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Volcano Bay Construction & Preview Discussion

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It's not small. It's basically the same size as BB and TL.

Yes. A Magic poster posted this info from the Orange County property appraiser website......*Typhoon Lagoon, Park only: 34 acres, Total 55 acres (20 of which is parking and 1 acre retention pond)...*Blizzard Beach , Park only: 36 acres Total 58 Acres (20 acres parking 2 acres retention pond)...Aquatica, Park only 30 acres, Total 58 acres (20 acres parking 8 acres retention pond)...* Volcano Bay, Park only 32 acres, no parking or retention pond...............As Skip said, they're all essentially the same size.
 
Yes. A Magic poster posted this info from the Orange County property appraiser website......*Typhoon Lagoon, Park only: 34 acres, Total 55 acres (20 of which is parking and 1 acre retention pond)...*Blizzard Beach , Park only: 36 acres Total 58 Acres (20 acres parking 2 acres retention pond)...Aquatica, Park only 30 acres, Total 58 acres (20 acres parking 8 acres retention pond)...* Volcano Bay, Park only 32 acres, no parking or retention pond...............As Skip said, they're all essentially the same size.

As Disney has proven, 32 acres is plenty of room for a "Themed Water Park" but is it enough room for a "Water Theme Park"?

 
It's the plot of land under cabana bay. Through city walk you wound:

1. Walk to the left towards IOA, turn left at margaritaville and follow that bath over the river the through the woods to cabana, then down the street.
2. Sapphire would be open by then so take the water taxi from city walk to there, then walk across the street to VB

I think this is gonna be a problem to be honest. If people plan to take the taxi to Sapphire to then just walk to the park, its going to completely disrupt the process of the water taxis. They can't handle that type of volume. Maybe water taxis will become reserved for just hotel guests?(correct me if I'm wrong if that policy is there in place).
 
I think this is gonna be a problem to be honest. If people plan to take the taxi to Sapphire to then just walk to the park, its going to completely disrupt the process of the water taxis. They can't handle that type of volume. Maybe water taxis will become reserved for just hotel guests?(correct me if I'm wrong if that policy is there in place).

I think that's overestimating how many people know about the water taxis/layout of the resort. I don't think it will be a problem
 
I wonder if this will be along the lines of that Pirates of the Caribbean "water adventure park" that concept art leaked out for a few years ago. Lazy rivers with elaborate show scenes that include animatronics and the like.

I don't think there will be buses form the CityWalk side to Volcano Bay.

People will be parking in the garage across the street from VB

Depending on their long-term expansion plans, Universal would be wise to build a monorail/peoplemover to connect their properties. Overall, they're hitting home runs with all of the new facilities and attractions they've been building, but they really need to streamline the guest experience if they want to really want to get some good word of mouth out there. A fun, convenient transportation option generally makes a big, positive impression on people. Imagine a peoplemover styled after the iconic backlot trams from the studio tour in Hollywood, for example. But to have folks park in a huge garage, take two or three sets of moving walkways, track down a certain spot in a rather frenetic bus loop and then bus in to the park, that's going to leave a lot of visitors less than thrilled. You might argue that it's just as complicated to get to the Magic Kingdom, but there's some excitement associated with that in riding the monorail or ferryboat.

Interesting comment from insider Marni on Magic yesterday. In response to various poster's complaints about Universal closing their parks so early, Marni replied, "That's to change. In a big way. USO has finally come of age". I found that comment interesting, especially in lieu of recent OU discussions concerning early ending operating hours at Universal. And perhaps that portends Volcano Bay will be open on some selected evenings. And maybe new night shows & parades for the parks.

Wet 'n Wild regularly stays open until at least 8 or 9 every day over the summer, oftentimes even 10, so I imagine that would be easy to manage for Volcano Bay. Especially with three large hotels within walking distance.
 
^ yeah it would be great if they could add a monorail, especially since this is considered a "water theme park"....buses are not enough. If they could install a monorail that could go from city walk overr to the cabana bay/volcano bay area, it would allow for higher volumes of traffic
 
yeah, I was at Wet n Wild years ago, and remember they were open until like 10pm. Sadly, at that point it was mostly just young teenagers looking for a place to hang out. Not even many people on the slides. We walked on everything.
 
