Volcano Bay: General Discussion

[Skold]

Ugh bit the bullet and upgraded to 3 park APs.

We'll be rope dropin at 8; I'll let y'all know how it goes...

One great thing, we are in Bayside so it is a 5 min walk!

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

^Thanks for taking one for the team! We'll be expecting a full-on trip report upon your return to Bayside jk

 

[Miketheboss]

With all of this complaining about Volcano Bay we should remember how on Disneyland's opening day there was: A huge traffic jam, broken rides, no food and a lack of water all on a 100 degree day in July.

John Hammond: All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked!

Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but, John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists.


The same can be said with Volcano Bay. There were no soft openings and nobody knew how the park would react to the vast amounts of people. Just like every park Universal will improve based on the various mistakes.

I'm so over people using the Disneyland analogy. They aren't even comparable. Disneyland was the first of its kind and that was back in the 1950s. Before internet, cell phones, computers, etc. There's no excuse for VB.

Ugh bit the bullet and upgraded to 3 park APs.

We'll be rope dropin at 8; I'll let y'all know how it goes...

One great thing, we are in Bayside so it is a 5 min walk!

I'm sure you'll have fun. It's not horrible. Lol

 

[snayberry]

With all of this complaining about Volcano Bay we should remember how on Disneyland's opening day there was: A huge traffic jam, broken rides, no food and a lack of water all on a 100 degree day in July.

John Hammond: All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked!

Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but, John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists.


The same can be said with Volcano Bay. There were no soft openings and nobody knew how the park would react to the vast amounts of people. Just like every park Universal will improve based on the various mistakes.

Did you really just make that comparison? Here, this is for you lol.

 

[adjjb]

Actually, I think something we are missing are people trying to relax or are they rushing to do as many things as possible in one day.

I don't think they're rushing, it's the tapu that's preventing them from doing anything else other than wave/lazy river.

While the volcano and the entire beach area is very island like, I'm not sure people pay the price of a water park to go relax on a lounge chair with a book at a water park. I think people go to do the slides which they're not getting to do.

I think people sitting at the wave pool for 5 hours is the problem, people don't want to pay $70 to do just that. They can drive over to Daytona and do it for free.

 

[ush.hacker]

I'm a Volcano Bay "newbie" and have done little to no research on the subject so I apologize in advance

Tough Crowd

 

[Miketheboss]

I don't think they're rushing, it's the tapu that's preventing them from doing anything else other than wave/lazy river.

While the volcano and the entire beach area is very island like, I'm not sure people pay the price of a water park to go relax on a lounge chair with a book at a water park. I think people go to do the slides which they're not getting to do.

I think people sitting at the wave pool for 5 hours is the problem, people don't want to pay $70 to do just that. They can drive over to Daytona and do it for free.

They can do the lazy river and a slide for free at Cabana Bay if thats all they're doing. Kinda exaggerated but not really.

 

[rhino4evr]

I don't think they're rushing, it's the tapu that's preventing them from doing anything else other than wave/lazy river.

While the volcano and the entire beach area is very island like, I'm not sure people pay the price of a water park to go relax on a lounge chair with a book at a water park. I think people go to do the slides which they're not getting to do.

I think people sitting at the wave pool for 5 hours is the problem, people don't want to pay $70 to do just that. They can drive over to Daytona and do it for free.

This is exactly the problem! I think universal under estimated what people really want to do at a water park, and that's slides! If you want to relax and read a book, your hotel will likely be able to accommodate this request.
I've never Waited longer than an hour to ride a slide at a water park. So what's going on here?

The food lines being long isn't surprising either.

The only solution I see is limiting capacity at this point.

 

[Matterhorn88]

Does anyone know the metrics of the other Orlando water parks? Aka how many people fit inside Typhoon Lagoon/Blizzard Beach? How many slides do they have? I feel like the capacity is way off at Volcano Bay or something.

If 5,000 people attend Volcano bay and only 100 or so visitors don't do slides (elderly/toddlers), then that's 4,900-ish people who want to ride slides. Either they lower the attendance cap or increase capacity by building more slides. There's really no other solution.

Also, is there an experation on tapu tapu reservations? Like if a person taps into a slide that's 3-4 hrs long and they leave the park out of frustration, does their spot expire?

 

[epcyclopedia]

Does anyone know the metrics of the other Orlando water parks? Aka how many people fit inside Typhoon Lagoon/Blizzard Beach? How many slides do they have? I feel like the capacity is way off at Volcano Bay or something.

