Volcano bay

[PACOOK]

We got in at 7:30 and literally chucked our stuff on a chair in front of big pool. We only had tickets and a towel each and I took another pair of shorts. I had my plastic room key zipped in my swim shorts and park ticket in my other shorts on the chair (nobody else can use the park ticket as it is linked to your finger print so had no vslue). Didn't need anything else. I had my own towel but also took some from hotel and took them back. I made sure we were back in room by 10:15 to give us 45 mins to check out. We didn't even sit on the chairs we had so wasnt bothered about where they were and had no need for a locker. The most popular ride by far was the coaster one (can't remember name). Even with early entry that was getting busy. We went there first and stayed on 3 times. Then headed to the top of volcano to the 3 drop ones. We went on everything and finished up in the lazy rapids. Even when we left most of rides were still really quiet except for the coaster.

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by Dsc2

1) What are the big ticket rides to head for first thing and what's the best order to ride (based on beating the queues)

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you want to ride Krakatau, it's the aquacoaster. Definitely the best ride

Ohnu and Ika Moana also are worth riding in the morning
those (like many rides at VB) are twin rides. There is a double entrance, side by side, and the rides are side by side. Be sure to be in the right queue, especially when you tap your tapu tapu to reserve a slot

you'll note that rides that are side by side have different colors. The darker the slide, the more intense. For example, Ohnu Ika Moana has a dark blue (ohnu) and a light green (ika moana) slides
the blue one is more intense than the green one, even though the green is not a light version of the blue one, they're totally different. But the tone of color indicates the intensity.

if you're brave enough there are the drop slides (trap door opening under you) very strict weight limit (90kg or so) and lots of steps

the other family rafts are fun too, so make sure you do early (maku puhi)
you also want to ride "oyeah and ohno" they are slides that will end a few feet over the water for a final drop/plunge. They're fun, and usually have a long wait after the initial quiet couple of hours

early admission is the trick.

leave lazy rivers and wave pool for when you're "waiting in line".
if a ride says "ride now", you can enter the line
if it shows a return time, you can tap your tapu tapu to reserve that time. BUT it's virtual queue, meaning that you CAN'T do anything else, except the lazy rivers, wave pool, and any ride now rides.
when you tap, you basically enter the line, so, as you're in line, you can't be anywhere else, right ?

so do not tap for a ride that's hours away, when you can tap for a ride that's minutes away, even though you're dead set on the one that has a long wait. You need to clear those when they're ride now
otherwise you'll be spending your day in the wave pool for just a couple of rides, and you'll be fuming over the dollars spent, like so many unaware guests did in the past.

2) If travelling really light i.e towel and tickets, what do people do with tickets? Do you still rent a locker for just those?

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tickets are useless as soon as you fingerprinted on your first park entry
you'll be given a tapu tapu (don't forget to return it) and this is all you'll need. You can set up the universal app, link your ticket and credit card, and use the tapu tapu for everything as soon as you're in
the ticket can go in the shorts pocket

As we have APs, it's more "sensitive" than tickets, and hotel room key, I have a waterproof hardsided case that is just big enough to store around 10 credit cards, and it fits in my bathing shorts. That's all we need, and it's discrete enough to be able to take it on rides (shorts pocket is secured by buttons and scratch.

[JLH]

thanks for the above info very helpful- so if you are going to tap into a ride is there a display board which shows the wait times or do you have to go round to each ride to see the times?

[Fraser789]

We did this 2 years ago a couple of months after it first opened. We had read all the horrible reviews of how busy the park was on the opening year. We went in September and used the early entry it was brilliant we got most of the big slides done before it got busy!

[Jimsdadhalifax]

There are screens around the park which give the queue times for all the slides

If you get there for early entry, nothing has a queue time for the first hour as the park is lovely and quiet

[Bellasmummy]

If I take a waterproof case for my phone and tickets can I take that on any rides? Or would I still need a locker?

Ideally I’d rather not keep going back and forth to a locker. I can leave my phone at the hotel but I’ll still have tickets to look after. Is there anyway to link the tickets beforehand?

[Firsttimers2018]

Originally Posted by JLH

thanks for the above info very helpful- so if you are going to tap into a ride is there a display board which shows the wait times or do you have to go round to each ride to see the times?

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There are display boards around the park

[whelley wigan]

We stayed at RPR last week and arrived at VB at 7.30am. Rode all the rides (some twice) by 9.30am. Went back to hotel for breakfast/brunch and IOA for the afternoon