That's if they operate all day lolPlus, there is a crap ton of more restaurants in Epic Universe, both indoors and outdoors, so I suspect that helps with crowd spacing as well.
Yeah, they'll end up either opening late, closing early, or seasonal. Good intentions until reality sets in.That's if they operate all day lol
I'm surprised to see the park open with a bunch of restaurants, IOA can barely operate them all for the entire day.
It's kinda off-putting to walk after 5 PM and see a bunch of buildings sit empty.
But what if at 6pm, they opened the hub to the public?That's if they operate all day lol
I'm surprised to see the park open with a bunch of restaurants, IOA can barely operate them all for the entire day.
It's kinda off-putting to walk after 5 PM and see a bunch of buildings sit empty.
Sounding more and more like that's what's going to happen at some point in time.But what if at 6pm, they opened the hub to the public?
I'm very interested in seeing what the capacity is of the hub and how it all operates. I can't imagine people will be happy if they paid full price and can't see the fireworks cause the entire center fountain is taken up by free guests.But what if at 6pm, they opened the hub to the public?
The guests have an entire park to themselves for eight hours. They can learn to deal with it lolI'm very interested in seeing what the capacity is of the hub and how it all operates. I can't imagine people will be happy if they paid full price and can't see the fireworks cause the entire center fountain is taken up by free guests.
This never occurred to me until now, but it's just one more in a long list of reasons I despise the whole idea.I'm very interested in seeing what the capacity is of the hub and how it all operates. I can't imagine people will be happy if they paid full price and can't see the fireworks cause the entire center fountain is taken up by free guests.
I'm local, so I don't care if I miss out on something, but if I were paying 3-4K for a trip to Universal, only to then battle through waves of guests to see a firework show cause they got in for free... boy would I be angry lolThe guests have an entire park to themselves for eight hours. They can learn to deal with it lol
Well, CityWalk has yet to reach its full potential IMO. For the majority of the day, the upper level goes unused, and even on most nights, it sits empty.This never occurred to me until now, but it's just one more in a long list of reasons I despise the whole idea.
If Universal wants CityWalk: The Sequel at Epic Universe... build it. Outside the park gates.
I honestly never thought of night shows. I also think guests going from portal to portal would not be happy. I also forsee lines. We talked about the facial recognition being a fast way to enter portals, but I realized when we first entered the park they do not take pictures of minors. So not sure how that will work for them.I'm very interested in seeing what the capacity is of the hub and how it all operates. I can't imagine people will be happy if they paid full price and can't see the fireworks cause the entire center fountain is taken up by free guests.
What if we built our water park to stay open to 11 pm or later? Oh wait, still nobody will stay past 5.But what if at 6pm, they opened the hub to the public?
The guests have an entire park to themselves for eight hours. They can learn to deal with it lol
Well, CityWalk has yet to reach its full potential IMO. For the majority of the day, the upper level goes unused, and even on most nights, it sits empty.
Reservations and Express pass to even get in area's from Hollywood website "Depending on crowd conditions, you may be able to enter the land without making an entry time reservation via the Virtual Line reservation experience." So basically you need express to get in each area even if you have ticket to enter park if it is busy .How would the rides work? Pay per ride for the public? And would people with single day tickets still get on for no additional charge?
An open Hub has the potential to be Universal Escape all over again… come to our theme park for free after 6, but no not the rides, but you can walk over here, but not over there. In multiple languages.What if we built our water park to stay open to 11 pm or later? Oh wait, still nobody will stay past 5.
Build a free-to-enter theme park in Orlando, congrats, you just built Fun Spot/Old Town. Expect the same crowd. Only even more popular because free fireworks (Disney Springs STILL pulls a crowd every NYE looking for fireworks). You can change how you build/run theme parks, but you can't change how crowds will react to theme parks.
... oh wait, you're serious???
Yeah, forget the $150 guests who've been buying stuff all day, let's cater to the guest who might buy a $6 soda, maybe.
CityWalk was always a rip-off of PI ... and much like Disney, Universal found out it's not easy to keep a nightlife district relevant by reinventing it every half decade or so. And once it starts to fade, begins to shift to a non-family friendly crowd. I don't know that they'd be keen to build another CityWalk when they haven't solved the issues of the first. Now a rip-off Disney Springs would be a different story, but I've seen zero evidence of that...
My guess is it doesn't start out as an open HUB after 6 and they phase this in later and it may be that park guests can get into the fountain seating area and free guests do not and that helps with the issue of free vs paid guests. They also need work out faster ways to enter the land after it is open to the public.This open hub idea is basically an entire new operational reality for an Orlando theme park, so I imagine there are probably a bevy of things they forgot to consider, alongside issues they've actually foreseen and taken the time to address. I guess we'll see which are which when the park opens.
EDIT: Actually, we could probably estimate the capacity of the fountain seating by looking at aerials at this point. Wonder what it shakes out to...