Virtual lines at VB - have a I missed something?

Princess Jes · May 27, 2017

Im sure it's been mentioned somewhere, thought I have read and watched about everything I can about volcano bay, but, they haven't specifically mentioned how many virtual lines you can be in at once have they?

I assume it's only one at a time?
Assuming that, does that mean that because there's no standby lines at all, that if you got a virtual place for the coaster and it's 2 hours, you literally can't ride any other slides until 2 hours has passed? You have to just go in the wave pool, lazy/rapid rivers or eat/drink?

DLgal · May 27, 2017

As of now, you can have the water coaster plus one more.

But yes, you basically have the jist of how it works.It's been a disaster so far.

Princess Jes · May 27, 2017

We are coming from Australia specifically to see VB (initially it was just a Disneyland trip) and I'll be peeved if things don't change between now and August.

I understand that it's essentially just waiting in line but you can go and get a drink or go in the lazy river, but it's crazy that you can't go on multiple attractions in the mean time.
At least, when they sold the marketing for it "no waiting in lines" I just assumed it meant you could go find another attraction to ride in the interim.

You know what they say about assuming though?

cschaaf · May 27, 2017

Yeah, it's kind of odd psycologically... If you went to IOA and had to wait 2 hours for FJ, you'd wait 2 hours with no opportunity to do anything but wait.

Here, they let you wander for those 2 hours. You can do a few things - eat, relax, wave pool, etc, but it feels like you should be able to do other things.

It's still the same 2 hour wait, you can do a lo more than just stand in a line, but it would be frustrating knowing you couldn't go on another ride during that wait.

Princess Jes · May 27, 2017

cschaaf said:
Yeah, it's kind of odd psycologically... If you went to IOA and had to wait 2 hours for FJ, you'd wait 2 hours with no opportunity to do anything but wait.

Here, they let you wander for those 2 hours. You can do a few things - eat, relax, wave pool, etc, but it feels like you should be able to do other things.

It's still the same 2 hour wait, you can do a lo more than just stand in a line, but it would be frustrating knowing you couldn't go on another ride during that wait.

Yeah I totally agree, they're literally just eliminating the switch backs, sore legs and irritability of staying in a line, but I feel like the whole point would in doing so would be to allow you to experience more.
And the lack of standby lines for the slides that may command less of a wait time is probably the key.
I'd be ok waiting an hour or so for a return time for say 6 of the headliners (33% of the 18 listed attractions) if it meant I could go ride another slide or two in the meantime

cschaaf · May 27, 2017

Princess Jes said:
Yeah I totally agree, they're literally just eliminating the switch backs, sore legs and irritability of staying in a line, but I feel like the whole point would in doing so would be to allow you to experience more.
And the lack of standby lines for the slides that may command less of a wait time is probably the key.
I'd be ok waiting an hour or so for a return time for say 6 of the headliners (33% of the 18 listed attractions) if it meant I could go ride another slide or two in the meantime

I think if they tried adding a standby queue to the non-headliners, those lines would get super long. Everyone would Tapu in for a headliner, then go stand in line at the non-headliner - equalizing the waits for both. Then people would be angry because they stood in a line for 2 hours to ride a 12 second slide.

I guess you'd still get 2-for-1, though lol.

It's such a shift in the way a park flows and what park-goers are used to. I think Universal will get better at implementation - the real question is, how long will it take for park-goers to get better at using the system?

damo · May 28, 2017

I think once everything in the park is open, it will work better as well.

anricat · May 28, 2017

damo said:
I think once everything in the park is open, it will work better as well.

Is everything not open? I read that the first day some stuff wasn't, but I assumed everything was operating at this point. Maybe not 100% of the time, but I didn't realize that some rides were completely closed.

anricat · May 28, 2017

Something I'm not clear on is if you have to go all the way to EACH ride to get in the virtual queue with your Tapu Tapu or if there are kiosks or if you do it directly on your Tapu Tapu. Can anyone clarify how this works? We're planning to do early entry at VB on Friday and I'm just wondering if I need to study a map to map out my plan of attack to get in the queue for the coaster + one other thing right away.

damo · May 28, 2017

anricat said:
Is everything not open? I read that the first day some stuff wasn't, but I assumed everything was operating at this point. Maybe not 100% of the time, but I didn't realize that some rides were completely closed.

