Walking through Camp Jurassic at IoA the other day, I was struck with the knowledge that nothing at Epic comes anywhere close to the level of theming, physical interactivity, and scale of that sub-area of the Jurassic Park land.
If you haven't been, I highly recommend it. It's one of my all-time favorite locations in any park. The Frilled Dino paddock with the water guns. The amber mines and their hidden jumpscare. The beautiful caves, with a geyser you can adventurously cross using a rope bridge. Towering rope courses. Bridges with flame torches crossing by grand waterfalls and rockwork. The incredible sights and vistas, wonderful views of River Adventure, Kong, Velocicoaster, and simply the Camp itself. There is a ton of verticality, so many paths to explore and get lost within. And every inch feels painstakingly themed and intricate. It was clearly all cared for so deeply.
I just compare it to Universal's recent work with the Shrek playground at USF, and ... there's just no comparison. The Swamp playground could be built for a well-budgeted city. It's a couple steps above the Mcdonalds Playplaces.
That was a budgeted build because of the new park, though. Clearly Epic will have something incredible to show!
There are only two equivalents. The Dragon Training Camp in Berk does its' job. It's a larger build, with a couple different playsets around and some themed figures placed around the plot. But that's just it. It's a playset. It's still in conversation with the play areas built by Fast Food chains. it's not anywhere near Camp in basically any way.
The other is Super Nintendo World's interactives, which aren't built for anyone under the age of 8 and require at least one $50 purchase to actually enjoy. And with that, everything is well-themed to the source material, but it's plastic and claustrophobic. It feels like the entirety of Mario Land can fit within the borders of Camp Jurassic alone. Only a third of that space actually being devoted to the Interactives.
IoA's designers saw the issue of an IP catering to all audiences and rose to the challenge with a huge thrill ride and an E-Ticket level play area with an exclusive ride for kids and parents, interactive elements usable by anyone of any age, a boundless footprint that would make a child feel like an adventurer, and endless care and budget put into making it feel authentic and lived in. Camp feels leagues above any other playspace I've ever seen. And that park also has If I Ran the Zoo, for good measure.
With all the budget and decades to improve design philosophies, Epic feels like a massive downgrade in these offerings. What is there to do for someone with a small child at Epic Universe? The Carousel, Training Camp, the Power-Up Band content? Essentially, the answer is nothing. I doubt Luigi, Potter, Monsters expansion will change that at all.
Even outside of small children, I mourn the loss of space. For a park named after a boundless Universe, the only thing that feels wide is the empty hub. Everything in this universe is firmly bounded. Every land feels tight and small. They feel like in the design process any Knockturn Alley or Discovery Center waterfront-style paths that might've existed were cut before construction until we were left with the most "achievable" version of these lands we could've gotten. There is nowhere at Epic that is "out-of-the-way", you are always in-the-way. Mix that with a park that encourages you to keep standing in lines and backtracking across the park endlessly to see everything, and you get a park without any depth that feels draining to experience.