VB Horror Stories

[Ash]

All i've heard about VB so far has been horror stories and negatives...

So much so I am supposed to be visiting VB in 3 weeks time and seeing as we haven't bought our tickets yet I'm seriously considering not bothering!

Do you think the crowds and waits will fall dramatically enough in such a short space of time or do you think I should give it a miss this trip? I'm travelling from the UK so won't be back for at least a year if not more but I also don't want to have a negative stressful experience on what is an expensive vacation that I want to enjoy to the fullest.

I am not staying on property.

 

[Scott W.]

I think the biggest gripe people are having is arriving after the park has hit capacity. I'd take full advantage of the jet lag and get there at the start of your holiday. As weird as it sounds, it I'd try and go on a day when rain is scheduled for earlier than usual as that seems to clear the park out.

 

[Andysol]

All i've heard about VB so far has been horror stories and negatives...

So much so I am supposed to be visiting VB in 3 weeks time and seeing as we haven't bought our tickets yet I'm seriously considering not bothering!

Do you think the crowds and waits will fall dramatically enough in such a short space of time or do you think I should give it a miss this trip? I'm travelling from the UK so won't be back for at least a year if not more but I also don't want to have a negative stressful experience on what is an expensive vacation that I want to enjoy to the fullest.

I am not staying on property.

I think you'd be crazy to not go. 3 weeks from now- no one from the UK is on holiday- everyone in the US is in school- itll be dead during the week.

 

[UNIrd]

The people with horror stories are not on this forum. They are the uninformed who think it's a good idea to waltz into any brand new park or land after 11am. You'll wait for 240 minutes for Krakatu the same way you'll wait for Flight of Passage.

Get there early. Stay onsite if you can to get there even earlier. When the wait times start, start tapping away while taking advantage of any other Ride Nows left. Have lunch early or later. ENJOY.

 

[Nick]

The people with horror stories are not on this forum. They are the uninformed who think it's a good idea to waltz into any brand new park or land after 11am. You'll wait for 240 minutes for Krakatu the same way you'll wait for Flight of Passage.

Get there early. Stay onsite if you can to get there even earlier. When the wait times start, start tapping away while taking advantage of any other Ride Nows left. Have lunch early or later. ENJOY.

People naturally think coming in later to a water park is fine because as long as the modern water park has existed, crowds have never been anything like this at a park. It's always been a rather peaceful experience. Don't blame the guest for doing what they know.

Also, Universal marketed this as a nighttime park, so again, don't blame guests for coming in later when Universal told them in marketing that that's what they wanted them to do.

 

[JMalez]

There are ways to ensure a good experience though. Never let a moment pass where you aren't "waiting in line" for something.
Just got into the park and need to throw your stuff in a locker? Get in line first
Need lunch? Get a return time first.
If taken advantage of, Tapu Tapu is really great, even if the lines are absurd.

 

[Nick]

There are ways to ensure a good experience though. Never let a moment pass where you aren't "waiting in line" for something.
Just got into the park and need to throw your stuff in a locker? Get in line first
Need lunch? Get a return time first.
If taken advantage of, Tapu Tapu is really great, even if the lines are absurd.

The problem is, TapuTapu is the only way to wait in line in the park, it should be an easy experience, not something that needs to be taken advantage of. This isn't FP+ where the system is complementary to the stand-by queue and therefore it allows room for the system to fail but the ride to still operate (because there's a stand-by queue). For most of VB, there is no stand-by, so the waiting becomes more obvious and you feel it more. You feel it more because all you are doing while waiting is eating or going around the lazy river. There's only so many times you can do that.

 

[JMalez]

The problem is, TapuTapu is the only way to wait in line in the park, it should be an easy experience, not something that needs to be taken advantage of. This isn't FP+ where the system is complementary to the stand-by queue and therefore it allows room for the system to fail but the ride to still operate (because there's a stand-by queue). For most of VB, there is no stand-by, so the waiting becomes more obvious and you feel it more. You feel it more because all you are doing while waiting is eating or going around the lazy river. There's only so many times you can do that.

This is true. But i would argue that there is enough to do outside of rides with wait times to last an entire day.
Fearless River , Lazy River, Wave Pool, water games inside the Volcano,
Taniwa Tubes (4 slightly different raft rides that are ALWAYS ride now), eating, not to mention the other rides that may eventually become a ride now (i have been twice on weekends and Maku, Puihi, Kala, and Ta Nui have all been ride now at one point.)

