Universal's Epic Universe Construction Thread

[Jake S]

not reading every post in every thread is an option, too. unless you’re a moderator. then brian makes you read every post out loud in front of the mirror before you get paid.

 

[Clive]

not reading every post in every thread is an option, too. unless you’re a moderator. then brian makes you read every post out loud in front of the mirror before you get paid.

You get paid?

 

[Jake S]

You get paid?

n….no! haha nope! no sir!

 

[Rhian]

*sigh* Pendantic nitpicky rant incoming and I'm disappointed with myself, especially since me of all people believes in waiting to pass judgement.

I really hope the doors are integrated well and they slide into the wall rather than fold, because that could really ruin the clean look of this portal. For immersion's sake, it should look like a seamless transition as opposed to something that's meant to occasionally be closed. It's like the Warp Pipes entering in Super Nintendo World; they just wouldn't look right with a door in the front.

You can see that white break in the area might be where the door is supposed to fold back, and I'm not sure that will look good in practice. If they have a mouth to the portal, then a small gap, and then the magic that transports you, it's a little meh to me in terms of themeing. I very much prefer the transitions of Galaxy's Edge, Pandora, and Diagon Alley which happen pretty naturally. I'm in no way opposed to doors, especially because I know it requires extra staff to simply use ropes, and if the business model is different here where Celestial Park is open after hours, the massive potential cost savings are massive, but that little touch will be important.

I might have some good news! At first it looked like the construction team was spending the day only installing half doors on multiple portals for…some reason. None of these photos were giving any hints about how they may actually close, but I did think there was enough room on each side to have the doors slide in, not back.





I went back and saw Bio had taken a shot of HP's portal from another angle and you can see the right door is slotted into the portal frame and what appears to be grooves in the floor, meaning the portal doors slide out to close the portal and don't swing in!



Your fears about the portal tunnel magic being diminished by the doors being present, fear not! I was actually quite happy to find out about this too! lol

The one other thing I'll say is I think we're forgetting how egregious some of the sight lines are in Walt Disney World, too. I'd never been on Slinky Dog Dash before a quick visit in December, and uh, you can see a whole lot of backstage from the entirety of that ride without looking hard at all. Sometimes you just can't cover everything.

I mean you could, but that goes to the whole topic about resource management.

I do want to acknowledge Universal is doing well at managing the sight lines where it matters most closer to guests than with the birds. The amount of effort being put in this corner of Wing Glider's which you'll only be passing for a second or two is phenomenal. You're unlikely to see Stardust building in this section, and they could've certainly just left it less covered than they are now.

I’m just waiting for the inevitable complaints about sight lines from the upper floors of Helios.

Bio's photos have shown just how unthemed the park is from the sky. Uni totally dropped the ball on immersion there!

Nobody should be automatically assuming the park will be filled with terrible sightlines.

I don't think anyone's saying as much in that direction either.

Overall it's actually wonderful that there do seem to be so few areas in this park so far that come across as potential "issues" and it's likely we'll see some of those even addressed before opening day. The real tell about sight lines and how much they interfere with the immersion will be once the expansions start coming in and how much of the beige buildings (for example) affect the final product. But we're way too far out from talking about that!

 

[12th Man]

This has actually been such a constructive, healthy discussion. Appreciate you all and I apologize for diving into the minutia of it all.

And one last thing to add… not sure if anyone noticed this, but this is the kind of stuff I love to see.

 

[Frank Drackman]

But then, by that logic, aren't the back of buildings likely to be at a theme park?

that's very fare, but I still think it comes down to how tastefully (if at all) the attempt is to move your eyes elsewhere.

from when I first heard of this 'portal' concept, I guess I expect each portal to be self contained, I should be in Nintendo and Nintendo alone, Pairs/Ministry should be its own themed area -- if one (or all) of the portals have a building that can be seen within, I think I would find that less troublesome than seeing Paris from Nintendo or something silly like that.

Just hard for me to read how critical folks are ready to be when they visit Epic.

 

[OrlLover]

This is so funny to see considering this was one of the first areas to get extensive landscaping.

 

[saint.piss]

 

[DrStarlander]

Scaffolding is down at the phase 2 dining since recent daytime update images. Now we can see that complete facade -- it looks great!

 

[Andysol]

View attachment 24578
View attachment 24579
I have zero doubt in my mind that Epic will not look like this — they know what they need to do and what we’ve seen from these construction photos is already inspiring confidence. As an aside, Beijing was not a cheap park, which is why I won’t be surprised if Epic costs substantially more.

I did notice the hogwarts building- but didn’t even notice the back building as being obtrusive when I was in Beijing.
And I’m a theme park fan.

