Epic Universe Expansion Speculation

[Clive]

Are we sure about that? I've stood in lines waiting to get into Meteor at like 2pm before.

For what it's worth, I also noticed lines out the door of Meteor around that time... but I just wonder if that's a function of its placement and not reflective of broader restaurant capacity issues. The park has a lot of restaurants!

 

[Jake S]

Are we sure about that? I've stood in lines waiting to get into Meteor at like 2pm before.

You’ve obviously spent more time at the park than me, but “wait times for food and drink” weren’t on my list of complaints. Certainly not compared to ride wait times, which is really my point.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

You’ve obviously spent more time at the park than me, but “wait times for food and drink” weren’t on my list of complaints. Certainly not compared to ride wait times, which is really my point.

Ah yeah got it. Generally I think people are more conditioned not to wait in long lines for food than rides, but I see where you're coming from.

For what it's worth, I also noticed lines out the door of Meteor around that time... but I just wonder if that's a function of its placement and not reflective of broader restaurant capacity issues. The park has a lot of restaurants!

Very possible, I've only eaten an early lunch in Oak & Star so hard to tell if it gets super busy too or if it's a function of being 1) centrally located 2) a burger place.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Are we sure about that? I've stood in lines waiting to get into Meteor at like 2pm before.

Sure but your wait for Ministry was 10x longer. Other issues to focus on.

 

[Clive]

Ah yeah got it. Generally I think people are more conditioned not to wait in long lines for food than rides, but I see where you're coming from.



Very possible, I've only eaten an early lunch in Oak & Star so hard to tell if it gets super busy too or if it's a function of being 1) centrally located 2) a burger place.

I really think it's a combination of its loud facade that announces exactly what it is (burgers! beer! safe stuff! nothing crazy here!) and is located at the intersection of Ministry and Stardust Racers.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Sure but your wait for Ministry was 10x longer. Other issues to focus on.

I don't think the space is big enough for an attraction* and I don't think the budgets and justifications are the same. Can do both.

*unless it's a Villain-Con lol

 

[DOOMBOT]

I really think it's a combination of its loud facade that announces exactly what it is (burgers! beer! safe stuff! nothing crazy here!) and is located at the intersection of Ministry and Stardust Racers.

Looking back on my experience there, yeah. That Meteor building is shockingly small for the kind of restaurant it is. I had trouble finding seating. They wanted a Cosmic Rays, but only built a restaurant at the scale of the ABC Commissary.

 

[maxairmike]

Looking back on my experience there, yeah. That Meteor building is shockingly small for the kind of restaurant it is. I had trouble finding seating. They wanted a Cosmic Rays, but only built a restaurant at the scale of the ABC Commissary.

It’s definitely more this and where it’s located. They made some interesting design choices (bad) with the restaurants IMO. Combine that with known staffing issues and potentially unrelated operational decisions like snack/counter service locations having a big facade with lots of ordering space and just…blacking that out and forcing a smaller functional area for mobile order and you end up with issues you could probably avoid in the realm of F&B. For example Oak and Star’s building is substantial, but the lobby which seems to serve almost no operational purpose most days feels like nearly a third of the guest space with like 4 tables in it while the two actual dining spaces feel smaller and lower capacity than you would expect. Pizza Moon is the only restaurant that has a correctly sized dining area that still gets IMO outsized lines across my 4 visits so far (and it deserves it, that pizza is good!).

 

[Mad Dog]

It’s definitely more this and where it’s located. They made some interesting design choices (bad) with the restaurants IMO. Combine that with known staffing issues and potentially unrelated operational decisions like snack/counter service locations having a big facade with lots of ordering space and just…blacking that out and forcing a smaller functional area for mobile order and you end up with issues you could probably avoid in the realm of F&B. For example Oak and Star’s building is substantial, but the lobby which seems to serve almost no operational purpose most days feels like nearly a third of the guest space with like 4 tables in it while the two actual dining spaces feel smaller and lower capacity than you would expect. Pizza Moon is the only restaurant that has a correctly sized dining area that still gets IMO outsized lines across my 4 visits so far (and it deserves it, that pizza is good!).

The emphasis on forcing people to mobile order, as opposed to how so many of the food establishments were built, results in
a very guest unfriendly environment. Why this keeps coming back, in some form, since the first post covid days at IOA & USF
puzzles me. They had to backtrack at IOA and USF and hopefully the executives come to their senses and do the same with Epic.
WDW has backed off their attempt to force everyone to mobile order, due to guest backlash. Epic should see the light. Society
is finally grasping the many negatives associated with too much smartphone usage. Universal needs to back down. Let people
have an unencumbered leisurely theme park experience....Rant over.

 

[Alicia]

It’s definitely more this and where it’s located. They made some interesting design choices (bad) with the restaurants IMO. Combine that with known staffing issues and potentially unrelated operational decisions like snack/counter service locations having a big facade with lots of ordering space and just…blacking that out and forcing a smaller functional area for mobile order and you end up with issues you could probably avoid in the realm of F&B. For example Oak and Star’s building is substantial, but the lobby which seems to serve almost no operational purpose most days feels like nearly a third of the guest space with like 4 tables in it while the two actual dining spaces feel smaller and lower capacity than you would expect. Pizza Moon is the only restaurant that has a correctly sized dining area that still gets IMO outsized lines across my 4 visits so far (and it deserves it, that pizza is good!).

It’s because both Oak and Star and Meteor’s footprints were designed for full service and converted to quick service late in the plans when the food court was canceled and they I guess wanted less full service. Pizza Moon was always designed as quick service and never saw its plans changed in any way, so it works well as intended. Very well.

 

[tommyhawkins]

I'm scared to ask what you mean by that.

That we're possibly not done with coasters in the park.

From a technical point of view they have very good up time and capacity

From a creative point of view the past 15 years or so we've seen a greater versatility with LSMs being deployed way more, giving better opportunities to tell stories. Long gone are the space mountain days where they crank you up a lift hill and send you out like a marble run. Some of the upcoming stuff Intamin have designed for the multi dimension coaster is really exciting. As well as that new trackless design. So it might be worth changing the perception that it's a binary choice between dark ride OR coaster and that new stuff might be both. Just like the Mack Boat ride is a hybrid