Hey everyone! I just thought I'd share some of my reviews of Volcano Bay as I took a few trips in the past month!
This was my first time visiting since last summer in mid-June and I have to say, the park has made tons of improvements since then! All of the pathways were opened this time, the inside of the Volcano was opened including the pathway across the wave pool, the 'gong' and the wave notification thing was working, and all of the TapuTapu effects were working!
Even though the slides are still great, I do think there could be some improvements:
-Kala & Ta Nui are a bit rough on the back, especially towards the end of both the blue and green slides. I'm not sure how they would fix this, but wow you certainly feel every section put together on your back.
-Punga Racers ending is still terrible. I thought these were supposed to have the "Manta" shaped mats by now but I guess they just gave up on that idea? Anyways, if they could re-work the ending so it isn't so rough and put in timers to see who wins the race, that'd be great! I still really miss the Aqua Drag Racer at Wet N Wild before it closed. Those and Mach 5 were so much better than the Punga Racers.
-Maku & Puihi tubes are now very awkward! Instead of sitting upright like the older tubes and the tubes on Honu ika Moana, these new ones are a bit strange because of how far back you are reclining while sliding down the slides.
-Ko'okiri seems to have some maintenance problems as it seemed to close in the afternoon almost every visit I was there (4 different days between June and July). Kala & Ta Nui had no problems, only Ko'okiri. Did anybody else notice the same?
-TeAwa Fearless River with the life-jackets are no where near as fun as the old tubes. While I understand the change, I do not get the removal of the big wave from underneath the Volcano either. They send such a small wave now it is hardly even noticeable. It is still a lot of fun, but it was AMAZING with the tubes and the giant wave.
Overall, I believe the park still has a bit of a ways to go to improve, but it is miles better than last year! Besides the slides, if I had one major complaint, it is the RIDE NOW. Punga Racers was listed as RIDE NOW, and the line was all the way to the bottom of the stairs. Taniwha Tubes had RIDE NOW and the began before the swinging bridge. I personally waited about 25 minutes for Ko'okiri for my RIDE NOW. I think this should be 5-10 min MAX and hope they solve this soon. Another issue is when I tap in to wait and then go to a RIDE NOW slide, I can no longer see the wait time as it gets stuck on "Smile for the camera on your way down" or something like that.
I thoroughly enjoy Volcano Bay, but I will only go early in the morning at park opening or after a storm in the late afternoon to close. It is a terrific park and I'm really curious to see what they'll put for their expansion, but I think they should fix some of the things I mentioned above before moving forward.