I am planning my Volcano Bay day for my May trip and have a logistics question. We will have 4 kids, none of whom particularly wants to ride any of the slides, except maybe the kiddie ones. We will have 3 adults. I sprung for an express pass for each of the adults since two of them only wanted to do the slides included in the $20 pass that covers everything except Ohyah / Ohno, Ko’Okiri, and the Serpentine slides. (I got the “unlimited” pass for myself which covers 1 ride on all attractions).
I have read that Baby Swap is not an option. I have also heard that due to COVID, you can’t go single rider on certain raft rides. So here are my questions:
Which rides require multiple riders from the same party?
If all 3 adults want to ride one of those rides, will we have to use Tapu Tapu to get a return time for the person who is going to ride twice? Or will they let the “companion” rider go along even though the EP is one time only?
When we ride early in the morning when it’s “Ride Now,” will it use up our EP for that ride? Or can we save it for later in the day?
I showed them a video and I think they could do it, but they were very hesitant! They are much more open to BTMRR (which they’ve done and liked) and rides along those lines. I’m hoping they’ll change their minds.
Honu and Maku Puihi raft rides require 2 people minimum.
It’s important to reserve chairs asap by putting your towels on them. Waturi Beach fills up fast and not all beach chairs have umbrellas. I imagine this will be your home base since you have smaller kids. My older kids liked the Fearless River better, so we had chairs near the entrance to that.
We were actually thinking of setting up base by the Tot Tiki Reef area since our kids will likely spend most of their time in the splash pads / kid zones. But we will go over to the beach for part of it, as well as the lazy river. (I will do the fearless river - maybe with DS9.)
Honu had very specific rider numbers when we were at VB in June 2017. We could NOT ride it with 4 people; we needed 5. They gave us the option of riding down on Ika Moana (which had no line at the time) or having a 5th person join us.
My mother is a BTMRR thrill level of person. She loves it and will ride it on repeat for as many times as the line is short (same for the Matterhorn out at DL). She will also ride Rocking Roller Coaster and Expedition Everest once per trip (she also rode Mummy at USF). These are the very upper limits of her thrill tolerance. She has a fear of heights and anything with exposed track is a bit scary (for example the Flight of the Hippogriff at IOA). She loves Kraka aqua coaster. Loves it! This is on par with BTMRR and Matterhorn. We rode it back on a big family trip in June 2017 2x back when VB had just opened. Only the 2 of us did VB in May 2019, (we are the ones in the family that enjoy swimming) we did this as many times as time allowed.
Things my mom won’t do at VB include all the trapdoor slides and probably Honu (big blue slide). She rode Honu back in June 2017. It was definitely at the peak of her comfort level and she doesn’t want to do it again (same for Tower of Terror). Maku Puihi, we rode both of these in May 2019 again (the green one is more thrilling). Ika Moana was super fun for her (we missed it in June 2017). Ohno & Ohya are fun (these are just normal water slides; the thrill is in the 4-6 ft fall into the pool). The wild river is great fun!
I went from (precovid) “I have no interest in travelling a great distance to do a waterpark when we have season passes to a decent one at home”.
(August, pre-visit) “Well, we will be needing Mask-Free Frolic mid-trip. Just that is worth the pass upgrade price”
(Post-visit) “That kraka-whatever ride, and the Fierce River are awesome! Our next visit will be when it will be warm enough to go again.” In fact we are doing a split stay with Cabana Bay to be near VB.
eta: DD hates most coasters. It is stomach-feeling of a long drop that she doesn’t like. Kraka-whatever doesn’t have that. They have these magnetic thingies that haul the raft up hills, so you never need to get very high. Also don’t have to climb a mile of stairs.
We watched through a POV of all the slides with the kids last night and they were very clear on which ones looked fun to them and which did not! Basically, they want to do the Krakatau water coaster, and the milder of each pair of tube slides:
Ika Moana but not Honu
Puihi but not Maku
Maybe both the Taniwha Tube slides
None of the body slides
We’ll see how brave they are after they try one or two! They loved the videos of the Tot Tiki Reef! I’m sure they could spend all day there.
I’m excited to try them all! DW is not going to do any of the toilet flushers.
(That said, I will probably work my way up to Ko’Okiri and only ride if I don’t completely panic on the other slides. I think they look awesome but I do sometimes get claustrophobia so I’ll have to feel it out.)
I went on Ko’Okiri and one of the serpentine toilet flushers in June 2017. Ko’Okiri was a free-fall and over super fast (basically Summit Plummet over at Blizzard Beach with a trapdoor). Exhilarating and intense. The serpentine slide was more claustrophobic overall and sort of disorientating. It went on and on and did circles. I also ended up with a welt on my back (no one else in my group got one though). My sister and father did the more intense serpentine slide (which my sister claims was so smooth and no more intense than Ohno); my partner and I did the less intense one (there is a green slide and a blue slide; one has an extra drop towards the end).
What’s the hold up? 
