Volcano Bay

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
A quick question, are tickets bought in advance for specific dates open ended? Somebody here claiming they bought tickets for a specific date but weren't let in on that date as the park was at capacity when they arrived, surely can't be true? Not the first time I've seen this claimed.

We couldn't go in- they oversell so you get to the park after a three-hour drive and the park is at capacity. We bought the tickets online for that specific date and they had all of our info but no one called, texted or emailed to let us know so we could make other plans. Obviously, they wanted us to get here and purchase tickets to the other two parks. It sucks.
 
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BrianLo

Well-Known Member
I'm not excusing the opening cluster (it was bad), but most of that has been sorted, and now we are just mostly seeing a popular new park.

Based on general guest surveys it's certainly not fully sorted.

There is a dichotomy between on site guests with early access though, who really seem to get a good chance to enjoy the park to the fullest. But the volume of the general public still complaining is quite substantial and not something higher ups are exactly happy with. The complaints are always the loudest... but there are still more than a few of them.
 

cheezbat

Well-Known Member
I wonder if there are contractual restrictions concerning using non-ProSlide attractions like a Flow-Rider.
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Wouldn't matter...BUT Proslide now also offers their own version of this called the Proslide SURF. It's practically the same thing.
 

Absimilliard

Well-Known Member
Wouldn't matter...BUT Proslide now also offers their own version of this called the Proslide SURF. It's practically the same thing.

Alas, Proslide SURF is not available in the United States as Proslide in that case is a partner for another company overseas. They had to get such an agreement as some clients in Asia want to "sole source" their whole waterpark and offering wave pools, lazy rivers and a surf experience is part of the deal to get in those large contracts.

Vekoma also has a similar agreement with Brogent Technologies (their i-Ride flying theater attraction is presented as the Panoramic Flight Simulator on the Vekoma website) and Rocky Mountain Construction (maker of the Hybrid wooden coasters). Both can still sell their products directly to clients , but the agreements with Vekoma help them with product marketing and support around the world. When RMC sold a wooden roller coaster to a zoo in Sweden, the zoo specified they wanted Vekoma to supervise installation and use Vekoma sourced components for the ride controls and what not.
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
Woah. Put words in mouths much? I didn't declare anything a failure. For declarations like that (and not from me), please refer to the bulk of the reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor.

Theme parks are my vacation of choice and all I was saying is that waking up before the crack of dawn to be on water slides at 8AM is not my idea of a good time. If it is for you, have a ball. Different strokes.

And PS, I wouldn't be caught dead at Disney on the Fourth of July.
Thank god I'm not the only one who feels this way!

I also obviously love a theme park vacation, but the idea of getting up at the crack of dawn to race around hit all the major attractions is not my idea of fun, whatever the park. I'd rather miss out on things than come back home more exhausted than if I had of just stayed home and worked. As long as you don't go at crazy busy times, I still think it's possible to enjoy the parks (with the possible exception of VB) without killing yourself.
 

Jimmy Thick

Well-Known Member
Expensive and a very low rider count per hour. Expensive to build and to run. If the picture you have there is two sided your talking 3 million in water pumps, that need maintenance and electric. Two sided means basically two people till they fall. Per hour is very small even if many people get on and are ejected within a few seconds. Next problem is those rip off women's bathing suit tops and guys swim trunks left and right. You have to have shirt for the ladies in bikinis to wear so it doesn't turn into a strip club.

Also the way those are run is usually everyone gets a boogie board and surf boards cost extra.

There is a Flowrider at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. They look daunting but are fantastic, if a large guy like myself can learn to "surf" on these anyone can.

As for people's clothes getting ripped off I've yet to see that at anytime I've ridden it. Mostly people fall off their board and roll to the back.

Don't really know if a Flowrider is needed in VB, I would rather have an original attraction personally.
 

UpAllNight

Well-Known Member
Looking forward to the annual pass blackout being over so our usual vloggers and forum visitors can let us know how the place has come along over the past month. They seemed to be doing a lot of nice additional touches...I just wish they'd sort the back of that Volcano out. Cheapens the entire experience :(
 

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
Ok so I've been over this last week for a few days from England to sort out a family property issue and managed a spare day to spend at VB. Luckily I was comped a ticket for VB and a hotel room for 1 night through a friend of my fathers who has some loose business connections with Universal so ventured in on Tuesday.

First impressions on entering the park was that it looks fantastic. The 'reveal' is quite breathtaking and filled me with excitement for the day ahead and as I had early entry I joined the hoards fighting for a sun lounger after navigating the process of acquiring a tapu, tapu wristband. Having early entry meant I was going to take advantage of riding as many slides as I could early on before the waits became prohibitive and I knew in advance it was going to be busy. So I managed a few 'ride now' slides and have to say they were extremely fun and certainly got the adrenaline flowing.

