a radically innovative water park set in a beautifully landscaped tropical
environment volcano Bay ambitiously aims to transcend your typical
water park experience but according to Trip Advisor volcano Bay happens to be the worst
reviewed water park in Orlando by a fairly significant margin so is it worth a trip
hi I'm the frugal Brit and for this video I'm gonna provide a breakdown of the good they're
not so good things about universals volcano Bay to help you decide whether this waterpark
is worth a visit on your vacation in addition to that I will be providing a full tour of all the
slides and attractions as well as providing my top tips to help you get the best out of
any visit here don't forget to subscribe if you're interested in future Orlando vacation
content so volcano Bay is located very close to International Drive but it is separated by
the interstate 4 highway on the other side of this it's right next to the giant cabana Bay
Beach Resort complex unless you are staying at an on-site Universal Orlando Resort you can only
access volcano Bay or via the main transportation hub over at Universal CityWalk where you'll find
regular shuttle buses taking you to its entrance if you're staying on-site you will benefit from
the free bus transportation those thing a peg cabana Bay resort will have special access to
its and dedicated entrance so the theme of this park is around the culture of the what
Tory Islanders who happen to stumble across this tropical paradise and decided to make
it their home before adding all the slides and water experiences that make up the park today
one of the most unique things about this park is its tapping it's a pool system which is an
interactive bracelet that kind of looks like sort of a 1990 SmartWatch what this does is it allows
you to tap into a virtual ride hue meaning that instead of queueing on a flight of stairs in the
blazing storm you can actually do other things whilst you're waiting in a virtual queue I'll
throw a link in the description explaining taboo taboo in more detail and how to get it set up
all right so now I'll give you a full tour of the four separate villages at volcano Bay
including the 14 separate attractions in order of popularity so ending with the thrill rides in and
around the volcano so with that said let's head over to wave village located between the park
entrance and the base of the Krakatoa volcano designed for sunbathing and relaxation in my
opinion the most picturesque section of the park with the lush tropical landscaping and
stunning views of the volcano the centerpiece of this village is the rotary beach wave pool with
a stunning series of waterfalls that pour into the sparkling lagoon adjacent to the
rotary beach is the reef which provides guests with a more relaxing pool area featuring its
own private waterfall and an impressive view of the Kokiri body plunge drop slide moving
over to the northeast section you'll arrive at River Village most suitable for families and
young visitors first stop is copy Kauai winding River which is the centerpiece of this village
and passes through the tropical landscape of volcano Bay including the crocodile volcano
for those of you with any young children in your group you'll want to check out a run amok
Arif this super playful area which features overflowing twisting slides bubbling geysers
water slides and more if you have any toddlers too small for all the chaos of run amok a reef
then you have a top Tiki reef right next door with a top sized water volcano splash slides
and a family of friendly tikis with spraying fountains lastly at river village you have aa new
acre muara which features two twisting and turning multi-person raft slides despite being located in
the child-friendly village these stomach dropping slides are certainly not short on thrills nestled
along the shores of a river rainforest village contains an impressive assortment of attractions
for a thrill seekers starting this area you have maku and poo ehi which are two multi-person
wrath slides machan features three high banked saucer elements and then over on buoy you'll
cream through a dark winding cavern before exploding out into the far side of its funnel
on the southern end of rainforest village you have the ono and a yard drop slides where you'll
plummet down through twists and turns and sawed out into the waters at the base of the Krakatoa
volcano definitely not for the faint-hearted these are known to take people by surprise as
you're thrown out 6 feet above the water into a 10-foot deep pool at the heart of the rainforest
village is the tea hour The Fearless river which you'll need a life festival you will
soon understand why as this is one of those lazy rivers but without the lazy with its
churning Rapids and chopping waves next up we have tani white shoobs which consists of four
separate Easter Island inspired slides with rafts for single or double riders
the last section of my pocket or easily crack at our volcano which is opposed the centerpiece
of this entire theme park standing 200 feet high not everyone is aware that you can actually walk
inside the volcano and even interact with the island spirit named volume you'd be known to
crack a joke or two the first ride of a volcano is hunger races where single rider guests are sent on
their manta ray mats sliding down four lanes through underwater sea caves the first races
across the finish line receives a watery salute from punga himself next we have color and Thai
Nui which are two high speed twisting body slides with the trapdoor stars these two slides happen
