Volcano Bay

[Bartattack]

oh boy.... I just looked at the pictures submitted with the tripadvisor reviews... The first big picture I got was some girl's bruised/wounded chin?!? Really? And the other pictures are kiosks not working and wait times... and one picture that looks like a disaster happened in the lazy river. Not the most inviting pictures.
Hope they can quickly turn things around...

 

[lazyboy97o]

I have two questions. When you get your time for the attraction you want, you then wait til it buzzes and lets you know to ride, yeah? So, if the time you signed up for was 60 minutes, does it buzz exactly at 60, or does it factor in how fast or slow the attraction is moving? Kind of like when you get in a standby line and it says 60 but it's really 45. And second question, when you return to the attraction for your time, do you tap somewhere at the attraction to enter the minimal queue or do you just get in?

The system is supposed to adjust. That is a big part of what makes a virtual queue different from a reservation. It's also been a source of complaints because that 60 minutes can also increase.

 

[Bartattack]

The system is supposed to adjust. That is a big part of what makes a virtual queue different from a reservation. It's also been a source of complaints because that 60 minutes can also increase.

I read somewhere that your time also can vary from your family's/friend's... isn't there a way to link a group or family so you have about the same time to ride?

 

[flynnibus]

Guess I've been lucky. Been 6 times since MB and FP+ came out. Never had a single problem with either.

Definition: anecdote

And how many times have you had taputapu give you problems???

 

[Adam N]

The system is supposed to adjust. That is a big part of what makes a virtual queue different from a reservation. It's also been a source of complaints because that 60 minutes can also increase.

Oh okay, interesting. When you return, do you have to return and touch a touch point? Does a team member check your band to make sure you're supposed to be there? Or can someone really just get in line no questions asked?

 

[mergatroid]

oh boy.... I just looked at the pictures submitted with the tripadvisor reviews... The first big picture I got was some girl's bruised/wounded chin?!? Really? And the other pictures are kiosks not working and wait times... and one picture that looks like a disaster happened in the lazy river. Not the most inviting pictures.
Hope they can quickly turn things around...

They're getting absolutely slaughtered on the reviews there unfortunately. There's always an element of trolls or haters but the same complaints keep coming up from established members.

Without arguing about Tapu, Tapu and how it's working perfectly and how it's people's fault for not understanding it, the system (working rightly or not) isn't liked by many. People hear it's 'a band that means you don't have to queue' and understandably equate that with a fast pass and let's be honest, why wouldn't they? There's a very common system not too far away that seems to work reasonably well and so folk naturally think it's going to be similar to Disney's. A big complaint in the reviews is that nobody really explains how it's completely different and how if you reserve a slide on it that you then usually cannot do any other slides without cancelling your existing 'reservation in the virtual queue' unlike the fast pass system. A huge complaint is that many are paying full price and only riding on 4 or 5 (sometimes less) slides in a day and they aren't happy.

I'm sure I'll be corrected and told it's a fantastic system that isn't to blame for people not riding everything, unfortunately many people visiting a water park that contains slides don't feel they ought to research intensely how the tapu, tapu system works in advance and why should they? They rightly or wrongly assume that the park planners will have got the formula right with capacity, number of slides, loading times and a system that gives you the very best option of riding as many slides as possible. Again I'll be told that tapu, tapu is working exactly as planned, cannot be altered and that it's other factors alone that are causing the problems. That seems scant comfort to the people feeling let down after visiting what I still think potentially is a fantastic park and as the 'new system' is the main thing being advertised it's always going to be perceived by many as the problem..

 

[captainkidd]

Definition: anecdote

And how many times have you had taputapu give you problems???

Haven't been yet, so none.

I don't recall ever reading so many negative complaints about MBs when they came out. Maybe I didn't pay close enough attention since it worked for me without a hitch. Or maybe the issue wasn't as big of a deal because the issues were all fixable. In theory, if as you're saying not in practice at the outset, MBs have always been an excellent idea. TapuTapu, logically, is not a good idea without standby lines.

 

[seascape]

People who write reviews of places are more likely to be complaining about the location than saying how great it was. People expect places to be nice and to have a good time. Therefore, when they love the place they are only getting what they expected. It is when things go wrong or don't go the way they want that they will complain.

As for fast pass plus and Tapu Tapu, they are different but they are also the same in some ways. All the people here who constantly complained about past pass adding to lines had to know what Tapu Tapu would do and how it would work. This is the way it was expected. It creates a virtual line and allows not only those who would stand in line and wait to be in line but also the other people like me who would not stand in line and wait but have no problem waiting in a virtual line. Its just like those who loved the old fast pass system and ran to get all the fast passes they could. They loved the old system and hated the new system. Those like me love the fast pass plus system and will love Tapu Tapu, others will hate it. Universal has to decide who they want. The minority that want to ride the most slides possible or the vast majority that only want to enjoy the park and ride a few slides and have a good time.

