Long time lurker of the thread. My wife, 7 year old boy, and myself went to Volcano Bay on both Sunday and Monday. We stayed at Cabana Bay Sunday night so we had early entry both days. We were in Americana building and it was an easy 5 minute walk to the park. We arrived both days at 7:30 am. Both days we were basically first in line. At rope drop we made a bee line for chairs in front of the wave pool and both days were were able to find chairs with a big umbrella.
On Sunday we rode the coaster twice in a row before it eventually went down several times. We all loved the coaster. We tried to ride Honu but it was not operating yet. We then rode Maku and Puihi back to back with no wait. We loved Puihi but felt Maku was pretty tame. We then rode one of the tube rides. It was Ok but nothing that different than any other water park. We walked over to ride Honu again and it was a madhouse at the todems as it had just opened up. This is an area that can use some work. The tap on todems are too close the ride entrance and we had a difficult time getting to the entrance when it was our time to come back. We rode Ika Moana because that is what we tapped in the rush to get a time. It was ok but does not really compare to Honu in terms of excitement.We then wanted to do the racers but it was not operating at the time.
By about 9:30 we had already ridden a decent amount of the rides we wanted to go on. We knew were were coming back the next day so we didn't really feel the pressure to do everything. (We had no plans to do the Volcano slides on this trip) We then spent some time in the lazy river. We got tubes pretty easy but later on it was more difficult but nothing compared to the "fearless river". On Sunday they were allowing tube pick ups at both locations. On Monday you could only drop off at the main entrance but could do both at the secondary location which appeared to work better as there is a clear entrance and exit there. The fearless river was probably the biggest disappointment. If you were lucky to catch a wave when it came around it was fun for a couple of seconds but after that it was pretty calm. I was hoping the river would be closer to the one in Atlantis or Aquatica. Maybe it is not fully functioning yet?
On Monday we pretty much rode all the rides we wanted again before 10:00 am. The drop slide was great and we rode the racer slides a couple of times which were fun. We did the tube ride again and finally got to ride Honu which was a blast. My son loved the slides in the kid area but beyond the slides there really isn't that much else to do in there. Not all the water features were working. The area under the kid slides is kind of wasted space. No one was going back there.
The lines to get food both days were very long. I used to work in the restaurant industry and I could tell the workers in the back of the house were struggling. We had tacos, pizza, and chicken tenders. The food was ok and what I would expect at any park.
Overall we had fun both days. We left both days at around 2:00 or 3:00. It did get very crowded both days but it never got the point of being unbearable. I cant say we really even used the TapuTapu that much as we could walk on most rides in the morning. As the wait times got longer we just stopped tapping and went in the rivers and the wave pool. We waited about 15 minutes in line at the coaster when we did tap and about the same at Honu. We did notice at times the lines would get pretty long on the stairs. I think part of that is when your ride is ready you can go whenever you want and when the ride would break and them come back online people would flood the ride all at the same time.
One thing we noticed was that sand was EVERYWHERE. I cant even imagine how difficult it is to keep the areas clean. It ended up on all the stairs and the walkways. The sand along with the walkways also got extremely hot in the afternoon so wear your flops or water shoes when walking around if you find that uncomfortable. The water jets on the walkways were a nice touch.
One thing we also noticed was that people were making their own walkways through sand and the landscaping. If you want a quiet pair of chairs pick some that are away from the rivers or main walkways.
Sorry for the long review. Use this review as a gauge as what to expect if you are an early riser and staying at a resort. I think the extra hour makes a huge difference. I am sure the experience arriving at 10:00 am is completely different right now. Hopefully they can fix the issues with the wait times so people not staying at the resorts can have an enjoyable day as well.