If 5,000 people attend Volcano bay and only 100 or so visitors don't do slides (elderly/toddlers), then that's 4,900-ish people who want to ride slides. Either they lower the attendance cap or increase capacity by building more slides. There's really no other solution.

Also, is there an experation on tapu tapu reservations? Like if a person taps into a slide that's 3-4 hrs long and they leave the park out of frustration, does their spot expire?

Blizzard/Typhoon are like 7000 or more.

 

[sparky]

This is exactly the problem! I think universal under estimated what people really want to do at a water park, and that's slides! If you want to relax and read a book, your hotel will likely be able to accommodate this request.
I've never Waited longer than an hour to ride a slide at a water park. So what's going on here?

The food lines being long isn't surprising either.

The only solution I see is limiting capacity at this point.

The ops at volcano bay would love me. I am happy to literally just float around a lazy river . I love schliterbahn texas for their lazy river rapids river. My kids run around sliding down while I float around all day.

 

[LJGonz]

I'm just starting to see Disney advertisements on YouTube for their super cool water parks. Disney is the epitome of a desperate competitor. Whenever something is convenient for them they over advertise and publicize, just like Star Wars.

 

[Frank Drackman]

They can do the lazy river and a slide for free at Cabana Bay if thats all they're doing. Kinda exaggerated but not really.

I remember a time when I was not a parent. I would sometimes meet friends when they came to Orlando with their kids. I was always amazed at how much the family was paying to visit Disney, but the kids always seemed the happiest just hanging at the hotel pool....go figure.

 

[rhino4evr]

I'm just starting to see Disney advertisements on YouTube for their super cool water parks. Disney is the epitome of a desperate competitor. Whenever something is convenient for them they over advertise and publicize, just like Star Wars.

Lol, it's not "desperate" it's smart marketing. Family of 4 wants to go to volcano bay and it's at capacity or they read the negative reviews in trip advisor, what do you think their next thought is?

If I was Disney I'd be advertising their new water slide (something they haven't really done) a ton.

Universals problems are disneys gain.

 

[UNIrd]

Also, is there an experation on tapu tapu reservations? Like if a person taps into a slide that's 3-4 hrs long and they leave the park out of frustration, does their spot expire?

Since you can't leave with the TapuTapu, I would think yes. I actually got an email thanking me for returning my TapuTapu and letting me know it had been reset so my CC was no longer connected a few minutes after leaving the park.

If someone staying in Cabana wants to take a break, I think they would forfeit their place in line as well.

 

[JunoSynth]

The only solution I see is limiting capacity at this point.

I can go for that. You snooze you lose!

 

[Disneyhead]

It appears to me that the main issue is through put. I believe that the lack of softs and duel load platforms is killing capacity. They need to have a second TM on the platforms prepping guests to be prepared to load. Get some of those "Transformers" TMs in there. "Come on slackers. Move it! Move it! Move it!".

 

[Mad Dog]

There's a good new review by forum poster Barry on the VB review thread. He was there Sunday & Monday and his experience sounded like he had a lot of fun. He said he was able to ride most of the rides, many of them multiple times. While there were some issues it doesn't appear they were anywhere near as prominent as people are picking up from some of these Twitter posts they're reading. Just another example of why I pay no attention to Twitter.....Sounds to me like there is no reason to panic. The problems that are there are probably issues that will be solved in due course. Stop on the other thread & read his review if you get the time.

 

[rhino4evr]

There's a good new review by forum poster Barry on the VB review thread. He was there Sunday & Monday and his experience sounded like he had a lot of fun. He said he was able to ride most of the rides, many of them multiple times. While there were some issues it doesn't appear they were anywhere near as prominent as people are picking up from some of these Twitter posts they're reading. Just another example of why I pay no attention to Twitter.....Sounds to me like there is no reason to panic. The problems that are there are probably issues that will be solved in due course. Stop on the other thread & read his review if you get the time.

Is that the review that basically said you needed to be at the park before it "officially" opened in order to actually ride the slides? I mean that's great, but it's not realistic to expect everyone get to the park at 7:30 am. Especially if you aren't staying at a resort.

 

[wizwit]

Ugh bit the bullet and upgraded to 3 park APs.

We'll be rope dropin at 8; I'll let y'all know how it goes...

One great thing, we are in Bayside so it is a 5 min walk!

Looking forward to hearing about your experience.