What?! One of our favorite water park perks is going away, and we don’t know what to think of it.
If you’ve ever been to Universal Orlando‘s water park, Universal Volcano Bay, you might have noticed this unique feature that makes their water park stand out from the rest. However, it won’t be returning in the fall.
The TapuTapu wearable bands, which allow you to join a virtual queue and then return to the attraction later, will no longer be available starting October 1st, 2025.
Previously, when you entered the park, you would be given the TapuTapu band for free, where you could then tap your band outside of a slide to join the virtual queue. You could explore other areas, grab a snack, or relax, and when your time was called, your band would vibrate and you’d return to the attraction.
The bands could even tell you if there was a technical difficulty or weather delay for a slide you’ve been waiting to go on. When you get to the attraction, you’d typically wait 5 or 10 minutes and then hop right on the slide. You’d return the band at the end of the day, but we loved this virtual queue feature.
Starting on October 1st, guests can now access attraction queues at their leisure, rather than waiting for their virtual queue to be called.
We’re used to waiting in lines at theme parks, but this was such a neat feature and made going to the water park an easier and more efficient experience.
While most guests don’t enjoy waiting in long lines to experience water slides, this was an incredible accessibility feature offered to guests with disabilities. The ability to stay in cool, shaded areas with snacks and access to additional resources was a unique feature that isn’t often found in water parks.
If you’re planning a future Universal vacation, be aware that Volcano Bay will be closed seasonally from October 26, 2026, to March 24, 2028, for routine maintenance and refurbishments.
We’re going to be keeping an eye on this to see if any additional changes come to Universal, but in the meantime, make sure you’re following AllEars for the best theme park news.
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What do you think about these changes coming to Volcano Bay? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
Opposite viewpoint but we HATED them. Loved the concept and was excited to use. But the reality was just we never got to ride any of the good slides because the VQ was always insane and if we signed up we’d be waiting 5 hours between slides. It was a pain with small children trudging to get a VQ and then back again to ride. We’ve been to VB twice and had a terrible time both times. Queueing for slides is brutal a la Disney but the pain means less people on the queue – too easy to join a VQ.