Volcano Bay: General Discussion

[OLSinFLA]

TripAdvisor doesn't tend to be overwhelming negative on Orlando attractions. Heck, even DHS gets mostly positive reviews.

I'm wondering how long it will be before there's a full day without multiple 1- or 2-star reviews for VB. And virtually all of the positive reviews are from people staying on site and getting in early.

Knowing that the park will get better is one thing, but Universal botched the park's opening month like nothing I've ever seen.

Edit: I realize it's not cost-effective to make changes to the advertising at this point, but I laughed when I was in Orlando last weekend and heard a VB radio commercial touting the "no waiting in lines."

Nothing you've ever seen? You must have missed USF's not-so-Grand-Opening when NONE of the major rides worked except ET. Man, there was negative news everywhere. Universal ended up giving second day free passes (good indefinitely).
I was there that day and the line at guest services was halfway down Hollywood Blvd. (I didn't care - I was there to see the stars). Fortunately there was no internet back then. I can just imagine what that would have been like today.

 

[12th Man]

Straight from the concept art! Love it!

Also, they're finally going to be adding monitors to display wait time information! Hooray!

I know you guys have strong opinions about this park, but you gotta love these cute, minor details!

 

[Talking Head]

Nothing you've ever seen? You must have missed USF's not-so-Grand-Opening when NONE of the major rides worked except ET. Man, there was negative news everywhere. Universal ended up giving second day free passes (good indefinitely).
I was there that day and the line at guest services was halfway down Hollywood Blvd. (I didn't care - I was there to see the stars). Fortunately there was no internet back then. I can just imagine what that would have been like today.

Since you brought it up...

That was nearly 30 years ago. Has Universal management not learned anything since then?

More to your point, since the Internet and public opinion forums *do* exist, they might want to get their (stuff) together.

 

[wizwit]

Straight from the concept art! Love it!

Also, they're finally going to be adding monitors to display wait time information! Hooray!

I know you guys have strong opinions about this park, but you gotta love these cute, minor details!

Looking good!

 

[Mr. EPCOT]

I think we've reached the point where we need a more elaborate version of the "beating a dead horse" emoji. Maybe something like jackhammering a dead horse.

 

[wizwit]

This is pretty bad-ass!

 

[Brian G.]

This is pretty bad-ass!

They had it on Ika Moana (aka the green slide next to it) and it really hides the drops well. Adds another level of excitement.

 

[Frank Drackman]

So when a brand new picture with crappy looking lights get posted, no one should say a thing?
When a geyser gets posted that looks badass- we are allowed to gush over it?
Or are we to remain emotionless robots who only say news and no opinions.

Every other forum, something gets posted, people bash it or praise it. Why is it different here?

The lights suck. If a dozen posters want to mention it sucks, by all means- let's let them. Just like if a leak to Nintendo comes out we can have 4 pages of straight praise. Let's not have "circle jerk" talk just for the negative. If I wanted cupcakes and rainbows I'd stick to universals official blog. I appreciate all opinions here. Good and bad.

I was sort of reading things more like...comment on the lights ok but no reason to circle back and say the park opened too early (not that you did that or anything, just the tone/direction some of these discussions take.

Call me crazy... but I think the popcorn lights are kinda charming. :look:

It's kinda like the locals have set up a party in their backyard. But of course their backyard just happens to be a volcano.

Yeah, I was going to say that this could be easily explained as the 'watri way' and it could work.

I think all of us 'fans' did some arm chair engineering on what a 'water theme park' should be and whatever expectations that caused, that is on us (and our armchairing doesn't need to be practicle nor does it have a budget).

I mean, stuff like 'what would Walt do' kill me because if he had his way, guest would be going down the jungle cruise with live, wild hippos in the water.

Maybe it sounds like I am defending UNI, but my expectations for a water park have been met by UNI. When I visit, I stay on site, I have a FL res 3 park AP. When I visit, I can always visit VB (say instead of time at the pool).

