Volcano Bay

[DDLand]

First impressions...

Story: I like the story. A Seafaring people looking for their home is a classic set of circumstances. The idea of a grand origin story in which a group are led to their land by mystical means is also a common theme among many cultures. Universal chose to underscore some of those ideas and craft a story with them. The Island and Volcano are also steeped in legend. This too is true to historic circumstances and is accurate.

Volcano Bay, in contrast to either of the two other Orlando Water Park Juggernauts, is an idealized place. It's a water utopia that involved Journey and adventure to reach. Compared to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon that we enter into under rather dire circumanstances, we're entering into Volcano Bay in all its glory.

While objectively Volcano Bay's story isn't quite as original as those other two parks, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it could actually work to its advantage. Who doesn't want to escape to an Island Paradise filled with friendly people? There's something primal about the circumstances in which we embark on the adventure.

So while it may not be a wind tossed beach or a melting ski resort, it's something everyone has dreamed of.

Up until now, I'm positive. There is one aspect that bugs me. Apparently the Waturi are the ones that built all the water slides.

Go to about 35 seconds, it seems clear:

Odd. This is a way to explain away the physical infrastructure. In FJ, you're in a magically driven transportation device, not in a Kuka Arm on a track built by Wizards. It's a key difference and one that adds depth.

In fact, this Story choice is used rarely. Dinoroma and Paradise Pier are examples of physical amusement park infrastructure being used as part of a narrative. Both of those have been open to criticism. Due to the nature of Volcano Bay as a Water Park, I doubt you'll see much of any criticism. Still, from a story standpoint it's somewhat weak. They would have had access to incredible technology. Would a theme park attribute a sky scraper to the Romans? Of course not. This carries through here.

Story Grade: B+

Story Expression: This is more difficult to pin down from video, but I think I can have a preliminary opinion. The tunnels and grand reveal are very well employed. You are supposed to be entering a secretive Island Utopia shrouded from the world. That Journey and reveal reinforce that beautifully. The first views of the Volcano also express physically one of the ideals of the Island, Water is Life and Life is Joy. A beautiful waterfall coming down a Volcano in a vibrant rainforest all with people splashing and playing in a wave pool.

Well executed, and it will become a standard of grand reveals.

The various water features, rivers, and waterfalls also communicate this story. Little details about the Waturi legends and people are shared in all corners. I also appreciate the show.

From there it's a little shakier. I personally find some of the architectural choices a little cartoonish. Volcano Bay never needed to be a perfect recreation of Polynesian Cultures, but a little more faithfulness wouldn't have been ridiculous. Now obviously some could disagree, but particularly the slide toppers (designed to mimic the Volcano) look Dr. Suess to me.

More of the ground level details and the rock work are worthy of praise however. Arguably Volcano Bay, much like Disney's Animal Kingdom, has a design philosophy that makes built out spaces subservient to nature. The people live in harmony with the Island and would view it as sacred (further backed up by their origin stories), so this fascination and focus on water makes all to obvious sense. The natural (both living and human made) are beautiful, but a little unfinished. Show me a POV in 4 weeks and the place will be worlds better. Show me a POV in 5 years and it will be breathtaking.

Interestingly, Universal hasn't produced very many environments like this. They've created some beautiful spaces in this park.

Now onto the slides. The slides play just as an important role in storytelling as any other component of the park. According to the legend, the Waturi built them. Their appearance does not support that assumption at all. The use of exposed steel and other infrustructure sappers the immersion. Am I to believe that the Waturi people created essentially a modern water park (because that's what it looks like) out of native Island materials? Doesn't compute. It's such low hanging fruit.

Right off the top of my head they could have covered the beams with a layer of wood or bamboo. Some of the support issues will be less prevalent in time as plants grow in, but many are unfixable. Missed opportunity.

Additionally the emphasis the natural environment gets dropped at certain areas, with more of the slide towers taking a predominate role. It looks crowded. It's the opposite of harmonious.

A mixture of greatness and clear misses.

Story execution: B-

Tapu Tapu: I've come off as against queueless parks at theme parks, but at Water Parks there may be an opening. I still remain somewhat skeptical, but I'm not going to count the idea out.

