Volcano Bay: General Discussion

Overall the park looks good, sure a few things are incomplete but over time these will be fixed.

Got to be honest with you all, this thread is ridiculous!

So many bold statements made from behind a screen I can't tell who genuinely wants a nice balanced view on it anymore. I don't think I've seen so much repetition of strong opinions for a project, with some of them honestly being a bit hard to believe. I'm unsure how 'Universal have missed the mark' for a park that has literally been officially open for 10 hours and on the flip side I don't believe how this can be determined as one of the worlds best in the same time period. Honestly the extreme nit picking or praise is tiresome to read.

Quite an impressive achievement for this to go from my favourite thread for the last 12 months to my least favourite in a couple days. I think my best bet is to leave this one alone for awhile (which I'd recommend to a few others in here), seeing as if we're honest with ourselves there's probably not going to be an reasonable thoughts for a few weeks yet...

Apologies for the rant, but it really is hard to read right now. We aren't children, pull it together people.

I'm going to be honest. The most disappointing part of this thread isn't the people who don't like it or the people who do, it's the fact that if you throw a single opinion out you get attacked like you're either a blind Uni fanboy or you can't be pleased.

A while back in the Pandora thread I expressed that I felt people were being a little overly harsh with their criticisms and I received basically a couple users cracking a joke as a response or thinking I was being ridiculous. Then I see users in here expressing their opinions of what they're unhappy with and they receive people saying "why do you even come here".

But it's not a one sided thing, it's also that people who like certain aspects are getting painted as people who aren't willing to criticize a park they're excited about. Or somebody who is WILLING to be rational and maybe think "the park is getting polished up still, I think it'll be better in due time" isn't in the right due to the opening.

Can we just accept the fact that we all will feel differently about a park and be willing to allow other members to have opinions. I remember a while back I specifically saw another member (in response to them basically getting accused of being biased in favor of Universal or against Disney) in a thread say "I like Universal, and I tend to actually be more critical of them for that reason". Just because somebody is excited about something doesn't mean they're a blind fanboy, and just because somebody is unhappy with a part of the park doesn't mean they hate Universal.

This is the kind of stuff that has driven me away from communities due to how unfairly I felt some of the Disney crowd treated Universal, and I really do like this community and seeing all this is just saddening.

Owen said:

Got to be honest with you all, this thread is ridiculous!

So many bold statements made from behind a screen I can't tell who genuinely wants a nice balanced view on it anymore. I don't think I've seen so much repetition of strong opinions for a project, with some of them honestly being a bit hard to believe. I'm unsure how 'Universal have missed the mark' for a park that has literally been officially open for 10 hours and honestly the extreme nit picking or praise is tiresome to read.

Quite an impressive achievement for this to go from my favourite thread for the last 12 months to my least favourite in a couple days. I think my best bet is to leave this one alone for awhile (which I'd recommend to a few others in here), seeing as if we're honest with ourselves there's probably not going to be an reasonable thoughts for a few weeks yet...

Apologies for the rant, but it really is hard to read right now. We aren't children, pull it together people.

Click to expand...

It's just that at some point it becomes trolling and it's draining. I like what you said and Today I made up my mind that I know what is reasonable criticism and what is not and I'm just gonna follow suit and be done with this thread.

Here is a POV of Aquatica's Roa's Rapids, for comparison.

The park has a lot of really exciting elements to it, and some aspects that still need improvement. I think a lot of it could have been solved with a less ambitious opening date, even by a week or so. Fortunately, it seems like the things that need improvement are largely superficial.

If it meant sacrificing some of the views from Te'Awa to make the edge of Honu ika Moana safe, I would much rather see counts of visible steel beams that can be covered than news reports about the raft that went careening over the edge of a water slide on opening day.

The park is pretty much in puberty at this point. Done enough to send out in to the real world, but not complete. It just needs some time to grow in to itself.

I cannot wait to go to this park, but I am very glad that won't be until September.

I'm still wondering what the encounter with vol is going to be like, I hope it's awesome.

For being a bunch of theme park aficionados, many of you don't seem to know how theme park opening days can go. Rarely do parks open at 100%, with every attraction working, or even without some of it still behind walls. We just live in a different age where the bloggers descend on Day 1 and everyone's formulating their opinions based on their pics and video.

