Our one day VB review

[jhoannam]

Background: we booked a last minute military rate Disney cruise, we wanted to stay at Disney but the only availability were Deluxe resorts, which wasn't in the budget. I booked 2 nights at Cabana Bay with military discount for $280, which meant we needed something to do for one day, and that is how we ended going to VB opening weekend.

We arrived on Saturday before the official check-in time, they didn't have any Pool View rooms ready but they had a first floor close to VB entrance so we took it. We played in the pools and had dinner at the resort. Not a bad day.

The next day we woke up early, had a small breakfast in our room and were out the door by 7:35. We walked over the the resort entrance and were through bag check by 7:40. We picked one of the middle lines that only had one family ahead, even though the lines at the edge had several parties. Tip, use the middle lines.

It wasn't until almost 8:05 before they started letting us in, they scan your ticket, assign your Tapu Tapu (I think that's what they are called). Then you go through another line where they check everyone's hotel card, for Early entry.

Since I read reviews that the cabana/towel lines took forever I quickly made my way to the hut. I was the 3rd person in line. The reviews were correct, it was slow and frustrating, the team members weren't well trained they had ask for help every step, including the payment. I had reserved a set of Premium loungers for our family of 4. I also forgot to grab the resort towels so we had to rent 4 towel, total $18.xx. It was 8:25 before we were on our way to our seats. We were assigned #6 by the wave pool but it was too far from the pool so we asked if we could get closer and they let us choose, we picked #1.

And one of the locker
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23960292@N04/34825342011/in/photostream

As soon as we locked our belongings we took off to ride as much as we could before the crowds. We had no idea what to do or where to go, no maps. Somehow we ended up at the water coaster (name?). As soon as we walked up to the end of the line it broke down, we waited 5 minutes and decided we should move on. Again, because there weren't any maps and we didn't have our phones we had no idea what to do. We walked over to Oh Yeah and Oh No, the little one and I rode Oh yeah and the DH and our oldest rode Oh No. It was 9am by then and we knew we had to ride something else, but didn't know what so we tapped the body plunge slides (sorry, I'm bad with names) which had a 115 minute wait. We walked over to the Fearless River but it wasn't running, we continued to wander and walked up to the round raft slides (seats 6), it said ride now so we hopped in line (we rode the green one). That took about an hour, by then it was 10am and we were hungry, we had a super light breakfast. We went back to our lounger and our server came by and took our order. It was 11am and our time had opened up for the next slides, but we had no idea all 3 slides were extreme and that our little one wasn't tall enough to ride, one inch short. DH and DD got in line and we didn't see them again for an hour. Our 9 year old concurred the big one, she said she wouldn't do it again but she was glad she did it once and didn't cry. By now it was noon and we had only done 3 rides. We were wandering fools again, we walked by the water coaster which had a 345 minute wait, we walked up to the TM and asked what we needed to do since we hopped out of line earlier when it broke down at 8:30am, and they let us right in. The line was moving pretty fast until we got to the top of the stairs, it broke down again. We waited about 30 minutes for it to come back (ride #4) by 1:30pm. We knew we wanted to ride the blue family ride (name?), we tapped the 290 minute wait. As we wandered trying to decide what to do, we walked by the body slide racers. The wait for those was only 190 minutes, we tapped and switched our ride. Now, what do we do with a 3 hour wait? Not wait in line, we spent an hour on the Fearless River, this sold DH and the Tapu system. He called it the best line ever. After our hour in the river, about 3pm (after the lunch rush, the lines between 12-2 were nuts) we went and grabbed a light lunch (sushi and turkey wraps). As we finished our lunch, our time for the body slides opened. We dropped off our credit card at our lounger since we didn't connect our credit card to our Tapu.

We tapped and walked up, the line looked short and promising, the line moved but after 5 minutes the slides went down. Once again, we waited 30 minutes to ride. At this point it was 5pm and we were tired, sunburned and dehydrated. While we waited for the slides we decided we were done, our original plan was to ride one more ride but after waiting in the hot Florida sun we just couldn't do it. We walked back to our lounger ready to call it a day, but our girls really wanted to go back to the Fearless River, the walk was just too much for the adults so they settled for the wave pool, as our luck turned the waves started. We had a good time, waves lasted about 15 minutes, but that was enough for our girls. We packed out stuff and were back in our room by 5:30pm.

Time: 7:35AM-5:30PM
Slides: 5
Meals: 2
Fearless River: 1 hour

Money spent (2A2C):
1 day tickets: $260ish
Premium Lounger: $69
4 towels: $19
2 meals: $80ish
Snacks: $18

Worth it? Yes!
Good luck to everyone! Show up early. The crowds were light until 11am.

Sorry for the typos, this was done on my phone.

 

[macraven]

Thanks for sharing!

I'm hoping the system improves as the time waits for breakdowns can be frustrating for all

 

[schumigirl]

So nice to hear more positive reviews of VB......and so glad you had a good time and thought it was worth it......nice to hear so many good comments about the food too!