I should have added the word reliably. Seems like things are still down for entire days or long portions of days.

chmurf · May 28, 2017

anricat said:
Something I'm not clear on is if you have to go all the way to EACH ride to get in the virtual queue with your Tapu Tapu or if there are kiosks or if you do it directly on your Tapu Tapu. Can anyone clarify how this works?

you need to tap your tapu tapu at the entrance of each ride you wish to enter. So you'll need to physically go to the ride entrance (remember that getting a return time for a ride is actually like entering a physical line)

you can only have one at a time, so not sure about studying the map. the wise thing to do is to "enter" the line of whichever ride has the lowest wait time, and so on. That's the only way you'll get most of the park done.
As previously said, getting a tapu tapu time is like entering a standby line, so choose your rides like you would chose a ride at any regular park. You probably won't enter a 300+ minutes line, and prefer the one that says 20 minutes.

the only other way to enter a virtual line is if you rent a cabana, you'll get a "kiosk" in your cabana

Disxuni · May 28, 2017

cschaaf said:
the real question is, how long will it take for park-goers to get better at using the system?

I think once the park itself gets an average amount of guests a park typically gets it will finally settle down and work properly.

Meaning right now, you're getting far more guests than traditionally it would have in the future. Opening days, or week will always have incredibly amount of park goers trying to make it, which would make it have far more higher capacity than it normally would for years to come. So, once it settles down, it will be busy, but not nearly as crazy as it will be during it's opening days and therefore, it will eventually work itself once it gets an average amount going. Right now it's unpredictable.

damo · May 28, 2017

anricat said:
Something I'm not clear on is if you have to go all the way to EACH ride to get in the virtual queue with your Tapu Tapu or if there are kiosks or if you do it directly on your Tapu Tapu. Can anyone clarify how this works? We're planning to do early entry at VB on Friday and I'm just wondering if I need to study a map to map out my plan of attack to get in the queue for the coaster + one other thing right away.

Here is a good guide. http://orlandoparkstop.com/news/feature/complete-guide-to-taputapu-at-universals-volcano-bay/

It explains about multiple reservations. You can also book one of two rides along with your single reservation.

anricat · May 28, 2017

chmurf said:
you can only have one at a time, so not sure about studying the map.

Well, one at a time plus the water coaster is my understanding, right? So I would need to make my way there first and then to another ride second.

damo · May 28, 2017

anricat said:
Well, one at a time plus the water coaster is my understanding, right? So I would need to make my way there first and then to another ride second.

One plus either Krakatau Aqua Coaster or Honu ika Moana.

I think time will influence several factors that will help to make this system work better. Once the TMs get more efficient in dispatching people, the rides will have a higher capacity. Once all rides are working properly, the rides will have a higher capacity. Once people adjust their way of thinking that this system simply lets them not have to wait on the steps to each ride and that they can wait somewhere else and do some other things other than waiting on the steps, it will become more accepted. I think most people would prefer to wait under an umbrella or at a bar or in the wave pool instead of waiting on the hot steps. Once the proper park capacity and express pass capacity is determined, the system will also run better.

Unfortunately, this park should have soft opened for a few weeks at a lower capacity to iron out the kinks before opening on a holiday weekend.

RalphinSC · May 29, 2017

It will get better, but this is definitely a trial by fire.

And I think the thing a lot of people fail to take into account when they complain about not being able to be in more than one line at once: If everyone is in two (or more) lines, then all those lines will be twice as long (Or more).

The times I have seen are nuts based off of poor reliability that rides often have at start-up coupled with huge holiday and opening crowds. With that said, I've still seen good reports from people who get there at early entry and get right to riding the biggest rides, as well as those who stay on later into the evening and ride in the last couple of hours.

It's going to be crazy for awhile until everything hits it's stride. Cutting off Express pass sales is a good start as I think that wrecked havoc into the virtual queue system when coupled with any amount of downtime. Hopefully, it gets better in the coming weeks.

KristinU · May 29, 2017

Anyone know if current wait times are posted centrally throughout the park? Or do you have to check at the entrance/Tapu of each ride?

damo · May 29, 2017

KristinU said:
Anyone know if current wait times are posted centrally throughout the park? Or do you have to check at the entrance/Tapu of each ride?

There is a wait times board and map at the front of the park.

Chuckers · May 30, 2017

damo said:
There is a wait times board and map at the front of the park.

I feel there needs to be more than one board so people don't have to walk all the way to the front of the park to figure out what to do next. (Granted, I haven't been there yet, maybe the park isn't big enough to justify more than one.)

RalphinSC · May 30, 2017

Chuckers said:
I feel there needs to be more than one board so people don't have to walk all the way to the front of the park to figure out what to do next. (Granted, I haven't been there yet, maybe the park isn't big enough to justify more than one.)

Agree this needs to be on Universal's to do list, along with integrating the wait times into the Universal App. It would definitely be more helpful and cut down on guessing when it comes to what to ride and what not to ride.

Virtual lines at VB - have a I missed something?

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