Volcano Bay vs Disney Water Parks

[HappyGrape]

we are staying onsite and Disney and will have tickets to cover BB and TL for 2 weeks. Trying to decide do we need to see Volcano Bay? It increases the cost of tickets substantially and additional expenses as parking & food. We have dinning plan at disney

Few questions I have
Is it significantly better water park than both BB and TL?
What's so special about it?
How are the waiting during busy times as June?
Would you buy ticket to include it if you already have tickets to 2 water parks?
What type of rides are in it that do not have similar at BB or TL
I dont know much about Volcano Bay - would you recommend any dis unplugged or other sources of information to cover it?

 

[lborne]

As adults, we much prefer BB and TL. The parks are more mature which means more large palms and other trees to sit under for shade. I'm not sure, but they seem to be larger in size. There are more places to "hide away" and find spots where there is not a lot of traffic and it is generally quieter. My kids like all the rides everywhere, but prefer the wave pool at TL (but it might be a bit rough for younger kids). The lines seemed longer at VB and the virtual line thing was not as good as expected. Hard for me to remember, but the food at VB I think was a bit better.

 

[escapeartist]

Similiar situation here, and these are my thoughts. We have done both Dis Wp and VB. VB has some awesome elements. Fearless river and the kid area are really great. My dgd was too tall (over 48") for kid area and was disapointed. We would all go again to VB.
However, this year we have tickets for Universal without VB and tickets for 2 park days at Disney with TL or BB day. We also have a beach day planned. I will not be paying extra for VB for 5 people even though I would love to go back during this trip. The extra money isnt worth it to me because we have an AWESOME week planned already. I am a frugal person and believe in using the tickets you already own fully before adding extra $ for other tickets, and then underusing the tickets you already have. We only have an 8 night trip tho, or 7 full days, so that gives us 2 disney park days, 1 waterpark day , 3 Uni days, and one beach day. We can also bop into Uni 2 extra evenings on our waterpark/beach days if we want because we have the 5 dsy uni ptop tix. So in our case it makes no sense to pay all that money to cram something more into an exciting (exhausting) week! But we go every year, so there's always "next year", when I will configure the trip differently.
If you are not coming back and you have the disposible income, go to VB. If you are coming back in a year or 2 and have already stretched your budget for this trip, just enjoy the Disney waterparks and dont give VB a second thought as you will have a great time no matter what.
I guess it mostly boils down to how much money you want to spend and wether you can control your 'fear of missing out' or "FOMO". Dont let fomo eat at you! Plus you have the dining plan making the disney waterparks tip the scales for the win, imo. I recommend youtube videos of VB. Good luck deciding!

 

[Disxuni]

While I never been to VB, I can say BB/TL might be a better deal as a ticket gets you access to both parks for the day. Also, free parking at BB/TL.

One thing I know from reading is the lines do seem out there for VB and the virtual thing doesn't seem to work as they're advertising. Also, there's a lot more rules with VB in terms of weight restrictions (which isn't an issue at BB/TL). These are the main reasons why I still haven't gotten around to doing VB yet. If I have time, sometime I might try to go during off-season to say I gave it a go some year, but if they didn't have these particular issues, I definitely would have been more motivated and already gone to VB by now.

Food, I would imagine would be better, more mature, from the selection of items they have in terms of their menu compared to BB/TL from what I seen.

I'd recommend watching vlogs about the parks and see what intrigues you.

 

[atricks]

Volcano bay has improved since opening and I still think it's the best water park in Orlando. The place is beautiful. There are several quiet areas (look behind the lazy river or fast river for two, or by the leisure pool)

 

[Sue M]

We just returned from Universal and loved VB. The water coaster was way better than TL Crush & Gusher.
Wave pool was similar to BB. We had seating both days by wave pool and there are way more umbrellas and shade than the WDW water parks.
I thought the tapu (virtual wait) worked well. Although we went our second time for early entry and knocked off all the high wait rides before it got busy.
Loved the fast river. So much fun. The slow lazy river I preferred Disney.
VB food was very good. And the landscaping was beautiful.
I’d wait for VB another trip since you already have BB & TL tickets. It’s definitely worth going but when you don’t have WDW WP tix and DDP.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I agree completely with SueM.

We enjoy TL and BB but think VB knocked their socks off. We also did EE and got the most popular rides done at least once and then made good use of the virtual lines

 

[xultimatefanx]

Volcano Bay is definitely the best water park in Orlando that I've been to but I did like the awesome waves in TL. BB is a bit meh apart from the theming.