Give it time, and see what happens. I do think guest psychology works against the concept, but who knows? Queueless parks do make an important reality come into focus. Parks cannot suffer breakdowns. This is even more true than FP+. I'm not sure if it will lead to better preventative maintenance or less downtime and worse maintenance. We'll see.

Location: The location stinks. They worked with what they had. They did their best. One place I will hammer them over and over on is the placement and look of the hotels. That is amateurish. @andysol mentioned they tried to explain the inconsistency by hearkening Hawaii in the 1960s. That is simply ridiculous (the notion, not sharing it. I actually hadn't seen that am appreciative you learned that!). The Waturi are supposed to be a reclusive people with the keys to happiness. Why would the Waturi let a bunch of people build high rises that desecrate and dominate the landscape? Also, the buildings shrink the Volcano. What were they thinking?!?! Is it because Universal doesn't control their entire hotel division?

They had the opportunity to control a variable and they failed. How odd.

Physical Intrusion: B-

Roster: Pretty awesome. A+

Overall Universal likely has a winner on their hands. This probably is the best water park in Orlando, but Storywise and execution certain things are left awkward.

They didn't execute on the story fully, and I would argue there are certain core story problems. This wasn't supposed to be a water park with Polynesian decorations. It was supposed to be a story driven park using water attractions to convey that story. I don't think anyone is going to be convinced.

It is what it is. Still worthy of a day, and certain teams should be very proud. I look forward to visiting!

 

[Tom Morrow]

I actually did not know that the official story is that the Waturi people built the water slides. To me there's really no excuse, then, that the support structures couldn't have wood and bamboo type cosmetics attached and maybe occasional ornamental bamboo "rings" around the tubes. You know, stuff to give the illusion or at least the idea that it was built by native island folk. I'm not going to react like Disney fanboys and whine that all of the slides aren't physically built into a mountain, but this just seems like such an obvious improvement that wouldn't even add that much to the budget.

I haven't been there in person yet, but in the videos I've seen, the Cabana Bay Towers don't bother me. Yes, it does break the story a bit, but maybe they figured, guests are going to see the neighboring generic hotels too, why not create a more pleasing focal point that give off a 1960's Hawaiian beach vibe? Another thing to consider is you were going to see Cabana Bay as well, there was no way to avoid it with the land constraints.

Based on TimTracker's video, most of the park is quite beautiful, and I can't wait to see it once the vegetation matures a little bit, or gets finished being planted, in some areas.

 

[andysol]

Even without the softs and the operational nightmare, lack of finishing everything, etc. There's no doubt I'd rather be at VB than Pandora today- that looked so hot and miserable. Why do people do it to themselves? I'm glad im waiting until September to see them both- because they seem like beatings currently.

@DDLand - really appreciated your take on it. Thanks for the informative post. Re: the 60s Hawaii/Waikiki look- again, it's completely subjective- I get not liking the look. But you'd see hotels from the ground there regardless- particularly with the overly contemporary adventura tower hotel (tallest in UOR by approx double the height) being built next year right next to CBBR. That would've been a massive eyesore and would've been a huge intrusion to VB.
At least the "Waikiki look" Has a look that fits in somewhat and is very photogenic from the bridge under the volcano. All it's missing are The Beach Boys and some 60's bathing suits.
And regarding the height discrepancy with the towers and volcano- you never see them side by side when you're in the park except from one area (far left corner) so it's basically a non issue. You look one way, it's the beach and volcano. You look the other way and it's the beach and towers. They need the hotel rooms, and we all wish they had WDWs land- but they don't, so what're ya gonna do?

 

[DDLand]

I actually did not know that the official story is that the Waturi people built the water slides. To me there's really no excuse, then, that the support structures couldn't have wood and bamboo type cosmetics attached and maybe occasional ornamental bamboo "rings" around the tubes. You know, stuff to give the illusion or at least the idea that it was built by native island folk. I'm not going to react like Disney fanboys and whine that all of the slides aren't physically built into a mountain, but this just seems like such an obvious improvement that wouldn't even add that much to the budget.

I haven't been there in person yet, but in the videos I've seen, the Cabana Bay Towers don't bother me. Yes, it does break the story a bit, but maybe they figured, guests are going to see the neighboring generic hotels too, why not create a more pleasing focal point that give off a 1960's Hawaiian beach vibe?

Based on TimTracker's video, most of the park is quite beautiful, and I can't wait to see it once the vegetation matures a little bit, or gets finished being planted, in some areas.