Shame it was a frustrating and slow start, but glad they came good and changed your seats to better ones for you........always good to hear.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[RalphinSC]

I really hope they get the downtime and reliability of the slides up as they go along. Thanks for the review!

 

[macraven]

I'm trying to figure out if I should do a temporary sticky for Vbay and include all recent posts of those that have been there


I like reading the first hand experiences and advice of the best way to do the water park while all bugs are being worked out

 

[pcstang]

I think you should and merge like threads.

 

[macraven]

Sounds reasonable and major info in one place

 

[macraven]

Have not forgotten
Still considering creating a temporary sticky

 

[Annchristine65]

Have not forgotten
Still considering creating a temporary sticky

I would love a sticky. We will be there mid Sept and really want to try Volcano Bay. Any tips and pointers would be so helpful.

 

[soniam]

I was wondering how your day went. We were there on Friday and Sunday. Sunday was the worst crowd wise. I ended up mostly ordering food and water at our lounger, because I didn't want to wait in such a long line for waters. It was really hot on Sunday too. We ended up leaving about 5pm and had gotten to the park before 8am. Glad to hear that you still had fun, despite the opening hiccups. We will be back in late July. I do think the towel prices were a bit ridiculous. I didn't think about it the first day and forgot to snag some the second day. Next trip we will pay a visit to the pool at Portofino the day before DS loved the fearless river, and even though we had express pass, we spent a lot of time in it. It did get a little old and stressful though. It was so crowded and chaotic. That was the only time the crowds really got to me.

 

[macraven]

Sticky is up


Will try to duplicate and have soniam's
Experience posts and a few others posters, to the sticky

 

[isabelleB]

here is the review of my day at volcano bay yesterday

1. 
   we visited Volcano Bay yesterday. We stayed at the Cabana Bay which has a special access to the volcano bay park, well worth it .
   They told us to go as close as 8.00 AM as possible. We were not thrilled, my teenagers like to stay up very late and start their day at noon, but we made an effort and were in the park at 8.20 AM
   It was not really crowded at that time , the hotels guests could go left while entering the park, non hotel guests were heading right where they could wait on the beach from what we saw.
   
   We had unlimited express passes that we purchased online 1 month ago, there was a lot of people at the concierge booth at the entrance of the park, so we went to the one at the back. The employees are not well trained we were told there were no such thing as express passes, finally we found someone that uploaded them in our tapu tapu.
   
   We were really not happy with our day!
   First we came for the thrill attractions, everything was closed : the three launch rides at the top of the volcano closed
   later like at 10.00 am they closed another 2 slides, krakatau broke down and the wave pool closed
   by that time we decided to leave the park at soon as possible.......after doing a few other rides
   
   The wait times were decent from 9.00 to 9.30, as from 9.30 there was a line of 30 - 45 minutes in most of the slides we entered , the tapu tapu prevent a part of the queue but not all
   we were told at each ride that our express passes were not loaded correctly so we had to go back to the concierge several times, and it was never fixed .
   our express passes were great to enter any queue at any time once the employees finally realise we were entitld to use them
   We paid $60/ person for this express pass
   we never got to do rides more than once because too many people
   when we exited the park at 11.00 the wait times were at 2 hours for most rides and long lines in each of the staircase to the top of the slides , the best rides still closed ( they opened that day really late like 4.00 from what we heard later)
   mot of the beach chairs, cabanas were empty and the park was far from being at capacity, we never want to see it when it is crazy busy!!!!!!!
   on our way out we stopped at guest servies : 2 employees to service 40 furious guests ..... I waited
   I heard many people complaining they were in the park for 4 hours and couldn't ride anything , the rides breaking down and extending their wait time on tapu tapu ......
   they were given out paper fastpasses to access rides
   some were there wanting to buy fastpasses but employees said they are not on sale anymore
   I asked to be refunded for my quick queues tickets , and they gave me instead 5 park ticket to come back anytime
   they were lovely and helpful
   My kids both said that they prefer aquatica : real express tickets with no queues , better rides ( at the exception of the volcano bay thrill rides that look insane, and we will be back to do just those)
   the kids didn't like that you mandatory have to stay in a tube on the fast river ( which is not so fast)
   also in most of the rides we were asked to leave our shoes at the entrance, well I do not like to walk without my water shoes ..... I want to use them in the queues and hold them in the slides
   they won't let you do that in Volcano Bay
   the park is lovely , they are already working on the extension , and yes there were some areas of volcano bay that were not finished, with tools, and unfinished constructions spots , but globally so all in one gorgeous but really not ready imo to welcome guests.
   
   the cabana bay is great for volcano bay , it was not our first time at this hotel but now that it is all finished it is one of the best hotel of universal

 

[Princess Jes]

I don't want to be "that guy" but the shoes thing is a safety procedure implemented by the slide manufacturers, just the same as height restrictions on regular park rides.
It's not there because Universal decided they didn't want you to have shoes, it's for safety.

