Volcano Bay Construction & Preview Discussion

[Scott W.]

POV of the aqua coaster made its way online. Looks fantastic and definitely long! I don't know how projections would work though. I honestly think it's just a water coaster and the "water fireworks" PR mentioned was just an exciting phrase.

Man, that just kept going and going.

At certain points, there are sprinklers on the ceiling of the ride. Maybe they will spray a mist for projections to go on to? Otherwise, the sprinklers seem a little pointless.

 

[ChristopherSE]

They talk about Volcano Bay for a few minutes starting at 0:59. Mostly things we know, but 2 newly confirmed things:

• 2:00 - TapuTapu vibrates and says "Time to ride" and you walk over to the slide when your virtual queueing is over. I assume it's an open window of time for you to walk to the slide. I believe we already knew this but its nice to have confirmation.
• 2:57 - He says Honu Ika Moana's raft has a small volcano in the middle that water "erupts" out of during the ride. Maybe I'm just late to the game but I haven't heard that yet!

 

[tielo]

Americans always go to a waterpark fully dressed like in the 18th century?

 

[ChristopherSE]

Americans always go to a waterpark fully dressed like in the 18th century?

lol no this is just because it's a media day. I'm sure a lot of these guests have no intentions of getting wet today.

 

[randompixel]

B-ROLL!

Love the green light/red light combo masked behind the eyes at 0:50

 

[Alicia]

Just saw that if you have a cabana rental for a specific day you are guaranteed entry into the park even if it's already at capacity! Capacity numbers include everyone that's rented cabanas for that day (and their party.) Sorry if that's already known, it was news to me and wanted to pass it along.

This came from someone on Facebook that spoke to guests services on the phone.

 

[Mad Dog]

Pandora who?

 

[Ryan O]

Has there been any reference to the encounter with Vol by any media members or team members saying that is still to come?

 

[epcyclopedia]

Those green mesh "nothing to see here.." screen though..

 

[Cheezbat]

water


theme


park

Not bad numbers...but it's a shame they didn't build the Hydromagnetic Mammoth. That one can have a capacity of 1080 riders per hour. With as popular as this ride is going to be, they had better have another watercoaster planned in the expansion.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

^Hence why they're planning on starting the expansion right after they wrap up the "finishing touches" stage of the main park. We're almost completely sure at this point that the HydroMag Mammoth is the next slide coming. Let's all hope it's a sprawling monster of a slide.

 

[Miketheboss]

POV of the aqua coaster made its way online. Looks fantastic and definitely long! I don't know how projections would work though. I honestly think it's just a water coaster and the "water fireworks" PR mentioned was just an exciting phrase.

This ride was one aspect that was supposed to solidify the point of VB being a "water theme park". I see it as a fun, generic ride. Nothing revolutionary.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

^^I agree, the decorating is top notch, but aside from signage and tiki men, there's not much here that differentiates Volcano Bay from other water parks. With all the new water park technology out there, Universal went with the traditional slides. Even Wet N' Wild's slides were more thematically involved than what we're seeing here. Not that the park isn't nice or anything - but there's nothing here that really sets it above the rest.

But I will concede that from the ground level, Volcano Bay paints a different picture than some of the aerial imagery that we've seen. Not that there isn't room for improvement(s).

 

[Scott W.]

I don't know... it's all looking really generic to me aside from the Volcano as a set piece.

Ignoring the unfinished aspects, everything is "nice" but you'd expect that of a new park.

It isn't striking me as more of a theme park than Typhoon or Blizzard. Seems to have more to do, but I guess I wanted those slides with special effects and neat lighting and stuff.

I still think that this passes as 'water theme park' but it's not the first to do so. Typhoon and Blizzard have been since they opened, they just never directly described it that way. I can see Disney changing their description in the future. These 3 water parks are on a different level than say Wet n Wild. Watching the Wet n Wild demolition really showed just how uninspired the design was.

I made fun of Miss Fortune Falls but it at least tried to be more than colorful plastic you slide down.

I wouldn't exactly call brown a colourful plastic.

 

[Ryan]

I've noticed that the front of the park is such a great sell. The Cabana Bay towers in the pack really do sell that Polynesian "on the beach" feel. It's extremely picturesque and tropical, and as the years go on it will become more and more. Plus, again, the park (and rides) could have an entirely different feel at night!

I think we should let the park grow, I'm sure there are more surprises to come.

 

[Frogki]

I'm still holding hope for effects on the water coaster - even if it's some simple lighting effects. WnW had some really unique slides with Blackhole and Disco H2O, in terms of the lighting and set pieces within the slides. I was expecting Volcano Bay to take that to the next level.

Even if that doesn't happen, the park looks incredibly fun and I hope to visit it in the near future!

 

[Ryan]

Also: please do not double/triple post. Edit your current post if you want to add more. Thank you.

 

[Andysol]

Not bad numbers...but it's a shame they didn't build the Hydromagnetic Mammoth. That one can have a capacity of 1080 riders per hour. With as popular as this ride is going to be, they had better have another watercoaster planned in the expansion.

That 42" height requirement is key though. This park certainly needed that. The mammoth is typically 48"- so if the expansion has that and some other 42" slides then it's all good. I'd rather the 42" that my whole family can ride together vs another 48 incher where my little one is left on the sideline yet again.

^^I agree, the decorating is top notch, but aside from signage and tiki men, there's not much here that differentiates Volcano Bay from other water parks. With all the new water park technology out there, Universal went with the traditional slides. Even Wet N' Wild's slides were more thematically involved than what we're seeing here. Not that the park isn't nice or anything - but there's nothing here that really sets it above the rest.

Does the food not set it apart? Nothing touches it.
Does Tapu Tapu? No qbots do everything Tapu Tapu does, or with that much ease.
The interactivity is awesome as well.
The little cute touches certainly set it apart.

It's going to be hard to do everything- I would have preferred some projection or an AA during the coaster- that would've really set it apart- in particular with the LIM tech.
But as a whole and taking everything into account, it's still the best. And that's saying something.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Also: please do not double/triple post. Edit your current post if you want to add more. Thank you.

Can I ask the dumb question of why this remotely matters...?

 

[Ryan]

Can I ask the dumb question of why this remotely matters...?

To not spam the thread and make it easier and quicker to read. It's not hard to click "edit".