Day 4 (28.7.18) - Volcano Bay

[VeryexcitedH]

We woke up today with the alarm at 6am…not sure about DH but I had a slightly sore head from the drinks consumed last night…ooops!

We got ready with our swimming costumes, suncream and towels and headed to the shuttle stop in the hotel which was at the furthest point, next to the car park and the Palm restaurant entrance I think. We left the room at 6.30am and were at the shuttle stop by 6.40. We were the only ones at the stop and the bus came very quickly and again, we were the only ones on it. Now, this was my fault as I had read it was a bit of a phaff to get to Volcano Bay. What I didn’t realise was that that was from the car park and not the hotel shuttle so we were ridiculously early and DH was not very happy with me as he’d have preferred an extra half an hour in bed! My notes say the shuttle dropped us off 10 minutes later and we took very slow stroll to the entrance where we were the first in line at 7.00am. We spoke with a team member called Elizabeth as we were waiting and watched as the staff were loading up the entrances with all the tapu tapu bands.

We were allowed in to the park at 7.30 and we headed to the rear of the park for the lockers and seating areas. First impressions were great.

The park was visually stunning and it was clean and spacious. Dh went and sorted a locker out at the rainforest locker village while we sorted seats on the beach area next to Maku of Maku Puihi Round Raft Rides. Once towels were all sorted we went to our first ride of the day which was Krakatau Aqua Coaster. This was very surprising ride, as you can see from the picture it was fast! Thoroughly enjoyed this ride and glad we started the day off with it.

Dh is not a water park fan so we left him to wander back to the seats to read his book and relax whilst I went with the children to try out some of the other rides. First on the list was in the volcano and was Ki Okiri. I was so excited to be doing this and the kids said they were happy to as well, they are very brave when it comes to water slides and love anything we’ve ever done, although of course this was in a league of it’s own! There was a slight queue once we neared the top of the volcano but it was moving slowly. My goodness though, I was exhausted climbing all of those steps up to the top! As we were 4 from the front of the queue the ride stopped as the bottom operator had pushed the emergency button. The ride operator at the top radioed down and requested an engineer. He needed an engineer to restart it as he needed the over- ride to ensure it was checked over and safe. As we were so far up it did take the engineer quite a while to get to the top and get the ride started again. All the time I was watching the other queue on the other side of the volcano moving freely and wishing we’d chosen that ride instead!

Eventually the queue started to move and it was our turn. I was going to send the children down first with strict instructions to wait for me at the bottom so that we could meet up. DS chose to go first. He stepped into the capsule, the doors closed and he assumed the position required….then he bottled it and started to panic shouting that he wanted to get out. I seriously started to panic too as I thought the operator was just going to send him down as he didn’t seem to be making any move to let him out! The door opened and DS got out, I then gave DD the option of getting in and she chose no which meant I couldn’t do it either. I’m not going to lie, I was gutted. I really think that DH would have been fine but for the ride stopping. Just with the time to wait and ponder it obviously allowed him too much time to think. So, we made the walk of shame back down the steps past all the other people waiting to go on.

The one complaint that I have about this park is being able to get around initially. We got seriously lost following random paths here there and everywhere trying to find our way back to DH and by the time we got there I was very cross and stressed! A combination of queuing for the ride for so long and not going on, then wandering round for what seemed like forever trying to find DH. I know that by the time we found him we had used all of the early entry (I’ve written down that it was 9.30am!) and other people were now entering the park! I also had a headache starting. This could also have been to the lack of a drink though.

I sat down and calmed down for a little while as DH and DS went off to recharge our freestyle mugs and buy some breakfast. Not long after DH returned with a pretzel and cream cheese and a guava and cheese packet (which was a pastry) from a stand closer to the entrance. These cost $12.76 incl tax and they were a tasty breakfast treat. We shared them between the 4 of us and just as DS was taking a bite from the pastry he dropped it on the floor, right in the sand. Luckily there wasn’t too much left so it wasn’t too much of a waste. I told DS to throw it away. Which he did. Literally. Right at the sunbeds in front, landing on the leg and in the sand…..Oh my goodness me! Living with an autistic child is hilarious sometimes! Honestly couldn’t believe that in this situation he had taken me quite so literally. Thankfully there was nobody else about so he was given clear instructions to “pick up the pastry and throw it away in the bin.”

We had a rest for a little while longer and applied some suncream as it was starting to get hotter now. I wandered off with DD and DS and we went on the Punga Racers mat ride which had a minimal queue. Good ride and once off, we headed over to the fearless river. Oh my word this was a nightmare. With being a so fierce everyone had to wear a life vest but trying to find ones that were the right size was really difficult. The kids were sorted quite quickly but I couldn’t find one to fit me. I had read on here that the vest needed to fit as if it was too big it didn’t allow you to float in the fierce river. In the end I got the biggest child’s size could and literally squeezed into it. Every bit of me was squeezed into! Not good. The river was very fierce and I panicked trying to get the children out. One lap was enough for me I’m afraid! After that we went on the lazy river and again it was not well organised with people behind diving in front to get rings even though we’d been stood there waiting longer. Rings eventually secured we set off on a lazy lap before getting out.

