Universal Orlando Resort: Thanksgiving Week 2024 - Part 3 at Volcano Bay

When temps for the week reached the 80s we made our way over to Volcano Bay. It’s a nice water park and well themed, but it was also a bit of a mixed bag. Given it’s a holiday week, I opted for express passes. Yes, I understand the whole Tapu system but for $50/person, this was a no-brainer for us. I’m glad we did, more on that later. Anyway, onto the highlights, and lowlights.

Heated Water
Many sites claim they heat the water to 80 degrees, and well… no they don’t. Maybe they used to, because looking back I don’t see that claim on Universal’s site at all. Water at most attractions is freezing cold. The fearless river, lazy river, and “wave” pool has what I would consider “cool” water, at best. One of the Maku slides definitely had heated water, more in line with what I was expecting. But beyond that… pack your hat and gloves.

We spoke with a lifeguard who said outdoor temps have to be in the 60s for them to heat the water, but I have no idea how accurate that is.

Krakatau
Our first ride of the day for early entry, and our first reality check that no, the water is not heated. So, so, cold. Fun ride though, and pretty long. The virtual queue got up past three hours before noon, so it was nice to have express so we could take a second lap.

Wave Pool
The setting beautiful. Clean sand, plenty of loungers, and plenty of space. Before the waves come, there’s a dramatic drumbeat, and a dial on one of the towers slowly rotates to reveal a wave symbol, setting the stage for… nothing. This is the weakest wave pool I’ve ever seen. I’m not expecting 5 ft waves but this was comical. It’s almost hard to even notice the ripples. We bailed pretty quick, checked back a couple times later to see if anything had changed, but no.

Ohyah and Ohno
I’ve always wanted to see a slide with a good size drop into the water, and finally! Here it is! Two slides, one with a 4ft drop, the other at 6ft. Bravo to Universal for building these

Raft Slides
The 5-person, and even the 2-person raft slides are some of the best I’ve been on. Aside from the big funnel or toilet bowl style raft slides found around the world, these seem to be faster than average, with tighter turns that send riders further up the wall than usual. We went on several of these and were pretty impressed.

Punga Racers
Do yourself a favor, skip it. The most painful silde experience of my life. Both the snail’s pace of the line and the comfort of the slide. You know how body slides can get bumpy at the seams? Multiply that by 10. The was the first waterslide I’ve ever been on that I couldn’t wait to be over. When even my kids come off swearing “never again,” that’s a problem.

Kookiri
I’m pretty sure I’ve never traveled 60mph on a waterslide before. What a rush. Just as fun is going over to the pool it shoots through to watch riders shoot through the tube.

Fearless River
A lazy river on steroids. This has a very fast current, and we made a couple laps around this gem during the day. Great fun.

Facilities
Bathrooms and locker areas are exceptionally clean. But if you’re wanting to take a shower at the end of the day, good luck. There just aren’t enough stalls. Food wise, we had lunch at the Kohola Reef Restaurant. None of the restaurants here get very high marks, but I have to say the Kohola Burger Combo was pretty tasty.

Layout
For a fist time visitor, this park can be confusing to navigate. It looks pretty simple on the map, but we found ourselves trying to figure out where entrances/exits to rides were several times. The vast majority of the slides are behind the massive volcano. So if you’re using the Tapu system and want to spend your virtual queue time on the sand at the ripple pool, you’ll be making several long walks back and forth.

To sum it up… Volcano Bay has a lot of great qualities to it, and a lot of frustrating ones as well. If/when we return to UOR for Epic Universe, I’m not sure if we’ll carve out a day this water park or not.

We're freezing our junk off down here right now. I believe the water parks have been mostly closed.

I still have not been to Volcano Bay, though I've been invited with comps. Simon had an internship at one of the Loews properties there, and it reminded me of how much of a pain getting in and out of there is. One of these days though. Reviews are generally positive, aside from food and beverage, which only has a few bright spots anyway around the resort.

It was 16 degrees this morning here so... we've had a lot more than our junk freezing off up here! But yeah, I get it. We lucked out in that it was "Florida Chilly" the day we arrived, warmed up through the week where we had a couple great days at the pool and of course, Volcano Bay. Then it became cool again the day we left.

But yeah... Volcano Bay has a lot going for it. There's also some pretty big misses too, IMO. Definitely more good than bad.