I'm still not completely accepting of the brightly coloured plastic look of the various slides against the backdrop of such a well themed volcano, however you could argue that's just a personal opinion like some guys preferring redheads to blondes etc. Certainly I wasn't going to let that ruin my day there, but it's just an honest observation along with the back of the volcano looking less themed than the front.

Everything was going swimmingly at that stage and after about 9:00am (didn't have my watch on?) I plumped for a tapu, tapu reservation which was around a 30 minute wait. As I returned to my sun lounger I was shocked to discover that a family with loungers next to mine had allowed their wet 10 year old (?) child to lie on my lounger on top of my towel. I did a double take to make sure it was actually my spot and then said "Excuse me but I think you're on my lounger and towel". The mother of the kid then said "EXCUSE ME, please don't tell my child what to do". I politely explained to her that I was merely pointing out that they were on my lounger and hadn't told her child to do anything and she said to her son "Can you please move, this man doesn't know how to ask you politely to get off his lounger which he clearly wasn't using". The boy sighed, gave me a dirty look and mumbled something before moving to bit of the ground near his mum. I resisted the urge to respond to this stupid woman and sat down ignoring them. None of this was Universal's fault but I thought I'd mention it to show what jerks some people are :arghh:

After then using my tapu,tapu reservation the park had become what I can only describe as chaotically busy. It was a real shame because at 10amish in the morning I felt I'd not really been there that long and yet now it felt a bit like a battle to find things to do. I did enjoy the lazy river immensely but it unfortunately became so overcrowded that not only was there a long queue to enter, but once in it was just too overcrowded. Now the wave pool was fun but also a bit overcrowded, I did enjoy spending time in there and the waterfalls on the volcano looked fantastic cascading down the sides. I had got another tapu, tapu reservation but had over an hour to kill so again went back to my sun lounger, again to find this wet kid on my towel and lounger. This time his mum said loudly "He's here" and the boy moved as I approached, I said nothing and sat down and put my headphones on. Now I'm not sure whether this family next to me had put me in a mood or not but I must say that lying there wasn't a very relaxing experience. It felt a bit chaotic and as though they'd crowded way too many loungers in a too small a space. I decided to instead take a walk and look in the shops which I did and though I had no intention on buying anything it was ok looking at stuff for a little while and the shops were well themed.

The food for lunch was delicious, like a kid I plumped for a burger and really enjoyed it. There unfortunately wasn't anywhere to sit to eat it, though being on my own that wasn't too much of an issue and I found a rock to sit on and ate it there. Again as wonderful as this park looks (in most parts), I just couldn't get beyond the feeling that they're letting too many people in. I can best equate this feeling to being in the Magic Kingdom on Christmas day. Like there when you arrive you're blown away with the visuals and it 'feels' great being there initially and you think "Boy, this is going to be a great day". Then after an hour and a half the number of visitors starts to feel too much and you kind of end up stumbling around not going on things you particularly want to, but rather doing anything without a horrendous wait instead. There's still stuff to do and enjoy, however you feel there's something missing from what could potentially be a magnificent park and there's just too many people in there.

By 3pm I was done, hadn't ridden as many slides as I would have wanted (5 of them) but had had an ok experience. I'd not paid but feel I have to judge the day as though I had, as this is the way most people would experience it. On a quiet day I'd say it's worth the money, on a busy one maybe not so. Certainly if I'd paid for 2 of us to go in for the day, I'd have felt a little cheated but I'm sure that when new slides are added this may change things.

Finally as I went to my lounger to leave I noticed my towel was now covered in sand. The family next to me weren't there and had left their stuff on their loungers. I took this opportunity to pick up the mother's bag full of sun lotion, sun glasses, some underwear :eek: and magazines and tipped it out onto the sand next to my lounger. They guy nearest me looked over and smiled whilst nodding his head and off I went feeling quite contented :happy:
 
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Eckert

Well-Known Member
Finally as I went to my lounger to leave I noticed my towel was now covered in sand. The family next to me weren't there and had left their stuff on their loungers. I took this opportunity to pick up the mother's bag full of sun lotion, sun glasses, some underwear :eek: and magazines and tipped it out onto the sand next to my lounger. They guy nearest me looked over and smiled whilst nodding his head and off I went feeling quite contented :happy:

Sweet, sweet, revenge. I would've scooped up handfuls of sand to build my sand castle and "accidentally" drop em in her purse.

One thing I've noticed in general at VB compared to Universal and Islands is in the crowds...the people are much nastier and wilder. It's plain to see that the price drop allows the riff raff to come in, for lack of a better term. I kinda want Universal to hike up the ticket prices because that would definitely cut the crowds by a bit and give people more of the relaxed atmosphere they promised.
 

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
Im glad it had a happy ending! Those people suck.

