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Volcano Bay: Photos & Reviews

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! of all things that could go wrong with this park... really?!!!! :angry:

I laughed out loud at this. I have to say.. for the purpose of this park being to "enjoy yourself" a.k.a. spend more money instead of being in line, the long lines for the bars and food made it difficult to spend money. It actually hurt my heart a little bit to leave the park and spend my money elsewhere but I wasn't going to wait an hour for a counter service meal. I'd sooner die.
 
Finally visited the park. Overall an enjoyable day...I got there around 10:30 and left at 4 as the afternoon storm rolled in.

I am a HUGE waterpark junkie. I have been to over twenty of the biggest and best in America, and supposedly the Universal Exes and Creative team have as well to see what's popular, what works, what doesn't, what guests look for...having been all over as well as experiencing the other Orlando waterparks numerous times, I had high expectations for this park.
Now I know there have been many negative reviews, and much has to do with the park not being 100% ready on opening day. It's clear they've come a long way in three weeks, but there is still more work to be done.

Atmosphere: very good. Even though the slide towers are minimally themed, the rest of the park was beautiful and entertaining. In many places this park is every bit as good as Typhoon or Blizzard, yet in others it's Aquatica level.
Grade: B

Food: excellent. Best food menu I've ever experienced at a water park. So many options and a good number of locations for meals and snacks all around the park.
Grade: A

Universal staff: excellent. By far the most courteous team members I've encountered at ANY Orlando park. Everyone was smiling, friendly, asked how I was doing...very accommodating. If only everyone was this well trained and friendly in the Uni theme parks, they'd blow Disney out of the water.
Grade: A+

Tapu Tapu: this is obviously working much better than when the park first opened, but with wait times still exceeding 150-200 minutes on slides it's not great. While most people I encountered seemed to be happy and having fun, I did run into a few that were clearly angry about the wait times. I know many people state that to get the most in you have to be at the park at open...I got Tapu for three rides and if I wasn't a pass holder and this was my only chance to visit, I'd be pretty mad in regards to my visit.
Grade: D

The pools and rivers: wavepool was fun. It's no Typhoon surf Lagoon but the different waves were still fun. The rivers were great...though I think the lazy river should have less spraying water features and the fearless river should have more. I honestly think my favorite thing today was the Fearless river. They definitely need to build some kind of cavern in the volcano though. I found the views of the slides to just be ugly and made me feel like I was in a regional waterpark...not a Universal one.
Grade: B-

The slides: definitely the best collection of slides in central Florida...Krakatau is the star of the show. I think there are multiple missteps here: the slide capacity is far from reaching its potential. I sat and watched the dispatch of the Mat slides and double tube slides and they were not dispatching as soon as a slide was cleared. It always took a good 30seconds or more to dispatch, so capacity is probably half what it should be. Also, way too much down time on the water coaster and Honu. Just while waiting for Krakatau, our Tapus told us at least seven times that the ride had gone down.
The next misstep I saw was that most slides had absolutely no handicap access. I know Wet N Wild wasn't much different, but when your competitors have conveyors and ramps for many of their slides, I expected the same here. I know Krakatau has one, and possibly the Maki and Puihi slides, but that's it. Every single slide tower is very high...at least 60 feet up. I also dislike how this park currently has no traditional body slides, aside from the ones in the kids play area. Why do they all have to be extreme? Some of us only want to have a nice, simple, fun ride on our tooshes down a slide!
Another missstep and the one that hurts me the most is the lack of theming in the slides. Even though they've treated Wet N Wild like it was garbage in comparison to Volcano Bay, it had some awesome slides. I'd take Brain Wash, the Black Hole, Disco H2O and the Blast over half the slides at this park. I truly hope to see additions and effects added to slides in the future.
Grade: B

Overall, it's a great waterpark, but needs an addition and some fix to the Tapu system.
Overall grade: C+/B-

Here's hoping the future additions add another watercoaster or two, a flowrider style surfing experience, maybe a more traditional amusement park style ride like Popeye or Legend of Chima(at Legoland...it's a fun ride!), some traditional body slides, and Tornado and bowl slides. Volcano Bay is a potential top ten park, but it definitely has a way to go to get to number 1.
 
Universal staff: excellent. By far the most courteous team members I've encountered at ANY Orlando park. Everyone was smiling, friendly, asked how I was doing...very accommodating. If only everyone was this well trained and friendly in the Uni theme parks, they'd blow Disney out of the water.
Grade: A+

They really don't get enough credit. I think the way they addressed you by name at the entrance to each ride was great too. It's so simple but such a nice touch that Disney should take note of.
 
Here is my unbiased review. I will state both good and bad things. We went on Friday, June 16th. I am neither a Universal or Disney "fanboy." My family loves both places and we could care less who "wins."

That being said, I have to say I absolutely LOVED THE PLACE. I kept thinking to myself why is everyone hating on this place? Its beautiful. I think sometimes those of us on fan sites and message boards are too hard to please. I think sometimes we look for a perfection that will never exist and I think we are jaded to the point that it takes away from our enjoyment of the parks, because instead of stopping to smell the roses, we are too busy looking for why is the rose there and why doesn't it smell enough like a real rose. And I think we are like this not just about Volcano bay, but about all the parks in general.

We stayed at Cabana Bay and was able to walk over for early access. We got in a ride on Krakatau and Honu with no wait. Both of them blew us away. We were able to ride Krakatau 3 times by the end of the day and Honu twice. We were also able to ride a lot of the other things as well. It did get busy towards the middle of the day. And rain in the afternoon cleared out a lot of the crowd towards the end of the day and the last hour of the park everything was mostly back on ride now status.

As I was exiting Krakatau, I was so excited that I was in the process of telling my family "best water ride ever" when I totally wiped out and fell hard. I mean really hard. I bruised my hip and my elbow, but I was too busy laughing to notice. My entire family was already feeling the adrenaline of getting off the ride and then seeing an America's Funniest video moment right after that had us all laughing like crazy walking down the steps. Everyone in the crowed waiting to get on the ride was looking at me with concern on their faces, but I told everyone I was fine and moved on. One of the ride operators came over to me when I fell and he was rolling his eyes. You could tell that this must happen a lot. Right after that, they had someone standing there the rest of the day reminding people to be careful going back down the steps. Later in the day, on those same steps, we saw an older lady fall on her back. But she seemed okay as well and got up and kept walking. The woodwork on those steps is very slippery. I hope they can put some of those strips on them soon, to give people more traction.

