Volcano Bay

[lebeau]

That's good to hear, I suppose. Wait times are gradually going down as the hype dies down. Still, really anything over an hour for a waterslide is pretty much unheard of. I certainly won't be going to the park until they are under an hour.

The water coaster was pretty exceptional. I will put that in another category. Over time, I'm sure they are going to get the wait times under control.

Lounger?, wave pool?, drinks? and food?
Sounds like my time would be best served at a beach with a cooler of beer, some hoagies and 65 bucks in my pocket.
Sorry I have a family of four, I meant 260 bucks in my pocket.

Suit yourself. We had a very enjoyable, relaxing day. It's not going to be for everyone, but the place was packed and I didn't see any unhappy faces. I think Universal has a winner on their hands and it will only get better as they figure out the operational issues.

 

[lebeau]

I think the wait time will continue to be an issue with this park until they can build enough slides to sustain a que-less system and high capacity.

I'm scheduled to go this summer but am holding out to see if a month makes a difference in whether Operations is able to decrease wait times for rides.
I'm glad you had a great time. You also seem to be in the minority on these boards and other review sites.
Also, lets face it no one is going to have a bad time at a water or theme park. The question is whether my day will be best spent at one of the other 8+ parks in Orlando and sir that is the magic question!

Your mileage is going to vary obviously.

We used Volcano Bay to break up a multiday visit to the dry parks. After three days in IOA and US, an easygoing day in a beautiful water park was just what the doctor ordered before diving back in for more. Purely anecdotal, but the place seemed to be full of happy guests. Just scanning faces, people were having fun.

Nothing scientific about it, but I did not get the sense that we were in the minority with regards to enjoying the park. We rode the water coaster with a couple of theme park nerds who were behind us in line. For about 15 minutes, I listened as they discussed the theme park wars and what they thought Universal should be doing differently. Their attitude changed completely after the first couple lift hills. They came off the ride buzzing about what a special experience it was and immediately queued up to ride it again.

There's definitely room for improvement. The park was rushed to open. That's obvious. It's also obvious that Universal is working to fix whatever problems the park currently has. In the long run, it's going to be a very solid addition to the resort which will greatly enhance multi-day visits.

Whether or not it will be the best use of your day a month from now, I cannot say. But like you say, if you go I can pretty much guarantee you won't have a bad time. If you pass, I'm sure it will be an even better experience whenever you decide to give it a try.

 

[Furiated]

Like I said before, we spent a lot of time in the wave pool.

How does the wave pool compare to TL and BB? I love the wave pool at TL but I fear that it has ruined me for other wave pools. I could spend hours in the TL one when the waves are turned on. In the BB one I was bored and didn't spend 5 minutes in there.

Curious how the VB one compares.

 

[lebeau]

How does the wave pool compare to TL and BB? I love the wave pool at TL but I fear that it has ruined me for other wave pools. I could spend hours in the TL one when the waves are turned on. In the BB one I was bored and didn't spend 5 minutes in there.

Curious how the VB one compares.

Well, you can't beat the view. You're at the base of a volcano! It's very cool. Before the waves start, there is booming tribal music. It seemed like there were different settings on the waves. Sometimes, they were very gentle. Other times, they could push you around a bit. I could feel a mild undercurrent on the stronger waves, but nothing too serious. They weren't big enough for surfing.

 

[misterID]

I've been gone for a while so I missed the merger of Orlando United and Universal Insider. Have to say I'm really disappointed in the change. Reading about Volcano Bay over there is tense. A lot of members I know over there are walking on eggshells because they're getting jumped on or getting snarky replies by the mods for every little not so positive post. I know there were some bagging Pandora with how awesome Volcano Bay was going to be... But when there are bad reviews and issues bellowing it out... why make it personal? Not everyone is cool with having a drink and people watching when the experience isn't as advertised.

I'm sure they will turn the problems around. But I'm very disappointed with Universal and its community lately.

 

[JoeCamel]

I've been gone for a while so I missed the merger of Orlando United and Universal Insider. Have to say I'm really disappointed in the change. Reading about Volcano Bay over there is tense. A lot of members I know over there are walking on eggshells because they're getting jumped on or getting snarky replies by the mods for every little not so positive post. I know there were some bagging Pandora with how awesome Volcano Bay was going to be... But when there are bad reviews and issues bellowing it out... why make it personal? Not everyone is cool with having a drink and people watching when the experience isn't as advertised.

I'm sure they will turn the problems around. But I'm very disappointed with Universal and its community lately.

Here you can bash it to your heart's content. Difference between a WDW centric board and a Uni centric board. Different strokes you know?

 

[misterID]

Here you can bash it to your heart's content. Difference between a WDW centric board and a Uni centric board. Different strokes you know?

I wasn't bashing anything. I used to visit both boards with no issues. The site and atmosphere has changed.

 

[JoeCamel]

I wasn't bashing anything. I used to visit both boards with no issues. The site and atmosphere has changed.

Didn't say you were?

 

[misterID]

Didn't say you were?

