Hey there, pals!
Well, today is our final full day in Florida and my sister and I purposely made it as much of a relaxing day as possible. We decided to head to Volcano Bay water park in Universal, as that's somewhere close by to Sonesta ES Suites and we can take a slow pace being in the water.
My sister and I decided not to use the shuttle bus and took an Uber instead to Universal. Again, we could go out our own pace, especially as we got in from Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at around 2:00am! Once we got our swimming gear on, my sister and I were out of the door and straight to Universal.
To get to Volcano Bay is certainly a unique journey! From the Uber drop off area at the top of the parking garage, you'd walk down to the bus stations to get a bus to Volcano Bay. The water park really is off the beaten track, as we walked through a tunnel to go up a set of escalators, meandered through some themed pathways and onto the entrance of Volcano Bay for our very first visit.
Once our park tickets were scanned, we were given these Apple-like watches, called Tapu Tapus. These were going to come in handy when it came to riding the slides, as well as organising a rental locker to put your belongings in.
In a nutshell, each slide has a virtual queue and you go to the slide entrance to reserve your place. If the reserve station has a "Ride Now", you're good to go on the slide straight away. If the slide entrance has a wait time, then you would scan your Tapu Tapu at the reservation touch point to put yourself in that line. So, if a slide had a 15min wait time, you'd virtually wait 15mins and then return to the slide entrance for your ride.
As my sister and I hadn't been to Volcano Bay before, we wanted to do as many slides as we could. The very first thing my sister and I was reserve our spot in the Krakatau Aqua Coaster because my sister had read that this was the most popular slide in the entire water park. The wait was starting at 3 hours!! So, we planned to make this slide the last one of the day and then leave the park afterwards.
We didn't really have an itinerary for the slides we were going to hit; it was more if we walked around and liked the look of a slide, let's do it. So, the first slide tower we came across was Honu ika Moana - the green slide was a more gentle twist down and the blue slide had a couple of walls that you shot up before coming back down. Both of these slides were a five-person raft and with my sister and I's combined weight being so light, we were paired with someone else! I think my sister and I can both agree that we preferred the blue slide (Honu) as it was that little more thrilling, plus the lifeguard we rode with was an absolute blast!
Carrying on anti-clockwise of the park was the Taniwha Tubes slide tower, which had four slides - all of these pretty much being the same layout. We did Raki, which was the blue slides, and the ride was so much more intense than I thought it was going to be! It really wasn't enjoyable at all that we decided to skip the other slides on this tower altogether, especially as my sister started to feel really nauseous!!
After a short walk, we saw the Maku Puihi Round Raft Rides slide tower and these slides looked a lot gentler, so my sister felt that she would be okay to go on these slides. Again, these were a five-person raft and my sister and I were below the minimum combined weight to ride, so we were paired with a lovely father and son. The son soon became mine and my sister's best friend - he was super friendly and chatty, not caring about anything and just having fun! Also, the team member at the entrance to the slide tower was great because she was telling all riders which was the calmer ride and which was the more intense. My sister and I went for the more intense (Puihi), which turned out to be a funnel slide and we really didn't go up that high, so it was quite relaxing for us!
My sister and I decided that we needed a break from doing slides, so decided to go in the lazy river. Admittedly, you stagnated in this lazy river more than gently floating around and it was super short! My sister and I would have moments in the dingy where we stopped in the middle of the water and everyone else would go past. We had three laps around the lazy river when all the lifeguards started instructing people to leave the water due to a nearby storm.
This was our perfect opportunity to grab my backpack to have some lunch on a sun lounger. At first, it wasn't obvious that there was a storm nearby. However, occasionally, we would hear a very distant rumble of thunder. 20 minutes later and we were given the all clear that everyone could go back in the water. My sister decided that she wanted to stay at the sun loungers for a little longer... I, on the other hand, am an individual who cannot just lie on a sunbed. So, I went to explore some of the other attractions.
Now, there was one slide tower that looked super fun called the Ohyah and Ohno drop slides. I swear, I did a full lap of the whole water park and could not find these slides. Eventually, I did find them in a tucked away area of the park and it was on a 15min virtual wait. So, I go to scan my Tapu Tapu and it asked me if I wanted to replace the virtual line I was already in. That was a bit of a bummer, realising that you can only be in one virtual queue at a time. Therefore, I ended up missing out on the Ohno and Ohyah slides.
Whilst on my travels, I did find another lazy river-ish area called the TeAwa Fearless River. Everyone going into this attraction has to wear a life jacket, even if you are a strong swimmer like myself. But, this river pool was absolutely nuts and I was going sooo fast! I can totally see why all guests needed the life jacket. It's probably to save the lifeguards having to constantly jump in from someone getting into difficulty!
Returning to the sun lounger base where my sister was, I told her about not being able to ride a slide due to already being in line for another. Instead, I mentioned about the TeAwa Fearless River. And so, my sister and I went in together. My sister soon realised what I meant with how fast the river went! But, she did enjoy herself and we got to see some slides in action from a different view.
Finally, we got our notification (a vibration on the Tapu Tapu) to say that it was time to return to Krakatau Aqua Coaster. But then, disaster struck! My sister and I were two boats away from boarding when the ride closed due to thunder and lightning in the area - this was an obvious, much larger storm brewing! So, my sister and I decided to stick it out and see if the Krakatau Aqua Coaster was going to reopen because we had got so close to the front. However, things went from bad to worse and it started absolutely hammering it down when park close came. And, I think you can tell where this is going... You guessed it, the Krakatau Aqua Coaster never reopened. So, my sister and I had waited about 4hrs in total for Krakatau Aqua Coaster only to be rained out of Volcano Bay. Oh well...
My sister and I both had an enjoyable day, but we're not rushing back to it anytime soon.
We decided to have one last hurrah at Walt Disney World by doing a final bit of shopping and strolling at Disney Springs.
We went into World of Disney to get our last 50th anniversary merchandise. Our Mum finally got the jumper she wanted, which actually turned out to be a hoodie rather than a spirit jersey. I also spotted a 1000-piece jigsaw with an image of Cinderella's castle and the Walt and Mickey statue in front. That 1000-piece jigsaw was soon in my basket and on its way to being purchased. My sister got a Mickey-shaped soap dispenser and I bought her some gummy sweets as something to take home from me. Additionally, my sister got some pens and sweets for her friends at university. And that was our final wrap of souvenir shopping in World of Disney.
My sister and I did our final gentle stroll around Disney Springs. Whilst on our lap around, we quickly stopped in several stores just for a browse. The Lego store, the M&M store and Art of Disney to name a few. I do enjoy just looking in stores; but, it does become difficult when you see something you really want to buy and you know that you shouldn't. In a nutshell, spontaneous shopping is dangerous and especially at Disney!
Tiredness quickly hit my sister and I, so we both agreed that it was time to call it a night at Walt Disney World until our next trip.
And so, we began our journey back to the apartment to begin the dreadful packing...
There's just one more post left to publish, so make sure you stick around for the final one of the series. Thank you so much for ready!
Have a magical day!
-Hannah
DISCLAIMER: this blog is my personal experience on the Disney Academic Exchange Program (DAEP) 2019-2020 and may not reflect everyone’s experience. Other programs and future participants on the DAEP may have slight adjustments to their programs that may not be featured in any of my blog posts. That being said, if you do leave any questions, I will try to answer them as best as I possibly can 😊
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