My family hated the food, which is surprising to me since the food seems to be one of the good things people are saying about this place. I personally did not have a problem with the food. I liked it. And I especially like the atmosphere where you sat down to eat, especially the little waterway nearby, which reminded me a lot of the Polynesian at Disney.

Speaking of the Polynesian, overall that's what Volcano Bay reminds me of..."The Polynesian but better." Sitting in my seat, with a drink in my hand and hearing the roaring of the waterfall combined with the island music in the background, it was easy to fall asleep. And because we got there early, there were plenty of places to find a seat with umbrella.

This brings me to one of my negative points. Absolutely for no reason at all would I ever get PREMIUM SEATING. The premium seating is further back and they all seem to be not in really good locations. Especially when you consider the price for the premium seating on this day is more than the cost of the actual ticket to get into the park, its just simply not worth it. As far as Cabanas, that's something different. I'll never be rich enough to try those out.

At one point in the day, my wife and kids went to what they thought was the lazy river. They talked about how boring it was and how it was not fun at all. After much discussion, and questions from me, I realized they were talking about the fearless river. And they had the unfortunate experience of riding the river during a point when the waves were not turned on. They had no idea there was more than one lazy river. So I made a point (after much begging) to have them go on the OTHER lazy river. This one they loved and my wife kept commenting on how much better it was, and she couldn't understand why the first lazy river didn't have a cool part like the under Volcano cave with the lights. Speaking of that, I was really impressed with that part, despite it not looking like the concept art. If you take the concept art out of your mind (something that everyone except for people like us who frequent message boards will be able to do) its really a beautiful well done area. It sorta reminds me of the queue from ET.

The one main gripe I had was that I was not ready to leave at 8pm. The rain had ended and there was this beautiful sunset peaking over the horizon. The park felt empty and I felt like this had the potential to be the BEST PART OF THE DAY. I feel like this park can be so freaking magical at night. To have it close early seems like such a missed opportunity. I know eventually it will be open later and lots of pass holders will be able to experience what I missed. But for someone like me who lives far away, this will probably be the last time I get to go to Universal until maybe 2021. So it will be a while until I can experience this park in its full glory.

And one other minor gripe, the names of the slides are hard to pronounce. We were able to remember Ohno and Ohyah easily, because we pronounced them as "Oh no" and "Oh yeah" because that's the way I heard Tim Tracker pronounced it on one of his videos. The others we would basically point and say things like "That green one."

Overall my family absolutely loved the place. We would go back in a heartbeat.
 
Here is my unbiased review. I will state both good and bad things. We went on Friday, June 16th. I am neither a Universal or Disney "fanboy." My family loves both places and we could care less who "wins."

That being said, I have to say I absolutely LOVED THE PLACE. I kept thinking to myself why is everyone hating on this place? Its beautiful. I think sometimes those of us on fan sites and message boards are too hard to please. I think sometimes we look for a perfection that will never exist and I think we are jaded to the point that it takes away from our enjoyment of the parks, because instead of stopping to smell the roses, we are too busy looking for why is the rose there and why doesn't it smell enough like a real rose. And I think we are like this not just about Volcano bay, but about all the parks in general.

We stayed at Cabana Bay and was able to walk over for early access. We got in a ride on Krakatau and Honu with no wait. Both of them blew us away. We were able to ride Krakatau 3 times by the end of the day and Honu twice. We were also able to ride a lot of the other things as well. It did get busy towards the middle of the day. And rain in the afternoon cleared out a lot of the crowd towards the end of the day and the last hour of the park everything was mostly back on ride now status.

As I was exiting Krakatau, I was so excited that I was in the process of telling my family "best water ride ever" when I totally wiped out and fell hard. I mean really hard. I bruised my hip and my elbow, but I was too busy laughing to notice. My entire family was already feeling the adrenaline of getting off the ride and then seeing an America's Funniest video moment right after that had us all laughing like crazy walking down the steps. Everyone in the crowed waiting to get on the ride was looking at me with concern on their faces, but I told everyone I was fine and moved on. One of the ride operators came over to me when I fell and he was rolling his eyes. You could tell that this must happen a lot. Right after that, they had someone standing there the rest of the day reminding people to be careful going back down the steps. Later in the day, on those same steps, we saw an older lady fall on her back. But she seemed okay as well and got up and kept walking. The woodwork on those steps is very slippery. I hope they can put some of those strips on them soon, to give people more traction.

My family hated the food, which is surprising to me since the food seems to be one of the good things people are saying about this place. I personally did not have a problem with the food. I liked it. And I especially like the atmosphere where you sat down to eat, especially the little waterway nearby, which reminded me a lot of the Polynesian at Disney.

Speaking of the Polynesian, overall that's what Volcano Bay reminds me of..."The Polynesian but better." Sitting in my seat, with a drink in my hand and hearing the roaring of the waterfall combined with the island music in the background, it was easy to fall asleep. And because we got there early, there were plenty of places to find a seat with umbrella.

This brings me to one of my negative points. Absolutely for no reason at all would I ever get PREMIUM SEATING. The premium seating is further back and they all seem to be not in really good locations. Especially when you consider the price for the premium seating on this day is more than the cost of the actual ticket to get into the park, its just simply not worth it. As far as Cabanas, that's something different. I'll never be rich enough to try those out.

At one point in the day, my wife and kids went to what they thought was the lazy river. They talked about how boring it was and how it was not fun at all. After much discussion, and questions from me, I realized they were talking about the fearless river. And they had the unfortunate experience of riding the river during a point when the waves were not turned on. They had no idea there was more than one lazy river. So I made a point (after much begging) to have them go on the OTHER lazy river. This one they loved and my wife kept commenting on how much better it was, and she couldn't understand why the first lazy river didn't have a cool part like the under Volcano cave with the lights. Speaking of that, I was really impressed with that part, despite it not looking like the concept art. If you take the concept art out of your mind (something that everyone except for people like us who frequent message boards will be able to do) its really a beautiful well done area. It sorta reminds me of the queue from ET.

The one main gripe I had was that I was not ready to leave at 8pm. The rain had ended and there was this beautiful sunset peaking over the horizon. The park felt empty and I felt like this had the potential to be the BEST PART OF THE DAY. I feel like this park can be so freaking magical at night. To have it close early seems like such a missed opportunity. I know eventually it will be open later and lots of pass holders will be able to experience what I missed. But for someone like me who lives far away, this will probably be the last time I get to go to Universal until maybe 2021. So it will be a while until I can experience this park in its full glory.