My daughter can do more slides than my wife or I. I cannot climb that many stairs in a 'two hour do it all mentality'....but we can walk by a totem thing, tap her place in line, go do something as a family....when her tapau changes to 'ride now' we walk over watch her get in the queue, and then we only wait around 20 minutes for her to land in a pool...at other Orlando water parks, I see her into a queue and wait at the landing pool for 90 minutes...I get no 'family time'

The theme park, I love the details and there are plenty (with more 'toppers' showing up all the time). I wish more of the story was somehow explained more in the park...but to me, they pulled off something I never expected and that is that I can enjoy a park with a collection of pro slides best attractions as if it was a resort pool as far as my vacation choice to ensure I get quality family time.

 

[Ryan]

I was sort of reading things more like...comment on the lights ok but no reason to circle back and say the park opened too early (not that you did that or anything, just the tone/direction some of these discussions take.

Exactly. And no jumping back to, "well no WONDER it has bad Trip Advisor reviews!"...these are things that just pile onto the negativity. All I'm saying is that we should look towards the park as a work-in-progress, instead of the "unforgivable unmitigated disaster that will be a blemish on Universal's permanent record" tone.

They got cocky and screwed up. But they still have to uphold their promise and keep the park operating as they fix the issues overnight. Some of the fixes look bad, but is it really necessary to bring it to that point of pure spite about things that already happened to the forefront again and again with every single new development? That doesn't feel like criticism, it feels more like a bloodbath frenzy that attracts the same people that feed off it at the same time. (many of which, btw, have not visited in person)

And really, who wants to discuss when they know with each passing moment that entire regurgitated discussion will prop up on things we've been listening to for nearly a month now? That's all I'm saying.

That fog on Honu is badass btw

 

[Skold]

Not sure if this has already been mentioned but

i'm very surprised this wasn't in place before. i spent the better part of two days there and had 75% of my Taps go down by 10 to 15 minutes at some point. i figured that must have been people losing their place in line.

Maybe it was the TMs getting more efficient at the launches!

 

[Andysol]

Straight from the concept art! Love it!

Also, they're finally going to be adding monitors to display wait time
I know you guys have strong opinions about this park, but you gotta love these cute, minor details!

This is pretty bad-ass!

Every one of those pics are badass.

Can I say one more thing about it opening unfinished? As a theme park fan, it's pretty fun to see things being added like these pics show. We wouldn't have been privy to any of it had it all been done. To the point to where a lot of these minor details we wouldn't even notice.
Maybe it's a "make lemons out of lemonade" possibility from our perception.

 

[Viator]

From Bio..



...I have a few things to say, just overall. Through the past few weeks, we can see that while yes; Volcano Bay was (and won't be for a while) a trainwreck. It wasn't handled well, and that things were not up to par as it should be. By all accounts, this IS something that I think people can get angry, and upset about.

The park should've opened in Early July, with a week of softs in late June; as they weren't, and somewhat now; are not ready. But, I will give Universal this. They have made a legitimate attempt, on fixing the error's that they have made, and are steadfast on getting the park complete.

And to be quite honest, any theme park is not ready for when they open in the year. It simply isn't, and that people get all fussed up when the park opens, with it not ready. But, when we pull away from it, and watch silently as it improves and benefits off of knowledge of GSAT? It will show that the park can eventually be something that it should've been.

Comcast, will learn lessons from this; and that I do not think Virtual Queues or Tapu Tapu are going away. But, I do think we will very much see major updates and changes to the systems in-place, and over time; everything should eventually be back as it is..excluding Express, hopefully.

As theme park fans, we should at least enjoy that we get to see the park change, and adapt from our opinions, as-well as the general public opinions and concerns. We will see issues fixed, we will see thematic aspects finished; and that things should eventually get better over time. We just have to watch, comment, and see how this park transforms itself; from the mess that it apparently was opening day, to hopefully what it should of been, a true themed water-park.

That is one of the longer hot takes that I have said, but I wanted to get my case; on that I am glad to see Universal responding to many opinions, local and internationally.