It makes me so conflicted. I think that opening vista is honestly one of the greatest reveals in the industry. Some of those views and areas look absolutely stunning to walk around. I want to go! Other things are frustrating.

There are two ways to objectively view the park, first as a Theme Park and next as an Amusement Park. Up until this point, with several notable exceptions here and Dubai, water parks have chosen to focus on being Amusement Parks.

My analysis was almost primarily from a Theme Park perspective. With that perspective, the park has significant shortcomings. If I were to analyze it from an Amusement Park perspective, I would say it's pretty awesome.

Is the park there to communicate something through the experiences, or just look nice enough and give guests a rush?

That's the problem with quality inconsistencies. Not because people can't imagine looking at steel (though I think it's better design to mitigate industrial looking pipes if possible) but because the steel actually has an impact on the reception of the story.

Immersion was obviously something they took seriously in certain parts of the park, and just didn't care about in others.

It is somewhat amusing that the story of Volcano Bay is that it is a Water Park. A Theme Park that is supposed to be employing a Water Park as a storytelling tool. Just remember, it's not a Water Park.

Even without the softs and the operational nightmare, lack of finishing everything, etc. There's no doubt I'd rather be at VB than Pandora today- that looked so hot and miserable. Why do people do it to themselves? I'm glad im waiting until September to see them both- because they seem like beatings currently.

@DDLand - really appreciated your take on it. Thanks for the informative post. Re: the 60s Hawaii/Waikiki look- again, it's completely subjective- I get not liking the look. But you'd see hotels from the ground there regardless- particularly with the overly contemporary adventura tower hotel (tallest in UOR by approx double the height) being built next year right next to CBBR. That would've been a massive eyesore and would've been a huge intrusion to VB.
At least the "Waikiki look" Has a look that fits in somewhat and is very photogenic from the bridge under the volcano. All it's missing are The Beach Boys and some 60's bathing suits.
And regarding the height discrepancy with the towers and volcano- you never see them side by side when you're in the park except from one area (far left corner) so it's basically a non issue. You look one way, it's the beach and volcano. You look the other way and it's the beach and towers. They need the hotel rooms, and we all wish they had WDWs land- but they don't, so what're ya gonna do?

There is probably some truth in saying that I'm being a little tough on the two towers, but I do find it just an enormous missed opportunity. Hotels near theme parks are a concept dating back to the 1950s. By the 70s, they had cracked the idea of integrating a hotel into a land with the Contemporary. In 2001, hotels in theme parks were integrated fully into the Theme Park experience. This problem didn't jump out at them. There are decades of precedent on how to build hotels that work with the surrounding park environments. In fact, as we speak, Universal is building a new hotel at the front of their Beijing Park.

It would have been one thing if they had built the hotels years ago and decided to precede anyway, it's another to build them pretty much concurrently and still choose the worse design.

I'm also going to point out that a Volcano Bay hotel would have been awesome. Imagine staying the night at Volcano Bay. Am I the only one who thinks that would have sold, all while reinforcing the story?

I'll disagree a little. If you turn one way and see a tall Volcano, and then turn around and see a tall building, your mind can make the leap.

Though that's admittedly more of a nitpick!

 

[sedati]

Wondering from anyone who has been in person how the rockwork on the volcano looks. Watching the Tim Tracker video I think the most impressive work was done in the tunnel. I saw a variety of colors and textures and it conveyed a convincingly aged look. Having followed the construction I was amazed at how fast the volcano was skinned and finished. Unfortunately it looks like it shows in the quality of the finish. Recently responding to a helicopter video I thought it looked more like a burnt and rotting tree trunk than a volcano. Seeing the waterfalls on helps immensely, but I think it pales in comparison to the finish seen in so many recent rock projects. There seems to be little detail in the carving and even if it is meant to look like lava rock and moss, there is still room for some colors and accents to liven it up. It seems to me the goal was to go as tall as possible to create a striking and widely visible icon, they sacrificed a lot to get there.

Not knocking the park, I think it has some wonderful touches and there's a great variety and number of slides. I do think they oversold it however- I as well took the earlier talk to mean we were getting themed slides, slides with story, and possibly slides with show scenes.

