Scuttle
Well-Known Member
I think they'd need to up the chlorine budget.A 'discreet' lap dancing club? I guarantee the slides would instantly become more manageable
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Volcano Bay
- Thread starter Mike C
- Start date
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Mandalay Bay Las Vegas can give them the right concentration.
culturenthrills
Well-Known Member
If they would add a 6 person Mammoth, like Holiday World has, that would add alot of capacity to the park. If you have a slide that can do a 1000 person per hour that would be huge. The additions need to be high capacity. They really need one more non tapu tapu thing to do. Maybe a play area for teens and adults.
captainkidd
Well-Known Member
Just want to add, we've been at Disney since Friday. Having a great time, but to be fair, Magic Band tech isn't perfect either. Had a bunch of issues the first 2 days with one of my son's bands. Really frustrating.
And OT, I wasn't impressed with Pandora. I thought Flight of Passage was boring. I would take Minions or Simpson's any day of the week. River Journey was lame. Honestly, I can't see anyone caring for this area unless they loved the movie.
And OT, I wasn't impressed with Pandora. I thought Flight of Passage was boring. I would take Minions or Simpson's any day of the week. River Journey was lame. Honestly, I can't see anyone caring for this area unless they loved the movie.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
I've never even seen the movie, and I loved the land, and thought Flight of Passage was the most thrilling simulator I've been on (excluding Universal's hybrids)
mergatroid
Well-Known Member
This review from Tripadvisor may help anyone going
At last universal have their own water park.
Open May 2017 following the closure of the allied dilapidated Wet and Wild Water Park in 2015.
Before reading the rest of this review you need to know the following.
Where as Disney's water parks are like it's theme parks (relatively tame) Universals water park like its theme park has more teenager / adult rides.
Water parks have a much lower capacity than other theme parks.
Volcano Bay is extremely popular.
It is brand new and has lots of thrill and innovative rides.
Lots of water park rides only take one person at a time with often a minimum 30 seconds between each rider while they clear the plunge pool at the bottom.
This gives many rides a capacity of only 120 people per hour... some even less.
So you can do the maths... unless you have a strategy you won't get to ride many rides.
There are lots of negative reviews about this park. However they are largely about wait times.
The rides and park itself are however fabulous.
Strategy:
1) You MUST stay at one of the onsite hotels to gain access to Volcano Bay at 8am.
1 hr before general admission at 9am.
For that first hour many of the rides have no wait time at all particularly if you prioritise properly.
By 9.30 (30 mins after general admission) all rides will have a significant wait time.
By 10.00 many rides will have wait times of over 2hrs. Even the rapid river is at capacity.
By 10.30 the park is full but will still admit hotel guests.
2) get the first hotel bus to the park at 7am.
This will allow you to be at the front of the line. At 7.30 the lines are 30 long. At 7.50 the lines stretch out of the building,
3) download the universal app to your smart phone before you go. Set up an account for the volcano bay theme park and link all your theme park passes to it. The app is self explanatory. Your Tapu bracelets which you are given when entering the park will link to this account. You don't want to waste time on the morning doing this.
4) once in the park rent a locker with your Tapu bracelet and credit card. It costs $16 per locker which will take 1 beach bag. The lockers are located by the rest rooms.
5) the hotel express pass does not work in volcano bay. You check in for each ride by tapping your Tapu bracket against the ride. Which allows you to come back later. However you should never need to come back if you follow the below plan.
6) I loved all the rides but prioritise rides as follows:
A) Drop rides first.
These are extremely slow loaders and build queues really quickly. You need to do them in the first few minutes of the early park opening. The drop rides are at the top of the volcano.
They are:
Kookrini (long steep vertical drop into a pool and a signature ride),
Kala and Tai Nui Serpentine (drop into a flume ride. They are identical and might give you friction burns)
B) Krakatau (the parks signature aqua roller coaster) a combination of a log flume (soft rafts instead) with electromagnets which fire you up the hills. It's very popular but loads much faster than the drop rides. Up to 4 people per raft.
C) Solo flume rides. Again slow loaders while you wait for the previous rider to clear the bottom pool.
They are:
Ohyah (flume with a final 4ft drop into a pool)
Ohno (flume with a final 6ft drop into a pool)
D) raft rides.
They are:
Puihi and Maku. 5 person round raft flume ride. The green one is more extreme than the orange
Tanuwha tubes. 2 person raft flume ride. There are 4 tubes but they are identical.
Honu and Ika Moana. 4 person round raft flume ride. The blue is more extreme than the green with some near vertical turns.
Punga Races. 1 person lying face down on a mat into a flume. 4 identical flumes to race simultaneously.
E) river rides.
They are:
Teawa Fearless River (fast with waves. Wait just after passing under the volcano to get the full wave force)
Kopiko Winding River (slow/leisurely float)
Following the above strategy we managed to do all the rides by 9.30.
