VOLCANO BAY.....INFO AND QUESTION THREAD........

I wouldn't skip it. I would just get there at opening and leave at noon, go have lunch in city walk and close out the nonwater parks. Having done it a few times, I haven't encountered any real issue touring that way. You could finish all the slides in 2-3 days if you did this.
Thanks for posting the link/blog.

Wow - all I'm hearing is, beautiful park, decent food, non user friendly technology, disorganization, ride break downs, and long long lines.

We've rented premium seating in August - I guess I'll wait, keep reading reviews, and hope things get better .... but I'm really thinking to maybe save a few bucks (and I'm not one to worry about such matters on vacation), save myself the disappointment/grief, and spend an extra day at the parks.

Real sad part is that it will likely be years before we get a chance to come back.

I know it's new, and kinks need to be worked out - but everything I'm reading tells me, these are not kinks.

Is anyone else thinking the same thing? Thoughts?
 
Thanks for posting the link/blog.

Wow - all I'm hearing is, beautiful park, decent food, non user friendly technology, disorganization, ride break downs, and long long lines.

We've rented premium seating in August - I guess I'll wait, keep reading reviews, and hope things get better .... but I'm really thinking to maybe save a few bucks (and I'm not one to worry about such matters on vacation), save myself the disappointment/grief, and spend an extra day at the parks.

Real sad part is that it will likely be years before we get a chance to come back.

I know it's new, and kinks need to be worked out - but everything I'm reading tells me, these are not kinks.

Is anyone else thinking the same thing? Thoughts?

I think there are kinks. I don't know if the kinks will be worked out by your trip in August. I think by next summer at the latest, most of the issues will be resolved. They may still have lingering reliability issues, but Forbidden Journey and Dragon Challenge still have those issues too after all these years. I like @eyehartdisney suggestion. Get there before early entry starts, do as much as possible, and then head out around mid-day when things get really crowded. If you do that, you may not really need your premium seating. Plus, trying to get the premium seating can take a significant amount of time. On opening weekend, it took 30-45 minutes to get ours:( That really cuts into attraction time, unless you can send the rest of the family off to do stuff while one of you waits for the seats. The premium seats do let you bypass food lines and order from the seats; however, the food lines didn't look long until late lunch and afterward. When are you going in August? If school has started back, then crowds will be lower and things will work better with lower crowds. We are going again in late July. We have premium seating for that trip too. I think we will stay most of the day though, because we don't mind chilling in the rivers or even in our loungers for a while. DS11 was pretty content to read on our second VB day in the afternoon when the crowds were the craziest. Hope your trip goes well.
 
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I wouldn't skip it. I would just get there at opening and leave at noon, go have lunch in city walk and close out the nonwater parks. Having done it a few times, I haven't encountered any real issue touring that way. You could finish all the slides in 2-3 days if you did this.

Thank you ... this is likely what we'll do; unfortunately we planned to do VB for a single/full day. We're at UNI for 4 nights ---- don't know if we're willing to compromise the other days for more of VB.
Can't get enough of HP stuff - it's stunning ... and the coasters.

Ahhhh first world problems! :-)
 
I think they are kinks. I don't know if the kinks will be worked out by your trip in August. I think by next summer at the latest, most of the issues will be resolved. They may still have lingering reliability issues, but Forbidden Journey and Dragon Challenge still have those issues too after all these years. I like @eyehartdisney suggestion. Get there before early entry starts, do as much as possible, and then head out around mid-day when things get really crowded. If you do that, you may not really need your premium seating. Plus, trying to get the premium seating can take a significant amount of time. On opening weekend, it took 30-45 minutes to get ours:( That really cuts into attraction time, unless you can send the rest of the family off to do stuff while one of you waits for the seats. The premium seats do let you bypass food lines and order from the seats; however, the food lines didn't look long until late lunch and afterward. When are you going in August? If school has started back, then crowds will be lower and things will work better with lower crowds. We are going again in late July. We have premium seating for that trip too. I think we will stay most of the day though, because we don't mind chilling in the rivers or even in our loungers for a while. DS11 was pretty content to read on our second VB day in the afternoon when the crowds were the craziest. Hope your trip goes well.