And one other minor gripe, the names of the slides are hard to pronounce. We were able to remember Ohno and Ohyah easily, because we pronounced them as "Oh no" and "Oh yeah" because that's the way I heard Tim Tracker pronounced it on one of his videos. The others we would basically point and say things like "That green one."

Overall my family absolutely loved the place. We would go back in a heartbeat.
Thanks for your review! Great insight into the park. Glad you had a great time. I really hope they fix the slippery parts soon. Being a water park, you'd think that they would've thought of that.
 
Here is my unbiased review. I will state both good and bad things. We went on Friday, June 16th. I am neither a Universal or Disney "fanboy." My family loves both places and we could care less who "wins."

That being said, I have to say I absolutely LOVED THE PLACE. I kept thinking to myself why is everyone hating on this place? Its beautiful. I think sometimes those of us on fan sites and message boards are too hard to please. I think sometimes we look for a perfection that will never exist and I think we are jaded to the point that it takes away from our enjoyment of the parks, because instead of stopping to smell the roses, we are too busy looking for why is the rose there and why doesn't it smell enough like a real rose. And I think we are like this not just about Volcano bay, but about all the parks in general.

We stayed at Cabana Bay and was able to walk over for early access. We got in a ride on Krakatau and Honu with no wait. Both of them blew us away. We were able to ride Krakatau 3 times by the end of the day and Honu twice. We were also able to ride a lot of the other things as well. It did get busy towards the middle of the day. And rain in the afternoon cleared out a lot of the crowd towards the end of the day and the last hour of the park everything was mostly back on ride now status.

As I was exiting Krakatau, I was so excited that I was in the process of telling my family "best water ride ever" when I totally wiped out and fell hard. I mean really hard. I bruised my hip and my elbow, but I was too busy laughing to notice. My entire family was already feeling the adrenaline of getting off the ride and then seeing an America's Funniest video moment right after that had us all laughing like crazy walking down the steps. Everyone in the crowed waiting to get on the ride was looking at me with concern on their faces, but I told everyone I was fine and moved on. One of the ride operators came over to me when I fell and he was rolling his eyes. You could tell that this must happen a lot. Right after that, they had someone standing there the rest of the day reminding people to be careful going back down the steps. Later in the day, on those same steps, we saw an older lady fall on her back. But she seemed okay as well and got up and kept walking. The woodwork on those steps is very slippery. I hope they can put some of those strips on them soon, to give people more traction.

My family hated the food, which is surprising to me since the food seems to be one of the good things people are saying about this place. I personally did not have a problem with the food. I liked it. And I especially like the atmosphere where you sat down to eat, especially the little waterway nearby, which reminded me a lot of the Polynesian at Disney.

Speaking of the Polynesian, overall that's what Volcano Bay reminds me of..."The Polynesian but better." Sitting in my seat, with a drink in my hand and hearing the roaring of the waterfall combined with the island music in the background, it was easy to fall asleep. And because we got there early, there were plenty of places to find a seat with umbrella.

This brings me to one of my negative points. Absolutely for no reason at all would I ever get PREMIUM SEATING. The premium seating is further back and they all seem to be not in really good locations. Especially when you consider the price for the premium seating on this day is more than the cost of the actual ticket to get into the park, its just simply not worth it. As far as Cabanas, that's something different. I'll never be rich enough to try those out.

At one point in the day, my wife and kids went to what they thought was the lazy river. They talked about how boring it was and how it was not fun at all. After much discussion, and questions from me, I realized they were talking about the fearless river. And they had the unfortunate experience of riding the river during a point when the waves were not turned on. They had no idea there was more than one lazy river. So I made a point (after much begging) to have them go on the OTHER lazy river. This one they loved and my wife kept commenting on how much better it was, and she couldn't understand why the first lazy river didn't have a cool part like the under Volcano cave with the lights. Speaking of that, I was really impressed with that part, despite it not looking like the concept art. If you take the concept art out of your mind (something that everyone except for people like us who frequent message boards will be able to do) its really a beautiful well done area. It sorta reminds me of the queue from ET.

The one main gripe I had was that I was not ready to leave at 8pm. The rain had ended and there was this beautiful sunset peaking over the horizon. The park felt empty and I felt like this had the potential to be the BEST PART OF THE DAY. I feel like this park can be so freaking magical at night. To have it close early seems like such a missed opportunity. I know eventually it will be open later and lots of pass holders will be able to experience what I missed. But for someone like me who lives far away, this will probably be the last time I get to go to Universal until maybe 2021. So it will be a while until I can experience this park in its full glory.

And one other minor gripe, the names of the slides are hard to pronounce. We were able to remember Ohno and Ohyah easily, because we pronounced them as "Oh no" and "Oh yeah" because that's the way I heard Tim Tracker pronounced it on one of his videos. The others we would basically point and say things like "That green one."

Overall my family absolutely loved the place. We would go back in a heartbeat.

Yeah totally bums me out when they shut the waves off on the fearless river. I can understand the frustration. Glad you guys had fun. Wish you could have enjoyed the night time too. Another miscalculation on their part! Ugh!
 
