Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[TheCodeMan95]

Islands of Adventure has all of these extraneous, unfrequented areas off the main thruways that are still really well-themed and enjoyable. I'm thinking about all of the areas around the Lagoon like the Popeye bridge areas or the Zax Bypass; the sprawling caves and paths of Camp Jurassic or the Pre-Velocicoaster Discovery Center shoreline. If the main paths are ever too much bustle, it's nice to be able to walk away from it all and enjoy some quiet.

I didn't discover the nest with eggs in Seuss Landing until my 5th visit to Universal lol

 

[Mad Dog]

I didn't discover the nest with eggs in Seuss Landing until my 5th visit to Universal lol

We've spent hundreds of days on vacation at Universal. Every trip we find a number of things we've not noticed before. Even at Portofino.
where we've spent around a hundred nights, it seems we wander onto a hidden piazza, or some other passageway, that we didn't know existed.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

We've spent hundreds of days on vacation at Universal. Every trip we find a number of things we've not noticed before. Even at Portofino.
where we've spent around a hundred nights, it seems we wander onto a hidden piazza, or some other passageway, that we didn't know existed.

Absolutely! I don't think I discovered how large the area is behind Me Ship The Olive until our 3rd or 4th trip.

(Funny aside on the nest in Seuss Landing - we were walking around looking for spots to do pregnancy announcement pictures. Found the nest/egg and figured that was perfect!)

(we still did a Jurassic Park announcement though)

 

[Mad Dog]

Absolutely! I don't think I discovered how large the area is behind Me Ship The Olive until our 3rd or 4th trip.

(Funny aside on the nest in Seuss Landing - we were walking around looking for spots to do pregnancy announcement pictures. Found the nest/egg and figured that was perfect!)

(we still did a Jurassic Park announcement though)

That decking area behind Me Ship Olive was one of my quick nap, when it gets really hot, spots. Hardly anyone ever goes back there. I lost
my comfy wall nap spot, in front of the Discovery Center, when they built Velocicoaster. That was another deserted spot. My fav spot was the benches in Central Park, but then they put the viewing deck in, and uncomfortable to lay on benches. Alene's lap was always my pillow, but she has a
thin waistline, so unfortunately for pillow purposes, it's not padded.

 

[GA-MBIT]

And when it's not, it seems like an odd choice, like having the Wizarding World portal open into another bare concrete area (aside from a couple of metro maps and a kiosque) facing a brick wall and a set of stairs leading to the big gate/porte that is the actual entry into Paris. Seems like a hot waste of space.

I guess it's supposed to look like you're coming out of the métro, but it doesn't. If you want to block the view there, maybe go for some trees and a crêpe stand or shady magical fountain to one side, like you're passing through a Parisian garden to enter Place Cachée. Also, a fake metro train line overhead like you see over Diagon Alley could have provided shading while enhancing the theming.

Yeeeeah, that double-portal thing with Paris isn't great. It's trying to both be an Epic Universe Portal and a Diagon Alley / Hogwarts Express-style "hidden wall" land entrance, and the combination just feels awkward in practice.

SNW kinda nails it's double-portal though imo. That Portal into Warp Pipe transition flows a ton better.