Well, not to derail the thread, but what you responded to was not what I was a talking about, ie: simply folks prefer one park over another, but the treatment of the posters. I've never seen Mom or Steve ever lurk in a thread, like Pandora for example, and condescend every post that isn't glowing, or seeing members afraid to post their opinions and feel the need to apologize for a simple critique, even just misunderstandings, because staff and non official staff finds a benign post offensively negative. That's not different strokes.

Volcano Bay critiques seem to be a pretty sensitive spot for a few folks.

 

[mergatroid]

At least they're improving responding to guests bad reviews on Tripadvisor which is a good move

UOGuestServices, Guest Relations Manager at Universal's Volcano Bay, responded to this review
Hi there. We appreciate your feedback on your experience. We're so sorry that you feel your visit to Universal's Volcano Bay™ was a waste of time and memories. We never want our Guests to leave Universal Orlando Resort™ feeling this way. Unfortunately, we are experiencing bigger crowds now that Universal's Volcano Bay™ is officially open and we're sorry this prevented you from fully enjoying your visit. Please contact Guest Services at (407) 224-4233, option four (4) so we can try to assist you!

Hello there. We're so sorry to see you had a negative experience at Universal's Volcano Bay™. With Cabana rentals, prices may range depending on the date you visit as they are date-specific. Also, we understand the frustration with your Cabana overlooking the main highway. Unfortunately, we have quite limited space from being located off the main highway. We're sorry this was not made clear when booking. We make every effort to provide the best experience for our Guests; however, sometimes attractions may be temporarily closed for many different reasons. Our attractions will continue operation once it is absolutely safe to do so. Again, we apologize you were not able to experience the attractions you were looking forward to riding. Please call Guest Services at (407) 224-4233, option four (4). We will be happy to assist you further as we do not want our Guests to leave with such a negative memory.

Hello there, Jane. We appreciate your feedback on Universal's Volcano Bay™. We're sorry to hear that you feel ripped off after visiting our parks as it is never our intention to make our Guests feel this way. Also, our TapuTapu™ wearable is designed to provide our Guests with a spot in a virtual queue so they can relax or grab a bite to eat while keeping their place in line. We apologize for the inconsistency and long queues you experienced when using our TapuTapu™ wearable. Again, we appreciate your feedback and your concerns have been documented and passed along to our management teams for further review. If you wish, please contact Guest Services at (407) 224-4233, option four (4). We will be more than happy to try to assist you!

 

[captainkidd]

Granted, it's such a small percentage of people that read those reviews, but you gotta imagine, the powers that be at Universal have got to be fuming at the team that came up with TapuTapu. If 1 person gives it a poor review and tells just 1 other person, it spreads. With all the people that have been unhappy, it's reach has got to be pretty deep by now. I would guess a huge part of the expected attendance will be from locals. They'll be the 1st ones to hear about all the problems. If VB doesn't outdraw TL, BB and Aquatica this summer, it has to be seen as a huge fail.

 

[Tom Morrow]

And if I were the team that came up with Tapu Tapu, I'd be fuming at whoever decided the park should open, unfinished, and without any soft openings to see where adjustments to the system need to be made.

 

[CTXRover]

There is plenty of time for them to fix the queue issues. The lack of actual themeing in certain areas (the entire back half) of their water "theme" park can also be fixed with time.

Common sense would seemingly tell one not to open an unfinished park on a busy holiday weekend. 100+ reviews on tripadvisor already and the park sits at 2/5 stars. Not a good start, but it's only been 2 weeks. The media outlets picked up on the bad reviews and did a report on it. The following report has been mysteriously removed from WFTV and their affiliates (likely at request from Universal), but can still be found on youtube (you need to open and watch in youtube). These reports will negatively impact the perception of the park for some time if they don't fix the issues for the complaints soon. Apologies for it "not being our intention to deliver a bad experience" will only go so far.



The biggest complaints are the waits and that TapuTapu does not work the way they intended. For the good of the park, perhaps they should just drop the whole virtual queue idea and bring it back on more gradually after more testing or start limiting park capacity until they sort it out.

 

[Tom Morrow]

They're mentioning that the max capacity of the park is too high for the capacity of the slides. Does anyone know what the capacity for the park is, and what Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach's capacity are?

 

[mergatroid]

Based on the information on this post and the above video.
The video also discusses long line waits due to too many visitors in the park at one time with not enough rides to manage the capacity.

Here is a potential solution to VB' s line problem? Why not turn this park into a boutique park like Sea world's Discovery Bay?
Charge a 150-175.00 to get in. Limit the # of customers to a manageable amount. Add paid services that match the feel of the relaxing getaway experience like a massage spa, drink services to your cabana or beach chair, maybe throw in lunch or something for added value, etc... Not to mention the high quantity of ride throughs guests would get. I believe these changes would dramatically increase guest satisfaction.

This park just has the feeling of a quaint boutique park why not treat it like one. If they did this, this park would be AWESOME!!! Not to mention it would almost always be sold out and would probably create a wait list for years to come.

Not to mention this type of experience would diversify itself from every other water park in Orlando!!! This would be Orlando's first luxury water park.

