Volcano Bay

[LORENZO PADRON]

We live in South Florida and I am taking the fam of 6 up and staying at Cabana Bay. It will be my wife, 20 y/o son and his gf and my 15 and 11 y/o daughters. We,are checking in Friday late and checking out . We are going to spend Saturday at resort and enjoy the pool area, lazy liver, slides etc with bowling and arcade along the,way. We will probably go to citiwalk in the evening for dinner and entertainment. The plan is to go to Volcano Bay on Sunday. I have been online and have read horrendous reviews about not getting on rides because queus are over 2 hrs even with the wristband reservation. This Will only allow for lazy river and wave pool which get overcrowded due to long wait times.I am even considering a cabana. Should we just spend another day at Cabana Bay pool or pool hope other resorts or take a chance. Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[puente0629]

I will be going next month and I've been doing my research as well. From what I've been reading the best plan is to take advantage of the Early Entry (arriving 30 mins prior to early entry), find your chairs and hit up the slides ASAP. Most people have said they were able to do almost all rides with no wait by 11pm (which is usually when the parks starts getting crowded). I think that's the best bet to make the most out of your day there.

 

[Cruise J.D.]

We just got back and we went to Volcano Bay two different times. I can confirm that the wait times get ridiculous. One time the extreme body plunge was at 285 minutes. However, if you get there at 8am for early entry, you should be able to ride most of the popular slides before it gets too bad. You can then maybe pick 1 slide to wait for while enjoying the lazy rivers or wave pool. I would have no interest in trying to ride the slides after 11. The place is simply too packed and the employees don't manage the lines properly. I even saw jostling and arguing over tubes for the lazy river.

 

[RalphinSC]

I have a good trip report in the Volcano Bay stickied thread at the top of this page. Cabana Bay is absolute3ly the best place to stay to take advantage of the park. I would suggest leaving your room at 7:05 or 7:10am for an 8am early entry. Get right to the front of the tap line, grab a shaded lounger, and start riding slides. I even put a little touring plan up in there for the order to ride the slides in to ensure minimal wait. We were getting in 8-10 rides in the first hour to two hours alone, all as "ride now". We usually spent the lunch/early afternoon time hitting the wave pool, lazty river, and action river while waiting for repeat ride return times on the aquacoaster. Always got in at least a dozen slides a day and rode Krakatau 15 times in four days. The key is to be there and be at the front of the line for early entry. Don't waste time with cabanas, premium seating, or even lockers. If riding as much as possible is key, you can have a wonderful time by just being there early.

 

[ExCMbeau]

We went on 6-23-2017. My suggestions is make sure you are there at the early admission for guest staying on property. We arrived at 10am and wait times for everything was 90 minutes plus. Some rides were TWO hours and the big slides in the Volcano were 250 minutes!! Also the lazy river was a cluster. The fast moving one was so packed that it was like bumper cars and dangerous. My kids got knocked off their tube and swept away from me in a blink of an eye. Someone down river held on to them until I got to them the whole time being yelled at by lifeguards to get back on my raft when they did nothing to help my kids. The slow moving one was so packed you couldn't enjoy it. Lunch was so packed and the lines so long that we found a pretzel stand with about 15 people in line and were thankful to find it. So that was our lunch. The lazy rivers are so crowded because the lines for the slides are sooooooo long.

Now with that being said every single ride we went on was AMAZING and the kids play areas and wave pool were awesome. We did have a good time and every complaint I have is about how crowded it was and not the park itself. We could only do about half the slides because the lazy river was a bust and the wavepool and kid areas can only be done for so long before you just wonder around waiting for your slide time to arrive which is over an hour. So we left shortly after lunch.

So my advice is get there when it opens. Hit all the major slides like the water coaster and slides in the volcano first. All slides should be no wait early in the morning. Then start using your Tapu Tapu until it gets crowded... then leave! When we went to leave their was a sign that said the park was at capacity and no re-entry.

I would head the advice of those posting above. If we do it again we will get there at 8am or we won't go at all.

 

[atricks]

During the busy summer, the rule of thumb is get there EARLY like an hour before opening. Or go after 4pm or a rainstorm (this is when crowds get pretty light)

 

[havoc315]

July 4th weekend, it was acceptable during early entry. Shouldn't be quite outside the holiday weekend.
So worst case scenario -- get there by 7:30. From 8-9, it's perfectly fine. From 9-10, it was still ok. By 10, it was getting bad, and by 11, just ridiculous.
It may also get better again late in the day, but we were too frustrated to find out.

 

[pigletto]

And this is why we will be skipping Volcano Bay this trip. I just can't justify the cost for five of us to fight crowds and lines like that. I'd rather do Aquatica again and hit Volcano Bay when some of the newness wears off. It's likely to be rammed at Volcano Bay on Labour Day weekend, and those are the only Universal days we have on this trip.

 

[RalphinSC]

And this is why we will be skipping Volcano Bay this trip. I just can't justify the cost for five of us to fight crowds and lines like that. I'd rather do Aquatica again and hit Volcano Bay when some of the newness wears off. It's likely to be rammed at Volcano Bay on Labour Day weekend, and those are the only Universal days we have on this trip.

I remember the reports several years ago when Aquatica itself opened up. It was a madhouse that whole first Summer too. Things will eventually calm down. I hope the park is awesome for you when you eventually get the chance to go.