Thanks for your help! We're going to be at VB on August 11th .... I think that's the Friday before school starts in Florida???

Do you think anyone will be there for that???? :-) HAHAHAHAHA!

Maybe we will kill the premium seats ... stay until noon (or whenever I lose it :-))

Funny I sold the family on going to UNI to check out VB ... we we're there last summer and saw the construction.

On a side note: Looking forward to staying at RP .... we've previously stayed at the Hard Rock and PF. One thing that I hated end of August last year was how early the parks closed in the evenings. That's just brutal. Diagon Alley really comes to life at night.
 


Thanks for your help! We're going to be at VB on August 11th .... I think that's the Friday before school starts in Florida???

Do you think anyone will be there for that???? :-) HAHAHAHAHA!

Maybe we will kill the premium seats ... stay until noon (or whenever I lose it :-))

Funny I sold the family on going to UNI to check out VB ... we we're there last summer and saw the construction.

On a side note: Looking forward to staying at RP .... we've previously stayed at the Hard Rock and PF. One thing that I hated end of August last year was how early the parks closed in the evenings. That's just brutal. Diagon Alley really comes to life at night.

August 11 might still be busy. We won't have gone back to school yet here in Austin. I do dislike how stuff can close early. Luckily, we have always gone when they are open later. I love both Wizarding Worlds at night. RPR is nice. That's where we stayed over Memorial Day weekend. We had stayed there before and have also stayed at HRH. I am looking forward to PFB in late July; we haven't stayed there before. I think VB can still be enjoyable for certain people or for if you approach it with a lot of patience and low expectations. Not everyone can do that though, and I completely understand. I think that's when new parks or attractions should then be avoided for a while.
 
Does anyone know how construction is progressing at VB?

Do things slow down in the evenings at all?

Any good, reliable way to monitor ride/wait times remotely? An app?

I appreciate the advice from everyone here. We are staying on site for 3 days (leaving 2 weeks from tomorrow!!!) and plan to get an early start, head back to resort or other parks when it gets crazy, etc. keeping expectations in check:) I'll be happy to have a look around, hang in the lazy river and hopefully do the water coaster!

Hi Soniam, I'm a fellow Austinite!! Waving to you from South of the river aka Bubbaland!
 
Does anyone know how construction is progressing at VB?

Do things slow down in the evenings at all?

Any good, reliable way to monitor ride/wait times remotely? An app?

I appreciate the advice from everyone here. We are staying on site for 3 days (leaving 2 weeks from tomorrow!!!) and plan to get an early start, head back to resort or other parks when it gets crazy, etc. keeping expectations in check:) I'll be happy to have a look around, hang in the lazy river and hopefully do the water coaster!

Hi Soniam, I'm a fellow Austinite!! Waving to you from South of the river aka Bubbaland!

Not sure if they have remote monitoring, but there are boards at the front of the park that list wait times. A line you tapu tapu into shows you how much time is left before you ride, but honestly it isn't in real time as delays and people in front of you can change it. If you head to the water coaster first thing you should be able to get right on, little to no wait, especially if you have early entry. I would wager you could get most rides done in early entry if you qualify and there isn't technical difficulties. The lazy river is a blast, but the not-so-lazy river is a bit awkward. The tubes are so highly blown up that you can't really get on them, and you are required to have one to ride. And yes, things slow down after 5ish imo.
 


Does anyone know how construction is progressing at VB?

Do things slow down in the evenings at all?

Any good, reliable way to monitor ride/wait times remotely? An app?

I appreciate the advice from everyone here. We are staying on site for 3 days (leaving 2 weeks from tomorrow!!!) and plan to get an early start, head back to resort or other parks when it gets crazy, etc. keeping expectations in check:) I'll be happy to have a look around, hang in the lazy river and hopefully do the water coaster!

Hi Soniam, I'm a fellow Austinite!! Waving to you from South of the river aka Bubbaland!

On opening weekend, I noticed things slowed down about 5pm. Early start is the right tactic. The wait time thing is annoying. There are no apps and no boards anywhere. You have to physically walk up to the ride kiosk or not have anything reserved and use a cabana Tapu Tapu kiosk.