 

[yankees13]

So I've read through many pages for this in the last few weeks and I still have yet to get a grasp as to what TapuTapu does. How do you "virtually" wait in line? Is it essentially like FastPass where they give you a time and you just arrive back at that time? Is there a separate line you gotta get on?

I know they do something similar for Fallon too but I'm just confused by the whole thing. Trying to gather information before I head down in August.

 

[Frank Drackman]

So I've read through many pages for this in the last few weeks and I still have yet to get a grasp as to what TapuTapu does. How do you "virtually" wait in line? Is it essentially like FastPass where they give you a time and you just arrive back at that time? Is there a separate line you gotta get on?

I know they do something similar for Fallon too but I'm just confused by the whole thing. Trying to gather information before I head down in August.

You get this tapu, you find a totem thing to tap, it tells you you have 45 minutes to wait. That 'time' my go up or down, but the tapu will update you. When the tapu vibrates and reads 'ride now' (apparently as of today) you then have one hour to tap your way into the only queue...which is like a FP line where the wait can be 5 to 20 minutes (from what I experienced, but I do not where a watch nor do I watch time while on vacation).

One thing I forgot to say about seeing the city when you are on the stairs. I liked looking over at I-4 knowing I was not sitting in traffic...I liked that I could see the Conv Center and all that green that will one day be another UNI gate.

 

[LJGonz]

The red slide is Ko'okiri, and no that never had the limit reduced. It's the blue and green slides, Kala and Tai Nui, and yes - they are still there.

Oh, well what is the weight limit on that slide then?

 

[Brian G.]

Oh, well what is the weight limit on that slide then?

300

So I've read through many pages for this in the last few weeks and I still have yet to get a grasp as to what TapuTapu does. How do you "virtually" wait in line? Is it essentially like FastPass where they give you a time and you just arrive back at that time? Is there a separate line you gotta get on?

I know they do something similar for Fallon too but I'm just confused by the whole thing. Trying to gather information before I head down in August.

Essentially, Tapu holds your spot. So pretend you're leaving a virtual person while you walk around. It is different than FP as FP is a reservation.

 

[epcyclopedia]

You would think with all the people who jump between Universal and Disney employment-wise someone would have said "hey... tapu designers... guests not in line get in other lines... and get angry if they're not allowed to. No one shops or eats like you want them to."

I think the one ride at a time thing will keep tapu from ever winning over the general public.

 

[quinnmac000]

You would think with all the people who jump between Universal and Disney employment-wise someone would have said "hey... tapu designers... guests not in line get in other lines... and get angry if they're not allowed to. No one shops or eats like you want them to."

I think the one ride at a time thing will keep tapu from ever winning over the general public.

I disagree, I think they just need way more stuff to keep them entertained. A lazy river, wave pool, lounging, and eating is only so fun. They need to boost their things to do while you wait than kill tapu tapu.

 

[Andysol]

You get this tapu, you find a totem thing to tap, it tells you you have 45 minutes to wait. That 'time' my go up or down, but the tapu will update you. When the tapu vibrates and reads 'ride now' (apparently as of today) you then have one hour to tap your way into the only queue...which is like a FP line where the wait can be 5 to 20 minutes (from what I experienced, but I do not where a watch nor do I watch time while on vacation).

Curious- if I go first thing in the morning, and everything is "ride now"- could I scan, for example, both oh ya and oh no one after the other and be able to ride them within one hour? Or if you do a "ride now", you have to "ride now".
Because if it's the hour thing- that'd make touring a little more interesting.

 

[Alicia]

Curious- if I go first thing in the morning, and everything is "ride now"- could I scan, for example, both oh ya and oh no one after the other and be able to ride them within one hour? Or if you do a "ride now", you have to "ride now".
Because if it's the hour thing- that'd make touring a little more interesting.

RIDE NOW means no Tapu scanning. Just go up the stairs now. You cannot Tapu a ride that says Ride Now.