Universal's Volcano Bay

https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/theme-parks/volcano-bay/index.html

So apparently Universal Parks is opening a Polynesian/tiki themed water park on May 25th. I'm slightly intrigued.

[ Edited by: Iakona 2017-05-09 11:52 ]

[ Edited by: Iakona 2017-05-09 11:52 ]

Yes, and it's huge, and it's a huge landmark complex right next to the I-4 freeway in Orlando, and the volcano is HUGE!

It's also another poke-in-the-ribs to Disney whose water parks have been neglected for a number of years, perhaps even decades. (Disney's upcoming opening of two new themed lands will be the first time in a long time that they steal back the "huge new project" spotlight. Universal has been THAT SUCCESSFUL employing a large amount of ex-Disney talent to build a number of new things at Universal.

So there's a lot of information about the new park available online and in the theme park forums. So I won't mention anything other than tropical and tiki themes are hot stuff in water parks at the moment. I attended the opening of a new tiki section at another water park a couple months ago. This is more proof that "Polynesian,""tropical," and "tiki" theming is here to stay. It is being integrated ever more firmly into today's pop culture.

[ Edited by: AceExplorer 2017-05-10 21:21 ]

More images here in another thread:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=49240&forum=1

On 2017-05-09 11:02, AceExplorer wrote:
It's also another poke-in-the-ribs to Disney whose water parks have been neglected for a number of years, perhaps even decades. (Disney's upcoming opening of two new themed lands will be the first time in a long time that they steal back the "huge new project" spotlight. Universal has been THAT SUCCESSFUL employing a large amount of ex-Disney talent to build a number of new things at Universal.

You mean since New Fantasyland opened? :wink: I know this isn't a theme park debate thread, but Universal and Walt Disney World have different challenges. Universal has to keep opening up new attractions to keep their numbers up (running to stand still, as it were), while WDW has the challenge of managing the huge volumes of guests that already do come. It's easy to go goo-goo eyes over Volcano Bay because Disney's TWO huge, amazing waterparks have already been around for a while.

On 2017-05-09 21:07, EnchantedTikiGoth wrote:
You mean since New Fantasyland opened? :wink: I know this isn't a theme park debate thread, but Universal and Walt Disney World have different challenges. Universal has to keep opening up new attractions to keep their numbers up (running to stand still, as it were), while WDW has the challenge of managing the huge volumes of guests that already do come. It's easy to go goo-goo eyes over Volcano Bay because Disney's TWO huge, amazing waterparks have already been around for a while.

I thought about "New Fantasyland" and skipped it because it wasn't really in the category of new-from-scratch. And I considered that I might draw a response or two, thanks for the catch! :)

Good points about Universal and Disney, but I'm still standing on pretty firm ground when I say that Universal really thumped Disney. They really put themselves onto similar footing with quality of theming and guest impact. Universal did what previously only Disney did and it did not go unnoticed. While I'm not on the Disney board myself (heh) I have come to understand that it had an impact on how they came to green-light Avatar for Disney Animal Kingdom and a few other things. And, ironically, we know Universal Creative is headed up by an ex-Disney person who moved over when the proper enticements came. It's all very interesting.

You're right, not a theme park discussion board here, but it's nice to see tropical / faux Polynesian / tiki stuff coming in so solidly to theme parks.

I really appreciate and share your enthusiasm for themed entertainment and tiki. Let me know the next time you visit Florida, it would be great to meet up!

On 2017-05-10 06:26, AceExplorer wrote:

Good points about Universal and Disney, but I'm still standing on pretty firm ground when I say that Universal really thumped Disney. They really put themselves onto similar footing with quality of theming and guest impact. Universal did what previously only Disney did and it did not go unnoticed. While I'm not on the Disney board myself (heh) I have come to understand that it had an impact on how they came to green-light Avatar for Disney Animal Kingdom and a few other things.

Going offside again :wink: My wife and I were pretty underwhelmed by Harry Potter. The depth of theming is fantastic, I'll give them that. The depth of the experience was not really there though. It's mostly just shopping, which to Universal's credit they made into a very well-themed experience. But at the end of the day, it only goosed Universal's attendance by 3 million... They won the war against SeaWorld and the Kennedy Space Center, not against Disney. It was unbelievably shortsighted for Disney to have panicked and built Avatarland instead of seeing how Universal would shake out in attendance and Avatar would shake out in pop culture cachet. It irks me that they built Avatarland instead of, say, importing attractions from overseas like Mysterious Island or Mystic Manor, which would have been much better fits.

But yes, we can agree that more Tiki is always good :) If we're ever in Florida again I'll let you know! :D

Micechat feature

Lots and lots of photos

Micechat: Volcano Bay

[ Edited by King Bushwich the 33rd on 2022-05-23 12:22:08 ]