Universal Orlando’s Volcano Bay made its debut to the world last summer, to the tune of 1.5 million guests. That earned it the number 7 spot in the most attended Waterparks in the world for 2017, and number 3 for North America.
Naturally, being a brand new waterpark, the park hit capacity several times during the summer. It’s something that will likely be repeated this year, especially if the hot and muggy weather persists.
So, how does Universal combat that? By raising prices, of course.
Groan, moan grumble. Yeah, raised ticket prices suck, but unfortunately it comes as part of supply and demand. The more people who want to go, the more the park can (and will) charge. It’s not my favorite thing either, but it’s part of life.
The tiered pricing actually went into effect right before Spring Break, and now has tickets starting at $80 dollars for a one day ticket, but most of the summer the price slide up to $85 dollars.
While you may say that’s crazy, there are days where the park is already sold out in July.
Sold out!??! Already?!?! Yeah, it’s an amazing park with a lot of cool features, so it’s no surprise that Volcano Bay will sell out during the hottest and busiest time of the year. But those prices! Yes, the prices are horribly expensive…if you buy a single, one day ticket. But we’ll get more into that later.
The price last year started out at just $65 dollars (if we’re remembering right), and the park did reach capacity most days. The price increase has lead some to proclaim Volcano Bay as “THE MOST EXPENSIVE WATER PARK IN THE WORLD!!!!!”. While they may certainly be the most expensive in Orlando (Disney parks clock in at just under $60 dollars, and Aquatica rolls in at $65 dollars day of and $49 dollars in advance. Save that bit of information), they are not the most expensive in the world.
We did a little bit of research, and we found out two very distinct things.
1. There are a lot of water parks in the world, like so many. We couldn’t even begin to go through them all, and check prices and exchange rates.
2. They are not the most expensive waterpark in the world. There’s actually two (that we found, before giving up) that are more expensive.
We pulled up two other world class water parks, and found prices. The first is Maya Park in Costa Maya. Tickets are a flat fee of $99 USD. The park is amazingly gorgeous, and includes zip lines and all kinds of different adventures. We’ve provided the picture below.
The second is Aquaventure in Paradise Island, Bahamas. The park is gorgeous, with slides that go right through ancient ruins, and surround you with live animals. It’s a must see for any water park lover. However, the prices START AT $99 dollars for a day ticket. Now, if you stay onsite, at Atlantis Resort, you’ll get it included with your admission. But day tickets are what we’re looking at here. We looked at a random day in July, where we know Volcano Bay is at $85 dollars. The price for a single day ticket was $166 dollars, just for the waterpark.
That’s almost double the price for a one day ticket in July to Volcano Bay. Now, yes, it’s in the Bahamas and Maya Park is in Central America, but the point was the most expensive water park “IN THE WORLD”.
But remember our little mention about Aquatica above? If you buy a ticket at the gate, you pay $65 dollars. If you buy in advance, they were just $49 dollars. $15 bucks will pay for some drinks, maybe some food or a shirt. That’s a good difference.
The same is said about Volcano Bay. If you buy a three park ticket, you save money per park. If you buy a multiple day ticket, you save even more money. You want the best value? If you live close enough where you can make it to the park on a regular basis, buy an annual pass. A three park annual pass starts at $359 (depending on the amount of black out dates you’re good with). Naturally, the more you go with an annual pass, the more value you get. If you go, say 15 times within a year, that brings your per day cost to around $25 dollars…and that’s if you just spend those 15 days at Volcano Bay.
The point is that there’s ways to pay less for the parks you love, and want to enjoy without breaking the bank, you just have to do a little research and ask questions.
Besides, wouldn’t it be worth it to go sliding through the middle of a Volcano?
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