 

[jlwhitney]

Similiar situation here, and these are my thoughts. We have done both Dis Wp and VB. VB has some awesome elements. Fearless river and the kid area are really great. My dgd was too tall (over 48") for kid area and was disapointed. We would all go again to VB.
However, this year we have tickets for Universal without VB and tickets for 2 park days at Disney with TL or BB day. We also have a beach day planned. I will not be paying extra for VB for 5 people even though I would love to go back during this trip. The extra money isnt worth it to me because we have an AWESOME week planned already. I am a frugal person and believe in using the tickets you already own fully before adding extra $ for other tickets, and then underusing the tickets you already have. We only have an 8 night trip tho, or 7 full days, so that gives us 2 disney park days, 1 waterpark day , 3 Uni days, and one beach day. We can also bop into Uni 2 extra evenings on our waterpark/beach days if we want because we have the 5 dsy uni ptop tix. So in our case it makes no sense to pay all that money to cram something more into an exciting (exhausting) week! But we go every year, so there's always "next year", when I will configure the trip differently.
If you are not coming back and you have the disposible income, go to VB. If you are coming back in a year or 2 and have already stretched your budget for this trip, just enjoy the Disney waterparks and dont give VB a second thought as you will have a great time no matter what.
I guess it mostly boils down to how much money you want to spend and wether you can control your 'fear of missing out' or "FOMO". Dont let fomo eat at you! Plus you have the dining plan making the disney waterparks tip the scales for the win, imo. I recommend youtube videos of VB. Good luck deciding!

There are two sections for the kids area, the one section is for under 54 inch and the other under 48, however the restriction is only on the slides. So your DGD should have been able to play in the bigger section with no problem.

 

[bobbie68]

Hi I agree with Sue M also. I have been to all 3 and prefer BB over TL. However, I prefer VB over all of them. With that I probably wouldn't spend the money either to go to VB with the other water parks.
I went in June last year and it was busy. We had early entry and I was very appreciative for that.
The whole atmosphere is different at VB. It is more tropical and laid back. The main rides (family raft and water coaster) are amazing. TL and BB can't come close to these rides. These rides are newer so they have more thrill aspect. There are more family style tube rides then the others. The one thing I will agree on is the weighing issue. They are very strict on the weight capacity so there is a chance you could be split up from your party.
I love the fearless river (best I have been on) The wave pool is cold no matter when you go.
The food is really good there. There is some typical park food but there are other different choices you don't see at parks.
I would check out "you tube" there are some good vloggers on there. Also Orlando Insider has some good articles.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

If you are really unsure watch Tim Tracker on youtube, he goes to them all so you can see what is best for you. plus he gives good tips on where to sit what to buy. We have been to them all... My kids will both say something different , My ds8 loves typhoon lagoon He is not a thrill seeker, my ds12 will say Volcano bay, and my DH says he likes Aquatica. As you can see its a personal thing.

 

[Cuchman]

I definitely prefer VB over the Disney parks. I find the theme more inviting and cohesive (I am sucker for pseudo-Polynesian stuff) and I love the layout of the park. Also, the tapu-tapu line system works very well in my opinion. On my next UO trip (in a couple months) I plan to spend most mornings starting the day at VB - even if I ditch the rest of my family to do it!
Now, all that being said, agreeing with some ideas above, I DON'T think it makes sense for you to go the additional cost and inconvenience if you already have ticket access to the Disney parks. I think it would be a pain to get there and definitely costly. My VB experiences are from staying at Cabana Bay - it is basically like a walk to the pool.
Maybe you could roll VB into a future UO focused trip where the cost and ease would be better.

 

[Lynne G]

Yeah, I agree, if you'd like to spend that much money for another water park, okay. But since you are staying at Disney, I'd do only Disney. If we go to any Universal Park, we move from Disney, and stay at Universal. That early entry hour is great, particularly in the busy summer. I enjoy all the water parks, though TL is more my favorite than BB, but I also enjoy Aquadica, and it's Roa Rapids. Has to be one of my favorite, as does the coaster in VB. Make expanding out of Disney another trip. Or less Disney and more not Disney, next time. As Disney does, Universal does bundle a 3 park ticket, and a 3 park AP at all AP levels, to go to VB, and the other 2 parks. We also stay at Universal Loews' hotels, as the pools there are nice, and you can pool hop between them. Plus, waking paths to VB from Cabana Bay and Adventura hotels. Quick bus rides from the other resorts. There is a parking garage near VB, but Universal wants you to park at City Walk and take the bus to VB.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your wonderful 2 weeks in the Disney parks. And too, we find the Disney meal plan so much food, that missing one day of it, would cause us to not use up the meals and snacks, though YMMV.

 

[keishashadow]

I DON'T think it makes sense for you to go the additional cost and inconvenience if you already have ticket access to the Disney parks. I think it would be a pain to get their and definitely costly. My VB experiences are from staying at Cabana Bay - it is basically like a walk to the pool.
Maybe you could roll VB into a future UO focused trip where the cost and ease would be better.

Aside from the additional cost issues (see above) plans to do three WP even over the span of two weeks seems to be a lot. I don’t find them particularly relaxing unless not planning on doing many of the slides (lots of steps to climb in hot, humid weather is tiring after a few hours). if you have already selected resorts with lovely pool areas, take time to enjoy them.