I'm actually impressed with what Universal was able to get accomplished by this date. Also, the long-winded rants based on pics or vids should literally have a tag where we can skip them. I would go out and experience it for yourself, but maybe after some of the kinks are worked out.

I will go and focus on enjoying myself and not let a few negative things ruin my day. If I were going to let them then why go at all? If you focus on the negative that is what you get.

Rose colored glasses firmly in place captain - bring on the rum drinks.

Brian G. said:

Ok. I'm home. I'm tired. You have questions. I will answer some. Most will be answered in our article coming out tomorrow.

Click to expand...

Can you wear swim shoes?
I don't like hot concrete or sand.

Can you imagine what the thread would have been like for the opening day of Universal Studios Florida if message boards had been around back then? Holy frak.

Mr. EPCOT said:

Can you imagine what the thread would have been like for the opening day of Universal Studios Florida if message boards had been around back then? Holy frak.

Click to expand...

And EPCOT's (by noon only the Mexican boat ride ws working)

Wild, the Today Show is still broadcasting from VB. It's on now for the hour.

Aaaaaah... big choppy waves from beneath the waterfall are creating large swells... good to see.

Cheezbat said:

Nice! So they COULD fit a huge record breaker back there! And there's still enough room for a few other rides and attractions. I would love to see something like this. Hopefully this starts sooner than later.

Click to expand...

That would be totally wasted for one slide. I'm sure they can go higher to get a desired length for a Mammoth style ride while hanging a couple of more ride off the same tower. There's plenty in Proslide's inventory that can added including a capped Tornado with a lighting package.



They can always go back and add faux rock coping to the lazy rivers and wave pool walls, it can be done in sections at night when the park is closed.

I would also like to point out, when the new park is built on the Lockheed land, who's to say we will not see another water park.

Mr. EPCOT said:

Can you imagine what the thread would have been like for the opening day of Universal Studios Florida if message boards had been around back then? Holy frak.

Click to expand...

I cant even imagine what it would have been like when Disneyland opened.

Great article here though.

It Was the Worst Day Ever at Disneyland...and 90 Million Americans Watched it Live | Theme Park Tourist

I think I'm just not gonna read this thread anymore. Too much back and forth, a lot like the Avatar thread. Kinda puts a damper on the enjoyment of the park.
Peace to all.

12th Man said:

AH, so there will be some awesome caves and that up-close encounter with Vol that we were promised! At around the 1:12 mark in this video, there is a team member stationed at the entrance of the cave saying that it's currently closed. :whoo:

Click to expand...

Haven't seen that you can walk under the volcano there. That looks incredible! That's the level of detail we want to see- extra waterfalls, detailed rock work underneath, etc.

Owen said:

Honestly the extreme nit picking or praise is tiresome to read.

Quite an impressive achievement for this to go from my favourite thread for the last 12 months to my least favourite in a couple days. I think my best bet is to leave this one alone for awhile (which I'd recommend to a few others in here), seeing as if we're honest with ourselves there's probably not going to be an reasonable thoughts for a few weeks yet...

Click to expand...

Owen- what do you want the posts to be? Just pics and videos with no opinions? That's fine- but I appreciate them from both sides. But I also understand your opinion on it.

UNIrd said:

For being a bunch of theme park aficionados, many of you don't seem to know how theme park opening days can go. Rarely do parks open at 100%, with every attraction working, or even without some of it still behind walls. We just live in a different age where the bloggers descend on Day 1 and everyone's formulating their opinions based on their pics and video.

Click to expand...

Uni, some things aren't simply "rarely do parks open at 100%".
Complaints about TapuTapu, mat racers being down majority of day, cabanas not being done, fearless river not having generators on, lazy river and kids area not ready, coaster delays, the majority of Tapu Tapu touchpoints not working, etc can get tiresome. Could a lot of that been ironed out if they weren't overly aggressive on their opening date and had soft opens and an extra month? Yes. But that's water under the bridge. Universal should have planned better, they didn't, done deal- it is what it is- let's move on.

But complaints and criticisms about the view from the fearless river, the comparisons of the edges of the wave pool vs VB and TL that @Miketheboss brought up, and other details should certainly be addressed here, no?
I apologize- I booked a trip for September because I was expecting the best theme park in the world- and it could've been. What I got was a really good, fun park- but the best is certainly debatable as it currently stands.

Is it true that you can't ride alot of the bigger slides with just 2 people?