We left the park at 10.30 after several circuits on the rivers to go back to our hotel for breakfast.
Wait times for most rides then were over 2hrs.
Final thoughts:
The Tapu bracelets which you tap to book into a ride fall off very easily particularly while on the river rides.
Despite us knowing this in advance and checking my children's were secure myself all 3 of my children managed to lose theirs in the river.
The several concierge counters throughout the park will provide new ones which is easy if you have at least one remaining Tapu and have linked them all with the app. You can't go on a ride except the rivers without them.
Some rides can give you friction burns. Like you would get on a slide. We all got rash vest holes as a result. Serpentine was the main problem ride. Don't wear your Chanel swim suit!
This is a great water park. Better than the others in my view, but it is at the moment very popular.
It's brand new, beautiful and has better rides than the other water parks.
However don't go if you can't get early 8am admission.
It is hideously busy after 10.30.
At last universal have their own water park.
Open May 2017 following the closure of the allied dilapidated Wet and Wild Water Park in 2015.
Before reading the rest of this review you need to know the following.
Where as Disney's water parks are like it's theme parks (relatively tame) Universals water park like its theme park has more teenager / adult rides.
Water parks have a much lower capacity than other theme parks.
Volcano Bay is extremely popular.
It is brand new and has lots of thrill and innovative rides.
Lots of water park rides only take one person at a time with often a minimum 30 seconds between each rider while they clear the plunge pool at the bottom.
This gives many rides a capacity of only 120 people per hour... some even less.
So you can do the maths... unless you have a strategy you won't get to ride many rides.
There are lots of negative reviews about this park. However they are largely about wait times.
The rides and park itself are however fabulous.
Strategy:
1) You MUST stay at one of the onsite hotels to gain access to Volcano Bay at 8am.
1 hr before general admission at 9am.
For that first hour many of the rides have no wait time at all particularly if you prioritise properly.
By 9.30 (30 mins after general admission) all rides will have a significant wait time.
By 10.00 many rides will have wait times of over 2hrs. Even the rapid river is at capacity.
By 10.30 the park is full but will still admit hotel guests.
2) get the first hotel bus to the park at 7am.
This will allow you to be at the front of the line. At 7.30 the lines are 30 long. At 7.50 the lines stretch out of the building,
3) download the universal app to your smart phone before you go. Set up an account for the volcano bay theme park and link all your theme park passes to it. The app is self explanatory. Your Tapu bracelets which you are given when entering the park will link to this account. You don't want to waste time on the morning doing this.
4) once in the park rent a locker with your Tapu bracelet and credit card. It costs $16 per locker which will take 1 beach bag. The lockers are located by the rest rooms.
5) the hotel express pass does not work in volcano bay. You check in for each ride by tapping your Tapu bracket against the ride. Which allows you to come back later. However you should never need to come back if you follow the below plan.
6) I loved all the rides but prioritise rides as follows:
A) Drop rides first.
These are extremely slow loaders and build queues really quickly. You need to do them in the first few minutes of the early park opening. The drop rides are at the top of the volcano.
They are:
Kookrini (long steep vertical drop into a pool and a signature ride),
Kala and Tai Nui Serpentine (drop into a flume ride. They are identical and might give you friction burns)
B) Krakatau (the parks signature aqua roller coaster) a combination of a log flume (soft rafts instead) with electromagnets which fire you up the hills. It's very popular but loads much faster than the drop rides. Up to 4 people per raft.
C) Solo flume rides. Again slow loaders while you wait for the previous rider to clear the bottom pool.
They are:
Ohyah (flume with a final 4ft drop into a pool)
Ohno (flume with a final 6ft drop into a pool)
D) raft rides.
They are:
Puihi and Maku. 5 person round raft flume ride. The green one is more extreme than the orange
Tanuwha tubes. 2 person raft flume ride. There are 4 tubes but they are identical.
Honu and Ika Moana. 4 person round raft flume ride. The blue is more extreme than the green with some near vertical turns.
Punga Races. 1 person lying face down on a mat into a flume. 4 identical flumes to race simultaneously.
E) river rides.
They are:
Teawa Fearless River (fast with waves. Wait just after passing under the volcano to get the full wave force)
Kopiko Winding River (slow/leisurely float)
Following the above strategy we managed to do all the rides by 9.30.
We left the park at 10.30 after several circuits on the rivers to go back to our hotel for breakfast.
Wait times for most rides then were over 2hrs.
Final thoughts:
The Tapu bracelets which you tap to book into a ride fall off very easily particularly while on the river rides.
Despite us knowing this in advance and checking my children's were secure myself all 3 of my children managed to lose theirs in the river.