I'd love to have been there and put my wet sandy feet all over their stuff just propped back and waiting. Then when they come back say, "oh, you're here", then move your feet with a sigh.


Thanks for the review @mergatroid - what suggestions would you have for Universal?
Less capacity and/or moving forward with the expansion asap sound like the two most sound options.
I'm going on a weekday in September so I'm curious how much different the experience will be on a (likely) less busy day.

Even though I got in free, I couldn't help feel that they're letting too many people in to rake in the money whilst the park is new and they know people will go regardless of whether they get the best experience or not. It's hugely popular no doubt but I feel that many are going there expecting to do more than they get to do and that Universal know that but are happy to take their money first and deal with guest satisfaction secondly. You could argue most parks do this and not just Universal and I'd have no problem accepting that.

I know they're planning on new additions shortly as in extra slides, hopefully this will improve the experience for everyone as they have a good park there. I think capacity should be reduced personally, but folk can argue why should they when people are filling the park every day and I'm sure that's not something Universal will want to do as this will cut their revenue.

Hopefully you'll have a great time in September, certainly if there's less people there you'll have more fun if riding slides and not feeling overcrowded is what you're looking for. Some on here don't have an issue with not riding many slides and enjoy the lazy river, the wave pool, exploring the volcano, eating and drinking and using the free toilet facilities. If you want to experience a number of slides though then your enjoyment level should be much higher if the park is quieter in September. I overheard a few people complaining about the wait times whilst there between themselves though there were also people seemingly enjoying themselves so it's all subjective.

Word of advice when you go, get there as early as you can and do as much as you can on the slides straight away as later on you may have very long waits.
 

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
So Universal cut 28 menu items across the the park, and added a few. They cut most of the specialty items like Poke Bowls, all the tacos, specialty burgers, and BBQ items. The new items are Bacon Burgers, hot dogs, and corn dogs.

https://orlandoinformer.com/blog/vo...=OITwitter&utm_campaign=New&utm_content=Title

This change is very disappointing. The theme appropriate higher quality food options really help add to the theme, and just made the place more enjoyable. I hope it is temporary and they add some more theme appropriate and interesting options soon.
 

Spectro

Active Member
Disappointing they've removed so many appealing choices. I don't want to eat burgers and hot dogs. Hopefully the park won't be as busy when we go in September as I know my daughters will never be up and ready in time for park opening by the time it takes them for hair and make up to be done.
 

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
HAHAHAHAHHAA Oh god. The food was so heavily touted as something that made this park special and it certainly piqued my interest. I recall numerous posts saying this menu wouldn't last long. It made it two whole months!

I really hope that they just decide to charge more and make this a little closer to the premium experience it was essentially advertised as.
 
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Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
I've been told the new menu is temporary, and that new items are coming. They are reacting right now to a plethora of issues with the food and killing a lot of birds with one stone.

The tacos were getting bad reviews because the shell tastes like wet cardboard. They are reworking those and they will be back. The Hawaiian Pizza and BBQ items weren't selling. The Poke Bowls were slow prep and spoilage issues, and the number of "specialty" burgers were killing them in on demand prep time. They plan on bringing back a few of them. They are also working on some new items.
 

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
I've been told the new menu is temporary, and that new items are coming. They are reacting right now to a plethora of issues with the food and killing a lot of birds with one stone.

The tacos were getting bad reviews because the shell tastes like wet cardboard. They are reworking those and they will be back. The Hawaiian Pizza and BBQ items weren't selling. The Poke Bowls were slow prep and spoilage issues, and the number of "specialty" burgers were killing them in on demand prep time. They plan on bringing back a few of them. They are also working on some new items.
Good to hear. It sounded like they just threw their hands up and said "fine! hot dogs and burgers for all."
 

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Good to hear. It sounded like they just threw their hands up and said "fine! hot dogs and burgers for all."
I believe that that is what they did until the park stabilizes.

@GAcoaster over at IU is also reporting some serious staffing issues at both Universal and Disney. They seem to have stressed the pool of available competent and dependable employees by opening Pandora and VB at the same time. Saying Universal may raise starting wage to above $10/hr just to get what they need.
 

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
I believe that that is what they did until the park stabilizes.

@GAcoaster over at IU is also reporting some serious staffing issues at both Universal and Disney. They seem to have stressed the pool of available competent and dependable employees by opening Pandora and VB at the same time. Saying Universal may raise starting wage to above $10/hr just to get what they need.
Go to $15 and someone might be able to afford a flop in Kissimmee. Seriously they will need to step it up to attract quality people in the future. Otherwise you get the "living a dream" people who soon find out it isn't all it's cracked up to be.
I did see that if they gave me the team member rate at CBBR I could live there for less than what I pay to own and have a lazy river and maid service. Hmmmmm....
 

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