Volcano Bay or Aquatica? Islands of Adventure or Seaworld?

[addacollier]

Hi all,

l’m planning a trip to Orlando in September 2022. WDW will feature well in the trip.

My teenage sons like white knuckle roller coasters but my wife prefers flat rides. The boys like exciting water slides but my wife prefers to sunbathe.

So with this in mind, if I had to pick one park to visit out of VB/Aquatica and IOA/Seaworld, what would readers suggest we visit?

Many thanks.

 

[LittleMerman]

Out of the four parks you mentioned I've been to all but Volcano Bay. However, it looks amazing. I've heard that it's one of the best if not the best water parks in central FL. It looks really lush, it's the newest, and has a lot of cool attractions including the water coaster. I would choose that one over Aquatica. I went there to Aquatica once and it was fine but it didn't feel that special. Your wife can sunbathe at either park and the VB wave pool area looks better. The park looks like it would feel like a vacation plus the wrist bands for virtual queues look cool and helpful.

IOA and SeaWorld are both great parks. SeaWorld has more coasters (plus the new Ice Breaker that will be open when you visit) but IOA has more rides overall (both thrill and non-thrill). SeaWorld is my 2nd favorite theme park after Magic Kingdom. It has some amazing rides, beautiful animals, and I love the sense of adventure there. IOA is great too but I would probably only choose that park over SeaWorld if you really wanted to experience the IPs there or if you wanted more rides than shows/animals. Harry Potter is def really cool to experience if you're a fan. But between the two, you'll have a blast at either!

 

[jeanericuser001]

Hi all,

l’m planning a trip to Orlando in September 2022. WDW will feature well in the trip.

My teenage sons like white knuckle roller coasters but my wife prefers flat rides. The boys like exciting water slides but my wife prefers to sunbathe.

So with this in mind, if I had to pick one park to visit out of VB/Aquatica and IOA/Seaworld, what would readers suggest we visit?

Many thanks.

I would suggest aquatica. Volcano Bay has a couple dubious incidents that draw into question their safety record with their slides. Aquatica also just unveiled yet another slide with duel racing while volcano bay has yet to add anything new. Aquatica also has a decent amount of thrill rides as well as some decent areas for sun bathing. Another factor to also consider is the price. Universal charges alot more than sea world for their water park so you can save some extra bucks. You might even also be able to lasso a deal for both seaworld and aquatica at a decent price as that time of the year is some what of an off season. Another factor is you also have halloween horror nights happening at universal and that brings in a truck load of people to universal on some days.

 

[kinglsyyy]

My family loves VB. Volcanoe Bay and Aquatica have many of the same experiances/rides.
Volcanoe Bay gets the upper hand for two reasons. Tapu Tapu and all the rides have a built in system to move the tubes and rafts up to the rides/experiance entrance. Tapu Tapu realy helps with ride wait times. Lots of thirll experiances plus your wife can layout all day.

In term of Seaworld vs IOA. If you have not experianced the Harry Portter areas at both IOA and US, its a must. Hagrads is probally the best thirll coaster in Orlando including Bush Gardens. Plus Velocioaster is coming in June. But i really would recommend doing both US and IOA at UO.

Seaworld and Bush Gardens have the most thrill coatsters for sure. I think Sheikra, Cheeta Hunt,Mako, Manta are top 7 coaster in Orlando. But there is defintlly a quality drop from WDW in terms of food and guest services.

If it was me, i guess it would depend on if i had a hotel day planned already that included just getting a cabana and chilling. If yes i would throw in UO, if not i would do Volcano Bay.