 

[Tom Morrow]

*shrug* I think the rockwork on Krakatau looks great

 

[mergatroid]

*shrug* I think the rockwork on Krakatau looks great

Me too though I've not seen it in person yet.

 

[danpam1024]

We have a day in Orlando before flying out to Portland in 3 weeks. I was planning on going to VB, but I think I'll wait until October. It looks amazing though.

 

[rushtest4echo]

Who would have predicted all of the disastrous issues with Tapu and the queueless system?

I won't be in the park for a few more weeks again, but even going by construction pictures it appears that there's a lot to do still for a park that's 60 days away from opening. Water parks always tend to look super unfinished right up till they're open, but Universal's bringing a lot of stuff to the table that will need fine tuning. The slides are all good to go, but those have been good to go for quite some time other than test & adjust.

How much test and adjust going to be needed for the first park that has ever tried to eliminate queues?

Not trying to imply that they're behind or that they don't know what they're doing. Just trying to understand how it's all going to come together and work well within the next 60 days. It doesn't look like there will be much time for soft opens or any other type of large scale testing for at least another month.

When some of the slides have a capacity of under 200 per hour (ironically, the biggest most iconic ones besides the hydromagnetic one- which is excluded from express anyway), then it's very hard to allow paid line jumping. If they allowed passholders to line jump as well, it would just exacerbate the problem. I still think this will be the biggest unforeseen challenge that Universal will face with the "no queueing" aspect when it's combined with the "paid line jumping" stuff. Imagine this scenario:

Slide allows say 1 rider every 20 seconds (as the big iconic one in front will likely do). Universal will probably have 10 minute windows which means about 30 riders can go during that 10 minute slot. If all 30 show up at the same time, and an additional 30 people show up with Express, then there are now 60 people in line. Since it takes 10 minutes to get 30 people through, the person at the end of that process, despite being promised "no queueing" is in fact going to have to queue for 20 minutes. It's just unavoidable. At a water park where capacities are usually in the low hundreds, I think it's going to be extremely challenging to schedule enough people to keep the slide full, yet not ever having a queue especially with express.
.

So... you've got a virtual queueing system that requires people to walk up to the front of the attraction queue in order to book a spot in line- unless you've paid for a cabana (maybe)? Come on, seriously? They allowed you to book any attraction at any time back when express was free 15 years ago. Lame...

I really do hope Tapu Tapu ends up making the water park experience better, not worse.

Still though, having "no queues" turned out to be the disaster I knew it would. Unfortunate. I really thought they'd have some sort of ace up their sleeve that I wasn't considering. Instead, the rushed opening and lack of testing seemed to present even bigger problems than I had even considered. Some of the issues are an easy fix. Eliminating Express completely is a start (and is happening), but you're still going to have 5-6 hour waits for the big slides. The real fix here just may be to eliminate Tapu on all slides except the big ones, and to provide a pre-arranged "return time" closer to Fastpass instead of just saying "come back in 300 minutes". It's a lot less jarring to just say "we have a return time at 3 P.M." instead of "come back in 5 hours".

When you let 5,000 people into a water park and tell them they just need to "reserve" a stop for Krakatau or the other big slides, then everyone's going to do so. The problem is that Krakatau can't accommodate that amount of arriving guests without giving them a return time 6, 7 or even 10 hours away. It's a throughput issue that isn't going to be easily solved. I'm still at a loss for words as to why Universal went with the smallest, cheapest model in terms of the water coaster. For what the whole project cost, having two slides side by side or even going with the mammoth model probably wouldn't have significantly affected the budget. There's a reason Disney saw fit to have 3 slides for their water coaster. Different manufacturers and clearly a lot shorter ride time wise, but you just can't get enough guests through one flume on rides like those at the top visited water parks. Heck, there's a park in Australia that has 4 master blaster lanes just to keep capacity up! Krakatau was excellent, but totally unthemed as far as the ride itself is concerned. In fact, much if it was downright ugly- especially compared to Disney's water coaster down the street. Between the capacity and the lack of theming on the ride itself I'm pretty "meh" about it all, Fun ride no doubt, but wow it's got issues.