Oh cool thank you all for the actual statistics. Water parks at night are personally the best times to go to water park. Adventure island nights anybody? Just an awesome experience, hopefully it's the same case here
 
All this talk about infrastructure is concerning me. I think the resort is growing too wide for the current transportation plan. I hope that they're working on a plan that they can get in place in the next 2 years for this park.
 
I wonder if this will be along the lines of that Pirates of the Caribbean "water adventure park" that concept art leaked out for a few years ago. Lazy rivers with elaborate show scenes that include animatronics and the like.



Depending on their long-term expansion plans, Universal would be wise to build a monorail/peoplemover to connect their properties. Overall, they're hitting home runs with all of the new facilities and attractions they've been building, but they really need to streamline the guest experience if they want to really want to get some good word of mouth out there. A fun, convenient transportation option generally makes a big, positive impression on people. Imagine a peoplemover styled after the iconic backlot trams from the studio tour in Hollywood, for example. But to have folks park in a huge garage, take two or three sets of moving walkways, track down a certain spot in a rather frenetic bus loop and then bus in to the park, that's going to leave a lot of visitors less than thrilled. You might argue that it's just as complicated to get to the Magic Kingdom, but there's some excitement associated with that in riding the monorail or ferryboat.



Wet 'n Wild regularly stays open until at least 8 or 9 every day over the summer, oftentimes even 10, so I imagine that would be easy to manage for Volcano Bay. Especially with three large hotels within walking distance.

That would be great for a prospective colored magma effect.
 
Even if the plans just include a bus hopefully they could turn it into bus rapid transit (BRT), like the Lymmo in downtown Orlando. It gets its own lanes that would most likely be used for all buses regardless of owner and special signal priority.

First they need to improve the design of there bus area tho. Maybe do a really nice improved area for there own resort transport and leave the rest for the other guys.
 
Also, this closeup of the concept art from BehindtheThrills shows water slides that will not be completely themed into the volcano and have supports and their tubes showing almost like Aquatica. I can see these slides being the ones that are moved here from Wetn Wild, just repainted. You guys think so?

wpid-volcano_bay_hr_tcm70-52752-4.jpg
 
There's only so much you can do with slides if you theme them all the way. TBH, I'd rather have more slides and have some of them look a little bare than have only a few slides that can fit on the mountain. I don't really go to a water park to pretend that I'm on an island I can take a cruise to the real thing to, I go to a water park to do rides!

I really can't see any negatives about this project. In my lifetime, I dont think there has ever been a major theme park built from the ground up (except for IOA when I was maybe 5?). This is going to be really cool.
 
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There's only so much you can do with slides if you theme them all the way. TBH, I'd rather have more slides and have some of them look a little bare than have only a few slides that can fit on the mountain. I don't really go to a water park to pretend that I'm on an island I can take a cruise to the real thing to, I go to a water park to do rides!

I really can't see any negatives about this project. In my lifetime, I dont think there has ever been a major theme park built from the ground up (except for IOA when I was maybe 5?). This is going to be really cool.
Shanghai Disneyland is still under construction... but I assume you meant stateside :lol:
 
I believe that the "Water Theme Park" designation speaks to the level of themeing. I think they are trying to make it transport you to a different time and place type of immersion. Old school Disney kind of themeing. A different level than Blizzard Beach. If you will, a deeper themeing. It doesn't have to have more detail, just more cohesion.
 
There's only so much you can do with slides if you theme them all the way. TBH, I'd rather have more slides and have some of them look a little bare than have only a few slides that can fit on the mountain. I don't really go to a water park to pretend that I'm on an island I can take a cruise to the real thing to, I go to a water park to do rides!

I really can't see any negatives about this project. In my lifetime, I dont think there has ever been a major theme park built from the ground up (except for IOA when I was maybe 5?). This is going to be really cool.

This is ride for ride equal to either of the two Disney parks if not greater than equal. Too, ride capacity overall is greater than either park. Be careful to not assume you can see it all in that painting.... Tons and tons of slides are hidden from view both behind the mountain and to the far right off the page...
 
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This is ride for ride equal to either of the two Disney parks if not greater than equal. Too, ride capacity overall is greater than either park. Be careful to not assume you can see it all in that painting.... Tons and tons of slides are hidden from view both behind the mountain and to the far right off the page...
How much room do you think there will be for future expansion once the park opens?
 
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