Universal Volcano Bay is the fourth park at Universal Orlando Resort and the only one you visit in a swimsuit. It opened in 2017 around a volcano close to sixty metres high, Krakatau, which serves as scenery, landmark and launch point for several slides at once. The park tells the story of the Waturi people, and the staging holds from the gate to the towels and loungers.
The virtual queue changes the day
Every guest gets a TapuTapu wearable at the entrance. You tap it at an attraction’s post, go swim somewhere else, and it buzzes when your turn comes. Other water parks keep you standing on a staircase in the sun. Here you wait in the water. For a family with young children, that is the difference between a good day and a hard one.
What is inside the volcano and around it
Krakatau Aqua Coaster climbs inside the volcano on linear motors, then drops back down behind the waterfall. Ko’okiri Body Plunge opens a trapdoor under your feet for a near-vertical thirty-eight metre fall. The Kala and Ta Nui Serpentine Body Slides wind around each other. Maku and Puihi Round Raft Rides take family rafts down. Waturi Beach makes waves at the foot of the volcano, Kopiko Wai Winding River carries you in a loop, and TeAwa The Fearless River keeps the vest on. Runamukka Reef and Tot Tiki Reef are set aside for the youngest.
The slides, one by one
Krakatau Aqua Coaster is the reason the park exists. The four-seat raft climbs inside the volcano on linear motors, then heads back down and passes behind the waterfall. You never see it coming, which is the point.
Ko’okiri Body Plunge opens a trapdoor under your feet at thirty-eight metres for a near-vertical drop that crosses the pool below inside a clear tube. You queue watching other people fall.
Kala and Ta Nui Serpentine Body Slides start from the same trapdoor and coil around each other on the way down. Two people can launch together and cross in the dark.
Maku and Puihi Round Raft Rides go down on family rafts. Maku stays open and spins through cascading bowls. Puihi drops into the dark and climbs a wall before falling back.
Taniwha Tubes offers four tube runs built around Tiki totems, alone or in pairs, with water jets that catch you on the way past. Honu ika Moana sends its raft up a curved wall before letting it slide back down.
The calm waters, and the ones that are not
Waturi Beach makes waves at the foot of the volcano, on a gently sloping sand beach where younger children keep their footing a long way out.
Kopiko Wai Winding River carries you in a loop around the park and through a cave where the water and the light change.
TeAwa The Fearless River earns its name. The current runs fast, the life vest is required, and the rapids are taken standing or sitting depending on the courage of the moment.
Runamukka Reef and Tot Tiki Reef are set aside for children, with slides at their scale, jets and tipping buckets.
A day best planned backwards
Most visitors arrive mid-morning, when the entry line is at its worst. Arriving at opening buys two hours of a nearly empty park, and the TapuTapu wearable handles the rest of the day. Lockers rent at the entrance and open with the same band, so you carry nothing.
Food sits around the volcano. Loungers go early or not at all, and cabanas are booked ahead: your advisor can handle that along with the rest of the trip.
How long to plan
One full day is enough and it does you good. In a four or five day trip, Universal Volcano Bay usually lands in the middle, between two theme park days, because it repairs legs rather than wearing them out. The park opens seasonally, and your advisor confirms the calendar for your dates before setting the order of the days.
What to bring
Towels and life vests come with the park. Lockers rent by the day. Water shoes earn their place: the ground heats up under Florida sun, and the park sand is no exception. Sunscreen goes on before the gate, because once you are in the water nobody thinks of it.
Express and Volcano Bay
The Universal Express Unlimited included with the room at the three Premier hotels does not cover this park. A separate Express access exists for Universal Volcano Bay and is bought by date. That said, the TapuTapu wearable already cuts standing time sharply, and it comes with admission.
Where the water day belongs
The park runs on a seasonal calendar, and your dates decide whether it is open at all. Our advisors check that calendar for your week before setting the order of the days, because a water day in the wrong place is paid for in legs the morning after.
We book in Canadian dollars with protections that apply here, and planning is free of charge.
Voyages AquaTerra is a U-Preferred Silver partner of Universal Orlando Resort.
Write to createursdemagie@voyagesaquaterra.com, call 450 628-6241, or toll-free 1 866 628-6241.
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