So after being excited for years since the rumors first started coming out about Universal building a water park, I finally got to experience it for the first time yesterday! My verdict: it's fantastic. Yes, there are issues with things not finished and getting TapuTapu working right, but there is absolutely nothing wrong enough that will prevent you from having a wonderful time as long as you have a good head on your shoulders. One of the key things is literally just to get to the park as soon as you can, we arrived right at park opening and got just about everything in the park done by maybe like 2 PM.
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We started out by going directly to get a return time for Honu, after which we went to grab a locker by the Krakatau Aqua Coaster. Once we were all situated there, we noticed that the coaster was "Ride Now" so we hit that up while waiting for Honu! We physically waited around thirty minutes in the queue before we actually made it onto the ride. The coaster was super fun, great length! Once we were off we were just within a few minutes of our Honu return time, so we made our way over there next and rode that in fairly short order.
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Honu was a lot of fun, pretty wild when you're riding backwards like I was. We got a return time for Ohno and went over to Puihi to take advantage of its "Ride Now" status. I was really entertained TapuTapu here because it the way this Waturi is strutting makes it seem like he just enjoyed a really good Puihi!
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Puihi was very fun, too, also went backwards on that one. I think we did the Taniwha Tubes right after this because it was also "Ride Now", so we had essentially done four rides by around 11 AM, which I think is pretty good considering the way some people have been complaining about only doing one ride in five hours and stuff. We still had a fair amount of time left until our Ohno time so we took the time to enjoy TeAwa the Fearless River. Unfortunately, none of the waves or rapids were operating and it was kinda boring that way.
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We got the "Ride Now" notification for Ohno after maybe two or three actionless laps around TeAwa. The Ohyah + Ohno queue has a great view over the wave pool.
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Ohno was the slide I had been looking forward to the most and it didn't disappoint. I only wish it could have an even higher drop up in the air! It was around noon at this point and the restaurants weren't too busy yet so we thought this would be a good time for lunch, so we tapped for a Tunga Racers return time and headed over to Whakawaiwai Eats. One cool thing we discovered was that you also get free ICEE refills with the Coca-Cola Freestyle Souvenir Cups. I'm not sure if it's the same way in the dry parks, but I think that's a pretty good deal!
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I had the jerk shrimp mac 'n' cheese, and really enjoyed. Very cheesy, flavorful, the shrimp were seared just right so they had a little crunch to them, and the whole bowl had just the right amount of spiciness to it.
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My friend Tim had this insane gigantic foot-long pretzel dog with pineapple salsa and bacon and stuff on it. He thought it was pretty good, too.
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Overall they have definitely done a great job offering food above and beyond what is typically offered at the theme parks. They seem to have learned a good lesson from the positive response to the food at the Wizarding World and the Simpsons' Fast Food Boulevard. I really look forward to trying more of it around the park in the future, especially the flatbreads.

The seating area had a lovely view of Krakatau, the Kopiko Wai Winding River, and Runamukka Reef, which I didn't check out this time but am definitely going to have some fun there on another visit!
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Obligatory frog light photo!
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We jumped into Kopiko Wai for about 45 minutes until the Florida daily afternoon thunderstorm showed up earlier than usual at about 1:30. This river was lovely, I really liked Stargazers Cavern, especially a couple times we went through there when it was absolutely loaded with mist. Yes, it doesn't match the concept art, but it's still got great atmosphere and of course there's stuff that's not done in there that will eventually make it even cooler (just like the rest of the park). I also love the chair tubes, they're so relaxing.
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We're not the types to let some rain stop us from having fun (as opposed to all of the people huddling in every nook and cranny they can find in every bar, shop, and restaurant), so we had a nice stroll around the park just enjoying the setting and also stopped at the ice cream place. I had the pineapple flavor in a waffle cone, it was delicious.
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Storm selfie!
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Great time for photos with no one in the wave pool! One of my very favorite things in the whole park is the sign-thing towards the left that changes every time the pool changes waves. It has this really catchy tiki beat beat with a deep gong/bell sound (I really wish I could set it as my ringtone!). I was disappointed that the walkway under Krakatau was blocked off, that was one of the things I was really looking forward to.
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Everything reopened around 2:30 and we were within a few minutes of our Tunga Racers time. We got in line and there was some downtime so we waited maybe like an extra fifteen minutes. That queue gets really close to the Aqua Coaster so I spent some time getting a good picture or two.
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Tunga Racers was maybe ever so slightly disappointing, I think I like the racer slides at Aqautica better. This is one you've got to be a little careful on, I actually hurt my wrist at the bottom. You kinda have to try to hold yourself up at the end so you go skimming across the water instead of crashing.

We got a return time for the Ko'okiri Body Plunge which was over a two hour wait, so we took that opportunity to give TeAwa another whirl since we noticed they got the rapids and waves up and running. TeAwa is my absolute favorite attraction in the entire park. It is SO much fun. I can't even imagine how much more fun it will be once everything is finished and they've got bigger waves going. The temple area underneath the Aqua Coaster station is INCREDIBLE with the waterfalls and themed tiki columns squirting water everywhere.


Spent a bunch of time in TeAwa and then enjoyed the wave pool and the Reef leisure pool for a little while until it was time for the Body Plunge. The Reef was pleasant, it's kinda neat just floating there watching people blast through the slide (although they have a strange rule about not touching the tube). There are a cool couple of TapTu Play interactive touch points here. One of my few disappoints with the park is that isn't anywhere near as much TapuTapu interactivity throughout the park as I thought there would be. Hopefully they'll add a lot more as time goes on.

So I wasn't really looking forward to the Body Plunge just because I always found slides like Summit Plummet, Humunga Kowabunga, and Ihu's Breakaway Falls rather painful. My whole body would just be sore from head to toe at the end. However, I was actually pleasantly surprised by Ko'okiri! The worst part was the climb up the stairs all the way to the top. Seriously, they should sell "I survived the Krakatau stairs" shirts rather than "I survived the Krakatau Aqua Coaster" shirts! But at the end of the slide I wasn't really in any pain at all, except for my inner ears, strangely enough. As I understand it, there are jets in the beginning of the drop that push you slightly away from the slide surface for you're in more of a freefall for the first thirty feet or so. I'll be more than happy to do this one plenty more times in the future.

This was at about maybe 5:30-6:00 and the park had really cleared out. There were fairly long lines for the slides we'd be most interested in, so we decided just to enjoy the rivers and the wave pool for the rest of the day. This was an excellent choice because we pretty much had each river to ourselves. I could happily spend hours in TeAwa. I love Roa's Rapids at Aquatica and have spent 2-3 hours in that before, and TeAwa is leaps and bounds beyond that. The superstructure of the inside of Krakatau didn't really bother me at all, you are zipping through there so fast. That's not to say that section isn't a missed opportunity, but I didn't find that it detracted from how much fun I was having.

