As Volcano Bay Comes On Line, Universal Ups The Ante For Travel Agents

Kopiko Wai Winding River.

The battle for the hearts of minds of the young at heart will likely take place on the water next summer, as Universal and Disney both plan upgrades to their water parks. And Universal is preparing for battle by arming its best soldiers: professional travel agents.

Universal’s Volcano Bay promises to be a “radically-innovative water theme park” when it opens next June, the company announced yesterday, as it revealed some details of the project even while keeping many under wraps. Spanning 28 acres, Volcano Bay is designed to “combine exhilarating experiences with hassle-free convenience,” including a “redefined queue experience.” 

Frank Belzer, Universal Orlando Resorts senior vice president of sales and marketing, told TMR that rather than starting to design a water park in the traditional way, with an image of “lots of big slides,” Universal began by researching why people did NOT like water parks, and fixing those issues. “That’s where the idea of doing away with standing in the sun in long lines in a bathing suit and carrying tubes and eating horrible food” originated. 

“We wanted to add a spa-like element that appeals to moms who want to sit and have a martini while their kids play in the water,” he said. “We want the experience to be very relaxing, invigorating, refreshing.”

Volcano Bay will spread 18 attractions across four areas. There will be a multi-directional wave pool with sandy beaches, a winding river, twisting multi-rider raft rides, slides that drop from the top of a volcano—and a “state-of-the-art marquee attraction that will be revealed at a later date.” 

Honu.

The park is being created by the team behind The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. 

Each area of the park will offer easy-to-access, resort-like amenities, such as concierge locations and lockers, restaurants and bars offering signature food and beverage options, and views of the volcano.  

The four areas are: 

1. Krakatau: A 200-foot volcano at the heart of the park, with hidden caverns and cascading waterfalls guests can explore. It will have three distinctive body slides: a 70-degree drop that plummets 125-feet through the center of Krakatau the world’s first slide to travel through a pool filled with guests; two intertwining slides where guests free-fall along 124 twisting feet; and a high-speed race through four different enclosed slides featuring manta-shaped mats.

2. Wave Village: Home to a multi-directional wave pool and private, one- or two-story cabana, and a leisure pool.

3. River Village: Home to a gentle, winding river that will pass through the volcano’s hidden caves, featuring spontaneous water effects and special nighttime lighting; a  toddler play area with spraying fountains, slides and a kid-size volcano; a three-story water playground inspired by a coral reef, and two raft rides. 

4. Rainforest Village: Featuring multi-passenger raft rides through darkness, around saucer-shaped curves, and through zero-gravity drops and whitewater rapids, as well as a relaxing lagoon.  

The water theme park is near Universal Orlando’s two other theme parks, Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure, as well as Universal CityWalk and on-site hotels, including Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, the Hard Rock Hotel, Loews Royal Pacific Resort and Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort. 

Universal Orlando will soon introduce a three-park Explorer ticket for travel dates beginning June 1, 2017. They will soon be available “through web sites and travel professionals,” Universal noted in the press release. 

The water park clearly ups the stakes in the Universal-versus-Disney battle for consumer dollars in Orlando. Even as Universal spoke about the new park, the new Frozen Ever After and Soarin’ Around the World rides opened at Disney World, and the park announced that it, too, will be upgrading its water parks. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Disney has filed paperwork with the South Florida Water Management District to debut a new family raft ride for its Typhoon Lagoon water park. Spread over two acres, it will feature an elevated flume (though not a volcano).

Role of travel agents
Belzer said travel agents are “an incredibly important” channel for Universal, which in March rolled out a dedicated website, UniversalTravelAgents.com, offering information, and a training program for agents in the United States and Canada. 

While declining to cite exactly what percent of revenue comes through the travel-agent channel, Belzer said the company “knows we need to invest in areas of the business that are paying off for us, and not in areas that are not. And we continue to invest in the travel-agent channel.”

Universal has increased the number of fam trips it offers; “off the top of my head I know that this year we have increased fam trips for agents in Latin America by 40%, and we have definitely increased the number in the United States and Canada as well,” he said. And where the trips once were just a tour of the park and the hotels, now they are more focused on the teaching agents how to sell.

The first half-day is an overview in which Universal shares data on guest satisfaction and tips on how to position the product. “We know that the more travel agents know about us, the more they will sell and the more successful we will both be,” Belzer said.