We are south of the river too, not far from Oak Hill:wave2:

Not sure if they have remote monitoring, but there are boards at the front of the park that list wait times. A line you tapu tapu into shows you how much time is left before you ride, but honestly it isn't in real time as delays and people in front of you can change it. If you head to the water coaster first thing you should be able to get right on, little to no wait, especially if you have early entry. I would wager you could get most rides done in early entry if you qualify and there isn't technical difficulties. The lazy river is a blast, but the not-so-lazy river is a bit awkward. The tubes are so highly blown up that you can't really get on them, and you are required to have one to ride. And yes, things slow down after 5ish imo.

I think they blew them up a bunch, because they were deflating a lot on Friday of opening weekend. It was so bad at one point that it looked like 75% of the tubes had deflated. I guess they didn't have enough people or time to inflate many, but I did see TMs walking backstage with a ton of deflated ones.
 
On opening weekend, I noticed things slowed down about 5pm. Early start is the right tactic. The wait time thing is annoying. There are no apps and no boards anywhere. You have to physically walk up to the ride kiosk or not have anything reserved and use a cabana Tapu Tapu kiosk.

We are south of the river too, not far from Oak Hill:wave2:



I think they blew them up a bunch, because they were deflating a lot on Friday of opening weekend. It was so bad at one point that it looked like 75% of the tubes had deflated. I guess they didn't have enough people or time to inflate many, but I did see TMs walking backstage with a ton of deflated ones.

We've been going a couple times each week. It's still pretty bad. They're probably deflated because they over filled them in the first place- and then they rub against the edge of the river.
 
Hmmm, you guys have me rethinking my premium seats for July 4th. We are not staying onsite at Uni, so no early entry for us. I'm thinking we might be better off getting there as early as we can and just hitting slides right away rather than spending time getting the premium seats. Unless they'll let non-resort-guests into the seat/cabana check-in area before the park officially opens to the public?
 
Hmmm, you guys have me rethinking my premium seats for July 4th. We are not staying onsite at Uni, so no early entry for us. I'm thinking we might be better off getting there as early as we can and just hitting slides right away rather than spending time getting the premium seats. Unless they'll let non-resort-guests into the seat/cabana check-in area before the park officially opens to the public?

It can take a lot of time. If you don't really need it, I wouldn't bother with the premium seating. I am planning on sending DH and DS to go do rides while I wait in line. That might work for you. You might be able to get just past the entrance kiosk if you aren't staying onsite. I think, but can't be sure, that the concierge hut is before the area where they check for hotel room keys. However, I think I read in the Touring Plans blog that I posted earlier, that they let one person from the woman's party go to the hut to get a cabana, since they weren't staying onsite. Maybe they would let you do that.
 
Things are getting better now at Volcano bay (I may go back tomorrow or next weekend to check it out more myself)


A good tactic is to wait through the afternoon storms, slides seem to be nearly walk on after them.
 
Things are getting better now at Volcano bay (I may go back tomorrow or next weekend to check it out more myself)


A good tactic is to wait through the afternoon storms, slides seem to be nearly walk on after them.

Man, the lights in the lazy river cave are working now and so were more of the interactive Tapu things. I don't remember the smoke or water shooting up at the exit of Teawa River either. I am getting more excited to go back in late July. I never got to ride Honu, so I guess I will have to brave it, and the Taniwa Tubes. I still won't do the body slides though. I am hoping to get premium seating at Hammerhead beach at the exit of the Teawa River. I kind of hope it rains when we go. However, we still have unlimited EP which will help some.
 
Hey guys!

Just back from an eight day trip in Orlando. Spent four of those days at least partly at Volcano Bay. So if you have a question, I can probably answer it!

A few observations:

1. We stayed at Cabana Bay. This hotel is an absolute STEAL if you want to go to Volcano Bay. I cannot recommend early entry enough. With the exception of our first day when we arrived after lunch due to check in, we were at the tapstiles for early entry between 7:00 and 7:30 and were among the first guest in the park. We got to pick out a great shaded lounger and even had our "favorite" spot by the end of the week so we could just go right there. From there, the first two hours is "ride now" heaven. Pretty much any slide you want. We rode Krakatoa 15 times during the week, including not even having to get off the tube one morning for a re-ride. On another morning, we were the first people to ride Krakatoa, Honu, Ike Moana, and Maku. Never had a tapu wait time for a ride before 10am by touring the rides in good order. We basically got to ride whatever we wanted until we tired out enough to tap a ride with a wait so we could enjoy the lazy river. If you are staying onsite and are not up and going into this park as soon as it opens, you only have yourself to blame for waiting in long lines.