We'll have to see how all of this goes, but right now that's certainly not a park that I'm going to give my money until they iron ALOT out. Glad we were able to see the park before opening, since it looks like we won't be returning for quite some time, if ever. My wife said "no stargazer's tunnel, no sale". She's been way hotter on VB than I have, and now she's just disappointed/ed off at what she saw shortly before opening day. I understand that "it's not finished", but we've danced around the whole "wait till it's open" sillyness for the better part of a year and now that I've seen it in it's "open, but not finished" state- I still see nothing innovative or superior to the rest of the industry (though that was plainly obvious a year ago, and I've been saying so). I didn't need to be in the park to make that conclusion despite my field of work offering me a few chances to visit when the park hadn't opened yet. Their only "innovation" turned out to be an epic fail. The level of theming and detail I expected on the Volcano is all there, but the rest of the park is sorely lacking in comparison to what Universal claimed. That view when you first walk in is one of the best views at any water park (though really, so are Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon). Views everywhere else are every bit as terrible as I thought they'd be. They need to triple the amount of foliage around the perimeter (and really everywhere else) STAT. That's at least something they can fix easily and quickly.

95% of the park feels like I'm at a typical local/regional water park. Same slides, same wave pool (the directional waves are blah), the lazy river/fact river isn't even up to snuff with stuff down the street. Same beach area, same tropical themes. Same climb up endless sets of stairs. Same queueing on those stairs despite claims of not needing to wait. Hope they can get their act together. Right now this park is one big swing and a miss. Again, we'll see where it is in 6 or 12 months, but even if they fix the operational disaster that the park is, the offerings are still clearly beneath expectations. Anyone who has had their expectations matched or exceeded here wasn't aiming very high.

It's clear who was ready to open their stuff this weekend, and it's clear which is the superior, game changing offering. So how bout that Fast and the Furious- I mean Nintendo land?

TLR:
- Get rid of the paid line jumping crap IMMEDIATELY- it's literally destroying the experience around the entire park
- Remove Tapu on everything but the big raft slides IMMEDIATELY
- Provide actual return times when the system is updated to do so
- Plant more trees
- Build stargazers to the best of your ability (which sadly is going to be way weaker if they bother at all)
- Get rid of the paid line jumping crap IMMEDIATELY- it's literally destroying the experience around the entire park
- Paint those ugly beams and stairs in the Volcano! Yeesh!
- Get going on that expansion, and this time- build the top capacity models of the slides you're planning to use. Get the 8 lane mat racer, not the 4 lane one. Get the Mammoth model for your water coaster, not the smallest one. Still in disbelief that they didn't get the top models from the start.
- Get rid of the paid line jumping crap IMMEDIATELY- it's literally destroying the experience around the entire park

 

[Tom Morrow]

I haven't been there in person, but TheTimTracker's video of the park is the most comprehensive I've seen, and in that, even the worst areas of the park look several notches above a typical local water park / Six Flags Hurricane Harbor parks.

It really does seem like they needed at least another month + soft openings. Were they trying to beat Pandora? Because it seems like Pandora still kind of stole the thunder.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I haven't been there in person, but TheTimTracker's video of the park is the most comprehensive I've seen, and in that, even the worst areas of the park look several notches above a typical local water park / Six Flags Hurricane Harbor parks.

It really does seem like they needed at least another month + soft openings. Were they trying to beat Pandora? Because it seems like Pandora still kind of stole the thunder.

Well, let's see "Disney" + #1BoxOffice IP vs "Universal" + No IP.

The fact that Universal's little water park was even in the conversation is commendable.

 

[JT3000]

I haven't been there in person, but TheTimTracker's video of the park is the most comprehensive I've seen, and in that, even the worst areas of the park look several notches above a typical local water park / Six Flags Hurricane Harbor parks.

It really does seem like they needed at least another month + soft openings. Were they trying to beat Pandora? Because it seems like Pandora still kind of stole the thunder.

They were trying to beat Summer. They wanted the park open for the full season when attendance is expected to be highest. Pandora would only contribute to that, not compete with it. Thankfully there's enough room in Orlando for both resorts.

Well, let's see "Disney" + #1BoxOffice IP vs "Universal" + No IP.

The fact that Universal's little water park was even in the conversation is commendable.

I don't understand why anyone is comparing a water park to a new addition at a park that already pulls in more people than any water park does. It literally wouldn't even matter what the new addition was, there would still be no "competition."