For some reason TeAwa demanded a shrubbery from me.
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In summary, Universal has designed a wonderful park. In my eyes it's a home run, even with the many, many little things still to be completed all throughout the park and the capacity issues still to be solved. I will admit that it doesn't match my initial hopes for the park that some of the original rumors that suggested it would be a truly next level park (changing color sand beaches, volcano interior weather-proof attractions, etc.), and my hopes that they would integrate concepts like the Transportainment system that Schlitterbahn uses at their parks. It's not as themed as I hoped it would be, like the way every square inch of Typhoon Lagoon is themed, and I was rather surprised as we got closer to opening day that even things like the rivers had more-or-less standard pool tile siding instead of the rock-face siding like the lazy rivers at Discovery Cove and Atlantis. I'm also admittedly a little disappointed that TeAwa didn't turn out as elaborate as the rapids river at Atlantis, but that didn't stop it from becoming my favorite attraction in the park (and even possibly my favorite attraction at any of the water parks in Orlando). Even though it didn't meet these expectations, Universal has still created an immensely fun water park, and it's only going to get better over time. I would probably currently rank Volcano Bay as my second favorite water park behind Typhoon Lagoon, but easily with the potential to become my very favorite depending on what it's like when all of the effects and things are finished and especially how the nighttime experience turns out.

I look forward to many, many more visits to pay tribute to MIGHTY KRAKATAU!
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PART 1
Hello all! First off, just wanted to say that this is my very first post on these forums but I have been reading them basically since the Volcano Bay construction started. Anyway, I wanted to share with everyone my trip to Volcano Bay today! IT WAS FANTASTIC!

We stayed at Cabana Bay with a Volcano Bay view that was absolutely incredible! We were in the Americana building towards the end near Bayside on the top floor. I could have sat by the window all day with the view...it was that good. Anyways, the only downside to the room was that there is obviously still construction so you heard some of the people working all night. Additionally, you heard a lot of the sound with the bell/gong and drums going almost every hour throughout the night...but I couldn't get much sleep anyway due to my excitement.

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I've been following the Volcano Bay project ever since the early rumors pointed that WonderSea Island was going to be the name of it. I watched progress every day online to see construction and everything being put together. I can't believe I actually went to Volcano Bay.

Anyways, started off the early morning with a quick breakfast and then walked over to the entrance around 7:15 a.m. We got first in line at one of the ticket scanners so we would be the first ones in! Around 7:55 a.m. they began to let people into the park. However, the finger print scanner wasn't working and at a few of them. After trying for a solid minute trying to scan fingers, the system finally let myself in...now I just had to wait for the rest of my party to get through. After around 4 minutes we finally got in!

I was in charge of my party...after reading as many reviews as I could, I devised a plan of attack to get everything done as quickly as possible. Even though they directed us to the left, we headed down towards the wave pool, cut to the right, and headed to the locker station towards the back right end of the park (Northwest side). The TapTu Pay wasn't working for the lockers so we just used our cards, put everything away, and began our attack!

The first ride of the day we did was Krakatau Aqua Coaster RIDE NOW. I have been on Wildebeest at Holiday World a few years ago so it really is great Orlando has this type of water coaster! It was such a great ride and it was long too! One thing I didn't like about Wildebeest was water spraying in your eyes when going up but not on this one!

Second ride was Ko'okiri Body Plunge RIDE NOW. I can handle steps as I am a very active person, but it definitely slowed my party down once we got to the top! Anyways, the drop was great and the drums playing in the capsule before being dropped definitely added to the experience. Even though it is over so fast, it is such a great thrill! To address the stairs issue, it seems they are in the process of taking out the railings that separated the express pass for the queue as there was separation for about half way up and then the top half had them removed.

**One thing I haven't seen yet from posts from people...people have been carving into the concrete near the top of the volcano! The final staircase that leads to the top, there are lots of names of people that looked to scratched on either from keys or something else! I couldn't believe this as I can't believe people would do this. There had to be at least 20 to 30 names scratched on the rock work leading up to the drop slides.

Third ride was Honu RIDE NOW. After reading the reviews, I was very excited to try this slide! We walked right up and onto the weight platform...but we couldn't all ride together. There are four of us total in our group and we were definitely under the weight limit...but apparently on Honu you can only go down with 2, 3, or 5 people. They were not allowing a group of 4 to go down...so we didn't go up as high on the walls as I was hoping since we split up going 2 and 2 but it was still a ton of fun.

Fourth ride was Ika Moana RIDE NOW. This slide all four of us could ride together! I really enjoyed this slide! I haven't heard too much about it but it really is fast and the turns are very quick. This was the pleasant surprise of the trip for me!

Fifth ride was OhNo RIDE NOW. The red and green lights didn't seem to be working for these slides as the lifeguard had to radio over as to when it was clear for the next person to go down. Anyways, the drop at the end was great!

Sixth ride was OhYah RIDE NOW. We rode it because "why not? there's no line!"

After Oh Yah, it was 9:00 a.m. and the park officially opened. We got 6 slides done in an hour due to early entry! They really want you to spend money at their hotels so you can get this exclusive experience!

Seventh ride was Puihi RIDE NOW. I couldn't get over how big the enclosed tube sections are! They really are huge when you are in them! This ride was a lot of fun and it brought back memories of Brain Wash with the smaller tornadoes. One thing my party noticed once we got here that we didn't pay attention on the other slides was the chipped paint on all of the stairs and the amount of wet sand on them. Some of the railings had chipped paint too!

Eighth ride was Maku RIDE NOW. Honestly, I didn't think this was that great. It was actually kind of boring. The saucer sections are cool to look at I guess but I would rather have a different slide here that was more thrilling to be honest. The geysers in each saucer were not working but that didn't matter as the slide just seems to "look cool" rather than deliver a thrilling slide.

Ninth ride was Taniwha Tubes RIDE NOW (light blue). I enjoyed these sections with the tighter turns! You really feel some forces going through them! I thought I saw that they had single tubes for this slide as well...but they only had double tubes. You could still ride single, but only in a double tube.

Tenth ride was Taniwha Tubes RIDE NOW (dark blue). This one was even better with the tight turns! I didn't ride the green ones, but the dark blue is fast and the tight turns are great!

Eleventh ride was Punga Racers RIDE NOW. I'm going to be completely honest, this was the biggest disappointment out of all the slides in Volcano Bay. I loved the Mach 5 and Aqua Drag Racer at Wet N Wild, but this was definitely not as good as either. On top of that, riders can only ride in either of the two middle slides (black and red) as the yellow and black on the ends are "only for kids." Apparently those slides have a weight limit issue and they are only sending small kids down them. Also, you can't see when the light turns green if you lay down on the mat before pushing off. Additionally, the slide itself was small! Those were some really small tubes! I had to keep my head down as I hit my head on the top of one of the enclosed sections after one of the turns! To top it off, the splashdown is terrible. I know how to ride mat slides fast so I always raise the front lip, but wow did I see a lot of people nose dive in that shallow water. Finally, they were not using the Manta Ray shaped mats, only normal ones. I wonder if because the slides are so dang small in diameter or if they were too big for the conveyor system. Either way, this was not a good slide and wow does it have a LOT of issues.

