Volcano Bay: General Discussion

[Parkscope Joe]

So do we think express is dead, as in for ever... or is this temporary until the crowds die down? I was really looking forward to using express in September when we had planned to go. We may end up not going at all if they don't have things together (literally and figurativel) by then.

I've been told it's completely dead.

 

[ChristopherSE]

I don't know why no one else is saying this, but is there a possibility of the park getting a aqualoop water slide in the future?

It's not a possibility as Volcano Bay's slides are manufactured by Proslide. Whitewater West Industries is the company that makes Aqualoops. Proslides closest equivalent is their superloop, which is basically what the two twisty volcano slides are. Which is to say, Proslide doesn't have a close equivalent lol.

 

[12th Man]

Ouch....

 

[Cheezbat]

It's not a possibility as Volcano Bay's slides are manufactured by Proslide. Whitewater West Industries is the company that makes Aqualoops. Proslides closest equivalent is their superloop, which is basically what the two twisty volcano slides are. Which is to say, Proslide doesn't have a close equivalent lol.

It's always possible if Universal decided to go to Whitewater West if they really wanted to....but they seem pretty happy with Proslide....(I don't know if there's any contractual agreement where they can only go with Proslide)
Aquatica and Typhoon Lagoon have slides from both manufacturers.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Ouch....

It's closing an hour earlier.... which is still 9pm. So?

 

[sparky]

Ouch....

makes sense to me to change the closing time. They need time to work on the park, what time do most water parks in Florida close?

 

[sparky]

I've been told it's completely dead.

I don't think that tapu and express can co-exist. The conflict would be frustrating for everyone, unless they had dedicated express lines. The arrival of unexpected express people during scheduled tapu rider times would throw the whole thing out of whack, and I can see it being a problem that builds as the day goes on. Trying to account for the express rides pushes tapu times back, or they simply all get stuck in a long line when both show up at the same time. Pure Chaos I tell ya what.

 

[Ashhanbre]

It's closing an hour earlier.... which is still 9pm. So?

I think it matters to a lot of people that are specifically looking for a night time water park experience. Sunset being around 8:25 or so means you only get maybe 30 minutes of "dark" so that extra hour means a lot to some people.

 

[wizwit]

"And here, a Full Day of Fun lasts well into the night."

 

[12th Man]

It's closing an hour earlier.... which is still 9pm. So?

It's just that I was planning to be there on a 10 PM closing, but oh well. Things change. :shrug:

 

[epcyclopedia]

It's sort of ironic - normally big areas have flaws that the team didn't notice because they mostly see the area in the dark of night. That's the nature of theme park building - a lot happens at night.

So when Volcano Bay and Pandora don't have their night stuff ready for opening you really sort of go "eh..? What happened?"

 

[Frank Drackman]

I like tapau. I think it freaks people out though. I mean, folks now know when a ride goes down (even if they are no where near the thing.

I heard a guest complaining to a friend how 'things keep breaking' and it sounds like they had the same experience we did. On our 2nd tapau res and it is the 2nd one to 'pause' our wait with 'delays'.

I'm not ready to review the park, but we got there around 1 PM on a Monday (school is done for the year where I live, so first day of summer for my family).

We do not 'tour commando style'. Took the resort bus to VB. Security is in what looks to be the walking path from Ventura hotel (when complete), the bus from the garage must stop further up to another path in w/o security as they had it back at the parking garage.

Went to the coaster to get in our 4 hour wait. We then went to lunch, I enjoyed the mahi sandwhich I had. Saw our wait drop to three hours, ate, then headed to the faster river...had some fun, got down to 105 left when the first delay came (I don't wear a watch nor do I watch time)...so we went to the wave pool and had some fun.

Our wait was still paused when we were done there. So we headed to the calm river. Had some fun. The coaster came back up and our wait time immediately ended and we were told we could ride.

I know we were done with the coaster by 5, so I do not think we lost anything, went to tapau the whale raft slide, it said 30 min but the tap immediately took it to 20, the turtle slide (the blue high wall was closed all day as best I could gather, the were riders testing it, but it was closed...there were other slides like the clear tube drop that were full for the day).

We headed back to the slow river and our wait had been stuck at 20 minutes for what felt like 20 minutes before it went to 'delayed'...so we swapped for something else...we did a few slides, tapau stands would show between 45 and 15 minutes, sometimes dropping to 'ride now'...if we were more aggressive, we could have gotten a lot in between 6 and 8 on this particular day.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

It's just that I was planning to be there on a 10 PM closing, but oh well. Things change. :shrug:

They've only changed the hours for June. July still lists 10pm close.

 

[rhino4evr]

The park isn't complete, this is something we've all discussed. Even if it was open until 10, I doubt the "nightshow" is really ready to go.
They really should be closing the park to work on finishing it up.

 

[Frank Drackman]

they're working on it.

tried to insert a photo, but 8 mb is the smallest I can make a photo on my phone

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

Any updates on why the drop boxes have a 200lb max weight limit at the moment? Can you imagine stepping one leg into the capsule and having that floor give way? That'd be a long way down, and if you fell the wrong way (like in a fetal position) you'd probably get stuck in the tube. It's probably not a set of slides I'd be interested in doing at the moment given the circumstances.

 

[sonoma15]

The park is still under construction, hence the thread.

Any updates on why the drop boxes have a 200lb max weight limit at the moment? Can you imagine stepping one leg into the capsule and having that floor give way? That'd be a long way down, and if you fell the wrong way (like in a fetal position) you'd probably get stuck in the tube. It's probably not a set of slides I'd be interested in doing at the moment given the circumstances.

I don't know if this 200lb max weight was confirmed, I think it may still be 300

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Any updates on why the drop boxes have a 200lb max weight limit at the moment? Can you imagine stepping one leg into the capsule and having that floor give way? That'd be a long way down, and if you fell the wrong way (like in a fetal position) you'd probably get stuck in the tube. It's probably not a set of slides I'd be interested in doing at the moment given the circumstances.

The weight limit change seems temporary and due to wear and tear, not safety.

 

[LJGonz]

The weight limit change seems temporary and due to wear and tear, not safety.

Great because I'm 5'10 and 197. A day at IOA before going to VB will be enough to not let me on lol.

 

[Alicia]

Either there's still a chance Express is coming back, or they're not ready to announce its untimely demise just yet.