to be the joint tallest drop capsule slides in the world at 125 feet next up is cook hairy body
plunge which just like the previous two slides on this tour can also claim to be the joint tallest
drop slide in the world for those of you brave enough to take the plunge we'll take a 70 degree
fall through a drop door and down hundred and twenty-five feet of slide and ending in a pool
filled of gases at wave village the final ride on my park tour which is the signature attraction
at volcano Bay is cracker tau aqua coaster this is a very unique attraction in that it combines
both rollercoaster and waterslide elements this ride will propel your foreperson canoe uphill
using induction motors and through dark twists and turns inside the volcano before emerging
with the plunge to a shimmering waterfall I'll begin the positives by saying that this park
is absolutely stunning especially with the views of the volcano as you enter the park through the
wave village very picturesque you've got to give universal credit and having produced something
truly iconic here it certainly helps that this park has a reputation for being very clean and
well-maintained which includes the restrooms lockers and changing rooms one thing that gets
a lot of praise from guests visiting volcano Bay is how modern it feels when compared to
some of its competitors obviously the taboo taboo system is the main source of this admiration this
system isn't universally loved for reasons we'll get into in the next section but I will stick my
neck out here in saying that I think it's a fantastic conclusion you can use it to charge
your purchases such as food souvenirs and drinks etc but the main purpose of tapo tapo though is to
make the best use of your time whilst waiting in a queue so instead of wasting your time climbing
up staircases in the Blazing Sun you can of course use this time in the lazy river The Fearless River
or getting a bite to eat also the inclusion of the many interactive tappy tappy points
throughout the park that squirt water blow bubbles on the water or even play music on the water is a
really nice touch and you find it really hard to imagine this park without this system one thing
I believe deserves particular praise at this water park is the number of lifeguards which
you'll find in all the right places and are known for being highly attentive at this park
I've read many reviews of my TripAdvisor research where guests have noted how lifeguards had dealt
with some precarious situations impressively in terms of the attractions on offer there obviously
fantastic as you would have seen from the previous section so I won't dwell on this compared to
Aquatica and the Disney water parks it's probably fair to say that there's a slightly better focus
on thrill rides I was also impressed with the wave pool and the well choreographed rhythmic clapping
to welcome the waves so food my expectations were pretty low going in but I was pleasantly
surprised by the quality of food at volcano Bay I think this is an area where volcano Bay fairly
comfortably beats Aquatica in my opinion and it does seem that many other guests on TripAdvisor
felt the same and unlike a quat occur you are allowed to bring your own food which gets a big
thumbs up from me given the name of merchants as outlined in my aquatic a review you are limited to
bringing in very small snacks over there so as I pointed out in the introduction volcano Bay is the
worst reviewed Orlando water park on TripAdvisor and I'll be honest I'm not aware of any other
theme parks in in Florida that actually get worse reviews though I'm sure they exist so why exactly
is that well the first reason is because volcano Bay had some very serious problems when it first
opened in 2017 the most series of which were issues with its taboo taboo system and overall
just struggling to deal with the high demand this far fewer one-star reviews these days but the park
still hasn't quite recovered from having received so many within the first few months back in 2017
understandably there are people who are a lot more laid-back when it comes to planning a trip
to a theme park compared with an obsessive like myself for example some would be quite content to
go on a weekend and or arrive between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 most of theme parks find it much harder
to please these guests but I believed volcano Bay is particularly vulnerable by comparison one of
the reasons for this is that a lot of people are taken by surprise by the fact that you can't park
or be dropped off directly at volcano Bay unless you're staying at a universal hotel instead you
have to catch a bus from the main transportation hub at Universal this adds quite a bit of time
that people often haven't planned for on those busy days things have been known to snowball
from this point if you've arrived after 10:00 a.m. on a busy day the accused to get through
security and the bus transport is reminiscent of what you have to endure at the airport when these
guests do finally arrive there changing rooms are extremely crowded near the entrance and all the
Sun Loungers facing the volcano have been taken in this scenario the wait times on all attractions
are close to the maximum so yeah these are the guests that volcano Bay hasn't really struggled
to appease ever since the park opened they've made some efforts here such as handing out treats to
guests waiting in line to get to the park so they obviously care but overall it remains a problem
that is hurting their online reviews substantially I will of course provide some tips to avoid being
part of this sort of scenario in the tip section of this video so I mentioned earlier that I'm a