2. The aquacoaster is incredible! It's the best water ride in Orlando.

3. My second favorite slide was Honu. It's a very short ride though. Two high thrill moments and then a splashdown.

4. Premium seating and cabana rentals are not worth it IMO. Our loungers we picked out at rope drop had much better shade than the premium seating and we didn't have to bother with going to the concierge hut to rent them (also known as wasting time that you could actually be riding something with no wait early in the morning). I bought an aquabox to lock onto my lounger to store my valuables. Never had a problem bringing it in the park and it worked like a charm. We found our favorite group of shaded loungers right by the dancing dragons bar and they served us well. We never had a long wait for either food of drink during the week. I certainly was able to get what I wanted by myself a lot quicker than the premium loungers located behind us. I just cannot justify paying for something that I'm hardly going to use and that will cost me time on both actually renting it and on getting what I want when I want it. But, to each their own.

5. There is still a lot of construction ongoing and the park will continue to improve. There is a lot left to do near the volcano around Punga Racers and the action river. But they are working on it every night. They are also building cabanas all over the park and have even started on the expansion and extension of the park access road behind Maku/Puihi. The Vol experience inside of the volcano is not finished yet and a lot more Tapu points are being put in all over the park. Every day, it gets more and more complete. And it's a great park already.

6. Quit reading the horror stories. Honestly, brass tacks, I'm an AP holder and was able to go four days within a week. Aside from the first "check it out" day, I got every single thing I absolutely wanted done on each day and left feeling like a got a "complete" park experience. If you come at opening (early entry) and prioritize riding the longest wait things first, you will have an incredibly fun day. If you want to sleep in, come at lunch, stay offsite, etc; you must understand that each of those things are things that will make your wait times longer, and your experience different than what I had. I'm telling you how easy it is to have a wonderful day at this park and ride all you want. It's up to you how you want to apply that info.

7. Tapu tapu worked great for me. We used it for the Taptu pay as well and never had a problem. On our last morning, my son had a stubborn band that sometimes took a few taps to access slides, but aside from that every thing worked great. As a side note to that, make sure you keep checking your bands and get the extra rubber band on them if you can. I had my band fall off in the action river once and then lost my prescription glasses while diving after my band (that was incredibly dumb on my part. I never found the glasses again, the volcano gods ate them. Do not bring ANYTHING into the action river you cannot afford parting with). I also found a good half dozen bands throughout the week in the rivers and at the end of slides. Always check for your band after a slide.

I'm sure I will have a lot more to add as it comes to mine. Open for any questions! :dogdance:
 
What a great success report from a regular homie for Vbay !!

Thanks for passing on the tips to help guide all

I am guessing if you go in with a plan and arrive there early, the day goes smoother
 
What a great success report from a regular homie for Vbay !!

Thanks for passing on the tips to help guide all

I am guessing if you go in with a plan and arrive there early, the day goes smoother

LOL! Yeah, put a Facebook post in one of my AP groups at about 7:30 one morning. It said simply: "Hardest part of the day is over. We are here for early entry, it's all gravy from here." Or something like that....lol!

And riding Krakatoa at 8:00am is better than covfefe! :hippie:
 
I really am delighted you posted about your time at Vbay


Readers now have another report that this park can effectively be done without hang ups

It is encouraging for others to know if they follow your style of doing the water park, less bumps in the road down them
 
Hey guys!

Just back from an eight day trip in Orlando. Spent four of those days at least partly at Volcano Bay. So if you have a question, I can probably answer it!

Thanks very much for all of the positive feedback and useful information.

We are spending one day at VB in August and will definitely take advantage of the morning hours: we're staying at RPR.

Question for you please.

If you had to pick "must rides" before that masses move in - what would that ride list look like? Top 5? or whatever you think is appropriate would be appreciated.

Thank you.
 

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