 

[mergatroid]

People who write reviews of places are more likely to be complaining about the location than saying how great it was. People expect places to be nice and to have a good time. Therefore, when they love the place they are only getting what they expected. It is when things go wrong or don't go the way they want that they will complain.

As for fast pass plus and Tapu Tapu, they are different but they are also the same in some ways. All the people here who constantly complained about past pass adding to lines had to know what Tapu Tapu would do and how it would work. This is the way it was expected. It creates a virtual line and allows not only those who would stand in line and wait to be in line but also the other people like me who would not stand in line and wait but have no problem waiting in a virtual line. Its just like those who loved the old fast pass system and ran to get all the fast passes they could. They loved the old system and hated the new system. Those like me love the fast pass plus system and will love Tapu Tapu, others will hate it. Universal has to decide who they want. The minority that want to ride the most slides possible or the vast majority that only want to enjoy the park and ride a few slides and have a good time.

A very strange claim there? Look at Tripadvisor's reviews on Volcano Bay first and to keep it fair then look at the same site's reviews on Cowfish and Diagon Alley. Now bear in mind Tripadvisor is used for all reviews we're comparing, that way we know there's no Universal haters there just trolling.

Diagon Alley gets great reviews, I wonder why? Is it because people go there and enjoy it and want to share how great it is, if so that goes against the claim that people complain far more than compliment?

Now I realise some may say that Potter has loads of fans and that's why they get so many compliments, they're more disposed to make the effort to give great reviews as they're biased. To counter that I've included the Cowfish reviews too, that's a restaurant chain and as such doesn't have fans in the same way Potter does. Surprisingly there are great reviews after great reviews, people gushing over how great it is. Strange that this happens on the same site frequented by the same people, with these same people complaining about VB? It really disproves the theory that people only complain.

 

[mergatroid]

As for fast pass plus and Tapu Tapu, they are different but they are also the same in some ways. All the people here who constantly complained about past pass adding to lines had to know what Tapu Tapu would do and how it would work. This is the way it was expected. It creates a virtual line and allows not only those who would stand in line and wait to be in line but also the other people like me who would not stand in line and wait but have no problem waiting in a virtual line. Its just like those who loved the old fast pass system and ran to get all the fast passes they could. They loved the old system and hated the new system. Those like me love the fast pass plus system and will love Tapu Tapu, others will hate it. Universal has to decide who they want. The minority that want to ride the most slides possible or the vast majority that only want to enjoy the park and ride a few slides and have a good time.

Well I'll admit I'm like you and when I'm at TL probably only ride 5 slides or so. However the VAST majority of reviews that complain state that they hate not being able to ride more than 3-4 slides. I'm really not sure where you get the stats that only a minority of people want to ride a lot of slides while most only want to ride a few? If that were the case would people pay that much money to go in a wave pool and why would Universal make so many slides if the majority don't want them?

 

[Rob562]

While I don't want to wade *too* far into the debate of the root causes of the lines, capacity and throughput at Volcano Bay, a couple thoughts occurred to me today (though I'll admit it's really only a half-formed idea)...

-The rider capacity and other stats of the slides they've installed at VB must have been a known quantity to Universal. The manufacturer would have easily been able to give them that info.

-For quite a while now, Universal has been very specific about calling this a "third theme park" and not just a "water park". They've also mentioned that they expect people to spend a full day in the park.

Could Universal have either purposely planned the capacity such that people *do* spend all day in VB? Or possibly it's that once the capacity issues were realized after it was too far into the planning that they decided to adopt the "you should expect to spend all day" mentality to get people in the mindset that they intend VB to be a "day of relaxation" rather than slide-after-slide-all-day-long like a typical water park.

No matter what, it seems like Universal needs to do a better job at getting their information through to the guests. Do they really intend guests to spend all day in the park? Make sure the guests are expecting that going in. Do the average guests not instinctively understand the "virtual queue" method they're employing? Educate them better on how to use it and how it'll benefit them.

-Rob

 

[UCF]

Without arguing about Tapu, Tapu and how it's working perfectly and how it's people's fault for not understanding it, the system (working rightly or not) isn't liked by many. People hear it's 'a band that means you don't have to queue' and understandably equate that with a fast pass and let's be honest, why wouldn't they? There's a very common system not too far away that seems to work reasonably well and so folk naturally think it's going to be similar to Disney's. A big complaint in the reviews is that nobody really explains how it's completely different and how if you reserve a slide on it that you then usually cannot do any other slides without cancelling your existing 'reservation in the virtual queue' unlike the fast pass system. A huge complaint is that many are paying full price and only riding on 4 or 5 (sometimes less) slides in a day and they aren't happy.

