Did you know that October 3 is National Boyfriend Day? I decided to celebrate the day by taking my #volcanobae to Universal’s Volcano Bay here in Orlando, Florida. We had never been before but had heard so many good things. While fall season is here, it’s still pretty hot here so a trip to a water park is still a pretty good idea!
I’m a huge fan of Universal theme parks so I knew we were in for a good treat! I wanted to give you a run down of everything, explain how things worked and break down our experience there.
Parking for Universal’s Volcano Bay
Parking is actually really simple if you know what to expect before hand. If you’re staying at a Universal resort, you’re in luck because they have buses that run every 10 minutes to all their parks. I find that Universal has a good park transportation system in place that runs smoothly .Universal has some pretty affordable hotel options (and they’re awesome! Check out my post about Universal’s Aventura Hotel here.).
If you are staying at a resort and want easy access to Volcano Bay, I recommend staying at Cabana Bay Beach Resort because they have direct, walking access to the park. However, any of the hotels will have a free shuttle available to any of the parks. Another perk to staying at a Universal resort is that you have early access to the parks as well, this includes Volcano Bay.
If you’re not staying at a resort, parking is available at the parking garage by Universal City Walk. The address for Universal City Walk is 6000 Universal Blvd, Orlando FL 32819.
Inside the Park
Once inside Volcano Bay, expect lots of fun! We weren’t too familiar with what sort of rides they had before hand so when we got there we did some exploring!
We went with premium seating. You can reserve premium seating ahead of time which I recommend because they do get sold out. Depending on the dates you are going prices range anywhere from $29.99 to $69.99. That price goes up during busier times in the year. For me, paying for this is worth it because the premium seats have built in lockers which is SUPER convenient. I’m someone who brings a lot of things with me so having the locked storage right there was a life saver. Hubby appreciated it a lot too 🙂
If you go with premium seating, you check in with the concierge desk when go get in the park. There are two concierge counters. There’s one at the front of the park and one more towards the back of the park. The one in the front can get busy so I suggest checking out the one in the back to skip the line. Once you’ve checked in or purchased your premium seats, you’ll head to the seating area.
A Universal staff member will be there to check you in and go over everything with you. They will show you how to use the locker and give you a flag. Premium seating has “table side service”. You put your flag up if you want to order drinks or food. A staff member will take your order, bring your food and take away the tray when you’re done.
View from our premium seats
Free Seating Galore
If that’s not an expense you’re wanting, don’t worry there is plenty of free seating available and there really isn’t a bad view in sight! There are some areas of free seating that have excellent shade too! Just get there early to do some exploring.
If you’re not getting premium seating and need a locker, lockers are available to rent. Lockers are around $15 to rent.
You are welcome to bring your own towels, but if you don’t want to there are towels available there to rent. I believe they are $6.99.
Ride with TapuTapu
Our FAVORITE thing about the park was our TapuTapu’s! When you enter the park you are given your TapuTapu which you wear during your stay. This allows you to “tap” on to a ride and hold your spot if need be. Your TapuTapu allows you to not have to physically wait in line which is LIFE SAVER.
I’d advise doing the “bigger” attraction rides first because those are the popular ones and they will have the longest wait times. I’m not one for those more thrilling rides, I’m more of a lazy river type of girl. So Steven decided to hit up those thrilling rides first. He didn’t have to wait very long for those rides when we first got in.
Dining at the Park
There are several different dining options available. I know dining gets sticky sometimes because let’s face it, theme park dining can be expensive. It’s an expense that adds up QUICKLY. I do enjoy the food they have available at Universal and Volcano Bay had some good eats.
We hit up Bambu Jungle Kitchen because we were in the mood for a burger. We got the Bambu burger which was excellent! It’s a pretty big burger! The combo comes with fries and a milkshake but we opted out of the milk shake.
We decided to treat ourselves and get some drinks. Their specialty cocktail drinks are DELICIOUS! We tried the Wai-Watermelon, Blue Hawaiian and Strawberry Ginger Lift, all three were great!
Additional Tips
There are some additional tips I want to share with you guys if you’re visiting Volcano Bay and need some help!
What You Can Bring into the Park
- Towels
- Beach bags
- Refillable cups from the parks
- Store bought water bottle
- Your own reusable water bottle, EXCEPT glass water bottle. Glass is not permitted
- Pre-packaged food
What to Bring with You
- PLENTY of sunscreen
- Water, since you can bring water bottles I suggest bringing this with you because dehydration in this hot Florida weather is real
- A Book, if you’re like me and like that relaxing, down time I would bring a book to read while you lay out
- Headphones, I like listening to podcasts or music when I’m laying out 🙂
- Towels so you don’t have to rent
- If you’re like me and are really careful when it comes to sun exposure bring: sunglasses and a hat.
- Flip flops!
- Goggles
What You CANNOT Bring with You
- Portable speakers
- Water guns
- Life vests- these are available everywhere around the park! and they have a wide range of sizes available
- Beach Umbrella’s and chairs
- Pool noodles and inflatable tubes, things of that nature
- Non pre-packaged foods, except if you have a food allergy!
Steven and I loved Volcano Bay and it was the perfect way to celebrate my forever boyfriend 🙂 He had a blast on the more thrilling rides. I enjoyed myself on the more relaxing rides (like the lazy river). We ran into some friends celebrating the day as well so it’s perfect for a group date! It was definitely fun having a group to go on the rides that require 3 or more people.
If you haven’t checked out the park, I suggest you do! It’s such a great way to cool down AND even when it gets “cooler”, the park is still open and the park is heated between 80-85 degrees. So even during those cooler months you can still visit!
Until next time,
