Universal's Epic Universe Wish List & Speculation
- Thread starter Brian G.
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An indoor land where it is night and drizzling rain all the time? Oooo, sounds moody. I like it.
Or where it's always foggy....Silent Hill Land confirmed
That sounds like a typical summer day in Orlando, dark, overcast and raining. So, what's the difference?
In all seriousness, it would be cool to see what a Blade Runner area is like. A Blade runner with huge neon lights, but low-life area would work. Maybe some E-ticket attraction, where you're being recruited into by the LAPD to be Blade Runners and do a MIB-style system. Hopefully put in some hints around the area relating to Deckard and Rachel and others.
Thinking again on the "open hub" concept I am once again not completely sold on the idea
For one, if you pay at the front gate technically the hub is a part of your ticket
For two, if the lands and rides are technically what you pay for, it may draw attention to their size and distance away from one another
For three, I'm unconvinced that they haven't considered planting a few restaurants outside the gate
For four, I'm also unconvinced that it will be feasible to get people to come in to the hub that aren't already going to the park
For one, if you pay at the front gate technically the hub is a part of your ticket
For two, if the lands and rides are technically what you pay for, it may draw attention to their size and distance away from one another
For three, I'm unconvinced that they haven't considered planting a few restaurants outside the gate
For four, I'm also unconvinced that it will be feasible to get people to come in to the hub that aren't already going to the park
But what if the hub was only “open” after 5pm. What if the hub was always “open” to hotel guests.
An “open hub” concept may not be as open as we think.
I see the fourth point still being an issue
I could see it staying open for hotel guests though
A logical thing in my head perhaps; is that the hotel costs for Epic Universe's Helios (I will call it that until otherise) will be at a level that ensures for each night you spend at the hotel; you can enter into the park property and be allowed to stay after-hours up to a certain point? Think Magic Morning Hours for Disney, but directly embedded into the park and hotel's ecosystem.
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With the way the park is set up, I see the Epic Universe hotels, or all hotels, being able to go to the lands early/late. I doubt all restaurants in the Hub will do breakfast but for those that do there’s still plenty of people from those crowds to suffice being open all day long. I’d be shocked if this isn’t the case to some degree.
I will point out in that there are parks that have tickets based on time....such as where you buy a daytime ticket and you can ride rides up to 4pm but still have admission to the other park amenities until park close etc.
They do this via RF ticket technology in which they use sensors as you walk into the line to ride rides and truthfully it doesn't hold up the line at all...
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I am not sure if they still do this but for a time BGT had a free pass just to go shopping, no rides or attractions. They gave you a wristband with a set amount of time, and you had to put down a credit card just in case you're caught breaking the rules.
I don't see a passive facial recognition as a primary means of determining who should have access to the lands at this time though.
I do think Universal would do a bigger push for the bundled deals especially with longer stays, where it'd be cheaper to get the bundled pass for every day than just buying a few days individually.
I don't see a passive facial recognition as a primary means of determining who should have access to the lands at this time though.
I do think Universal would do a bigger push for the bundled deals especially with longer stays, where it'd be cheaper to get the bundled pass for every day than just buying a few days individually.
Those facial recognitions for hotel express passes didn't operate very smoothly, and they were slow, slow, slow.
If Universal goes the facial recognition route they can't sell lanyards!
Why not, you still will have a neck to put it on.
On top of that is your head aka the ticket.
I apologize for not having read the entire 322 pages, but I figured most of my thoughts on the park layout have probably been covered, however I just wanted to summarize my thoughts so far in case anyone has input.
IF they are going to do things the way I expect, I like this concept as it gives them a lot of options.
Key Points:
- Each land is completely separated and are around the perimeter of the park and that can help with moving TM's around backstage. It can also help with construction not having to move through other lands to get things done.
- It seems they're going to the idea that you have an entry time for each land, like they did for the Wizarding World, but they could also make this a whole ticket experience as well....
- Tickets could be sold for people who only want to experience certain lands, like if they're not interested in Universal Monsters, etc.
- They can much more easily plan staffing and guest flow by having return times for entire lands instead of individual attractions
- Ideally each land would have a number of activities where guests aren't waiting in line...imagine the queues like we see at Volcano Bay or more simply something like Dumbo in WDW but the whole land is your "playground" until your time is called. Places like Super Mario World would be ideal for this.
- It would be easier to predict guests behavior and how long the average guest spends in the land before wanting to go elsewhere
- The central hub can have a variety of things to do in-between times
We've been seeing a lot of systems in order to try to get guests to make reservations, fastpasses, etc. at Disney and similar efforts at Universal. These have had good and ill effects...with some of it feeling like a chore to plan everything unless you're that type of person and feeling forced like you're stuck on a tight schedule.
Universal may have solved one of the more challenging aspects of this if I understand just by the layout of the park and hopefully create a more relaxing and simple process without the need for a lot of extra involvement of things like Disney's new Genie app
IF they are going to do things the way I expect, I like this concept as it gives them a lot of options.
Key Points:
- Each land is completely separated and are around the perimeter of the park and that can help with moving TM's around backstage. It can also help with construction not having to move through other lands to get things done.
- It seems they're going to the idea that you have an entry time for each land, like they did for the Wizarding World, but they could also make this a whole ticket experience as well....
- Tickets could be sold for people who only want to experience certain lands, like if they're not interested in Universal Monsters, etc.
- They can much more easily plan staffing and guest flow by having return times for entire lands instead of individual attractions
- Ideally each land would have a number of activities where guests aren't waiting in line...imagine the queues like we see at Volcano Bay or more simply something like Dumbo in WDW but the whole land is your "playground" until your time is called. Places like Super Mario World would be ideal for this.
- It would be easier to predict guests behavior and how long the average guest spends in the land before wanting to go elsewhere
- The central hub can have a variety of things to do in-between times
We've been seeing a lot of systems in order to try to get guests to make reservations, fastpasses, etc. at Disney and similar efforts at Universal. These have had good and ill effects...with some of it feeling like a chore to plan everything unless you're that type of person and feeling forced like you're stuck on a tight schedule.
Universal may have solved one of the more challenging aspects of this if I understand just by the layout of the park and hopefully create a more relaxing and simple process without the need for a lot of extra involvement of things like Disney's new Genie app
Everything I have heard has led me to believe that they would not offer tickets to any one land on its own, ala carte. It would be all or nothing.
Like you said, if you don’t care about Monsters—and let’s say lots of people think they only care about Nintendo—then Nintendo will have 8 hour waits and Monsters will be empty.
I could be wrong, but to me, Epic Universe will be a theme park, made of lands, with an entry price.
They may keep the hub open longer than the lands in the evening to let guests dine after the rides closed. They may let hotel guests enter after 5 to dine and watch the nighttime spectacular. But I don’t see them selling tickets to just Nintendo or just Monsters for $40 or whatever, when they can instead force you to buy a ticket to Epic Universe for $120.
I understand and you're probably correct. The advantage is they could do that more easily IMO in this type of layout than other existing layouts if they ever decided to make different types of offerings.
Renting out one of the lands for private after-hours parties where they can still let day guests shop and dine in the hub is a good use of the setup over the traditional parks too.
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