This post may (nay, WILL) get a bit lengthy. I've been holding back until the park opened so there's basically a few months worth of thoughts here!
For me, Volcano Bay has a bit of a Jekyll/Hyde thing going on. It looks REALLY good in some places and/or strives to bring something new to the table:
- The front half of Krakatau (seriously, top notch here!).
- The tunnel from the bus area (in fact, then entire progression of bus tunnel->park entrance->initial view of Krakatau is really well done).
- TapuTapu and trying to implement a queue-less and mobile payment system for an entire park.
- A more unique approach to food and merchandise for a water park.
- The cabanas themselves look very nice.
- Some great details throughout the park (lampposts, the frog bridge, water coaster rafts, various sections of rock work, attraction signs)
- Good range of slides with varying thrill levels, plus 2 lazy river experiences.
- Multi-directional waves in the wave pool.
But then there are things that are really quite lousy:
- The action river as it goes into the volcano, and saying it goes "into a volcano" is being charitable. That area is currently atrocious and embarrassing.
- The whole exposed back third of Krakatau that's a tangled mess of slides, stairs, steel supports, conduit, and pipes.
- The location of many of the cabanas on the perimeter of the park - right up against I-4 and Turkey Lake Rd with nothing more than a line of bamboo plants trying to "hide" the outside world.
- Relatively unthemed slide towers, supports, and footings.
- The majority of ride stairways have minimal decoration and/or look out over roads or steel scaffolding.
- The light decoration/theming of the ticket and security area in the parking garage; the private security entrance for Cabana Bay isn't much better (could easily be improved though).
And then there are other stylistic decisions that I question: the lack of on-ride theming to the water coaster; the unthemed walls of the wave pool; the relatively run-of-mill appearance of the splash down pools; the lazy/action rivers that look like they're in concrete trenches; the use of so many different slide colors rather than a more unified color palette; the current implementation of TapuTapu (I thought it'd be more like a FP+ booking system rather than a placeholder for 1 slide at a time + water coaster).
Having followed the construction and concept behind Volcano Bay for well over a year now, I honestly thought Universal Creative was on its way to an undisputed winner, a new standard bearer for what was possible for a water park. When I first read about 3 drop slides and water coaster all built in a 200 foot volcano - one that erupts! - I thought it would be a game changer. There were hints about show scenes and other special effects on the slides. There was constant talk on internet boards (and by Universal itself) of the extensive theming and backstory to the park, about the dining options and being open into the night for a full day of fun. Even Universal's use of "water theme park" hinted that this might be something really unique and envelope pushing.
But with each set of construction pics and aerials, doubts started forming. As the park went up, it began to look less like a new standard for water park theming and more like a nicely decorated regional park that happened to have a really impressive centerpiece (and even that was looking iffy with the exposed backside). But I mostly held back my opinion, giving UC the benefit of the doubt and waiting until the park was opened and we could see if from a guest perspective.
Now that it's open (incidentally, they should have waited about a month, or had a week or tow of soft opens instead), a lot of my doubts have been confirmed. For instance, the majority of the water coaster is spent whizzing though steel scaffolding instead of show scenes, tunnels, or lush landscaping. I don't get why so many cabanas were built within 100 feet of the highway. Too many slides are just generic steel towers with little effort made to integrate/theme them into the park. These aren't things that are easily fixed or spruced up, and they're all issues that UC had complete control over. The park didn't have to be this way.
All in all, I'm finding Volcano Bay to be a missed opportunity. Universal had the chance to do something mind-blowingly awesome, to create a new definition of what a water park is. But there are just too many "shortcuts" (for lack of a better term) taken in the final product. I've tried to limit this to things that I see are inherent problems with the design of the park, and not operational issues like TapuTapu glitches, sparse landscaping, or wave machines not yet working - that will all get ironed out over time. And of course a lot of this is subjective and won't bother others nearly as much.
But I look at all this in terms of what Volcano Bay brings to the table, and how it compares to its peers. It's good - well above average - but not great. I certainly don't believe it's the best in the world, the US, or even Orlando (as has been claimed by some commenters). No doubt it will be a success and the vast majority of people will thoroughly enjoy their time at the park, flaws and all. And it further helps transform Universal Orlando into a true multi-day vacation resort. Just could have been something a bit more special.
Final thought - for all my gripes, I truly look forward to visiting one day, hopefully later this year with a bit of luck.
. Sounds like typical Universal, make thing big and flashy so you don't notice all the flaws and shortcuts taken elsewhere.