Volcano Bay: General Discussion

[Andysol]

Have you been to Volcano Bay?

Twice.

So bad ya went back, huh?

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

How'd I know you'd crawl out of your hole to make a comment?

 

[Gorillaball]

"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded" Yogi Berra....That kind of sums it up.The public speaks with their wallets.

Or they are limiting capacity (wisely so and kudos to Universal) until they work out all the issues that ideally would have been fixed during a soft open?

Anybody know what they are locking capacity at right now? How does that compare to what their targets were? I'm sure their overall capacity will inch higher in time, hopefully.

 

[Cheezbat]

"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded" Yogi Berra....That kind of sums it up.The public speaks with their wallets.

Indeed.

It's pretty insane that the park is basically closed the moment it officially opens to the public. I blame much of it on resort guests. Allowing them to get there an hour early really screws it for day guests.
What Universal should have done is kept Wet N Wild open through the 2017 summer season to give Uni time to complete the park and get things running smoothly, as well as give guests an alternative park to hit up under capacity days.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

^Then you'd have pissed off guests that had to go to the old Wet N Wild after they got turned away from Volcano Bay. Sprinkling salt all over that wound.

 

[Gorillaball]

Indeed.

It's pretty insane that the park is basically closed the moment it officially opens to the public. I blame much of it on resort guests. Allowing them to get there an hour early really screws it for day guests.

Pretty sure that's not an accident and it makes sense. Special perks to your cash cow - the on property guests. Fill in the gaps with the locals. Not dissimilar to the mouse's business model in Central FL.

 

[Mad Dog]

Pretty sure that's not an accident and it makes sense. Special perks to your cash cow - the on property guests. Fill in the gaps with the locals. Not dissimilar to the mouse's business model in Central FL.

Yep. And I would wager a really good guess that spending per guest is through the roof. A far cry from the low guest spending demographic of Wet & Wild....And since the Universal hotels are nearly always over 90% occupancy (with more rooms coming) I would imagine it will stay crowded as long as the weather co operates. Having so many family oriented & priced hotel rooms within walking distance of the park is pure genius.

 

[JoeCamel]

Indeed.

It's pretty insane that the park is basically closed the moment it officially opens to the public. I blame much of it on resort guests. Allowing them to get there an hour early really screws it for day guests.
What Universal should have done is kept Wet N Wild open through the 2017 summer season to give Uni time to complete the park and get things running smoothly, as well as give guests an alternative park to hit up under capacity days.

Remember the discussion if they were going to have day guests at all?

 

[Mad Dog]

Or they are limiting capacity (wisely so and kudos to Universal) until they work out all the issues that ideally would have been fixed during a soft open?

Anybody know what they are locking capacity at right now? How does that compare to what their targets were? I'm sure their overall capacity will inch higher in time, hopefully.

We've been trying to get an answer to the capacity questions for the last couple of weeks. No one has posted any info so far. A few pages back, one of the more prominent posters said VB is doing around as much business as TL & BB combined. If so, that would be pretty decent capacity, even if they dropped it down a couple notches to alleviate the problems caused by the construction vendor(s).

 

[Andysol]

TripAdvisor went up to a 2.5

But in reading the reviews, I don't know how- almost all 1 star as most recent.

It's still getting torched. Perception is reality, I get it- but almost every single one of these negative reviews are complaining about "riding 1 ride in 4 hours" or "2 rides in 5 hours", etc.

Theyre all signing up for the drop slide and the coaster or Honu I have to assume. A handful of the "lesser" rides are ride now practically all day long.

It's funny to read them though- the second I read "We got there at 10:30"- I know it's gonna be a S-show.


As an on-site guest, my touring strategy is easy as pie. Hit VB first thing- use express at USF/IoA later. Now if only HP would actually get Express, I'll be in heaven

 

[shiekra38]

TripAdvisor went up to a 2.5

But in reading the reviews, I don't know how- almost all 1 star as most recent.

