. Good news to me. Plus, they usually have the shortest waits. Thanks again for the contribution!

 

[Iwalkpluto]

Thanks guys for the great feedback! I find the multiple person water rides more enjoyable since you can share the experience better. Plus it is always fun to see who ends up going down backwards. So I totally agree AliciaStella the raft rides are definitely the best.

 

[Mad Dog]

Thanks guys for the great feedback! I find the multiple person water rides more enjoyable since you can share the experience better. Plus it is always fun to see who ends up going down backwards. So I totally agree AliciaStella the raft rides are definitely the best.

Those are my favorite also. :thumbsup:

 

[Chumpieboy]

Went yesterday. We arrived well after opening (1030AM). Everyone at our hotel said the crowds were super super low overall, even for this time of year, so we decided to risk going after opening (as opposed to going at rope drop or not at all) since the forecast said this would be one of the few sunny days during our trip.

In short - not impressed.

Cons:

• Multiple concierge desks. The one closest to the entrance had their premium seating sold out. They could not check the other stations. Even if I had to walk over there to check in, I should be able to purchase at any station.
• Concierge desks were far away from their sections, or at least far from our location. They should be closer (see next few points for why I think this)
• The premium seating was hot, cramped and uncomfortable. With the large tent topping on the sides, other seating pairs in *very* close proximity, small locker in between, there was no room to sit down or move. Forget reaching to the back to adjust the back of the chair. No air flow within the tent thing, so we were sitting in an oven instead of enjoying shade.
• One alleged benefit of the prem. seating is access to runners from whom you can order food/drinks, etc. Our server was nowhere to be found for most of the day. For context - at RPR, the servers are very attentive, make rounds frequently, and you never go more than 5-10 mins without contact. They don't bother you every 5 minutes but you at least see them walking around and can flag them down if you want something. The servers at VB? Nowhere. The flag on our tent was raised, and nothing. The server did come by finally and made rounds, whereby she had to deal with everyone in our area who wanted service. I overheard her quoting the tent next to us 45-60 minutes for lunch to arrive. On a Thursday in September after a hurricane in lower-than-normally-low crowds. What is the lunch order time during July???
• We opted to walk to lunch. But ordered some drinks later in the afternoon. Same deal as before - raise flag, wait 40 mins, etc. I ended up walking the long distance to the nearest concierge desk to complain. They radioed for our server and she showed up 10 minutes after I got back to my tent.
• I realized at that point why (in part at least) why the service was slow. The servers need to go across the park to get the food and drinks. Had to go across the park again it seems to process our check and payment. I don't know why they set up the park with these logistics. I didn't xref the menu from our area with the menus from the various restaurants all over the park, and I get if there's one unique dish only served in one location and my assigned seater area happens to be the furthest from that restaurant, etc. But there's no excuse for not having a register station nearby, or a TM-only bar area.
• Cabanas - not worth 250. We've willingly paid for cabanas at Discovery Cove and Aquatica, but these cabanas are not worth the price from what we saw from the outside. Regardless I hope they got better service from their food runners.
• Tapu tapu - tapped for krakatoa (coaster). Got a return countdown. 60 mins…50 mins…down to 20 mins… back up to 55 mins… 60 mins… 20 mins… ride now. WTF.
• My Tapu fell off several times and I continued to step on tapus in the various non-slide attractions. I don't know if the tapu I ended up with at the end of the day was the one I started with…

Pros:

• The park is very beautiful. The placemaking from the first walkthrough of the tunnel is gorgeous and compares very favorably to entrances in Disney parks.

 

[sonoma15]

Went again on 9/14/17 for the third time, this time doing early entry, we got just about everything done in an hour and a half (I think the only slide we didn't do was puihi), we had a great time and I loved seeing the new volcano area because it wasn't open the last time I went. After going 3 times I can say this is my rating for each slide:

OHNO - 7/10
This is an extremely short but sweet slide, I love the 6 ft drop at the end and it really makes up for the lack of thrills in the actual slide portion

Kala & Tai Nui - 10/10
These slides are the most intense slides I have ever rode, they are amazing and thrilling in every way and they feel like they just keep on going and going. These two are probably my favorite slides in the park.

Taniwah Tubes - 6/10
These slides are usually the slides that will always be ride now no matter when you go, even though there was really no waits the last time we were there, these slides are still really, really fun, dark blue is definitely my favorite because it is the most intense out of them. I also love the little rope bridge they put in the queue.