At this point, it was about 10:00 a.m. and the crowds were definitely increasing but we have basically been on every slide! We wanted to do the Ko'okiri Body Plunge again so we actually used our TapuTapu and got a wait time of 90 minutes. We then headed over to the Serpentine Slides because we all heard that they are the most intense!
 
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PART 2
Eleventh ride was Kala & Ta Nui Serpentine Body Slies RIDE NOW. I did the Green slide as I wanted to see the hype of the intensity. OMG WHAT A RUSH! That 30 foot drop or so goes right into a very tight turn and wow you seriously fly down that slide. After all of the crazy turns, there is a small drop at the end of the green and you do get a bit of airtime before plunging into the pool. Seriously the most intense slide I've ever been on.

Twelfth ride was TeAwa Fearless River. This was amazing! We seemed to have great luck because we got the big wave perfectly the three times we went around! I could go around this the whole day! However, the sections where the wave sections are, if you end up drifting over there, you kind of get stuck (especially if you are sitting in the tube). To address how the Volcano looks from the river, honestly everyone in my party thought it was cool as you can see all of the slides and people rushing by and look up to see everything! From the three times we went around, people around us thought it was cool seeing the slides from that standpoint. I thought it was neat too! Even though people seem quick to judge a book by its cover, once you actually experience it in person, it really is neat to see the mess of slides in the volcano. Finally, you can definitely tell they have issues with that "island."

Thirteenth ride was Kopiko Wai Winding River. This was very relaxing and calm which was what we needed after 12 rides. One thing to point out, the water was the coldest in this river out of all of the areas around the park. Now to address the controversial Stargazers Cavern. Honestly, I was expecting more since I was quick to judge everything. There are orange and purple lights that just shine in your face that honestly takes away the experience and the blue lights on the ceiling. Also, there were LOTS of people just yelling in the cavern because of the loud echo. Also, I think the fog should just be at the front and ends of the cavern and they need to remove those orange and purple lights as they are just blinding. I'm hoping they aren't done with the cavern but if they are...so be it. It is still neat to see, but this is something I was actually hoping more for.

After, we rode Ko'okiri Body Plunge only to wait an additional 15 minutes in an actual line at the top. They didn't seem to be using TapuTapu as well today as there were lines almost to the bottom of the stairs for Honu, Puihi, and Punga Racers as we were ready to get lunch. We ate at the restaurant that's closest to the front entrance of the park and wow everything was delicious including the Chocolate Lava Cake!

After lunch, it was just about 12:30 and we decided we were done for the day and were going to head home after a very successful day!

Overall, I think Universal did an AMAZING job with the park! I can't wait to see what the park looks like when the trees and plants have grown in! The Volcano is truly an amazing sight to behold and to see it erupt every hour is amazing. Hotel guests definitely get the added benefit of getting in an hour early as we didn't wait!

I'm going to make a pretty bold claim about the issues Universal is having with the park...and that is the slide manufacturer itself. Even though the slides are probably the best in Orlando, Universal has had lots of issues with them.
1) Honu's 2nd wall was modified...weight modified...only 2, 3, or 5 people at a time.
2) Kala & Ta Nui...weight modified by 33% to 200 lbs.
3) Punga Racers...only kids can ride outer slides, etc etc etc (see review on slide above)
 
After perusing through some of the reviews and thinking on my thoughts, I will offer what I have. I'll try to keep it short so that I keep your attention.

TRANSPORTATION:

-For what it is, they have a great setup. It wasn't very busy when we arrived (a little after opening) and we made it onto the first bus we walked up to. It was a pleasant drive over and the buses were chilly. That certainly helped with our return trip, as it was nearing 100 degrees when we left. All in all: It's efficient and it gets the job done, even if some may not like the parking garage setup.

VIEWZ:

-This park is certainly gorgeous. The reveal of the volcano is wonderful and they did a great job at immersing the rides within the foliage.
-I-4 is not hard to find or hear. There's no such thing as total immersion with this park. To be honest, it is what it is. I was on vacation. If i wanted a completely immersed, island atmosphere, I would have gone to the Bahamas.
-Construction galore. I never really noticed the opening of the volcano as I thought I would. However, once underneath, it's a mess. Let's just be honest. It's a mess. On that note: I was on vacation and I was enjoying the fast river. Could it have been better? Yepp. Was it horrific? No.

RIDEZ:

-We managed to make it on Taniwha (2X), Krakatau (1X), Maku (1X), Puihi (1X), Punga Racers (1X), Ika Moana (1X),the wave pool, and the two lazy rivers. Volcano Bay has a great selection of thrilling water rides. Probably the most diverse that I've ever seen.

-Taniwha: Fun and simple. They surprisingly moved quick! I wasn't expecting it, but it was good.
-Krakatau: What a rush! Once again, simple, but thrilling. That last drop followed by the splashdown was a lot of fun.
-Maku- This one was fine. The geysers were working but I didn't really see a point for them, as they did not splash us.
-Puihi- Probably my favorite until I ride Honu.
-Punga Racers: Never again. I banged up my knees on this one as the forces of the turns kept throwing me off of my mat. The slide is painful without that mat and I landed pretty hard even though I pulled up as suggested.
-Ika Moana- This one was a really fun family raft ride. Some of those turns add a great thrill as you make it pretty high up the slide wall. Long, too!
-Wave pool- Offered up some great views of the Volcano, but other than that: Standard fair
-Teawha: We rode this a lot. It was great fun getting caught up in the waves and the rapids. This sucker moves quick!!
-The other one: I can't remember the name. THis was fine. I actually enjoyed the stargazer's cavern. Different and unique, but not finished yet.

EATZ:

-I only had the Kohola Chicken Sandwich. I stepped out on a limb as I'm not a huge fan of avocado mayo or cole slaw on anything other than a hot dog. It was very good! Left me feeling light and energized. Food is definitely one of the best things about this park.

TAPUTAPU:

-Never had an issue with it.

So, here's my fair, unbiased summary: It's a great addition but I wasn't blown away. For being a huge Universal fan, and not always fair to Disney, I have to say that I prefer Typhoon Lagoon any day. I don't think I will do Volcano Bay every visit, but it was a good day.
 
