Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[Rhian]

Since it was discussed earlier in the thread: Stardust Racers does seem to duel as mentioned later in the morning. The green track appears to be having some issues (or at least during my visit Wednesday) because only 2 trains were running with guests and the third had ride technicians getting on and looking at that particular train and ran empty otherwise.

There’s also additional signage asking guests to keep their shoes on do the ride with an audio announcement stating the same, and that losing a shoe on the ride can cause ride delays.

In other news, Blue Dragon is delicious with excellent service as ambiance and Oak & Star had a live band playing on the little stage in the corner. Live music was prevalent around Celestial Park which was nice to see.

 

[Alicia]

Since it was discussed earlier in the thread: Stardust Racers does seem to duel as mentioned later in the morning. The green track appears to be having some issues (or at least during my visit Wednesday) because only 2 trains were running with guests and the third had ride technicians getting on and looking at that particular train and ran empty otherwise.

There’s also additional signage asking guests to keep their shoes on do the ride with an audio announcement stating the same, and that losing a shoe on the ride can cause ride delays.

In other news, Blue Dragon is delicious with excellent service as ambiance and Oak & Star had a live band playing on the little stage in the corner. Live music was prevalent around Celestial Park which was nice to see.

I am happy to report Stardust Racers was running both sides all day today. And was 3 trains on each track when I rode midday.

And I also agree Blue Dragon is a delightful experience.

(Monsters Unchained preshows were running today. Toothless was flying in Untrainable. Good day all around.)

 

[tommyhawkins]

Hold on, are we going to just let this comment slide by without asking what the other ideas are?! I, for one, am very interested

Heres where im at,


and where Scott is at

much debate about what happens to Universal Bld

 

[GAcoaster]

I would imagine the retention pond could be reconfigured when they are ready to build another park there-- it's all a man made waterway. Maybe even integrated into the park like the lagoon in IoA.

 

[tommyhawkins]

I would imagine the retention pond could be reconfigured when they are ready to build another park there-- it's all a man made waterway. Maybe even integrated into the park like the lagoon in IoA.

You're correct and I have another layout that I have not posted that has more water in the central spine of the park and reclaimed some land, but that main pond is 35 acres, so it would be a case of taking a smaller amounts and moving then, but drainage basins completely have their own considerations too.

 

[Mad Dog]

So far, today, Monday Labor Day, has been the slow crowd day of the holiday weekend. Decent weather and short to moderate lines all day, even in mid afternoon. Even Ministry and Mario are very reasonable. Only DK, which was down for a while, is long. I'm guessing evening will be even shorter.
This would have been the best day to do Epic.

 

[BigRed98]

So far, today, Monday Labor Day, has been the slow crowd day of the holiday weekend. Decent weather and short to moderate lines all day, even in mid afternoon. Even Ministry and Mario are very reasonable. Only DK, which was down for a while, is long. I'm guessing evening will be even shorter.
This would have been the best day to do Epic.

Yep, I went yesterday because historically Sundays have been quiet but I think because most have off today, that was no longer the case. This morning in Sapphire Falls so many people were checking out.

Even with larger crowds I still had a blast!

 

[Mad Dog]

Yep, I went yesterday because historically Sundays have been quiet but I think because most have off today, that was no longer the case. This morning in Sapphire Falls so many people were checking out.

Even with larger crowds I still had a blast!

Yes. Usually people are checking out Sat. and Sundays, which leaves Sunday the go to day for smaller crowds. But with the extra day this week, that switched to Monday. 7:00 PM and most every attraction is a walk on, or close to it, even Ministry at 10 minutes standby.

 

[BigRed98]

Yes. Usually people are checking out Sat. and Sundays, which leaves Sunday the go to day for smaller crowds. But with the extra day this week, that switched to Monday. 7:00 PM and most every attraction is a walk on, or close to it, even Ministry at 10 minutes standby.

Yesterday, I tried to ride ministry in morning at 10am and it got delayed so I decided to leave. Then went back at 7pm to ride and was in the queue for 2 hours and 30 minutes (posted wait 105 min) because it got delayed twice while in line. Super frustrating but I’m glad that the waits were real low today.

 

[Mad Dog]

Yesterday, I tried to ride ministry in morning at 10am and it got delayed so I decided to leave. Then went back at 7pm to ride and was in the queue for 2 hours and 30 minutes (posted wait 105 min) because it got delayed twice while in line. Super frustrating but I’m glad that the waits were real low today.

I was checking it yesterday and it was showing stoppages a good number of times. Bad tech day I guess.

 

[Disneyhead]

So far, today, Monday Labor Day, has been the slow crowd day of the holiday weekend. Decent weather and short to moderate lines all day, even in mid afternoon. Even Ministry and Mario are very reasonable. Only DK, which was down for a while, is long. I'm guessing evening will be even shorter.
This would have been the best day to do Epic.