Sounds a fairly reasonable idea that. My only criticism of it (sorry) would be that the type of fast, exciting slides lend themselves more to a 'fun day' to a 'relaxing one'. I'm thinking that maybe the younger demographic of guest they're attracting wouldn't want to pay that price and they could be out pricing the type of guest the park was designed for?

Not shooting your idea down though, it's just my thoughts. This is actually the way I was hoping this thread would go, discussing the possibilities of making things better for all our benefits. Your reply is far better than arguing the finer points of what constitutes a virtual queue as though the guests are to blame for not understanding it's limitations as some replies from others have 'appeared to imply'..

 

[UCF]

Based on the information on this post and the above video.
The video also discusses long line waits due to too many visitors in the park at one time with not enough rides to manage the capacity.

Here is a potential solution to VB' s line problem. Why not turn this park into a boutique park like Sea world's Discovery Bay?
Charge a 150-175.00 to get in. Limit the # of customers to a manageable amount. Add paid services that match the feel of the relaxing getaway experience like a massage spa, drink services to your cabana or beach chair, maybe throw in lunch or something for added value, etc... Not to mention the high quantity of ride throughs guests would get. I believe these changes would dramatically increase guest satisfaction.

This park just has the feeling of a quaint boutique park why not treat it like one. If they did this, this park would be AWESOME!!! Not to mention it would almost always be sold out and would probably create a wait list for years to come.

Not to mention this type of experience would diversify itself from every other water park in Orlando!!! This would be Orlando's first luxury water park.

I'm tempted to agree with this. The big thing that sucks is they built this park to replace Wet N Wild, which was the 4th most popular water park in the USA. Going to that high of a price structure would send all of Universals previous guests to other, competing parks.

I really don't understand why they felt they needed to get Wet N Wild closed before VB opened. If they still had WNW operational, they could have gave free same day entry to WNW with purchase of VB, so people could spend some time there and have plenty of rides to use, and at this point, its apparent there is plenty of demand. Then maybe when they saw this demand, they would have decided to retheme WNW and close it for a year or something which would allow them to match Disney's 2 water parks.

 

[misterID]

I'm tempted to agree with this. The big thing that sucks is they built this park to replace Wet N Wild, which was the 4th most popular water park in the USA. Going to that high of a price structure would send all of Universals previous guests to other, competing parks.

I really don't understand why they felt they needed to get Wet N Wild closed before VB opened. If they still had WNW operational, they could have gave free same day entry to WNW with purchase of VB, so people could spend some time there and have plenty of rides to use, and at this point, its apparent there is plenty of demand. Then maybe when they saw this demand, they would have decided to retheme WNW and close it for a year or something which would allow them to match Disney's 2 water parks.

Yeah, that's my thought, you had an existing water park, why the need to rush to close and rush to open another one? UNI was on a helluva good streak until recently. Maybe VB could have been available to resort guests, APs and a special park hopping ticket. At least until the kinks were worked out

 

[JoeCamel]

I'm tempted to agree with this. The big thing that sucks is they built this park to replace Wet N Wild, which was the 4th most popular water park in the USA. Going to that high of a price structure would send all of Universals previous guests to other, competing parks.

I really don't understand why they felt they needed to get Wet N Wild closed before VB opened. If they still had WNW operational, they could have gave free same day entry to WNW with purchase of VB, so people could spend some time there and have plenty of rides to use, and at this point, its apparent there is plenty of demand. Then maybe when they saw this demand, they would have decided to retheme WNW and close it for a year or something which would allow them to match Disney's 2 water parks.

Yeah, that's my thought, you had an existing water park, why the need to rush to close and rush to open another one? UNI was on a helluva good streak until recently. Maybe VB could have been available to resort guests, APs and a special park hopping ticket. At least until the kinks were worked out

As shown in the demo pics the slides were worn and could not continue.

 

[networkpro]

And if I were the team that came up with Tapu Tapu, I'd be fuming at whoever decided the park should open, unfinished, and without any soft openings to see where adjustments to the system need to be made.

They didn't invent it, they took an off the self solution that's been in use for a while at Dolly wood water park (H20 timesaver) and implemented it in Orlando.

 

[mergatroid]

Is anyone actually going to get anything decent out of Universal like their money back? I doubt it.

Maybe they'll do something but what if this was your big Orlando vacation and might never be back? A local person is a different matter.

Well let's hope they're doing something positive for the people who've suffered. I read stories that some are being offered free express passes added to their existing tickets for the other parks (if they have them). This doesn't cost Universal anything but makes their guests feel they're getting something back, to me it's a bit of a cheap thing to do but financially it's a good idea for Universal. I would hope that the people affected don't have to kick up a huge fuss to get compensation, but I don't have any first hand experience of this but rather just internet anecdotes.

Disney have always been good (to us) when it comes to any issues we've had (only twice) in 40 odd years. The other year for instance we were compensated $100 after they messed up with our annual passes and gave us ones that didn't include the water parks. We didn't shout or anything just explained that we were rather upset after queuing for 45 mins for TL to open (got there early) only to be turned away being told our tickets weren't valid. It took about 30 mins at guest services to resolve the issue and get our proper passes issued but by then we'd lost out on getting in early to get our shaded spot. I would hope Universal are doing similar as it's the right thing to do.