 

[UNIrd]

People naturally think coming in later to a water park is fine because as long as the modern water park has existed, crowds have never been anything like this at a park. It's always been a rather peaceful experience. Don't blame the guest for doing what they know.

Also, Universal marketed this as a nighttime park, so again, don't blame guests for coming in later when Universal told them in marketing that that's what they wanted them to do.

Since when has arriving to a water park at any time been a good idea? You're still waiting in long lines, sometimes standing on hot cement, often while carrying a tube, with drips of water hitting you above, all way too close for comfort with strangers in their swimsuits.

If you're using Disney's water parks as your gauge, it's not a good one. Plop one down within walking distance of a few of their resort hotels, then we can talk.

Also, guests CAN come later and enjoy themselves at night. Later meaning 4pm.. not 11am or noon.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

You should give it a go and experience it for yourself. Crowds should be at a minimum when you go. My advice to you is to go in with a lower than normal expectation - as that's a lot of what causes the drama to begin with. The body capsule slides are a lot of fun, as is the double wave slide, so make sure you check them out.

 

[Frank Drackman]

I wonder how many passholders (more than 3 hours away) go to things like HHN and have not yet been to VB?

I just think some of them may go to VB during the week. I know it gets tough (even with all the new rooms) to stay on site when a HHN comes to town.

I really did enjoy my time at VB. There is no way for me to know if it is because I do currently have a pass, so 'ride count' is never a priority...but man, I think I could kick it in the action river all day. Then again, I have heard on here about days when it can be difficult to get in the rivers.

The days we did go (and we did go for early entry) I never felt too crowded and I think we did most of what we wanted to do on each of our visits (in June)

 

[yankees13]

The best way to do it is to stay on site and get there for Early Park Admission. I did it last week and while it sucks having to wake up super early, it's worth it. I was able to get on a majority of the slides. Although I had a long wait for the body plunge which moved at a snails pace. Waited about 30-40 minutes for that.

After that it was like 10am and I was already feeling exhausted. It was extremely hot and I was running on a few hours sleep. Just hung out on the beach and went in the wave pool for the rest of my time there. The pool is refreshing though. Nice and cool. By 1pm it was extremely crowded and I just wanted to get the heck out of there. Went back to the pool at the hotel.

 

[Ash]

We have a house in Davenport that we own so we stay there. I don't want wo pay for a hotel room just to get early entry really if I can help it.

I was going to get reserved seating if that's still possible. I don't mind if I only do a few slides I just had visions of the lazy river looking like Main Street at xmas .

 

[Ashhanbre]

We have a house in Davenport that we own so we stay there. I don't want wo pay for a hotel room just to get early entry really if I can help it.

I was going to get reserved seating if that's still possible. I don't mind if I only do a few slides I just had visions of the lazy river looking like Main Street at xmas .

I wouldn't get the reserved seating unless its changed. When we went the reserved seating was not really in prime location of the volcano and you can easily get a chair as they are pretty much everywhere. To me the only reason to get the reserved seating would be for the little storage box. But is that worth paying that high price when you can just get a locker?

 

[Frank Drackman]

We have a house in Davenport that we own so we stay there. I don't want wo pay for a hotel room just to get early entry really if I can help it.

I was going to get reserved seating if that's still possible. I don't mind if I only do a few slides I just had visions of the lazy river looking like Main Street at xmas .

Not sure if it is only during busy times, but, just like at the parks these days, you can get in the park during the morning hour, you just get stopped in the park in a way where you could shop/eat at a couple of places.

This would at least get you past the turnstiles before the park opens...when the rope drops...if things have a wait, tap something then go get a locker after grabbing a place in line.

 

[sjago13]

They let you scan in and hold you to the right side and u have access up to the lockers by cabana bay. So if you arrive an hour before opening you can get a locker and changed and they let us go 30 minutes prior to opening and it was great.

 

[Joshua Porter]

I'm going to VB for the first time on a trip in October/November. I must admit I haven't heard many horror stories as such, but from videos I have watched it does seem like you just have to be patient with the way it all works and maybe arrive in the afternoon or after rain. I'm hoping November could be a good time to go during the week and I think that is when we will go rather than at Halloween. There's no time the parks aren't busy, as such, but we could get lucky and get it at a time where it isn't crazy. I think people are probably having a worse experience because the park is still teething and it opened in Summer, essentially.

I also have to say that if I can sit and sunbathe or go in the lazy river or hit a few ride nows while I wait in a queue for something I really want to ride, rather than stand on hot concrete and listen to "Frat Bros" then I'm all for Tapu Tapu.