I went to USF/IOA this past Friday around noon. I thought it would be busy because it was the first day of HHNs and Labor Day Weekend. Most everything had 10 min. waits except for the major E-Tickets, which had approximately 25 min. waits except for Hagrid's, which was 105 mins. I did single rider and was off the ride in 20 mins. I did 2 laps on Velocicoaster using single rider and was done in less than 20 mins.

It was surprisingly slow.

 

[Mad Dog]

I went to USF/IOA Friday around noon. I thought it would be busy because it was the first day of HHNs. Most everything had 10 min. waits except for the major E-Tickets, which had approximately 25 min. waits except for Hagrid's, which was 105 mins. I did single rider and was officially the ride in 20 mins.

Yes. I was looking at Touring Plans numbers, in between partying at the Pittsburgh Teutonia Oktoberfest on Friday and Saturday. Both Universal IOA and USF and WDW had fairly low stand by times. And historically, Labor Day weekend is usually the weakest of the theme park holidays in Orlando. Without a ton of Brits, it's probably even slower this year.

 

[Alicia]

Despite all the complaints of no shade, only one emergency call for heat exhaustion in July at Epic Universe. (None at the other UOR parks,) and over 80 total from WDW and SeaWorld collectively.

This is an interesting story worth reading:

Even in the Disney World bubble, you can’t escape the heat. Dozens feel sick in heat wave

People in distress during July's heat wave include a baby at Epcot and an 81-year-old woman at Disney Springs.

floridapolitics.com

 

[Mad Dog]

Despite all the complaints of no shade, only one emergency call for heat exhaustion in July at Epic Universe. (None at the other UOR parks,) and over 80 total from WDW and SeaWorld collectively.

This is an interesting story worth reading:

Even in the Disney World bubble, you can’t escape the heat. Dozens feel sick in heat wave

People in distress during July's heat wave include a baby at Epcot and an 81-year-old woman at Disney Springs.

floridapolitics.com

I recall a few years back. Super hot day. We had a park hopper. We started the day in Epcot's hot concrete heat and did our once and only boat ride to
DHS. The boat made a zillion really long slow stops. It was a very long ride and the wait on the sunny dock was long too.. We got through the DHS gates and were dizzy as all hell. We went right to the Medical station, cooled off in the AC, and the nurse gave us some ibuprofen. We recovered and stayed at DHS for a bit. Never again will we ever take that super slow, super hot, boat from Epcot to DHS......The same year I played three soccer tournament games in a day. It was the mid 90's. Didn't get sick from that, but I did consume 16 bottles of gator aid over the day. ...Disney concrete heat was worse.

 

[Jake S]

I think this passage is key to note. I'll be interested to see if/how these parks respond to this ... because it ain't getting any cooler.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Despite all the complaints of no shade, only one emergency call for heat exhaustion in July at Epic Universe. (None at the other UOR parks,) and over 80 total from WDW and SeaWorld collectively.

This is an interesting story worth reading:

Even in the Disney World bubble, you can’t escape the heat. Dozens feel sick in heat wave

People in distress during July's heat wave include a baby at Epcot and an 81-year-old woman at Disney Springs.

floridapolitics.com

Important to include -

The Orlando City Fire Department did not report any heat illness calls to the other two Universal theme parks, according to Department spokesperson Jesse Canales. Universal uses its own private ambulance system, which makes it tough to track public records like at Disney.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I think this passage is key to note. I'll be interested to see if/how these parks respond to this ... because it ain't getting any cooler.View attachment 27775

That's wild, because I would have expected the exact opposite

 

[Grabnar]

Went this weekend and had a pretty good time, storms and lightning alerts aside.

A few things of note:

1. Untrainable Dragon was down all day. It's astounding that they are still having this many issues with this show given it's running in Beijing. I've been to EU 2x and still haven't managed to see it all the way through, last time the entire theater got dumped which was frustrating.
2. Stardust was operating both sides and operations were moving quickly and efficiently. Finally managed to ride both sides and rode it at night.
3. Pre-shows were running in Monsters but a few animatronics weren't working in the ride itself, notably the first Dracula, the Phantom, and the first Wolfman (but the water effect was still on). Lighting is still a bit bright in places, namely around Gillman. Was surprised to finally see the Mummy working, that's a neat animatronic.
4. They still had the performers out in Monsters which was great to see, loved seeing the bards and the locals in Darkmoor interact with people.

Overall; needs new rides and needs INDOOR rides. We were stuck just killing time for about an hour due to lightning within the 6 mi perimeter which shut down almost all of the park. Monsters and especially Harry Potter feel cramped on a revisit and need their expansions sooner rather than later. Nintendo was packed the entire time and I don't think an expansion will help with them at all due to induced demand.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I think this passage is key to note. I'll be interested to see if/how these parks respond to this ... because it ain't getting any cooler.View attachment 27775

This…plus the original stat doesn’t seem to be a per cap figure…plus the demographics of both parks are wildly different…and so on…

It’s an interesting story but…

 

[etherealyear]

Per my friend who is at Epic today and just rode monsters, the preshows currently aren't running. They really seem temperamental depending on the day as there's been reports of them running recently too. Realllllly hoping they are up on Thursday/Friday when I'm there!