Volcano Bay: General Discussion

[Brian G.]

Do we know what is still closed? I was planning on going this weekend.

As of now, just the Fearless River, Runamukka Reef, and Taniwha Tubes

Universal has tweeted an official statement.

 

[Talking Head]

This is kind of a grammatical mess and feels hastily thrown together.

"We believe" is also not particularly encouraging.

"We wanted to fully understand what was happening and to what degree -- and then to fix it."

A company of Universal's size should have better writers on staff. That sentence needs work.

 

[quinnmac000]

"We wanted to fully understand what was happening and to what degree -- and then to fix it."

A company of Universal's size should have better writers on staff. That sentence needs work.

It was probably done by their interns.

 

[fryoj]

A major theme park company had an issue in the park where they were "shocking" guests and had to close the park.

Public's response: They need to write better press releases.

I'd say the media team deserves a raise.

 

[Clive]

A major theme park company had an issue in the park where they were "shocking" guests and had to close the park.

Public's response: They need to write better press releases.

I'd say the media team deserves a raise.

Nah, we're saying this is a pretty bad, not-at-all encouraging statement to make after your park is shocking guests, and it's clear the situation was fundamentally mishandled. We're debating the finer points of the press release, as diehard theme park fans do.

The headlines when you google "Volcano Bay" are not favorable. That's what matters.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

I'd say the media team deserves a raise.

Based on what? That's one of the most poorly written press statements I've seen in a long time. Doesn't do Universal any favors and certainly doesn't protect the company at all. @Fallow is on point with this one.

 

[fryoj]

People could have been electrocuted and you are talking about grammar. Pretty sure that's a win.

Also, my post was clearly tongue in cheek.

 

[Clive]

People could have been electrocuted and you are talking about grammar. Pretty sure that's a win.

Also, my post was clearly tongue in cheek.

It's tongue in cheek but also deliberately obtuse.

A professional, world-class theme park resort should not be throwing out such a sloppy, unconvincing press release to begin with, much less one dealing with a situation that could have been extremely dangerous. Obviously people could have been electrocuted - that's the problem. Yes, it's a win that no one was, but that scenario should not have occurred in this first place. There should have been a better response on the ground and days later as they lose the media narrative.

 

[fryoj]

It's tongue in cheek but also deliberately obtuse.

A professional, world-class theme park resort should not be throwing out such a sloppy, unconvincing press release to begin with, much less one dealing with a situation that could have been extremely dangerous. Obviously people could have been electrocuted - that's the problem. Yes, it's a win that no one was, but that scenario should not have occurred in this first place. There should have been a better response on the ground and days later as they lose the media narrative.

Yeah, it's a common strategy when you have an obvious problem to distract people away from it with a lesser problem. That's what I was alluding to with my post. I know that's not their actual intent.

The fact that you are bent out of shape about a press release when such a serious issue occurred is the more "deliberately obtuse" issue imo. But you go ahead and roll with that.

 

[Nick]

So I did what @Fallow had mentioned in one of his posts and searched "Volcano Bay" in google. Found a few video segments that have run on multiple local news outlets here tonight.

WESH:


WTSP:


Needless to say, this coverage is not good.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

Yeah, it's a common strategy when you have an obvious problem to distract people away from it with a lesser problem. That's what I was alluding to with my post. I know that's not their actual intent.

The fact that you are bent out of shape about a press release when such a serious issue occurred is the more "deliberately obtuse" issue imo. But you go ahead and roll with that.

“I post on a theme park forum dedicated to these exact subjects, but when I get called out like to say I was only joking and call people names.” :tired:

 

[Scott W.]

The bit I can’t understand is that they’re saying they investigated and then closed down the area.

Shouldn’t they have closed down the areas straight away and then investigated?

 

[LikeMike]

Call me sceptical but if I was UOR I’d definitely think about a press release within the month about their planned expansion at Volcano Bay. Move the news cycle on and all is forgotten.

 

[Legacy]

The bit I can’t understand is that they’re saying they investigated and then closed down the area.