PART 2
Eleventh ride was Kala & Ta Nui Serpentine Body Slies RIDE NOW. I did the Green slide as I wanted to see the hype of the intensity. OMG WHAT A RUSH! That 30 foot drop or so goes right into a very tight turn and wow you seriously fly down that slide. After all of the crazy turns, there is a small drop at the end of the green and you do get a bit of airtime before plunging into the pool. Seriously the most intense slide I've ever been on.

Twelfth ride was TeAwa Fearless River. This was amazing! We seemed to have great luck because we got the big wave perfectly the three times we went around! I could go around this the whole day! However, the sections where the wave sections are, if you end up drifting over there, you kind of get stuck (especially if you are sitting in the tube). To address how the Volcano looks from the river, honestly everyone in my party thought it was cool as you can see all of the slides and people rushing by and look up to see everything! From the three times we went around, people around us thought it was cool seeing the slides from that standpoint. I thought it was neat too! Even though people seem quick to judge a book by its cover, once you actually experience it in person, it really is neat to see the mess of slides in the volcano. Finally, you can definitely tell they have issues with that "island."

Thirteenth ride was Kopiko Wai Winding River. This was very relaxing and calm which was what we needed after 12 rides. One thing to point out, the water was the coldest in this river out of all of the areas around the park. Now to address the controversial Stargazers Cavern. Honestly, I was expecting more since I was quick to judge everything. There are orange and purple lights that just shine in your face that honestly takes away the experience and the blue lights on the ceiling. Also, there were LOTS of people just yelling in the cavern because of the loud echo. Also, I think the fog should just be at the front and ends of the cavern and they need to remove those orange and purple lights as they are just blinding. I'm hoping they aren't done with the cavern but if they are...so be it. It is still neat to see, but this is something I was actually hoping more for.

After, we rode Ko'okiri Body Plunge only to wait an additional 15 minutes in an actual line at the top. They didn't seem to be using TapuTapu as well today as there were lines almost to the bottom of the stairs for Honu, Puihi, and Punga Racers as we were ready to get lunch. We ate at the restaurant that's closest to the front entrance of the park and wow everything was delicious including the Chocolate Lava Cake!

After lunch, it was just about 12:30 and we decided we were done for the day and were going to head home after a very successful day!

Overall, I think Universal did an AMAZING job with the park! I can't wait to see what the park looks like when the trees and plants have grown in! The Volcano is truly an amazing sight to behold and to see it erupt every hour is amazing. Hotel guests definitely get the added benefit of getting in an hour early as we didn't wait!

I'm going to make a pretty bold claim about the issues Universal is having with the park...and that is the slide manufacturer itself. Even though the slides are probably the best in Orlando, Universal has had lots of issues with them.
1) Honu's 2nd wall was modified...weight modified...only 2, 3, or 5 people at a time.
2) Kala & Ta Nui...weight modified by 33% to 200 lbs.
3) Punga Racers...only kids can ride outer slides, etc etc etc (see review on slide above)
Nice in depth review. And, WELCOME to the Forum. :thumbsup::cheers:
 
After perusing through some of the reviews and thinking on my thoughts, I will offer what I have. I'll try to keep it short so that I keep your attention.

TRANSPORTATION:

-For what it is, they have a great setup. It wasn't very busy when we arrived (a little after opening) and we made it onto the first bus we walked up to. It was a pleasant drive over and the buses were chilly. That certainly helped with our return trip, as it was nearing 100 degrees when we left. All in all: It's efficient and it gets the job done, even if some may not like the parking garage setup.

VIEWZ:

-This park is certainly gorgeous. The reveal of the volcano is wonderful and they did a great job at immersing the rides within the foliage.
-I-4 is not hard to find or hear. There's no such thing as total immersion with this park. To be honest, it is what it is. I was on vacation. If i wanted a completely immersed, island atmosphere, I would have gone to the Bahamas.
-Construction galore. I never really noticed the opening of the volcano as I thought I would. However, once underneath, it's a mess. Let's just be honest. It's a mess. On that note: I was on vacation and I was enjoying the fast river. Could it have been better? Yepp. Was it horrific? No.

RIDEZ:

-We managed to make it on Taniwha (2X), Krakatau (1X), Maku (1X), Puihi (1X), Punga Racers (1X), Ika Moana (1X),the wave pool, and the two lazy rivers. Volcano Bay has a great selection of thrilling water rides. Probably the most diverse that I've ever seen.

-Taniwha: Fun and simple. They surprisingly moved quick! I wasn't expecting it, but it was good.
-Krakatau: What a rush! Once again, simple, but thrilling. That last drop followed by the splashdown was a lot of fun.
-Maku- This one was fine. The geysers were working but I didn't really see a point for them, as they did not splash us.
-Puihi- Probably my favorite until I ride Honu.
-Punga Racers: Never again. I banged up my knees on this one as the forces of the turns kept throwing me off of my mat. The slide is painful without that mat and I landed pretty hard even though I pulled up as suggested.
-Ika Moana- This one was a really fun family raft ride. Some of those turns add a great thrill as you make it pretty high up the slide wall. Long, too!
-Wave pool- Offered up some great views of the Volcano, but other than that: Standard fair
-Teawha: We rode this a lot. It was great fun getting caught up in the waves and the rapids. This sucker moves quick!!
-The other one: I can't remember the name. THis was fine. I actually enjoyed the stargazer's cavern. Different and unique, but not finished yet.

EATZ:

-I only had the Kohola Chicken Sandwich. I stepped out on a limb as I'm not a huge fan of avocado mayo or cole slaw on anything other than a hot dog. It was very good! Left me feeling light and energized. Food is definitely one of the best things about this park.

TAPUTAPU:

-Never had an issue with it.

So, here's my fair, unbiased summary: It's a great addition but I wasn't blown away. For being a huge Universal fan, and not always fair to Disney, I have to say that I prefer Typhoon Lagoon any day. I don't think I will do Volcano Bay every visit, but it was a good day.
Nice review. :):thumbsup:
 

Volcano Bay is the best water park in Orlando, with a few Universal-isms that hold it back


From the gigantic beach full of thousands of chairs for you to sit on (and power boxes for you to step on); to the lazy and not so lazy river that floats throughout the park, relaxation is key here.


At least, that’s how I felt when I walked through Volcano Bay, Universal is going the extra mile to ensure that your day is care free.