It's still getting torched. Perception is reality, I get it- but almost every single one of these negative reviews are complaining about "riding 1 ride in 4 hours" or "2 rides in 5 hours", etc.

Theyre all signing up for the drop slide and the coaster or Honu I have to assume. A handful of the "lesser" rides are ride now practically all day long.

It's funny to read them though- the second I read "We got there at 10:30"- I know it's gonna be a S-show.


As an on-site guest, my touring strategy is easy as pie. Hit VB first thing- use express at USF/IoA later. Now if only HP would actually get Express, I'll be in heaven

There are plenty of "Ride Nows" throughout the day...I got there at 10:30 and was able to ride everything, minus the drop slides.....cause, um no

 

[Scott W.]

Indeed.

It's pretty insane that the park is basically closed the moment it officially opens to the public. I blame much of it on resort guests. Allowing them to get there an hour early really screws it for day guests.
What Universal should have done is kept Wet N Wild open through the 2017 summer season to give Uni time to complete the park and get things running smoothly, as well as give guests an alternative park to hit up under capacity days.

Before I ever stayed on site, I had the same feeling that it was unfair that onsite guests got a lot of benefits, even more so with Disney but it's a great incentive to stay on site.

I definitely felt like this staying at CBBR and it was awesome:

 

[Andysol]

Before I ever stayed on site, I had the same feeling that it was unfair that onsite guests got a lot of benefits, even more so with Disney but it's a great incentive to stay on site.

I definitely felt like this staying at CBBR and it was awesome:

I agree- and definitely more so than Disney. While I use DME and on-site transportation, I typically avoid EMH like the plague, as those parks are almost always significantly more crowded than the other parks.

@scott_walker The day you jump up from CBBR to a Deluxe and get those Express Passes- you'll truly feel like Wayne and Garth on their way to being informed about Milwaukee

 

[rcoasterdude]

lol how do you delete comments

 

[rcoasterdude]

ignore. I messed up

 

[rcoasterdude]

Twice.



Be my guest.

Then Universal succeeded in Volcano Bay. End of discussion

 

[Scott W.]

I agree- and definitely more so than Disney. While I use DME and on-site transportation, I typically avoid EMH like the plague, as those parks are almost always significantly more crowded than the other parks.

@scott_walker The day you jump up from CBBR to a Deluxe and get those Express Passes- you'll truly feel like Wayne and Garth on their way to being informed about Milwaukee

I just could never justify staying at a deluxe for 2 weeks. Maybe if I was stopping through for a few days, I could really see the appeal though.

 

[Mad Dog]

I just could never justify staying at a deluxe for 2 weeks. Maybe if I was stopping through for a few days, I could really see the appeal though.

I split the stays since they built CBBR & Sapphire. I'll stay at Sapphire or CBBR for a while and then move over to Portofino for the rest of the vacation. I always do a minimum of 7 nights at Portofino to get the best rates.....This saves a few bucks and you still get the greatest theme park extra ever, namely Express Passes.

 

[Scott W.]

I split the stays since they built CBBR & Sapphire. I'll stay at Sapphire or CBBR for a while and then move over to Portofino for the rest of the vacation. I always do a minimum of 7 nights at Portofino to get the best rates.....This saves a few bucks and you still get the greatest theme park extra ever, namely Express Passes.

If I was planning a big Orlando blow out before my wife and I finally decide to stop going on expensive holidays and starting a family, then I'd more tempted to stay at Disney for a week, take full advantage of Disney Dining and then spend a week at Universal at Portofino.

 

[cdnusagurl]

If I was planning a big Orlando blow out before my wife and I finally decide to stop going on expensive holidays and starting a family, then I'd more tempted to stay at Disney for a week, take full advantage of Disney Dining and then spend a week at Universal at Portofino.

This is what my husband and I are pretty much doing for our trip next spring. 9 days at Disney but at Pop because I cannot justify the price of any deluxe there, although I might switch to a moderate if the Canadian dollars keeps rising and Disney has a nice discount for the spring. Then 4 days at Universal at RPR to get the express pass.