Shouldn’t they have closed down the areas straight away and then investigated?

Electricity is one of those weird things. Unless the cause is instantly identifiable, it's extremely difficult to figure out the scope and the why of whatever is happening. When I was in high school, students found a spot (by accident) where if you touched a conduit and a nearby locker, you got a prolonged shocked. A line formed, cause kids. Twenty minutes later, our principal saw the line and asked what was going on. We told him, he moved us aside, then he got an electrician to test it with a voltmeter before blocking off the area.

So, he conducted an investigation then closed the area. The decision process is the same.

Electricity also has some severity-bias baked into it. Licking a 9-volt and touching a power line are functionally the same thing. The situation determines how critical things are.

I don't disagree that Universal botched this. Management should have erred on the side of caution. But I completely understand how it happened and don't necessarily fault them for it.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Electricity is one of those weird things. Unless the cause is instantly identifiable, it's extremely difficult to figure out the scope and the why of whatever is happening. When I was in high school, students found a spot (by accident) where if you touched a conduit and a nearby locker, you got a prolonged shocked. A line formed, cause kids. Twenty minutes later, our principal saw the line and asked what was going on. We told him, he moved us aside, then he got an electrician to test it with a voltmeter before blocking off the area.

So, he conducted an investigation then closed the area. The decision process is the same.

Electricity also has some severity-bias baked into it. Licking a 9-volt and touching a power line are functionally the same thing. The situation determines how critical things are.

I don't disagree that Universal botched this. Management should have erred on the side of caution. But I completely understand how it happened and don't necessarily fault them for it.

As someone who had to take enough electrical engineering classes in college and fathers an electrical engineer, yup. These things are tricky and I totally agree with Legacy.

 

[Legacy]

As someone who had to take enough electrical engineering classes in college and fathers an electrical engineer, yup. These things are tricky and I totally agree with Legacy.

I was an Army electrician. I've been popped in excess of 1,000 volts and laughed it off. It just left a small burn mark. And that's a higher voltage than what happened here.

Electricity is just weird sometimes.

 

[Alicia]

If they couldn’t find the source within an hour. Close the park. Not keep it open for 6 more hours. Considering more people were affected throughout the day, probably should’ve shut it all down.

This could’ve been one woman at 9:36am. Instead it’s at least 4 team members sent to the hospital and at least 3 guests confirmed affected so far and speaking to news outlets.

According to some reports, guests were having to warn other guests about not going into that part of the river. If guests are doing the job of TMs during a situation like this, why couldn’t TMs?

I get that it could be tricky to pin down the source of the problem. But if the entire park is forced to get out of the water when lightning is within the area, they could’ve done the exact same drill while they investigated the issue.

 

[Scott W.]

If they couldn’t find the source within an hour. Close the park. Not keep it open for 6 more hours. Considering more people were affected throughout the day, probably should’ve shut it all down.

This could’ve been one woman at 9:36am. Instead it’s at least 4 team members sent to the hospital and at least 3 guests confirmed affected so far and speaking to news outlets.

According to some reports, guests were having to warn other guests about not going into that part of the river. If guests are doing the job of TMs during a situation like this, why couldn’t TMs?

I get that it could be tricky to pin down the source of the problem. But if the entire park is forced to get out of the water when lightning is within the area, they could’ve done the exact same drill while they investigated the issue.

A new water park built by my company gives a guest an electric shock at 9.30am. Now, should we close the park? Take the number of people in the park, A, multiply by the probable rate of electric shock B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of closing the park and refunding the tickets, we don't close it.

 

[GAcoaster]

I just wonder why a GFCI didn't trip? I'd assume everything in a water park is on one. If not, how did they pass a building inspection?

 

[JunoSynth]

A new water park built by my company gives a guest an electric shock at 9.30am. Now, should we close the park? Take the number of people in the park, A, multiply by the probable rate of electric shock B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of closing the park and refunding the tickets, we don't close it.

I wouldn't doubt it. I'm not an expert on this subject but I'm assuming things could of escalated? If so, I think its sick to gamble on someone life for profit.