Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[Jake S]

Feel like in this forum one moment feels like everyone’s all hyped abt Epic and it could be one of the greatest theme parks in the world. Another, it feels like meh its not that big a deal, Disney is and will always be bigger and better.

probably because "everyone" doesn't feel one way and the way people feel is more nuanced than what you're presenting.

I think we're all looking forward to the park being open so we can experience it for ourselves.

 

[Alicia]

To be clear, I just think Disney would dominate news cycle over an opening date announcement for Epic. If they dropped tickets, or had another world to reveal it may be a closer match, but even a blue sky piece of concept art for a possible new ride at Disney World is going to get more evening news coverage nationwide than the opening date for Epic—so it’s in Universal’s best interest to wait for a less crowded time to make that sort of announcement, when they can be the focus of attention.

 

[Mike S]

Don’t know if this is the thread for this but I had a bit of a crazy idea last night. What if Nintendo and Universal held some kind of Epic Universe/Switch 2 event if they just so happen to be opening/launching close enough together next year?

 

[Disneyhead]

To be clear, I just think Disney would dominate news cycle over an opening date announcement for Epic. If they dropped tickets, or had another world to reveal it may be a closer match, but even a blue sky piece of concept art for a possible new ride at Disney World is going to get more evening news coverage nationwide than the opening date for Epic—so it’s in Universal’s best interest to wait for a less crowded time to make that sort of announcement, when they can be the focus of attention.

That's why they I think they will wait for the dust to settle after D23. But we are under a year out so they have to drop a date soon.

And they still have the Helios Grand Hotel reveal to drop.

 

[Alicia]

That's why they I think they will wait for the dust to settle after D23. But we are under a year out so they have to drop a date soon.

And they still have the Helios Grand Hotel reveal to drop.

Agreed. But can’t announce a date if they don’t got one yet!

Hoping Helios won’t take much longer to get details revealed, but know permit info show it as being fairly behind, so worried it won’t be ready with the park now.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Don’t know if this is the thread for this but I had a bit of a crazy idea last night. What if Nintendo and Universal held some kind of Epic Universe/Switch 2 event if they just so happen to be opening/launching close enough together next year?

Entirely possible, maybe a contest?

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

For whatever it’s worth, I haven’t been to a Florida theme park since 2011. Too expensive (generally). Too complicated (for us, mostly). And we went so frequently prior to then, there hasn’t been a big enough (singular) addition to warrant a special trip for it.

Curious, have you attended a park in general since?

And yup, it's sad that Florida effectively lacks a budget-friendly park when even Cali has a couple.

 

[Disneyhead]

Agreed. But can’t announce a date if they don’t got one yet!

Hoping Helios won’t take much longer to get details revealed, but know permit info show it as being fairly behind, so worried it won’t be ready with the park now.

We are still 10-11 months out. I am sure they can complete the hotel by park opening.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Missing Star Wars Land, Toy Story Land (a surprisingly huge hit for families for obvious reasons), Pandora, Guardians (technically not an addition, but far more popular than the previous occupant), Ratatouille, etc.

Not saying Epic isn't going to be amazing... but there's a lot of quality additions at WDW recently that can still sway people over.

Star Wars land was, overall, a bust. Toy Story land was a kiddie coaster and a flat ride attached to an existing ride. Pandora is great, but as you pointed out Guardians took over an existing building (also completely out of theme). But you compare to redresses and removals, comes up short. Even while Ratatouille was new, the basically removed Impressions de France for a clip show sing along

 

[Jake S]

Star Wars land was, overall, a bust. Toy Story land was a kiddie coaster and a flat ride attached to an existing ride. Pandora is great, but as you pointed out Guardians took over an existing building (also completely out of theme). But you compare to redresses and removals, comes up short. Even while Ratatouille was new, the basically removed Impressions de France for a clip show sing along

This is an absolutely wild take lmao.

 

[Nick]

Star Wars land was, overall, a bust. Toy Story land was a kiddie coaster and a flat ride attached to an existing ride. Pandora is great, but as you pointed out Guardians took over an existing building (also completely out of theme). But you compare to redresses and removals, comes up short. Even while Ratatouille was new, the basically removed Impressions de France for a clip show sing along

Guardians took over an existing building that was seeing next to zero guest traffic. MMRR mostly did the same.

TSL was a full on expansion that added much needed rides for younger kids in DHS.

SWL replaced LMA and essentially Osborne Lights so I think we’re fine.

Ratatouille isn’t an expansion? News to me. Also Impressions still plays plenty if you want to see it. Tron was also an expansion.

Just a really trash post to be blunt.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Star Wars land was, overall, a bust. Toy Story land was a kiddie coaster and a flat ride attached to an existing ride. Pandora is great, but as you pointed out Guardians took over an existing building (also completely out of theme). But you compare to redresses and removals, comes up short. Even while Ratatouille was new, the basically removed Impressions de France for a clip show sing along

Star Wars Land, in most theme park fans' (including myself) opinion, is a dud... but it's a highly successful land that is generating attendance & revenue. Toy Story Land is a highly successful land (we can argue all day over the lack of theming attributed to budget cuts), but the land is very popular, especially with its target demographic. DHS is now the 2nd most popular park at WDW because of these 2 additions. Not a fan of them replacing Great Movie Ride and other changes at the park... but the general public loves it.

Like Nick Said, nobody was riding Energy Adventure. It was great for it's time, but Guardians is driving attendance into Epcot and is being better received.

If anything, adding the Beauty and the Beast Sing Along added capacity to the park because it provided an additional attraction for those, specifically with children, who maybe weren't interested in it previously. Now, there's effectively 2 attractions you can choose from versus 1.

