Epic Universe Expansion Speculation

[NotPennysBoat]

Dark Universe already suffers from a hastily constructed, visually unappealing filler attraction. Ideally, management has learned from this misstep, as introducing another low quality ride will only severely diminish the value of the area.

Well, the one thing I’ve learned over the years is to never underestimate the ability of management to make the same mistakes over and over.

 

[FatalBubbles]

I'm personally leaning more towards this being Revenge of the Bride: The Ride (Hey that rhymes!)

If they're going to do another indoor coaster, it should be what Gringott's should've been: An indoor coaster using the rotating cars but with practical effects and actually be a coaster. I'm hoping for Universal's take of Uncharted at Port Adventura or the upcoming Minecraft coaster in Chessington at England.

Are we thinking this will be a UDX like Uncharted or a "quick-fix" something like Mummy 2.0?

Gringott's slander? Never!

 

[Mad Dog]

Well, the one thing I’ve learned over the years is to never underestimate the ability of management to make the same mistakes over and over.

Yeah. It seems once management gets fond of a ride concept......Simulators....then Coasters.... they milk it until they end up 'out of balance'....again

 

[Parkscope Joe]

From what I heard from staff members and creatives in person on my last years visit. Their plan was to expand darkmoor with black lagoon ip boat ride and they mentioned that harry potter is in work but didn’t shared much on detail. And two of the construction timeline will intertwine as well.

The permits has been recently filed just as they said and their insight has been reliable. And I personally do not believe new bride coaster rumor because I don’t really know where is this rumor source is originate from and logically doesn’t make any sense.

The development pipeline for a large scale indoor dark ride or coaster generally spans +5 years prior to breaking ground. More than five creatives and staff members confirmed to me in my last years visit that the Creature from the Black Lagoon project was already actively underway. With permits having been filed recently, it is highly likely that the design phase is finalizing and groundwork will commence shortly. A multimillion dollar project simply cannot undergo a drastic change in direction at such a late stage of development.

Dark Universe already suffers from a hastily constructed, visually unappealing filler attraction. Ideally, management has learned from this misstep, as introducing another low quality ride will only severely diminish the value of the area.

Not a lot of people come on here and say they talked to people in creative about a project and then openly talk about it.

 

[Ball Don't Lie]

Yeah. Enough with the coasters man. Epic Universe presented the perfect opportunity to broaden their appeal to families, rather than relying solely on their traditional teen and adult audience demographic.

I think Univeral appeals to families, just families with older kids. But can I ask why they need to make Epic appeal more to families with young kids? My two cents, after my wife and I visited with our kiddo earlier this year, is that it was a park for the DINKs (dual income no kids). Outside of Yoshi and the carousel, there really isn't a single kid ride there. Which at first we were like, that's weird lol. But after time it started to make sense. Like they're trying to target people with more disposable income, which not many people have these days so to me it makes sense.

Also we kinda knew that going in. Basically the main reason we went alone was bc we knew he was still a bit too small for most of the rides and he probably wasn't gonna have the best time (plus he's still kinda learning to regulate his emotions so the whole thing would have been a chore). But that gave my wife and I more freedom to do stuff and buy stuff, frankly. Isn't that what Universal wants?

 

[rabbitsmoon]

Dark Universe already suffers from a hastily constructed, visually unappealing filler attraction. Ideally, management has learned from this misstep, as introducing another low quality ride will only severely diminish the value of the area.

Setting aside the assumption that a Bride ride would be low quality, which I don't get at all, having more rides in a land is a good thing!

Uni could pepper the back of land with off-the-shelf flats and they wouldn't ruin Darkmoor. The approach to Unchained and the ride itself are so good it makes it nearly impossible to "severely diminish" this land.

The nets on Werewolf are unfortunate, but it's unquestionably better to have that ride there than to have nothing at all. People asking for that ride to be moved, removed, or enclosed are engaging in some wild wishcasting. Epic has lots of amazing scenic design. It needs more rides!

 

[simon]

I think Univeral appeals to families, just families with older kids. But can I ask why they need to make Epic appeal more to families with young kids? My two cents, after my wife and I visited with our kiddo earlier this year, is that it was a park for the DINKs (dual income no kids). Outside of Yoshi and the carousel, there really isn't a single kid ride there. Which at first we were like, that's weird lol. But after time it started to make sense. Like they're trying to target people with more disposable income, which not many people have these days so to me it makes sense.

Also we kinda knew that going in. Basically the main reason we went alone was bc we knew he was still a bit too small for most of the rides and he probably wasn't gonna have the best time (plus he's still kinda learning to regulate his emotions so the whole thing would have been a chore). But that gave my wife and I more freedom to do stuff and buy stuff, frankly. Isn't that what Universal wants?

Hi, glad you had lovely time with your husband! For your question, Epic Universe practically doubled Universal's physical footprint in Orlando, bringing massive daily capacity requirements. There simply aren't enough teenagers and thrill seeking adults in the vacation pipeline to keep a park of that scale operating at profitable capacity year round. Expanding the demographic net downward to include toddlers and early elementary children opens up the single largest segment of the theme park market.

Also, young children drive retail. The under 10 demographic is a massive catalyst for high margin ancillary spending. character dining, interactive toys, costumes, and plush merchandise. The integration of interactive elements in Epic Universe (like the Power-Up Bands in Super Nintendo World) creates a continuous monetization loop that older, ride focused guests typically don't engage in at the same volume.

Hope my writing helped!

 

[Ball Don't Lie]

Hi, glad you had lovely time with your husband! For your question, Epic Universe practically doubled Universal's physical footprint in Orlando, bringing massive daily capacity requirements. There simply aren't enough teenagers and thrill seeking adults in the vacation pipeline to keep a park of that scale operating at profitable capacity year round. Expanding the demographic net downward to include toddlers and early elementary children opens up the single largest segment of the theme park market.

Also, young children drive retail. The under 10 demographic is a massive catalyst for high margin ancillary spending. character dining, interactive toys, costumes, and plush merchandise. The integration of interactive elements in Epic Universe (like the Power-Up Bands in Super Nintendo World) creates a continuous monetization loop that older, ride focused guests typically don't engage in at the same volume.

Hope my writing helped!

Ya idk about all this, no offense to you. I think Epic can survive on fandom tourism targeted toward families without toddlers or elementary-aged children. You're also REALLY underrating how much things like interactive toys and plush merchandise appeal to people other than small children lol, like my wife walked away with a new Potter wand, a new Nintendo band and lots of stuffies, and so did plenty of other adults in the park. So many more examples. A family of four or five who is pinching pennies and keeping a close eye on budget bc they're spending a fortune to be there isn't thing same as a DINK couple who spent less on hotels, flights, etc. and can be way less frugal.

Honestly, IMHO as someone who has been going to theme parks since he was a young kid, they have been getting less and less kid-friendly over the years, and only gotten more and more profitable, so your math isn't really mathing lol. The industry is less focused on kids and more focused on creating cross-generational IP experiences geared toward people with a more disposable income; aka, not 8-year-olds, or parents of 8-year-olds plus a 4-year-old plus a newborn.