Volcano Bay‘s TapuTapu bracelets give guests the benefit of not physically waiting in long lines, but some guests are unsatisfied with the extensive waits that accompany many of the park’s attractions.
While being able to virtually wait for one of 16 rides and explore the park until it’s your turn sounds great, there is one catch. TapuTapu only lets guests wait for a single attraction at a time, and some of these rides have massive wait times. Visitors waiting on a particular slide, possibly for as long as three hours, must wait the entire duration before choosing another slide. This puts many of the guests on frequent extended trips to the park’s two river experiences or the beach.
NBC’s News Channel 8 spoke with a few visitors unsatisfied with their Volcano Bay experience. Tampa resident Joseph Archie drove to the new park with his family and arrived at 9 am. They stayed until 3 pm, when they were forced to leave due to weather issues. During that entire time, Archie and his group were only able to experience one slide, finally managing a second one only after complaints.
“It’s not worth it,” Joseph said. “I’ve had the experience, but I wouldn’t come back, not like that. They have to change the wait time.”
Volcano Bay is often filled to capacity, and the crowds can get quite large.
Universal Spokesman Tom Shroder acknowledged the complaints, but said that the issues are improving. He said, “Absolutely we know that we have frustrated some of our guests.”
“It’s not unexpected,” Schroder added. “We knew that we were taking theme park technology to an entirely new level. We tested as hard as we could, and we worked as hard as we could to get things ready but there is no test like opening day.”
Source: News Channel 8 (NBC)