Puihi - 7/10
This is a really fun one, it is definitely wild, and you can most of the time get a really good ride on it.

Maku - 5/10
This slide is only really fun if your group gets really close to the weight limit, otherwise it is just a non-intense slide that slowly travels through its course with no real other elements besides the saucers, which are pretty much just sharper-then-usual turns.

Punga Racers - 3/10
Long waits and a whole lot of pain, enough said.

Krakatau Aqua Coaster - 10/10
This is one of, if not the longest slide I've ever been on and it is super fun the whole way through, you can get some decent air, especially on the very last drop, the station also has a very nice theme and every time I have gone the line has never been that long.

Ika Moana - 7/10
The mist on this slide really makes up for the lack of intensity it has, you can barely see anything the whole way through and it makes for a super fun experience.

Honu - 8/10
This slide is truly spectacular and with the element of mist added it makes it an even better experience, both of the wave walls are very intense and exhilarating, this is a great slide.

Ko'okiri Body Plunge - 8/10
I would give this slide a 10/10, but because of low capacity it has super long waits for a not so long experience and the only way I was able to ride this was thru going on it very first during early entry. From when you first make the climb all the way to the top of the volcano, to when you finally reach the splash pool at the bottom of the slide, your heart is pounding the whole way, while not as intense as the serpentine slides this slide is still super intense and very fun.

 

[Frank Drackman]

Went yesterday. We arrived well after opening (1030AM). Everyone at our hotel said the crowds were super super low overall, even for this time of year, so we decided to risk going after opening (as opposed to going at rope drop or not at all) since the forecast said this would be one of the few sunny days during our trip.

In short - not impressed.

Cons:

• Multiple concierge desks. The one closest to the entrance had their premium seating sold out. They could not check the other stations. Even if I had to walk over there to check in, I should be able to purchase at any station.
• Concierge desks were far away from their sections, or at least far from our location. They should be closer (see next few points for why I think this)
• The premium seating was hot, cramped and uncomfortable. With the large tent topping on the sides, other seating pairs in *very* close proximity, small locker in between, there was no room to sit down or move. Forget reaching to the back to adjust the back of the chair. No air flow within the tent thing, so we were sitting in an oven instead of enjoying shade.
• One alleged benefit of the prem. seating is access to runners from whom you can order food/drinks, etc. Our server was nowhere to be found for most of the day. For context - at RPR, the servers are very attentive, make rounds frequently, and you never go more than 5-10 mins without contact. They don't bother you every 5 minutes but you at least see them walking around and can flag them down if you want something. The servers at VB? Nowhere. The flag on our tent was raised, and nothing. The server did come by finally and made rounds, whereby she had to deal with everyone in our area who wanted service. I overheard her quoting the tent next to us 45-60 minutes for lunch to arrive. On a Thursday in September after a hurricane in lower-than-normally-low crowds. What is the lunch order time during July???
• We opted to walk to lunch. But ordered some drinks later in the afternoon. Same deal as before - raise flag, wait 40 mins, etc. I ended up walking the long distance to the nearest concierge desk to complain. They radioed for our server and she showed up 10 minutes after I got back to my tent.
• I realized at that point why (in part at least) why the service was slow. The servers need to go across the park to get the food and drinks. Had to go across the park again it seems to process our check and payment. I don't know why they set up the park with these logistics. I didn't xref the menu from our area with the menus from the various restaurants all over the park, and I get if there's one unique dish only served in one location and my assigned seater area happens to be the furthest from that restaurant, etc. But there's no excuse for not having a register station nearby, or a TM-only bar area.
• Cabanas - not worth 250. We've willingly paid for cabanas at Discovery Cove and Aquatica, but these cabanas are not worth the price from what we saw from the outside. Regardless I hope they got better service from their food runners.
• Tapu tapu - tapped for krakatoa (coaster). Got a return countdown. 60 mins…50 mins…down to 20 mins… back up to 55 mins… 60 mins… 20 mins… ride now. WTF.
• My Tapu fell off several times and I continued to step on tapus in the various non-slide attractions. I don't know if the tapu I ended up with at the end of the day was the one I started with…

Pros:

• The park is very beautiful. The placemaking from the first walkthrough of the tunnel is gorgeous and compares very favorably to entrances in Disney parks.

