Volcano Bay: General Discussion

[Ryan]

Their hands are tied at this point - they can't close the park and finish things without massive publicity problems, I get that. But those 1-star Tripadvisor reviews are adding up. Talk about bad word-of-mouth. I'd imagine this ranks with the worst park debuts in recent memory.

May want to research other park openings when saying that. There have been far more disastrous ones.

 

[anihilnation]

I figured they're cutting hours to have more time to work on the park. Is that a possibility? They probably need all they can get to get work done without guests in the park.

That is my guess as well.

It really was a lose-lose kind of pickle for Uni, delay the opening and face backlash or open with some stuff not ready and face backlash. Since they already had advertised and sold three park tickets they had to choose the latter; also, if there is backlash no matter what, then might as well make money. Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending Uni, and I'm against greed. Personally I think they should have held off on setting an opening date and selling tickets until everything was set in stone that it would be ready, and they should have had an extended soft opening.

 

[JoeCamel]

I hope to go to VB sometime this week if things work out for me.

My wife did talk to some AP friends to see what they thought when they went. I found it interesting that they told her that they enjoyed their first visit, but the went a 2nd time and hated it.

I do not know what their experience was, but I find it odd that a 2nd visit provided a bad experience to someone who knew what to expect.

I know folks are saying they cut hours, but I keep seeing people mentioning 8 am, but I thought I always saw the park as having a 10 am opening (I guess 9 as early entry), so did they also start opening earlier at some point?

VB has been opening at 9 with early entry at 8

 

[Ryan]

Is the park still busy around the time it now closes?

 

[BAC]

We got refunds on the express passes, which just shouldn't have been sold.

I wonder how many they've sold on a daily basis, and to what extent it's wrecking the wait times.

I also wonder if someone is regularly clearing the returned Tapu Tapus to clear up ride estimates.

I'd be curious to know the answer as well. Last week, I had a guest services manager tell me they were cancelling all Express Pass sales and offering refunds, because Express Pass was ruining the virtual wait. I called BS (BTW, remember when Universal was offering Express Pass for all three parks if you stayed at Portofino, Hard Rock or Royal Pacific?). Guest services has admitted to me a few times that they're not sure what's going on at the park.

We'll be there next week. Its a big deal to fly my family of 5 to Florida so we'd like to have the best experience possible (who knows if we'll ever be back). If there is a day of the week that seems 'less crowded' I'd love to hear about it. Also, if the park starts clearing out after 5pm for example, I'd like to hear that too. Thanks in advance.

 

[Mr. EPCOT]

(BTW, remember when Universal was offering Express Pass for all three parks if you stayed at Portofino, Hard Rock or Royal Pacific?).

They never offered it. Yes, at one point, MONTHS ago, deep within the website there was a blurb said that Volcano Bay Express would be included with the resorts, but I'm sure that was just a miscommunication internally in all of the chaos of trying to get this thing up and running. I really doubt including the Express was ever the actual plan. It's not like they were intentionally trying to mislead anybody, it's not like they plastered THOU SHALT EXPRESS AT THE BAY OF VOLCANO WITH THINE UNIVERSAL RESORTS in giant flaming letters on the main page as a major selling point to try to get you to stay at those resorts.

 

[Bobharlem]

If you go too late rides become "full". Also afternoon thunderstorms tend to clear the park out, if people aren't returning or leave the park I think tapu adjusts downward. Although if lightning happens, pretty much everything shuts down. And the drought, it's over, it's back to afternoon storm season now.


If there's a thunderstorm that goes through and then leaves, that time after the storm is gone is likely golden, especially if it's later in the day.

 

[Frank Drackman]

I'm not that big on water parks, so I really do not know a lot about slides. It appears some slides need weight balances/limits....gimmicks to add to the suspense, load times that include rider staging.

Does UNI have too much excitement and not enough...well, in my day it was sit down, wait for the life gaurd to say go.

I mean, are the waits partly due to the ride mix? I mean, people are saying they already have the most slides?!?

 

[Evan]

I'm not that big on water parks, so I really do not know a lot about slides. It appears some slides need weight balances/limits....gimmicks to add to the suspense, load times that include rider staging.

Does UNI have too much excitement and not enough...well, in my day it was sit down, wait for the life gaurd to say go.