The several concierge counters throughout the park will provide new ones which is easy if you have at least one remaining Tapu and have linked them all with the app. You can't go on a ride except the rivers without them.
Some rides can give you friction burns. Like you would get on a slide. We all got rash vest holes as a result. Serpentine was the main problem ride. Don't wear your Chanel swim suit!
This is a great water park. Better than the others in my view, but it is at the moment very popular.
It's brand new, beautiful and has better rides than the other water parks.
However don't go if you can't get early 8am admission.
It is hideously busy after 10.30.
Adam N
Well-Known Member
I'm still trying to understand why the waits for slides are so high... is it because since everyone can be in a virtual line as long as they're in the park, then the only people (assuming everyone is taking advantage of it) not tapped into a wait time are those who just finished their last slide and on the way to the next one? Is that an unreasonable assumption? Haven't gone but still trying to decipher this new system.
cheezbat
Well-Known Member
I think they should build a multi funnel slide and multi bowl slide complex just like this one...but I also think they should build a separate Hydromagnetic Mammoth, more family oriented body slides (like 4) since the only ones they have currently are extreme, and another very large multilevel play structure with a handful more slides....then this park would not only be huge but much more capable of handling big crowds.
Disneyhead'71
Well-Known Member
I'm curious if all 4 of the Stingray mat racers are in operation yet? I haven't heard a recent status update.
Disneyhead'71
Well-Known Member
I wonder if there are contractual restrictions concerning using non-ProSlide attractions like a Flow-Rider.
Absimilliard
Well-Known Member
I wonder if there are contractual restrictions concerning using non-ProSlide attractions like a Flow-Rider.
![](http://[QUOTE="cheezbat, post: 7793638, member: 69990"]I think they should build a multi funnel slide and multi bowl slide complex just like this one...but I also think they should build a separate Hydromagnetic Mammoth, more family oriented body slides (like 4) since the only ones they have currently are extreme, and another very large multilevel play structure with a handful more slides....then this park would not only be huge but much more capable of ha)
No such restrictions exist as there are already non Proslide attractions inside the park. For example, the "Fearless River" is from this company from Scotland: http://www.murphyswaves.com/ .
A flowrider attraction? Bad idea for Volcano Bay in my opinion. Capacity is quite bad and the Gaylord Palms resort expansion to their pool area include a double flowrider. Universal would better utilize their limited land for more efficient attractions.
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
That sounds fun. I'm on vacation. Let's wake up at 6AM or earlier to be on a 7AM bus to be on waterslides at 8AM. No thank you. It's vacation. If I want to wake up at that ungodly hour, I'll just stay in my own city and go to work as usual.
mergatroid
Well-Known Member
Well it's not ideal for everybody as your response proves. Just thought I'd post it so anyone going who doesn't mind getting up early can get the most from their visit. Personally when we're in Orlando we do get up between 6am and 7am so we're at the parks for opening but it's understandably not everyone's first choice to follow suit.
This is hardly the only park where the early bird gets the worm. But sometimes I see the way people rush around the parks, and the way they share their commando plans in places like this, and I wonder why they even come here. If it's a relaxing vacation you're looking for, surely you can do better than theme parks.
Disneyhead'71
Well-Known Member
How is this any different than declaring Disney a failure because you want to show up at the MK at 1pm on the 4th of July and then get you panties in a bunch because there are long lines at all the popular attractions?
Showing up around noon to ANY park in Orlando that is at capacity is NOT the best strategy to commando all the "Es" before the 3pm storms set in. Just sayin'.
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
Woah. Put words in mouths much? I didn't declare anything a failure. For declarations like that (and not from me), please refer to the bulk of the reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor.
Theme parks are my vacation of choice and all I was saying is that waking up before the crack of dawn to be on water slides at 8AM is not my idea of a good time. If it is for you, have a ball. Different strokes.
And PS, I wouldn't be caught dead at Disney on the Fourth of July.
Last edited:
I'm so glad you used bold, red font and underlining, otherwise I might have missed you sharing this incredibly original and thought provoking notion that no one has ever shared before, which would have been truly regrettable. Welcome to the thread btw.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Because it applies to every day with Volcano Bay and not just one of ~three days out of the year where the other parks reach capacity.
Disneyhead'71
Well-Known Member
Everyday so far. But the park did Grand Open on Memorial Day Weekend at the beginning of the high season.
It is not uncommon for Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon to reach capacity during the high season and they aren't brand new parks. So it can happen at Disney every Summer for 23 years straight, no problem. But it happens at Universal for a month after Grand Opening and it's a disaster.
I'm not excusing the opening cluster (it was bad), but most of that has been sorted, and now we are just mostly seeing a popular new park.
Tony Perkis
Well-Known Member
That's a bad comparison because that puts all parks on an equal footing based on demand. And you know that.