Renting a Cabana at Volcano Bay
Amy Baranek8.29.19We recently had our first stay as a family on Universal property and one of the things my boys were most excited about was visiting Volcano Bay. They love water parks and hadn’t visited Universal’s new water park yet. One thing though-my boys aren’t huge waterslide fans. I knew most of their time would be in the lazy river or wave pool, and the idea of sitting in the hot Florida sun with little shade was making me exhausted just thinking about it. This led me to the brilliant idea, (honestly it was one of my better ideas), of renting a cabana at Volcano Bay. I used the fact that it was Mother’s Day as a justification to the cost of a day of relaxation.Once I decided to book, it was time to call to check availability and pricing. There is a total of four options from which to choose. One thing to note is pricing varies greatly. During peak times, pricing is much higher while slower times will place you at the lower end of pricing.-Single stand-alone cabana: As the name implies, this is not connected to another cabana, accommodates up to 6 people, cost ranges between $159.99-449.99...When I called to check pricing, this was about $30 more than the ground unit below.-Ground floor cabana: This is the bottom of a 2 story cabana unit, accommodates up to 6 people, cost ranges between $159.99-449.99. My concern was noise from the upper cabana, but we never heard anything from our upstairs neighbors.-Upper floor cabana: Top level of the tower that promises an amazing view, accommodates up to 6 people, cost ranges between $199.99-549.99. You will need to go up and down stairs if you choose this cabana.-Family suite cabana: Large, stand alone cabana, accommodates up to 16 people, cost ranges between $299.99-599.99, there are only 2 of these in the entire park. This could be a great option to split with multiple families but should be reserved as early as possible.
I chose the ground floor of a 2 story, mostly because I was having some “sticker shock” on the price and wanted to save where I could. With such a large range in pricing, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a reference, we went on Sunday, May 12, and the total cost after tax was $299. To book the cabana, call 877-801-9720 or discuss with your Wishes Family Travel agent and they will take care of the details for you! Please note, you will be required to pay in full at the time of booking. You may cancel for a complete refund up to 72 hours before your reservation-there are no refunds if weather is bad. After you make the reservation, you will receive an email confirmation that has a code to be scanned or ‘ticket’ for your cabana. You can print this out or show it on your phone when you check in. Your cabana rental does not gain you entrance to the park, so be sure you have park tickets.
On your arrival day, you enter the park as normal and then head to a concierge desk in the park. Here they will check you in, give you your cabana wristband for the day, and a concierge attendant will escort you to your cabana. The attendant will explain the amenities to you. You have a locker that locks/unlocks with your Tapu Tapu, a fridge stocked with bottled water, and a kiosk that makes your life so easy by allowing you to get in the virtual line for your favorite ride right where you are!
That’s right; there is no need to stroll through the park just to tap into a virtual line- you can do it from the shaded comfort of your cabana! You also have towels available to you in your cabana and the ability to order from all the different food locations throughout the park. The attendant let us know if we needed anything, we just raise our flag outside our cabana, and they would be by to help us. They then left to bring us our beautiful welcome basket which included some delicious fresh fruit, muffins, and pastries.
Another great feature of the cabana was the shelter it provided during a typical Orlando storm. It started pouring for about 30 minutes! Others were huddled under umbrellas or squished in gift stores, while we stayed in our cabana until the storm passed. It worked out well; we had just ordered lunch, so we were able to enjoy our food while it was raining outside.Overall, the cabana rental was a wonderful experience! It was well worth it for some extra pampering that day. If you are not planning on spending most of your day at Volcano Bay, I don’t know that a cabana rental would be worth it for you. It worked well for us as we were there for most of the day with plenty of time to enjoy between our water activities. I would absolutely rent a ground floor of a 2-story cabana again; we heard no noise from our upstairs neighbor and had a wonderful view. This was the perfect way to relax and enjoy a wonderful day at Volcano Bay. My only problem now is that it will be difficult to go back without having a cabana next time!!I’d love to help you plan your own Universal vacation, whether it’s tickets for a day or enjoying a stay on property for a few days! Please contact me at amyb@wishesfamilytravel.com. If you have no plans to travel just yet, follow me on Facebook at Wishes Family Travel-Amy Baranek. If you’d like to learn more about me or read more of my blogs, please visit my biography page.