 

[squidward]

I knew they were going to have issues with the Virtual Lines. Simple math said so. I'm pretty ticked off about Express though. We bought our tickets for the park last week and we also rented a cabana. If I can't buy Express passes and we aren't able to experience all the attractions, I'm going to be "one of those guests" at guest relations.

 

[squidward]

I haven't been there in person, but TheTimTracker's video of the park is the most comprehensive I've seen, and in that, even the worst areas of the park look several notches above a typical local water park / Six Flags Hurricane Harbor parks.

It really does seem like they needed at least another month + soft openings. Were they trying to beat Pandora? Because it seems like Pandora still kind of stole the thunder.

Pandora stole a lot of crowds initially because, as I've said before, it's something new in a park that hasn't seen something new in over a decade. That being said, despite the operational and logistical issues at Volcano Bay, all reviews have been excellent. Reviews for Pandora have been mixed. I would fully expect the crowds at Pandora to thin out quite a bit.

 

[DisneyYorkian74]

The fact that Universal's little water park was even in the conversation is commendable.

To be fair it is Universal who has been attempting to market the 'little water park' as a valid full-fledged 3rd theme park to the complex.

There's a video of an employee (not sure which level employee) comparing the park's opening to that of IOA back in 1999.

So Universal's marketing definitely has the desire for people to view this park as more than what it is... which is a well themed Water Park.

From what I've seen they've done a decent job, steps above Wet n Wild, though I'm not sure how the park size compares?

Anybody visit the park and can comment on how well they accomplished shielding out the nearby highway and surrounding areas?

Disney truly has the blessing of size... though it seemed this park has been crammed into the space allotted?

I'm surprised there hasn't been many comparisons to Sea World's Aquatica. That park was the first to attempt to rival Disney in theme, and it has the whole natural wildlife/sea life advantage that Volcano Bay doesn't.

 

[dreamscometrue]

Volcano Bay, all reviews have been excellent. Reviews for Pandora have been mixed

You have this backwards. Almost every review by well known theme park websites or major news agencies has marvelled at Pandora...the actual land as an attraction day and night, the Flight of Passage, with only mixed reviews for NRJ. Overall very solid for everything, including the food and drink.
Since it's opening, Volcano Bay has been getting lots of negative on social media for not only the Tapu Tapu and Express Pass cluster****, but even people who see that as a glitch for a hard opening, have lamented about the lack of theming and finish on so many parts of the park.

 

[Tony Perkis]

Looks great. I'm sure it opened to early and needs 2-3 months of operations to truly fine tune, but I don't visit URO until HHN at the earliest, if not next year, so I'm no particularly concerned or judgemental about social media reports.

Pandora looks great too, but Disney isn't getting a cent from me until Star Wars Land has been open for 6 plus months.

 

[No Name]

I'll stand in line for 30 minutes three times to ride lesser slides at another park before I'll spend 1:45 in the lazy river waiting to ride one at VB.

See, you're just proving his point, that people aren't conceptually ready for virtual queuing.

Slides have a certain throughput regardless of whether people are waiting in line or not. If a certain slide can serve 300 riders per hour, it can serve 300 an hour. It doesn't matter if/how they lined up.
So you'd be waiting just as long for each slide regardless of the system.

The only problem I see with virtual queueing is if there are no waits for most of the slides. Then do you still have to reserve a spot on your band and come back in 0 minutes, or can you just skip that process and walk on?

 

[Tom Morrow]

Some of you seemed to have scoffed at the idea that they wanted to get this open before Pandora... but like, did you forget that the parks very frequently aim to get their new additions open around the same time? Just last year, Kong, Frozen, and Mako opened within weeks of each other.

 

[captainkidd]

You have this backwards. Almost every review by well known theme park websites or major news agencies has marvelled at Pandora...the actual land as an attraction day and night, the Flight of Passage, with only mixed reviews for NRJ. Overall very solid for everything, including the food and drink.
Since it's opening, Volcano Bay has been getting lots of negative on social media for not only the Tapu Tapu and Express Pass cluster****, but even people who see that as a glitch for a hard opening, have lamented about the lack of theming and finish on so many parts of the park.

I don't put much stock in what news outlets say. Most comments from regular people have said Flight of Passage was very good, though some had issues with the seating. Na'vi has people seemingly bored to death. The whole land, while beautiful, is too small. The issues VB are having can be fixed. Not sure the same can be said of Pandora.