Once out of the river we headed back to DH, DS was able to successfully navigate us to him this time, having got a much better feel for the park. We sunbathed and dried off and then at 11.45 decided we would head for an early lunch. We went into the Bambu restaurant which we were close to. We ordered a Bacon cheeseburger platter with French fries, Bambu burger platter with fries and a chicken tenders platter. Not sure how we shared this between 4, maybe the children shared the chicken tenders and DH and I had the burgers. We filled our freestyle mugs so just paid for the food which was $55.87 incl tax. Food was very tasty and quickly consumed as we were all hungry!

Once the food had settled and we were all suncreamed up we persuaded DH to join us on the tamer rides. We first rode Maku of Maku Puihi Round Raft Ride and then went on Puihi of Maku Puihi Round Raft Ride. These were both good and within DH’s limits! After that we went to the wave pool. We spent 1 turn of the waves in there before deciding that the sky looked rather cloudy and grey and a thunderstorm was on it’s way. With this we returned to the lockers to collect all our belongings and leave. Now, I’m not sure when exactly we rode the other rides but I know that we did, with DH with us as well. So at some point during the day we rode Ika Moana of the Honu ika Moana and Honu of Honu ika Moana (turtle and whale family raft rides) and Taniwha Tubes - Tonga and Raki. We did use the tapu tapu sytem at some point but I can’t remember when! Anyway, from memory it served us well as we tapped a time, rode another ride then used our tapu tapu time to ride. Photo opportunity on the way out done, we headed for the shuttle.

Overall, I’d say that despite getting lost initially I much prefer Volcano bay to the day we had at Typhoon Lagoon later in the holiday. Not sure if it was because we had early entry or just because the park is far more spacious but it didn’t really seem as crowded as it had in Typhoon Lagoon and we didn’t struggle to find seating to eat our dinner here. I also loved how the tapu tapu picked up the photos on the rides and then linked them to the photopass I had bought.

We left Volcano Bay at approximately 2.30 and by 3.00pm we were back in our room, with the rain outside as we’d predicted. We had a rest, shower and change then headed out to Bubba Gumps for dinner.

We walked over there as the boats weren’t running with the rain still there, but not very heavy thankfully.

I have a Landry card (great Dibb tip!) so showed that upon arrival and we were seated promptly afterwards.

According to my receipt we ordered 2 bud lights for DH and I, a garlic bread appetizer. I had shrimp mac and cheese, DH had a Forrest seafood feast, DD had a kids BBQ ribs and DS had a kids corn pups. The food was delicious!

Total of the bill was $74.07 incl tax but we had the $25 welcome credit for joining the Landry club so that was deducted off leaving us to pay $47.45. We left a cash tip but not sure exactly how much. We paid the bill at 7.44pm and headed into US for the rest of the evening.

DS desperately wanted to ride F&F and having read the reviews on here I knew it wasn't great so didn't fancy it. Dh took DS over to ride whilst I took DD on The Minions. Great ride and we were on and off in no time so on our way around to F&F we decided to have a sneaky go on the Mummy. Bags safely stowed in lockers we were on and off in no time, fab ride and we were able to enjoy it as we didn't have DS with us! Once off we went to F&F where DH and DS were just getting off. They said it was meh... told ya!

In the shop DS built his own car and we then went to stake out a spot by the lake for the night time show. I thought this was fab but DH said they should have use more iconic films in the projections. Once this was finished we headed back to HRH where we were in bed by about 10.30.

[Zomax25]

What a fab day! I am not a water park fan but DH and my girls are so I hope we can do Volcano Bay next time.

[mick]

Another good day

Joan

[VeryexcitedH]

Originally Posted by Zomax25

What a fab day! I am not a water park fan but DH and my girls are so I hope we can do Volcano Bay next time.

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I am quite sure you will enjoy it either way, DH was happy chilling and sunbathing. Thanks for reading.

[VeryexcitedH]

Originally Posted by mick

Another good day

Joan

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Thanks for reading.

[shona]

Great report, I am like your hubby and have a limit on rides so now have an idea from your report

[VeryexcitedH]

Originally Posted by shona

Great report, I am like your hubby and have a limit on rides so now have an idea from your report

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Glad it was helpful, thanks for reading.

[Excitedx4]

A great jam packed day! Laughing at DS taking the throw it with the pastry! Excellent, love kids!

[lil mousketeer]

What a fun filled day! I agree Volcano Bay is visually stunning but can be a little disorientating getting about. And the names of the rides Tryng to pronounce or remember which is which is another task.

Thanks for sharing

[VeryexcitedH]

Originally Posted by Excitedx4

A great jam packed day! Laughing at DS taking the throw it with the pastry! Excellent, love kids!

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His literal attitude makes me giggle most days! 🤣 Thanks for reading.