Universal Orlando - Day 3

let’s go to a new water park a week after it’s opened! 

Volcano Bay had early park admission for onsite guests starting at 8 AM so we decided that would be the best plan of attack. We left our room at 7:40 and made our way to the bus pickup where we arrived around 7:45. We must have just missed one because we waited about 15 minutes before a bus came at around 8. Then we picked up people at Sapphire Falls before arriving at Volcano Bay around 8:10. We picked up our Tapu Tapu bracelets and I found a spot by the wave pool for our stuff. We didn’t get a locker, leaving phones in our room and taking our other items in a waterproof pouch that I kept around my neck.

After that, we headed straight for Krakatau Aqua Coaster. It said “Ride Now” so we got in line. We waited probably 10-15 minutes to ride. I loved it but Emmaline and Roger weren’t sure. Roger said he had a headache and unfortunately, I didn’t have any advil with me. Usually I carry some, but since we only brought the bare necessities, I didn’t have it. After that, we rode the 2-person tube slides, one of the family raft slides, the Pongu racers body slides (face first on a mat) and then a different family raft slide before heading back to the Pongu racers slides again and doing another round of the two person tube slides.

The second of the family raft slides were the first ones we had to use the Tapu Tapu to get a return time and it was only 15 minutes when we walked away, quickly changing to 10 minutes just a minute later so we didn’t have time to do anything. I asked someone who worked there where the entrance to the lazy river was and she gave me directions and told me that when the Tapu Tapu reached 5 minutes, we could return and tap in. As if on cue, I saw 5 minutes on the device so we went back and tapped in. We also had a return time for Pungu slides the second time around, but never got 5 minutes going from 10 minutes when we first got our return time, right to ride within about 5 minutes (we just spent the time hanging out in some chairs, which was more relaxing than standing in line). Each time we returned to the ride or even with “Ride Now” showing, the rides all had about 5-10 minutes of waiting (except the coaster, which was about 15).

After sliding until around 10 AM, everything had a wait and we felt like we had done everything we wanted so we went and took a loop about the less lazy of the two lazy rivers and then hit the wave pool and had some snacks. By 10:30 we were leaving as wait times started to climb and we exited the park, feeling sort of bad for all the swarms of people coming in. Overall, it was a success, but I can’t say that it would have been if we had waited until later in the day.

We got back to the room, showered and had a rest before venturing over to the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium for a late lunch. Lunch was…fine. I actually didn’t find it to be anything special - even the dessert. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t amazing. I think I went in with hopes a little too high. After lunch we went to Universal Studios to do some more exploring of Diagon Alley and to try our luck at Gringotts again. This time we were successful! The golden ticket was great and we didn’t have to wait long. I loved the ride. Emmaline liked it quite a bit and Roger was feeling mixed. He decided he’s really not a motion-simulator person. He liked the parts of the ride with actual physical movement, but not as much the 3D simulated motion effects.



We jumped on the Hogwarts Express back to Islands of Adventure as it began to rain again. I suggested we knock out the wet rides as long as we were already wet and wearing our ponchos. We all did Popeye and Bluto’s which made us even more wet (if that were possible) and Jurassic Park River Adventure (not quite as wet). Roger skipped the latter, being wary of the drop (which isn’t his thing). Emmaline screamed in terror but ultimately thought it was awesome.

We were wet and hungry and unsure where to eat but ultimately made our way back on the Hogwarts Express to Universal Studios and ate in the food court at the Simpsons area just as they were closing at 8 PM. Another late night! We sloshed back to the water taxi and back to our room. Again, hanging up all our wet things in the shower to drip dry over night!

Click here for Day 4.