Nobody is saying there is no problem... the entire argument is the problem is misidentified. Capacities of the slides and perhaps the number of people they should be allowing into the park in its current state seem agreeable that its a huge issue. We don't know the real design capacity of the park and how many people have been showing up each day. If Universal assumed they would just get Wet n Wild's population to begin with and they're getting Blizzard Beach crowds, they designed the park wrong for the crowd and made wrong assumptions. People can blame the wrong thing just because "water parks usually don't get overcrowded or have ops issues" just as when my parents got a new computer and water also started getting into the cable box in the street causing their internet to go out every time it rained, they would wrongly blame their new computer for not working well on the internet, when that had nothing at all to do with it.

 

[EpcotEric01]

A very strange claim there? Look at Tripadvisor's reviews on Volcano Bay first and to keep it fair then look at the same site's reviews on Cowfish and Diagon Alley. Now bear in mind Tripadvisor is used for all reviews we're comparing, that way we know there's no Universal haters there just trolling.

Diagon Alley gets great reviews, I wonder why? Is it because people go there and enjoy it and want to share how great it is, if so that goes against the claim that people complain far more than compliment?

Now I realise some may say that Potter has loads of fans and that's why they get so many compliments, they're more disposed to make the effort to give great reviews as they're biased. To counter that I've included the Cowfish reviews too, that's a restaurant chain and as such doesn't have fans in the same way Potter does. Surprisingly there are great reviews after great reviews, people gushing over how great it is. Strange that this happens on the same site frequented by the same people, with these same people complaining about VB? It really disproves the theory that people only complain.

Are those recent reviews, or reviews of when Diagon Alley first opened?

 

[mergatroid]

Nobody is saying there is no problem... the entire argument is the problem is misidentified. Capacities of the slides and perhaps the number of people they should be allowing into the park in its current state seem agreeable that its a huge issue. We don't know the real design capacity of the park and how many people have been showing up each day. If Universal assumed they would just get Wet n Wild's population to begin with and they're getting Blizzard Beach crowds, they designed the park wrong for the crowd and made wrong assumptions. People can blame the wrong thing just because "water parks usually don't get overcrowded or have ops issues" just as when my parents got a new computer and water also started getting into the cable box in the street causing their internet to go out every time it rained, they would wrongly blame their new computer for not working well on the internet, when that had nothing at all to do with it.

That's a fair point. My issue with a virtual queue such as tapu, tapu is it adds very little if it doesn't allow you to ride other slides whilst waiting for your 'reservation'. Perhaps if they'd got their other variables right when designing it then tapu, tapu might have been a great fit. It seems odd that a park that already knows how fastpass/express pass works put a system in that seems to me to offer far less. Also a big complaint is that tapu, tapu isn't really explained well causing more problems for many folk who want to ride a load of slides.

Maybe expanding the park with slides that are all standby or have dual tapu, tapu/ standby lines will help as long as they don't increase capacity? Or maybe they could use the tapu, tapu slightly differently?

 

[mergatroid]

Are those recent reviews, or reviews of when Diagon Alley first opened?

I made a point of looking back to reviews from July 2014 when it opened and saw 3 pages (gave up there) of people blown away by it giving it mostly 4 or 5 stars out of 5.

 

[lebeau]

Holy smokes. What a disaster! I don't see how this model is sustainable. You tap in for a ride that has a 45 minute wait and for 45 minutes you can't ride ANYTHING except the lazy river?! And you're nuts if you think that showing up in 45 minutes means there's not going to be a line. Jimmy Fallon's ride has proven that's not true. Conceptually a great idea. In practice, a disaster, it seems.

There's lots to do in the park that doesn't require Tapu Tapu or waiting in line. You're going to want to try the food. We spent a lot of time in the wave pool. If you get a lounger (and you should), you're going to want to chill out there too.

 

[lebeau]

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?

You skip the process and walk on. When we were there, they didn't even turn on Tapu Tapu reservations until the rides had a 20 minutes wait.

 

[lebeau]

Okay, but multiple reports are saying 2 hours for any slide.

That was not my experience this past Saturday. I had early admission thanks to staying at Loew's Royal Pacific, but there was no wait for the first half hour. When we went for our second ride-through, the wait was 85 minutes. I don't think I saw a 2 hour wait posted for any of the other slides that day, but I wasn't shopping around. Like I said before, we spent a lot of time in the wave pool.

 

[Tom Morrow]

That was not my experience this past Saturday. I had early admission thanks to staying at Loew's Royal Pacific, but there was no wait for the first half hour. When we went for our second ride-through, the wait was 85 minutes. I don't think I saw a 2 hour wait posted for any of the other slides that day, but I wasn't shopping around. Like I said before, we spent a lot of time in the wave pool.

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.

 

[flynnibus]

Haven't been yet, so none.

So now.. Definition: hypocrite

The FP problems existed - fact. Tapu Tapu is weeks old - fact. Don't stack the deck to favor the outcome. Let's see how things shake out as the park actually gets operational fully and see what tweaks they work with.