On my first visit (certainly not the last, ‘m a three park pass owner, what what!) I did just about every slide and ate a couple of the food items that were available...Here’s what I thought


Rides/Attractions:

I mean, I haven’t been to a water park recently that I have enjoyed the slides this much, every ride felt very different to me than anything I had experienced at the other water parks in Orlando.


A couple of standouts for me:


Honu - Holy crap, I didn’t expect the drop to be that intense, or the speed (especially for a turtle themed slide)..I must say this one surprised me


Aqua Coaster - This is clearly the highlight for many, and it doesn't disappoint, I expected some ‘show-ish’ scenes, but more on that later, this is so much fun..The magnetic launches are quite thrilling in an of themselves


Punga Racers - You wouldn’t think, but these things fly! I did miss the massive drop that is featured at Aquatica’s version, but what you miss in a thrilling drop you make up for in speed.


OhNo - Short, but sweet, I also enjoy the little tucked away beach that is right where the ride exits. The drop out here is super fun



Food/More Food:

When it comes to water parks food is normally standard, of course Universal has been upping their food game and VB is no different. I love the fact that I can have sushi at a water park.


I also tried some crazy burger that I don’t remember the name of (consistent theme at this park), but it was delicious. Please understand how close I was to getting that giant dog with all the craziness on it.



Tapu Tapu:


With the constant complaining and gnashing of teeth about the system, you would have thought they were pulling a Samsung Note and bursting into flames for some.

I loved the idea of tapping and running off to the lazy river while I waited. I also loved the idea of paying with it so I didn’t have to use my card.


My only grip is that your pass discount is not automatically applied through it. Also, the time would be nice to see on it



Overall:

The park is lush and beautiful, the rides deliver on mild to wild, and there is enough to do for a full day.


Now back to my opening statement.


While I think this is the best water park in Orlando, there are a couple of things that Universal continues to do that I’d like to see change.

  1. Exposed unthemed areas

  2. Carry story throughout

  3. Give the shouting staff a dang microphone

I understand many were ticked at the open back of the volcano, I was surprised as well. I can honestly say it’s not as big a deal once you are in the park


As far as the Fearless River goes, it appears as if they are not completely done with landscaping yet, and also - the volcano steps don’t appear complete either.


I would have liked to have seen more integration with the a volcano and say, the Aqua Coaster, perhaps some projection effects or some things you see inside the volcano with Vol and whatnot


I don’t particularly understand Universal’s obsession with exposing things to the audience, perhaps they want us to marvel at their engineering? Either way, it’s not flattering, rather it works against everything they’ve worked to build


Also, if you’re going in the next couple of weeks, know that there are some areas still under construction around the park. Most of them are off on peripheral edges of the park so they won't even matter to your day


Last thing, some of the landscaping isn’t done either, therefore you may see some of I-4 and some traffic lights inside the park...I feel this is only temporary


All in all, I love Volcano Bay and was impressed with it. It is not Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach or Aquatica - It’s Universal’s water park, Volcano Bay
 
Volcano Bay is the best water park in Orlando, with a few Universal-isms that hold it back


From the gigantic beach full of thousands of chairs for you to sit on (and power boxes for you to step on); to the lazy and not so lazy river that floats throughout the park, relaxation is key here.


At least, that’s how I felt when I walked through Volcano Bay, Universal is going the extra mile to ensure that your day is care free.


On my first visit (certainly not the last, ‘m a three park pass owner, what what!) I did just about every slide and ate a couple of the food items that were available...Here’s what I thought


Rides/Attractions:

I mean, I haven’t been to a water park recently that I have enjoyed the slides this much, every ride felt very different to me than anything I had experienced at the other water parks in Orlando.


A couple of standouts for me:


Honu - Holy crap, I didn’t expect the drop to be that intense, or the speed (especially for a turtle themed slide)..I must say this one surprised me


Aqua Coaster - This is clearly the highlight for many, and it doesn't disappoint, I expected some ‘show-ish’ scenes, but more on that later, this is so much fun..The magnetic launches are quite thrilling in an of themselves


Punga Racers - You wouldn’t think, but these things fly! I did miss the massive drop that is featured at Aquatica’s version, but what you miss in a thrilling drop you make up for in speed.


OhNo - Short, but sweet, I also enjoy the little tucked away beach that is right where the ride exits. The drop out here is super fun



Food/More Food:

When it comes to water parks food is normally standard, of course Universal has been upping their food game and VB is no different. I love the fact that I can have sushi at a water park.


I also tried some crazy burger that I don’t remember the name of (consistent theme at this park), but it was delicious. Please understand how close I was to getting that giant dog with all the craziness on it.



Tapu Tapu:


With the constant complaining and gnashing of teeth about the system, you would have thought they were pulling a Samsung Note and bursting into flames for some.

I loved the idea of tapping and running off to the lazy river while I waited. I also loved the idea of paying with it so I didn’t have to use my card.


My only grip is that your pass discount is not automatically applied through it. Also, the time would be nice to see on it



Overall:

The park is lush and beautiful, the rides deliver on mild to wild, and there is enough to do for a full day.


Now back to my opening statement.


While I think this is the best water park in Orlando, there are a couple of things that Universal continues to do that I’d like to see change.

  1. Exposed unthemed areas

  2. Carry story throughout

  3. Give the shouting staff a dang microphone

I understand many were ticked at the open back of the volcano, I was surprised as well. I can honestly say it’s not as big a deal once you are in the park


As far as the Fearless River goes, it appears as if they are not completely done with landscaping yet, and also - the volcano steps don’t appear complete either.


I would have liked to have seen more integration with the a volcano and say, the Aqua Coaster, perhaps some projection effects or some things you see inside the volcano with Vol and whatnot


I don’t particularly understand Universal’s obsession with exposing things to the audience, perhaps they want us to marvel at their engineering? Either way, it’s not flattering, rather it works against everything they’ve worked to build


Also, if you’re going in the next couple of weeks, know that there are some areas still under construction around the park. Most of them are off on peripheral edges of the park so they won't even matter to your day


Last thing, some of the landscaping isn’t done either, therefore you may see some of I-4 and some traffic lights inside the park...I feel this is only temporary


All in all, I love Volcano Bay and was impressed with it. It is not Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach or Aquatica - It’s Universal’s water park, Volcano Bay


Great review!!
 
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