I mean, are the waits partly due to the ride mix? I mean, people are saying they already have the most slides?!?

I kind of miss the days of waterparks gone by. You'd climb a tower and be greeted by 10 options or body slide. Make your choice, slide, and climb again. No tubes, no mats, just myself and a slide.

I kind of wish they'd just build a tower with tons of body slides coming off, give me more of those.

 

[UAN17]

Did you cancel or did they cancel express?
If you- why?

Or did you use them and they weren't up to snuff?

Number of reasons. We bought them well in advance of park opening.

We were in the queue for the virtual queue for Krakatau and Honu and scanned our tapu tapu to go on Punga Racers. We entered the queue and our tapu tapus updated to say 'Welcome to Punga Racers'. We then realised pretty quickly Punga Racers was broken (like seriously, how can conveyor belts break down so often??) so we left the queue, and the tapu tapu was stuck on 'welcome to Punga Racers' as we hadn't completed the circle...so we had no idea what time we were meant to be at the other 2 Rides were in the virtual queue for.


...So we were told we had to find the guys with the computer to fix it, and they were literally nowhere to be seen. Not in the location they were in the morning...concierge desk couldn't help...nothing. So I went to guest relations, waited in a 45 minute queue. By this point I was utterly p***** ... I was polite about it to the guy at GR but I just said I want my money back as I had purchased express to make things easier today and it's wasted like an hour and a half of my time.

Then, it was time to go on Honu. Got in the queue, 'Welcome to Honu'...rode it (after a lengthy breakdown....stuck in the physical queue) and the wristband still said 'Honu ready to Ride' so my entrance to Honu had used the express it seems which should have been cleared, and I couldn't do anything else until I found someone else to clear my screen again. Oh...and Honu was broke again so they weren't letting people join the physical queue.

I've literally never been so stressed at a theme/water park ever. And then we had an hour queue for food to top it off.

Some of the defences I've read for Universal have been lame. This park should not have opened without softs. Simple as that....Universal are getting an absolute pasting on tripadvisor from the paying public and it's completely & thouroughly deserved.

 

[candygram]

So I'm confused- does a guest leaving the park and returning their tapu tape remove them from their place in line? So that rides that are "full" may open up after guests leave whether due to weather or frustration. An onsite hotel guest may want to go in the evening if you have a multi park ticket but not if the rides are maxed for the day.

 

[BAC]

They never offered it. Yes, at one point, MONTHS ago, deep within the website there was a blurb said that Volcano Bay Express would be included with the resorts, but I'm sure that was just a miscommunication internally in all of the chaos of trying to get this thing up and running. I really doubt including the Express was ever the actual plan. It's not like they were intentionally trying to mislead anybody, it's not like they plastered THOU SHALT EXPRESS AT THE BAY OF VOLCANO WITH THINE UNIVERSAL RESORTS in giant flaming letters on the main page as a major selling point to try to get you to stay at those resorts.

I agree with you, I don't believe they intentionally tried to mislead anybody. But it was a deal they advertised (for nearly 3 months) and it was advertised well (I found it right away). But it wasn't an accident, I believe it was an offer to drive hotel attendance but wasn't vetted thru the proper channels. You can't offer something that has a value of $89 per person and not expect repercussions. I do wonder how many people think they're getting EPs and will get a rude awakening when they check into the park.

 

[Powerballor]

Just curious, but...

Since, from what I am reading, Express Passes are no longer available, and Tapu Tapu supposedly only locks in 1 ride at a time now which may have extreme waiting times, could a customer purchase 2 tickets for one day and receive 2 Tapu Tapu's to lock in twice the amount of rides?

 

[JoeCamel]

Just curious, but...

Since, from what I am reading, Express Passes are no longer available, and Tapu Tapu supposedly only locks in 1 ride at a time now which may have extreme waiting times, could a customer purchase 2 tickets for one day and receive 2 Tapu Tapu's to lock in twice the amount of rides?

Each band only lets one person ride. You can't reserve for multiple people from one band.

 

[darkridelover]

Number of reasons. We bought them well in advance of park opening.