My post doesn't defend Disney's choice to retheme/replace over true expansion, but a lot of what has been replaced were low-attended experiences and/or expansion pads.

 

[IzzyB]

Star Wars Land, in most theme park fans' (including myself) opinion, is a dud... but it's a highly successful land that is generating attendance & revenue. Toy Story Land is a highly successful land (we can argue all day over the lack of theming attributed to budget cuts), but the land is very popular, especially with its target demographic. DHS is now the 2nd most popular park at WDW because of these 2 additions. Not a fan of them replacing Great Movie Ride and other changes at the park... but the general public loves it.

Like Nick Said, nobody was riding Energy Adventure. It was great for it's time, but Guardians is driving attendance into Epcot and is being better received.

If anything, adding the Beauty and the Beast Sing Along added capacity to the park because it provided an additional attraction for those, specifically with children, who maybe weren't interested in it previously. Now, there's effectively 2 attractions you can choose from versus 1.

My post doesn't defend Disney's choice to retheme/replace over true expansion, but a lot of what has been replaced were low-attended experiences and/or expansion pads.

I agree with you. I think we sometimes look at it from a theme park lens and forgot what the GP thinks which in the end is all that matters. We are a small % of people going to parks. The GP drives revenue not us. EVERYONE I talk to absolutely loves all the new things Disney did. SW blows people away both in the land and the RoTR. Everyone is super impressed with Rise. TSL slinky was a GREAT addition to a park that was known to have more thrills. This gave smaller kids a "thrill" ride while being a pretty decent coaster for adults.

On the other side, the GP do like Fallon, but most everyone I talk to thinks F&F was a dud. So Universal actually had a true dud, but that is not what I hear about any of the Disney stuff honestly.

 

[Nick]

I agree with you. I think we sometimes look at it from a theme park lens and forgot what the GP thinks which in the end is all that matters. We are a small % of people going to parks. The GP drives revenue not us. EVERYONE I talk to absolutely loves all the new things Disney did. SW blows people away both in the land and the RoTR. Everyone is super impressed with Rise. TSL slinky was a GREAT addition to a park that was known to have more thrills. This gave smaller kids a "thrill" ride while being a pretty decent coaster for adults.

On the other side, the GP do like Fallon, but most everyone I talk to thinks F&F was a dud. So Universal actually had a true dud, but that is not what I hear about any of the Disney stuff honestly.

F&F is a dud and Fallon is fine… but Fallon also rarely has too many people waiting suggesting that it isn’t exactly pulling in the type of crowds off the street as maybe Universal would like either.

 

[saint.piss]

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

F&F is a dud and Fallon is fine… but Fallon also rarely has too many people waiting suggesting that it isn’t exactly pulling in the type of crowds off the street as maybe Universal would like either.

My parents (mid 70s) LOVE the Fallon ride! They talk about it every time they come back from their trip LOL. They also LOVE Test Track. Hilarious.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Guardians took over an existing building that was seeing next to zero guest traffic. MMRR mostly did the same.

TSL was a full on expansion that added much needed rides for younger kids in DHS.

SWL replaced LMA and essentially Osborne Lights so I think we’re fine.

Ratatouille isn’t an expansion? News to me. Also Impressions still plays plenty if you want to see it. Tron was also an expansion.

Just a really trash post to be blunt.

Star Wars and Guardians provided zero increase in attendance. It did not deliver. Impression generally plays 2 shows right before closing. And nether MMRR or G increased overall capacity (MMRR just seems cheap to me, and Guardians is space mountain in a box). None of these led to any increase in attendance so yeah, thats a bust compared to what they were aiming for

And thanks for sounding like a rude poster from WDW Magic.

 

[sonoma15]

F&F is a dud and Fallon is fine… but Fallon also rarely has too many people waiting suggesting that it isn’t exactly pulling in the type of crowds off the street as maybe Universal would like either.

On a non-busy day, its pretty common to be able to walk right on to Fallon, but when it's busy it definitely pulls in crowds. It can get longer waits than some of the other popular rides at Universal Studios Florida. As I'm typing this post right now it has a 45 minute posted wait (the third longest in the park, behind Hogwarts Express and Transformers). It has a relatively good capacity too.

 

[Nick]

Star Wars and Guardians provided zero increase in attendance. It did not deliver. Impression generally plays 2 shows right before closing. And nether MMRR or G increased overall capacity (MMRR just seems cheap to me, and Guardians is space mountain in a box). None of these led to any increase in attendance so yeah, thats a bust compared to what they were aiming for

And thanks for sounding like a rude poster from WDW Magic.

Whether an actual attendance increase came or not, all of the things that happened added capacity actually being used in the parks.

No one is going to argue that SWGE is the best land ever. I could do with a full replacement of Smugglers Run honestly. The ride is just kinda meh. But we got RotR out of it and for that I’ll always really enjoy the land to a certain extent. Oh, and Ronto Wraps.

I think we also need to keep in mind that as outlined in the earnings call, fewer and fewer people on the lower end of the earnings scale can even afford a Disney trip (with many that do putting themselves in debt to do it), while simultaneously the higher earning crowd is traveling abroad more since COVID. This didn’t just happen overnight, the last few summers have been pretty slow in Orlando not only at Disney but Universal as well.

You can only raise prices so many times before customers just say screw it. However it doesn’t mean That projects have opened in this time have been fails bc they didn’t bring in crowds. To me they’re mostly wins for expanding or better using existing capacity around the parks.

 

[Frank Drackman]

when folks talk about an opening date, I would guess they would want more of the road construction in the area finished up before the change in traffic -- just wondering if anyone knows when the road improvements should be done as I assume that could have an impact on when the park could open. Thoughts?