diff --git a/src/coreComponents/fileIO/vtk/VTKPolyDataWriterInterface.cpp b/src/coreComponents/fileIO/vtk/VTKPolyDataWriterInterface.cpp
index f1539d4d61d..f76ccb552f3 100644
--- a/src/coreComponents/fileIO/vtk/VTKPolyDataWriterInterface.cpp
+++ b/src/coreComponents/fileIO/vtk/VTKPolyDataWriterInterface.cpp
@@ -308,8 +308,10 @@ getWell( WellElementSubRegion const & subRegion,
   localIndex const numPoints = subRegion.size() > 0 ? subRegion.size() + 1 : 0;
   points->SetNumberOfPoints( numPoints );
   auto cellsArray = vtkSmartPointer< vtkCellArray >::New();
-  cellsArray->SetNumberOfCells( subRegion.size() );
   localIndex const numberOfNodesPerElement = subRegion.numNodesPerElement();
+  //deprecated
+  //cellsArray->SetNumberOfCells( subRegion.size() );
+  cellsArray->AllocateExact( subRegion.size(), numberOfNodesPerElement*subRegion.size() );
   GEOS_ERROR_IF_NE( numberOfNodesPerElement, 2 );
   stdVector< vtkIdType > connectivity( numberOfNodesPerElement );
 
@@ -358,7 +360,9 @@ getSurface( FaceElementSubRegion const & subRegion,
   auto & faceToNodes = faceManager.nodeList();
 
   auto cellArray = vtkSmartPointer< vtkCellArray >::New();
-  cellArray->SetNumberOfCells( subRegion.size() );
+  //deprecated
+//cellArray->SetNumberOfCells( subRegion.size() );
+  cellArray->AllocateEstimate( subRegion.size(), subRegion.size() * subRegion.numNodesPerElement()  );
   stdVector< int > cellTypes;
   cellTypes.reserve( subRegion.size() );
 
@@ -599,7 +603,9 @@ static ParticleData
 getVtkCells( ParticleRegion const & region )
 {
   vtkSmartPointer< vtkCellArray > cellsArray = vtkCellArray::New();
-  cellsArray->SetNumberOfCells( region.getNumberOfParticles< ParticleRegion >() );
+  //deprecated
+  //cellsArray->SetNumberOfCells( region.getNumberOfParticles< ParticleRegion >() );
+  cellsArray->AllocateExact( region.getNumberOfParticles< ParticleRegion >(), region.getNumberOfParticles< ParticleRegion >() );
   stdVector< int > cellType;
   cellType.reserve( region.getNumberOfParticles< ParticleRegion >() );