We were in the queue for the virtual queue for Krakatau and Honu and scanned our tapu tapu to go on Punga Racers. We entered the queue and our tapu tapus updated to say 'Welcome to Punga Racers'. We then realised pretty quickly Punga Racers was broken (like seriously, how can conveyor belts break down so often??) so we left the queue, and the tapu tapu was stuck on 'welcome to Punga Racers' as we hadn't completed the circle...so we had no idea what time we were meant to be at the other 2 Rides were in the virtual queue for.


...So we were told we had to find the guys with the computer to fix it, and they were literally nowhere to be seen. Not in the location they were in the morning...concierge desk couldn't help...nothing. So I went to guest relations, waited in a 45 minute queue. By this point I was utterly p***** ... I was polite about it to the guy at GR but I just said I want my money back as I had purchased express to make things easier today and it's wasted like an hour and a half of my time.

Then, it was time to go on Honu. Got in the queue, 'Welcome to Honu'...rode it (after a lengthy breakdown....stuck in the physical queue) and the wristband still said 'Honu ready to Ride' so my entrance to Honu had used the express it seems which should have been cleared, and I couldn't do anything else until I found someone else to clear my screen again. Oh...and Honu was broke again so they weren't letting people join the physical queue.

I've literally never been so stressed at a theme/water park ever. And then we had an hour queue for food to top it off.

Some of the defences I've read for Universal have been lame. This park should not have opened without softs. Simple as that....Universal are getting an absolute pasting on tripadvisor from the paying public and it's completely & thouroughly deserved.

Sounds like 2 break downs happened and you had the unfortunate luck of having a return time. Break downs happen on every theme park ride. I understand that's frustrating. But those were unforeseen circumstances.

 

[UAN17]

Sounds like 2 break downs happened and you had the unfortunate luck of having a return time. Break downs happen on every theme park ride. I understand that's frustrating. But those were unforeseen circumstances.

Disney manage to foresee the unforeseen circumstances though, and offer you a replacement fastpass as standard when things break, without the guest having to do anything about it...never mind having to spend an hour and a half tracing someone down to correct the situation. Softs would have highlighted such issues.

It's been open over a week now, I'm ingruiged to know if they've sorted this particular one out yet. If not, it makes me think they can't do it, in which case they may as well give up on Tapu Tapu right now.

 

[Bobharlem]

There should probably be a thread just for Tapu Tapu related stuff. I've noticed things like times going down (and up) with it. A few folks grabbing lost bands and making multiple ride reservations using someone else's band (not cool). Issues like no AP discounts associated with band, not being able to pay for lockers with tap tu pay (but other stuff works). And general hints/tips on how to maximize it.

 

[WAJAS]

I'm having trouble keeping up with the constant changes, so...

What's the status of express? Can I purchase in park or ahead of time? Is it simply no longer offered to anyone? How far in advance do I have to purchase it if it is still available?

What's the status of Cabanas? How far in advance do I have to purchase them? Can I reserve a specific cabana or cabana group?

What's the status of Tapu Tapu? Can I only reserve one ride at a time? Can I reserve Krakatau while I have another reserved?

Which rides are having what issues? Which slide is having what seems like constant conveyor belt issues? Is the fearless river at its fullest yet? Is the lazy river complete (with and without including stargazers cavern?

What is Vol? Why is it considered and attractions while the other interactive touch points are not?

Are the interactive touch points all working yet? most of them? How much time do they really take up?

When do we expect the unfinished (messed up) stuff to actually be fixed?

When do we expect the park to finally be open at night?

Sorry for the long post, but I can't keep up with the near constant changes that are happening. AND guest services is completely unhelpful because they really are as clueless as us at this point.

 

[UNIrd]

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad time, @UAN17. Trust me, no one here is defending Universal for the sake of defending Universal. We know the park's opening has been plagued with problems.

Perhaps they should consider selling dated tickets to ensure capacity is capped where it should be. They should also maybe consider upping the price on day tickets soon as well.

TapuTapu alone, if working correctly, means this should park should be treated as a bit more boutique than regular water parks. This is something people pay additional for at other water parks...gate price + time saver bands. Volcano Bay shouldn't be the same price as Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach for what was supposed to be more of a premium experience.

 

[sonoma15]

Interesting there is a vol option



Idle animation for cabana taputapu point