So to the normal guest, this stuff truly doesn’t matter.

This has got me fired up.

It’s also fascinating that there was a guard posted outside the MoM entrance.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Anytime this park is nor open after dark is a crime!

 

[Tobias]

With every evening update, this park is looking like one heck of a vibe at night with the lights. I really do hope we get some nice park times to enjoy it, as it feels like they're going all out with how it looks.

Just like how each Universe is presented in a different way, the lighting reflects that. Bright and colorful for SNW, while Dark Universe is dark, dim and foreboding. The lighting in Isle of Berk feels like it has a bunch of lanterns/torches for that glow of fire. And MoM has that charming romantic Paris kind of vibe. It really goes to show how lighting can help give a land it's character.

 

[mainejeff]

This park needs to be a 10-10 park Sun-Thur and 10-Midnight Fri & Sat.

 

[Rhian]

At 1:28 you can glimpse the carousel seating testing its lights.



The first recorded light test for one of the fountain spouts in the large pond! Hopefully Bio will be able to capture some of the upcoming fountain testing.

 

[DrStarlander]

Bioreconstruct's recent nighttime images show some new details I didn't recall seeing in the prior daytime shots:

1. Steel framing of the spherical Celestial Park stage.
2. The (illuminated!) inscription is on the Ministry of Magic portal.
3. The top finial is on the Constellation Carousel queue dome.
4. The location of the Lost Berm of Celestial Park has even more trees...at least 8, which when full grown will be quite a little forest.

Lastly, this crescent planter outside the entry portal has me wondering...will they put a flagpole here? Its center location and the small-ish size (kind of small to bother with for plantings alone) is giving me flagpole vibes. I included a couple of images of centered-out-front flagpoles at Epcot and DAK for comparison, couldn't easily find something similar for Universal and wasn't sure what's typical for Uni parks. (I can imagine waiting on installing a flagpole so it doesn't hinder cranes and cherry pickers, etc.)

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Bioreconstruct's recent nighttime images show some new details I didn't recall seeing in the prior daytime shots:

1. Steel framing of the spherical Celestial Park stage.
2. The (illuminated!) inscription is on the Ministry of Magic portal.
3. The top finial is on the Constellation Carousel queue dome.
4. The location of the Lost Berm of Celestial Park has even more trees...at least 8, which when full grown will be quite a little forest.

Lastly, this crescent planter outside the entry portal has me wondering...will they put a flagpole here? Its center location and the small-ish size (kind of small to bother with for plantings alone) is giving me flagpole vibes. I included a couple of images of centered-out-front flagpoles at Epcot and DAK for comparison, couldn't easily find something similar for Universal and wasn't sure what's typical for Uni parks. (I can imagine waiting on installing a flagpole so it doesn't hinder cranes and cherry pickers, etc.)

Universal only has one for both the parks & CityWalk between the Hard Rock and USF entrance near the globe. There's an area between the Epic parking lot and bus drop off location that has a nook that can fit one, probably there?

That planter you mentioned is located just within the park's entrance, so I doubt that's the location.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

This park needs to be a 10-10 park Sun-Thur and 10-Midnight Fri & Sat.

10am opening? That's not how Universal does it.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

This park needs to be a 10-10 park Sun-Thur and 10-Midnight Fri & Sat.

All the Universal parks should have operating hours of 9AM to 9PM at a minimum.

IOA & Epic should be closing at 10PM on Saturdays, with USF being the sole park to close early for private/special events.

Universal should not be closing their parks before 7PM. How they've managed to get away with that is fascinating.

 

[fryoj]

All the Universal parks should have operating hours of 9AM to 9PM at a minimum.

IOA & Epic should be closing at 10PM on Saturdays, with USF being the sole park to close early for private/special events.

Universal should not be closing their parks before 7PM. How they've managed to get away with that is fascinating.

Unfortunately, it's apparently not hurting attendance. As a not-morning person, I'd much rather roll in to the park at 2 and stay till midnight. Alas, it seems that they aren't moving enough merch and food after 7 to staff the parks and/or replace the income from renting it out.

 

[Mad Dog]

Unfortunately, it's apparently not hurting attendance. As a not-morning person, I'd much rather roll in to the park at 2 and stay till midnight. Alas, it seems that they aren't moving enough merch and food after 7 to staff the parks and/or replace the income from renting it out.

They seemed to be moving to somewhat later hours the two years before covid. Since covid though, they've returned to their old habits of lots of early closings, and not just for parties. I've always thought their earlier than Disney closings were an effort to divert that late business to Citywalk and the really good hotel restaurants, besides saving a couple hours of daily labor costs in the parks.