fan of the taboo taboo system but some guests were not as appreciative of this some arguing that its
inclusion is indicative of the parks inability to meet the demands of its guests on busy days and
that you're often required to wait in line before sometimes then having to wait in a real line when
you enter the queue also the taboo taboo bracelets have been known to malfunction on occasion but if
that ever happens to you though I hear they are very efficient at sorting this out I think one
of the issues with taboo taboo is that people will naturally see the wait times and compare
those to what you deal with that say one of the Disney parks which is an entirely fair comparison
because unlike with Disney wait times you can actually do stuff whilst waiting rather than
just waiting in a line so an 18-minute wait time is much easier to tolerate at volcanoe bait one
area where volcano Bay deserves a bit of criticism in my opinion is the hidden costs of visiting the
park so when you arrive you'll be hit with the 26 dollar parking fee if you've driven if you forgot
your towel that'll cost you $6 per towel and if you intend on using a locker for your valuables
that's gonna set you back thirteen dollars for a miniscule standard Locker or sixteen dollars for
a reasonable sized locker I was debating whether or not to refer to these fees given that all the
competing water parks in Orlando have similar fees but I do feel they should all be called out
for the blatant exploitation one criticism that this park has received by a fairly substantial
proportion of guests is how difficult it is to navigate around the park especially for
first-timers the layout of the park isn't the easiest to understand and there isn't a great
deal of information to direct you this isn't ideal given that you'll often be queuing for rides you
haven't been to yet many of which have names that are the easiest to remember I do agree with many
on Trip Advisor that it would be nice if there were a few more maps spread around the park in
my Aquatica review I did mention that I felt that Aquatica had a slightly better family vibe to it
in retrospect though I don't know how fair this is really I can't really put my finger on why because
both parks do have suitable attractions for babies and young kids I think it's possibly due
to it being a universal theme park which typically appeals more to teenagers compared to the other
parks in Orlando so before I get onto my tips to help you get the best out of any trip to volcano
Bay allow me to summarize very briefly unless you're planning to arrive at volcano Bay early in
the morning the chances of having a disappointing experience is a bit higher than it probably should
be for the price to be honest but if you plan ahead and take note of some of the tips in the
next section of this video I can assure you that this stunning waterpark is absolutely worth a trip
so my first tip which will be no surprise to you at this point is to arrive ahead of park opening
so let's assume the park is listed as opening at 9:00 a.m. then you'll want to make arrangements so
that your shuttle bus drops you off at 8:45 at the latest but ideally 8:30 because they are known for
letting people in before the official opening time alternatively if you have the luxury of
visiting at Universal Orlando over several days I would highly recommend heading to this park after
4 p.m. but the wait times will be significantly lower and it's also cool to check out this park
at 9:00 if you do have a flexibility of which day to travel I would highly recommend picking
a Monday if you can as mondays are the quietest days for water parks because people generally
arriving on their vacations over the weekend are less likely to pick a water park on one of their
first days before you get to the park I would recommend creating your Universal account online
and to connect your credit card if you plan to use the tap to pay functionality of the taboo
taboo this will make things a bit simpler for you when you enter the park be sure to pack a
towel with you and if possible also pick up one of those waterproof phone cases that I'll link
to in the description so as you enter the park the common mistakes that people make are to head
to the first changing room over on the left which gets really crowded and also to pick a Sun Lounger
over in rotary Beach facing the volcano instead of these choices you should instead of pick changing
rooms towards the back of the park but before you think about any of that what you should be doing
is heading to the wave village sign checking which rides have the longest way time before tapping
into the queue for one of those attractions so then you can effectively enter the virtual queue
whilst you're getting changed and finding some good lounges with shape a lot of people recommend
heading right to the back to get changed and find a Sun Lounger but personally I'm quite partial to
getting changed in this area in the rain forest village if you can get there super early and
finding a Sun Lounger in this particular shaded area however if you have some young children in
your group you'd probably be better off heading to this changing room over in River Village and
setting up camp over around here ok well that's it for this review thank you so much for watching if
you're headed to Orlando soon I hope you have the most amazing vacation if you do have any tips of
your own that you'd like to share please further them in the comments and if you're interested in
future parkour views and all that Orlando vacation content don't forget to subscribe