 

[soniam]

I don't want to be "that guy" but the shoes thing is a safety procedure implemented by the slide manufacturers, just the same as height restrictions on regular park rides.
It's not there because Universal decided they didn't want you to have shoes, it's for safety.

Even those aqua shoes that are soft and rubbery, have elastic, and completely cover your foot I would think those wouldn't come off easily. I asked someone whoe was wearing them, and they said they had to remove them for almost all of the slides.

Burning your feet on hot pavement is also a safety issue. The pavement was so hot, and the pavement misters weren't working well, that I burned my foot and caused a chickpea size blister on the bottom. I never get blisters, and this was was very soft and watery, like from an actual burn, not shoes rubbing. Even if you wear shoes between all of the slides, many of the slide exits are far from the entrance. If you leave your shoes at the exit, you still have to walk to the entrance shoe-less. Basically, there is no way to ride most of the rides without going shoeless at some point. I would have paid someone to be my shoe valet I even suggested it to several employees. The price I would have paid for that would have been worth it to not burn my foot on the first day of our vacation.

 

[bchbetha]

Even those aqua shoes that are soft and rubbery, have elastic, and completely cover your foot I would think those wouldn't come off easily. I asked someone whoe was wearing them, and they said they had to remove them for almost all of the slides.

Burning your feet on hot pavement is also a safety issue. The pavement was so hot, and the pavement misters weren't working well, that I burned my foot and caused a chickpea size blister on the bottom. I never get blisters, and this was was very soft and watery, like from an actual burn, not shoes rubbing. Even if you wear shoes between all of the slides, many of the slide exits are far from the entrance. If you leave your shoes at the exit, you still have to walk to the entrance shoe-less. Basically, there is no way to ride most of the rides without going shoeless at some point. I would have paid someone to be my shoe valet I even suggested it to several employees. The price I would have paid for that would have been worth it to not burn my foot on the first day of our vacation.

No water parks I've been to allow those water shoes. Sucks but isn't atypical.

 

[soniam]

No water parks I've been to allow those water shoes. Sucks but isn't atypical.

I can't remember if Schlitterbahn here does or not, since I don't own any. However, a lot of their park is shady with old growth trees. So, there weren't too many places where the pavement is really hot. For some reason, the pavement at VB is the hottest I have ever experienced, and I live in Texas

 

[Princess Jes]

Even those aqua shoes that are soft and rubbery, have elastic, and completely cover your foot I would think those wouldn't come off easily. I asked someone whoe was wearing them, and they said they had to remove them for almost all of the slides.

Burning your feet on hot pavement is also a safety issue. The pavement was so hot, and the pavement misters weren't working well, that I burned my foot and caused a chickpea size blister on the bottom. I never get blisters, and this was was very soft and watery, like from an actual burn, not shoes rubbing. Even if you wear shoes between all of the slides, many of the slide exits are far from the entrance. If you leave your shoes at the exit, you still have to walk to the entrance shoe-less. Basically, there is no way to ride most of the rides without going shoeless at some point. I would have paid someone to be my shoe valet I even suggested it to several employees. The price I would have paid for that would have been worth it to not burn my foot on the first day of our vacation.

The rubbery ones create a lot of traction (which is why a lot of people wear them) which kind of goes against the concept of a slide? The idea is that you don't have traction.
Imagine if your foot caught a part of the slide and gripped and what repercussions that could have.
I understand the hot pavement thing, but the slide safety would be dictated by the manufacturer, like most theme park attractions.
I'd rather a chickpea blister over the potentially horrendous outcomes of my shoes gripping on a 125 foot drop slide and throwing me around in an enclosed tube

 

[Kivara]

The water shoes are made to be slip-resistant...on a body slide, if the shoe caught the slide, if could "grip" the slide...even for a split-second and that could be disastrous.

I know what you are saying about burns being a health issue...but if the shoe rule is implemented by the slide makers...they are NOT liable for you getting injured anywhere but on their slides....it stinks, but that's the way it works.

It's up to Universal to have guidelines/sprayers/whatever in place when you are off the slide. It sounds like they had a great idea, with sidewalk misters, but they aren't functioning quite well yet.

 

[Kivara]

The rubbery ones create a lot of traction (which is why a lot of people wear them) which kind of goes against the concept of a slide? The idea is that you don't have traction.
Imagine if your foot caught a part of the slide and gripped and what repercussions that could have.
I understand the hot pavement thing, but the slide safety would be dictated by the manufacturer, like most theme park attractions.
I'd rather a chickpea blister over the potentially horrendous outcomes of my shoes gripping on a 125 foot drop slide and throwing me around in an enclosed tube

Great minds think alike I must have been typing while you were posting.

 

[Princess Jes]

Great minds think alike I must have been typing while you were posting.

I was just thinking the same thing!!