Not trying to make excuses and I feel you captured some very real realities. We used seating two or three times. Things changed by the 2nd time, the area we had seats in the first time no longer has seats there.

The first time, they had portable payment devices, heck, the 1st two times they ran a tab.

2nd time, when the rain came, it was difficult to cash out, the portable devices can't get wet. We had to take cover, but I also had to sign...so me and our server had to find a way to cash out.

3rd time was pay as you go, servers no longer giving portable devices...the storage space door was falling off.

I know folks here said you can check in at any hut, but I swear, they use paper and chalk boards, I guess if each hut has the same list, and folks have radios, but that stuff was slow and non tech, I do not know how they can check you in at any hut.

I think the 1st time we went, the menu was for the closest restaurant only.

I will say, as someone who has been through many storms down here, it becomes very difficult to get anywhere when traffic lights are out. I would guess that it is very difficult to staff parks in the days/weeks after a storm. I mean, after Wilma, there were too many trees on any road I could travel that I could not get anywhere for three days after the storm. So I would guess they were not able to get enough servers (we had two and a lead in our area last time, but they were still difficult to find, so, I imagine while talking this out...you are correct, the service is not worth it.

 

[Jones14]

We finally managed to get over to the park on Friday. Keeping it as brief as possible, here are my thoughts:

This is a BEAUTFIFUL waterpark, but it is still just a waterpark. Don't be fooled by the marketing.

Honu, Ko'okiri, and Taniwha Tubes were probably my favorite attractions. We also enjoyed the fearless river quite a lot. The good slides here are GOOD.

The Volcano is gorgeous.

I know it was unavoidable, but certain parts of the park are so immersive and beautiful, and then you climb a set of unthemed industrial stairs to see a strip mall 100 feet away.

Lines are totally manageable if you get there right at opening. We only had to get a return time for Ko'okiri and Honu (the second time. Seriously, Honu was great).

Tapu Tapu worked fine, but was not set up well at ride entrances. When walking up to the entrance, Honu's return time tapstiles are on the right, but the entrance is on the left, and then the slide is on the right (if you're looking at the entrance). This seemed to be the case at every "dueling" slide, and it makes NO sense. There were a lot of confused guests (us included).

The food wasn't bad; I had a burger, and it was a step up from the usual Universal quick-service burger.

I've only been to one other waterpark in my life, so I have nothing to weigh it against, but I felt that the park as a whole was pretty strong. I'd love to see them double down on the theming, and if they're really going to keep pushing this as a theme park, they need to invest in a Popeyes, Dudley Do Right, or Jurassic Park in the next expansion.

 

[bob albert]

Lt. Dan I can't feel my legs!

 

[Kraken&Manta]

I went for the first time last week and after a nice little bit of relaxing and having nightmare flashbacks of staircases upon staircases I decided to share my thoughts on the park. I've never been a huge water park person but I can definitely respect the role they play here in Florida. The only other major water parks I've been to are Rapids in Palm Beach which is more of a Cedar Fair type straight forward park with no theming but has a bit of charm and fine landscaping for what it is. The other is Aquatica which is lays in that SeaWorld trademark between Cedar Fair and Universal/Disney theming. So no Disney water parks experience for me to compare with unfortunately, but I think I can make the assumption all three of my parks have a higher level of thrill.

So, the most striking element of the park for me was the absolutely phenomenal landscaping. Being next to a major interstate, I think it was already important for Universal to really flesh out but they hit it out of the park. Its ridiculous how much coverage they got in such a small amount of time. Plus the general orientation of the path ways, especially at the entrance of the park to set up the volcano view, were very well thought out and executed equally as well. Volcano, ruins, different wooden structures, and slide towers all looked great as to be expected from Universal. The architecture in tandem with the landscaping really brought the park to life in a way I feel we haven't seen before in Florida, or anywhere really. Sight lines from every angle were so well thought out and it resulted in such a beautiful park.

