Volcano Bay

[Eckert]

What's the word on expansion the CEO said about 6 weeks back they were possibly 3 weeks away from announcing.

Technically, it has already started, the order has gone out to ProSlide. The problem is, construction on the park was supposed to be completed by now, and the construction trailers removed. That hasn't happened yet.

Is anyone surprised? I think we could all pull up the list of things that they said would happen one way and actually happened another.

"No long lines" - Volcano Bay, 2017

 

[culturenthrills]

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.

Never did try the tacos. Surprised about the Hawaiian Pizza not selling. At least they didn't take away the Mango Pulled Pork Sandwich and the Coconut Crusted Chicken. Those are 2 of the best things on the menu. Disappointed about the ribs. They were pretty good. Glad they are working on new items. The food is one of the things that made the park stand out and gave hope to a future revamp of some of the QS at IOA and USF which has some really bad QS restaurants.

 

[UpAllNight]

Technically, it has already started, the order has gone out to ProSlide. The problem is, construction on the park was supposed to be completed by now, and the construction trailers removed. That hasn't happened yet.

Don't suppose you have details on what slides were ordered?

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Don't suppose you have details on what slides were ordered?

Hydromagnetic Mammoth.

 

[UpAllNight]

Hydromagnetic Mammoth.

They need to add more none waiting activities in my opinion, but they already have bars, lazy rivers and a wave pool, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what this could entail.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

They need to add more none waiting activities in my opinion, but they already have bars, lazy rivers and a wave pool, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what this could entail.

Live entertainment/streetmoshpere. I'm mean. It is a "theme park", right? Don't MOST theme parks have an entertainment department?

Hula Dance Class on the beach

Art of the Mai Tai masterclass

And of course

Minions Dance Party!!!!!

And my favorite

Spa@VB- 30min. Swedish/Sugar Scrubs

 

[Tom Morrow]

They could have Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, but in swim trunks

 

[JT3000]

They could have Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, but in swim trunks

Robots and water usually aren't a good mix.

 

[mergatroid]

Latest Tim Tracker video on VB. He seems to think that Taniwha Tubes has been taken out of the virtual line system and made standby? Shows new seating areas from a month ago but watching this video you'll see how chaotically congested the park still is. He actually decided to leave early at 1pm as it was so crowded even in the wave pool and lazy river and up to 300 minute waits for the slides.

 

[Tom Morrow]

USF and IOA only had moderate crowds at most this week. I know some of the issue is that this is a brand new park that people want to see, but that can't be all of it. Still hitting capacity by 9:30-10:00 AM when wait times are 10-30 minutes in the other two parks?

Nice to see that already, 2.5 months later, the park is looking more lush as the vegetation grows in.

 

[Rob562]

I see they increased the weight limit on the two other trap-door slides to 230 pounds, though it's still not the 300 pounds it was initially. I wonder if they've made the modifications mentioned earlier in this thread and that's the new permanent limit? Or whether the manufacturer dialed in to that number as what they're comfortable with until they can implement the additional supports.

And if the mat slides are open to all, I presume they fixed the slides' exit into the pool they were having issues with?

-Rob

 

[mergatroid]

He usually only stays 3-4 hrs anyway.
In watching that video- it just proves it's too popular of a park. It's basically Christmas Day everyday. We can't blame ops or maintenance anymore. It's just too popular. What can they do?
Food has been streamlined to be faster. Staff is fully trained and up to speed. Rides aren't breaking down (even though river obviously was in that vid). But it's still overcrowded. Nothing universal can do at this point now outside of reduce capacity even further and/or get on that expansion immediately. But why reduce capacity? If it weren't popular or if people didn't want to go, then it wouldn't hit capacity. And how would people like it when it hits capacity at 8:30 for a 9am opening?

When this project started, I said it would be the top attended water park in the US- simply due to proximity of the universal hotels and parks. It's too convenient. It clearly looks like they're on pace.
Hindsight- they should have had a 6 or 8 mat racer and they should have had krakatau water coaster have a twin running parallel with it. Not sure what else could have been done.

I do have a slight fear that when they expand, the also increase capacity. We shall see...

Yes he usually does. On this occasion though he specifically mentions that he's leaving because it's so overcrowded and the waits are too long. On the plus side they've put more sun loungers around the park though it does make it feel like there's less room to move in, I suppose it's a bit of a catch 22 situation though.

 

[UCF]

He usually only stays 3-4 hrs anyway.
In watching that video- it just proves it's too popular of a park. It's basically Christmas Day everyday. We can't blame ops or maintenance anymore. It's just too popular. What can they do?

They could build another park. That parcel they own on the corner of Universal and I-Drive seems like it'd be perfect for a water park!

 

[Spectro]

What is it that entices people here rather than the other water parks at Sea world and Disney ? It looks good but I would not enjoy it it as packed out as as it is when we visit.

 

[Tom Morrow]

If it's this popular in 3 years, I wouldn't be surprised to see them adding parks 4 (theme park) and 5 (water theme park) as well as hotels 9 and 10- all at the same time.

Will the massive negative response the park is generating, there's no way it will stay this popular. And then, the opinion of the park will improve.

 

[LieutLaww]

What is it that entices people here rather than the other water parks at Sea world and Disney ? It looks good but I would not enjoy it it as packed out as as it is when we visit.

Well it being brand new helps, and that 200ft Volcano is probably a big seller, when you watch Tim's vids of him heading to Universal you see the Volcano in the distance.

 

[mergatroid]

What is it that entices people here rather than the other water parks at Sea world and Disney? It looks good but I would not enjoy it it as packed out as as it is when we visit.

A few things really. It's new and people want to try new parks out themselves, even with some negative reviews.Many visitors don't do research, for instance your average British guest will likely not have heard any reviews about it (good or bad), unless they've searched for them themselves. The slides are probably the most 'exciting' slides in Florida, that with it again being new makes people want to try it. And finally as this site proves, some people say they're happy with huge wait times as it allows them to enjoy the lazy river, wave pool, shops, bars, restaurants and not forgetting the toilets rather than riding slides.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I believe the close proximity to so many hotel rooms is proving to be an issue. The park is designed the "handle" a capacity day. But I don't think they intended it to be at capacity every day.

 

[trr1]

I believe the close proximity to so many hotel rooms is proving to be an issue. The park is designed the "handle" a capacity day. But I don't think they intended it to be at capacity every day.

and usually by 11:30 am

 

[BrianLo]

I think VB speaks to the success of Universal finally capturing a weeklong vacationer. They are a staple of Disney clientele. The issue Universal has right now is that you cannot really make a weeklong vacation out of two parks... so you tack on one, maybe two days in the water park.

Disney on the other hand you tack on the water park to a two week vacation. With a week visit you simply don't have time outside of doing a commando visit. Their water parks attract... <10% of their visitors? I believe VB is capturing a much larger percentage and since it's a water park, it just isn't built to handle that sort of influx.

We've also discovered why a queue-less park is simply not a good idea. Guests just hang out and clog up everything else instead. There really aren't that many people there compared to the theme parks... but it sure feels like it is overstuffed beyond belief. People being in standby lines are a good thing, FP sort of broke the Disney parks, but VB takes it to the extreme and seems rather broken as a result.