Universal's Volcano Bay Announces Winter Closure - Inside the Magic

Universal Orlando Resort has announced that its water park Volcano Bay will be closed for the 2020-21 Winter Season. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the park will close November 2 and remain closed until March 2021.

This past summer Volcano Bay reopened with the rest of Universal Orlando–which included CityWalk, Universal Orlando Resort, and Universal’s Islands of Adventure–while the Walt Disney World Resort elected to keep its two award-winning water parks Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach closed for the rest of the year. One of Disney World’s water parks will reopen in March 2021, just as Volcano Bay will.

This news of a winter closure comes shortly after Universal announced it will close Volcano Bay on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as the reclosure of its two resort hotels, the Sapphire Falls and Aventura hotels.

Volcano Bay has also been the subject of several lawsuits with 115 people reportedly being injured and 73 injury claims being filed. One case, in particular, left a man paralyzed from the waist down.

“For them to have this many claims in a short period of time is troubling,” said Orlando attorney Varun Ramnarine, whose client, a local college student, sued in June. “It’s a brand new water park.”

Related: Universal’s Volcano Bay Reaches Capacity, No Masks Required

Universal told the Sentinel that they will use the closure to perform routine annual maintenance on the attractions and overall theme park.

When asked about what the closure means regarding layoffs, Universal responded by saying:

“Some Team Members will work on the annual maintenance in the park, others may be reassigned to support other areas, and the remaining will be placed on leave during the seasonal closure. These team members will be welcomes back to Universal’s Volcano Bay with our current planned reopening on or before March 1.”

UPDATE: I asked Universal what the seasonal Volcano Bay closure will mean for team members. Here's what Universal said: pic.twitter.com/gqtA3UA2UL

— Ashley Carter (@AshleyLCarter1) October 2, 2020

Have you been to Volcano Bay recently? What advice would you give someone looking to visit for the first time? Let us know in the comments!

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