Today marked a first for our group, we visited a place nobody had previous knowledge of. Unlike Disney’s parks which are spaced out and have their own parking areas, Universal is way more compact and shares four massive parking garages. Guests visiting Volcano Bay board a complimentary bus to take them a few minutes around the corner to the entry point for the waterpark. Volcano Bay uses a different method to control queues and each guest wears a smartwatch which they tap on the entry post at each ride entrance. If the ride is too busy, it requests the guest to return in XX minutes, otherwise it displays “ride now”. 

The other thing we liked about Volcano Bay over and above Typhoon Lagoon, was the majority of rides were multi-person, and they were very different from previous experiences in Typhoon Lagoon which added to our overall enjoyment.

The park has a couple of sharp drop vertical rides, which invite the rider to step into a tube (think tiny shower cubical with a door), the staff member checks you’ve crossed your legs (while standing), crossed your arms, have your head back and not looking down and the previous rider has exited the ride. Then they press a button to drop the floor out of the way…. and you plummet downwards at speed, curve in a gentle arc forming a 120 degree bend and then come to a standstill as you surf along an open to tube about 15m in length (like a v long bath). There were two identical tube which Sophie and Dan rode (one in each) and your author rode last to ensure they were OK as they got into the ride. The elders of our party (and Liz) remained at the bottom to “supervise”.

There were two rides which had tall semi-circular sides so that as the boat exits the downslope, it glides up the semi-circle and then along the remainder of the ride. We thought this feature was only present on one of the rides, but as your scribe plummeted backwards down the flume in our circular 4-person raft, unexpectedly it launched itself up the sides. And I’d like to thank the women of our party for throwing me under the bus and not telling me what was about to happen – way to go girls! But I suppose it’s karma for hunting Sophie down on the lazy river with my wingman Dan, and ensuring she got a good soaking under the waterfall.  (see image below)

Unfortunately, the rides closed due to incoming storms, when we noticed it was 2:30pm and given we’d ridden all the rides we wanted to, we decided not to wait but to exit the park and return to the villa for showers and fresh clothes. This turned out to be a shrewd decision as it hammered it down on our way back, as the tropical storm lashed Orlando and the surrounding area. The surface water on the road was at times pretty breathtaking and now we know why the storm drains are really wide.

We ate tea at The Olive Garden, a really tasty Italian restaurant with killer size large portions, free freshly made breadsticks and a yummy bottomless house salad (cos lettuce, red onion, red cabbage, back olives, parmesan, croutons, sliced tomato).