Day 16 - Volcano Bay

TLDR: Not too much today. Got up late, packed some cases in preparation for leaving next week :( Had a huge lunch at Hash House A Go Go followed by a few hours at the lovely Volcano Bay water park. Failed at getting tickets for the cinema again so went for a walk then for some Pizza to wrap things up for the day.

Easy start this morning after the monster of a day yesterday. It was very much needed. We spent some time organising our cases for the trip home (still a few days to go yet, but still a wee bit sad about that). We filled about half of the large suitacases we had and still have a number of things to put into the remainine ones but we’re feeling a little more confident that we will manage everything back now. We shall know soon enough.

Gaffney’s V Food!

Mid afternoon, not having any breakfast we decided to visit Hash House A Go Go - a place renowned for BIG plates and an actual Man V Food special. Last time we went not knowing a thing about this place and got more than a shock at the sheer amount of food served. This time we knew better and as it was lunch, it should be a little more gentle on us, hopefully. And it wasn’t. We made a good attempt though, and the food and value for money was brilliant. If we had time, we would probably make a return visit, but the rest of the days and restaurants we wanted to visit were already mapped out.

The… water is lava?

Our plan for later in the day was to attempt Volcano Bay - Universals new water park. With just a few weeks from the park opening, it had been at capacity every morning so unless we were going to queue for a few hours, our best plan was to visit in the afternoon. The weather wasn’t the greatest and it had been forecast to rain, but we decided to brace it and go. We parked in a similar location to the main Universal Car Park and then had to get a 10 minute bus ride to the park itself. Now this park is unique in terms of queuing for rides, in that you don’t. Essentially you get a special tracker that fits like a watch, and when you want to enter a ride, you tap the tracker to a console where the ride is situated and it gives you a return time. You can then go enjoy anything else in the park and the tracker will alert you when your ride time is. Very clever and means you’re not hanging around for hours waiting to ride which especially in water parks is a thing you don’t want to be doing. You also use you band to rent lockers, get photographs and even pay for drinks and snacks (once you link your card), so you don’t need to be carrying anything about with you during the day.

We got into the park and once we got changed and placed our things in a locker, we headed for the river. This seems to be a first choice for the kids, probably as its not too deep so they can comfortably swim and float round without you having to support them. After than we got out and wandered around the park for a bit. The park itself has a huge volcano in the center with the park and rides around and actually within the Volcano itself, its quite stunning as far as water parks go and had a nice Polynesian theme bringing it altogether. The tracker bands are a great idea too but we kept losing ours and although they replace them without issue, you need to go back to the lockers each time to get your ticket so they can re-link them again. The weather was still a little touch and go, and it wasn’t the warmest so after larking about in the main pool with the wave machine for a while, we cut our losses and headed back to get changed. We were in the park for a few hours but it was great to (finally) get a chance to experience it ourselves.

Now, it was still relatively early evening, so we thought we give Despicable Me another try. We went back to the hotel to get a quick change and then over to the Cinema. And although there were some seats available they weren’t all together :( - I don’t think we’re ever going to get a chance to see this movie here. Kiddos were a little hungry so we went for a pizza buffet at Cici’s Pizza just along the road. Great value for money (for the second time today) and we all stuffed our faces (again, for the second time today). A wee play next door in the amusements (where Robert nearly won a Nintendo Switch ;) and a quick look in the gift shop before we headed home.

It was good to have a more relaxed day after yesterday, but were back at Islands & Universal for a final time tomorrow so that may turn our to be another busy one. And to wrap this up for today, Patrick’s Fun Fact:

> Inside Out was Pixar’s longest ever production, spanning across 8 years.