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During our weekend at Universal Studios we decided to take a day off from the thrills of the theme park and instead enjoy some watery fun at the the water park Volcano Bay. For all the times we visited the theme parks while we lived in Florida, we never made it over to this water park. So we were excited to try it out.

Volcano Bay and its Polynesian theme is a really fun place to spend the day. When you first enter the park they give you a small waterproof device that looks like a watch. You use this to get in and out of lockers and get a place in their virtual line. The device will keep track of the time till you can get on the ride and give you update of any delays. Some of the rides even have cameras set up to take your picture as you splash down and the device will tell you which ride has cameras as you’re in line and also will be how you access your pictures at the end of the day.

We started our day with trips down the two six person raft rides- The first named Wet which is just a basic water slide and the other named Wild which also has a couple of steep valleys to go up and down before continuing down the slide. Tessa was just barely tall enough for these so she really had to stretch in order to hang on to the handles which made me a little nervous, but she thought it was the greatest. Clearly she has not inherited her mother’s water fears.

Next we went to the first of two lazy rivers…although there was nothing lazy about the first one. Everybody, no matter your age or swimming ability, is required to wear one of the provided lifejackets in this river. It is very fast moving and has some waves that crash into you and waterfalls splashing down on you added randomly along the path. It’s best to hang on tight to each other and just pick your feet up and let the water take you along.

Because some of the rides are super popular, the wait time can be hours long. We really wanted to try out their water coaster, but by the time we found our way to the ride and got in the virtual line the wait was about 4 hours. We ended up not getting to ride it between some delays for it and then being at the end of the day. So my recommendation would be if you want to ride the water coaster, get to the park early and send one person with all the devices to go and get your place in line for the popular ride while the rest get your things situated in a locker or on a beach chair.

Our next stop was at the two person raft rides. Because the line was pretty short for these we did both the blue and green one multiple times. Tessa loved helping carry the raft and putting it in the water at the top.

We found the kids area and spent a good amount of time here. I would say this is probably the best kid area at a water park that I’ve ever seen. With a mountain of steps to climb and bridges to cross and slides to enjoy and smaller volcanoes that blast water out of them. There was no end to the fun to be had in this area. I was amazed too at the life guards in this area-being a lifeguard is tough enough, but being a lifeguard watching over all the youngsters playing in this huge area takes that responsibility to an entirely different level.

After such a fun time at the kid area we went to the slower, much more lazy, of the lazy rivers for a peaceful float around the park. Once we slowed down a little we started to really feel just how tired we were. {Know if you go: If you’re not use to the elevation and the humidity of Florida, and then spending a day at a waterpark, you can get really dehydrated really fast. Drink lots of water/Gatorade and find time to rest a little in the shade throughout the day.}

After a fun filled day at Volcano Bay, we went back to Universal Studios for dinner and one more lap around the park before heading to the airport. We packed a lot into a short trip and we would have a hard time back at the grind the next day, but it was totally worth it to have such a fun weekend in Orlando.