Slides were all really good. I'm not as much a connoisseur of water slides as I am of roller coasters or other amusement park attractions but I'll try my best
I suppose I'll arrange these in the order that they come to mind:
Honu: Holy Guacamole this thing was nuts. Like I said, I'm no expert on water slides but I think this is the best I've ever been on. I was lucky enough to get backwards on the drop and both tower walls so that may have made things even better! 10/10 would ride again
Krakatau: I kind of found this disappointing, not in the way that it was bad just that it wasn't as great as I had hoped. The drops didn't really feel nuts like some of the others slides with the exception of the final plunge being very exciting. Solid slide though and really something exciting and different.
Kala & Tai Nui: I didn't know a water slide could be this intense! Twisty body slides usually are quite painful on the back but these felt smooth. Awesome ride!
Taniwha Tubes: I really enjoyed these. They were also intense and provided a cool ride experience. Best of all they had fun bouncy bridges
Ko'kiri: This was the first drop slide I've been on. Great experience. The placement of the ride is rather odd though. Beautiful once you find it but hard to find.
Moana: Probably not the best generic family raft slide but still a fun ride! *Insert Disney Moana joke here*
Maku Puihi: Kind of boring to be honest. Also really tight seats :look:
Punga Racers: Great little mat racers. The queue is also really cool with Krakatau passing through the structure.
I'm probably forgetting a few, but eh. Also the fast lazy river was amazing in itself. It made lines feel shorter and was my preferred way to burn Tapu Tapu minutes!

I think Tapu Tapu Tapu worked well. In a water park where there are wave pools, lazy rivers, and alcohol virtual lines flourish. I don't however wish for anything like Tapu Tapu Tapu Tapu to ever makes it's way into the actual parks unless in an express pass, similar to the Q bot systems. The Tapu Tapu Tapu Tapu Tapu's use around the park was really clever especially with the locker opening system which made losing group members less of an issue.

As far as negatives, there are two that stood out to me. First was the lack of maps around the park and second was the lack of clocks. I'm a fairly good navigator and had a prior understanding of the parks layout, but people who had no idea of the layout likely were extremely confused. And adding a clock to the Tapu^6 would be greatly appreciated.

Universal did an excellent job and I can't wait to see what the expansions bring to the park.

 

[JungleSkip]

Was there on Saturday and holy spit is this place legit.

Theming

I have to admit I was a tad worried that the open back of the mountain would look weird, but in-person it's not an issue at all. Considering the park is up the butt of I-4, it's incredible how well it does in transporting you. Krakatau is a gorgeous focal point, and there are so many fun details sprinkled around the park. The music loops are all fantastic, and I love the random talking tikis you come across.

Rides

Taniwha Tubes: A ton of fun. Lots of g-forces on those turns

Ko'kiri: Woooooooooooooow. What a rush. I've never done a trapdoor slide before and this one was a ton of fun. Love the view of all of Universal before falling, and being able to watch people splash down in the wave pool is a lot of fun.

Krakatau: Definitely the best waterslide I've ever been on. Great airtime, tons of speed, and just plain old fun. Got to ride this one twice, which surprised me.

Punga Racers: Crazy mat slides. I went so far up the one tube I partially fell off my mat.

Honu: If not for Krakatau this would have been the slide of the day. The drops and the walls are so much fun. It's a shame this one gets such a long line. Would have loved to go again.

Puihi: Another fun family slide where you go up and down walls. Not as good as Honu, but pretty good.

Maku: The sister slide to Puihi, and a lot faster. Fun, but the "worst" of the family slides I went on.

Te'awa the Fearless River: Insanely fun. I didn't think they'd be able to top Roa Rapids, but they did. The waves add so much.

Kopiko Wai Winding River: Nice and relaxing. The volcano cave is very nice, though I feel like it's missing something. Otherwise a solid lazy river.

Food/Drink

Was very impressed with the food at the park. By far the best quickservice burger I've had, and the longboard pizzas are really good too. The Volcano Blossom beer is GREAT and the mixed drink I had was also super refreshing.

Tapu Tapu

So after all the issues they had earlier, I think Tapu Tapu worked incredibly. I loved it, and am ready for something similar to spread over the entire Universal resort after dealing with their ops at the other parks far too much this week. Like MM+, the ease of use benefits of Tapu are the biggest selling point for me. Not having to carry a wallet, tapping in/out of lockers, getting notifications right on the band for ride times, and the other quality of life functions are the best. Obviously the "no lines" idea won't work in USF/IOA, but that's easy to modify. Give me Tapu Tapu Universal. Give it to me.

Overall

Volcano Bay is easily my favorite water park I've ever been to, and probably a top 5 park in Orlando for me.