Going to Volcano Bay for the last couple of hours

[Portugal1000]

We are big Orlando water park fans but very rarely go in the mornings and tend to go for the last 2 or 3 hours of opening. Works well at AQ, BB and TL and wondered if anyone experienced this at VB. We arrive on 20th August so our plan is to go for opening on 21st, mainly just to have a look around, get our bearings. Had originally planned to buy fast passes for this day but seems you can't buy them anymore. To be honest my husband and I would only do the less scary rides whilst our soon to be 17 year old will ride anything. We are happy on the beach or in the lazy river.
The first week we are there the park is open till 8 so hoping we could arrive at 5 atleast a couple of days.
What do you think? Was worried that it might just get closed for capacity and not re-open. No idea what to expect.
Thanks

 

[mjhtvchick]

From what I have heard the park starts to clear out late afternoon - around 4-ish - and is actually quite nice during the last few hours. The only negative thing I have read about going at this time is that quite a few of the food/drink spots seem to close earlier than park close - so if you go looking for a drink or bite to eat during that time, you might be out of luck.

We are also not "rope-drop" people and are struggling with how to approach Volcano Bay. We are not going until May 2018 so we are hoping things settle down by then but if not, we will probably also plan for a later in the day visit.

 

[yaya74]

We went to VB last Thursday from 6pm till 9pm as well as yesterday (Sunday) from 6pm till 8pm-ish. On Thursday there was a thunderstorm from 4:30-530pm. So when we got to VB, most ppl were leaving and the park was quite empty. But the wave pool was closed due to mechanical problem.

When we went back yesterday Sunday, which was a full day of sun without a drop of rain, VB was still busy at 6pm though not reaching capacity. A few slides were closed. Longest
Wait time was 120 minutes for the coaster at 7pm...

 

[bchbetha]

I'd be worried about going late and the virtual queues being full. No idea if that'd happen but it would worry me.

 

[bobbie68]

Hi I just got back last week from VB. We went two full days from opening to close. We had a park close time of 9:00pm. I think going around 5:00 is good and probably between 5:00 and 6:00 will lighten up. The last couple of hours we were there at night the wait times were between 30 and 60 minutes for some and less or ride now for others. If you have a park to park pass it won't hurt to try it. I enjoyed the evenings there. The two rivers were nice not crowded at all.