Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[OhHaiInternet95]

Yes, I've been saying that for a while also. While Comcast says that spending per guest at Epic has increased and there's been an increase in vacation days, that was all expected. What definitely was not expected was this self imposed shortfall of attendance. There is no way that total expected attendance, total projected revenue, total projected Epic hotel occupancy are being met, regardless of any corporate speak we hear from the quarterly reports. Heck Terra quite often is only at 20 to 30% occupancy on non holiday weekdays.

And even with the 25,000 daily ceiling, they often struggle to get the high teens in the park, probably due to the restrictive and confusing ticket policy and having to block Epic from any AP plan.

This is clearly a bit of a mess, worse than any projection, and I'm guessing someone will have to answer for it unless it gets turned around before summer/fall. I've been following Comcast, business wise, since the early 90's. It's not in their corporate DNA to accept shortcoming results for very long.

JMO but theme parks in general should never assume they will Potter 1.0 crowd levels and be happy if they do.

 

[Mad Dog]

JMO but theme parks in general should never assume they will Potter 1.0 crowd levels and be happy if they do.

Yeah, Potter 1.0 was a one time happening, but Potter reincarnations still have legs.....I think Epic would have had fairly large crowds during this first year if they had a normal ticket selling policy. But they didn't. It was a confusing, very restrictive policy based on selling hotel packages. But, bottom line, it didn't really matter since, with the massive operational & break down issues, they couldn't have accommodated large crowds anyway. They actually ended up needing that self imposed maximum attendance ceiling.

 

[Hatetofly]

Yeah, Potter 1.0 was a one time happening, but Potter reincarnations still have legs.....I think Epic would have had fairly large crowds during this first year if they had a normal ticket selling policy. But they didn't. It was a confusing, very restrictive policy based on selling hotel packages. But, bottom line, it didn't really matter since, with the massive operational & break downs, they couldn't have accommodated large crowds anyway. They actually ended up needing that self imposed maximum attendance ceiling.

You would think that Universal would have learned from the disaster that was Universal Studios ESCAPE lol

 

[LPCaptainDeath]

As someone who has had 5 FANTASTIC days at EPIC across two different trips this last year - i just wanted to come in and say that it is still absolutely possible to have GOOD days here.

I can acknowledge that it is having a lot of issues.
I can acknowledge that a lot of people aren't enjoying themselves for a variety of reasons, not a lot of them being their inherent fault.
I can acknowledge that EPIC is FAR from perfect.
That ALL being said, i'm a pretty flexible and easy-going guy when it comes to Disney & Universal trips; I'm always where i need to go early and not just on-time, I'm good at having back-ups to my back-ups, and i'm good at rolling with the changes REO Speedwagon-style.
- I never purchased express
- I was never hit with ride delays at opening
- I was never kicked out of a line for it going down prematurely; Though i was for both shows.
- I was never there on a day where a ride was closed all day or for a majority of any given day
- I was never delayed due to weather
- I was never put on a ride that broke down or had more than half the effects down/not working correctly
- I was hit with the 'closing early' sign at Ministry on ONE of my 5 nights
- I was hit with the 'closing one hour early' sign at park entrance on ONE of my 5 nights due to a buyout
- I haven't been on everything, but i've re-rode everything i cared about multiple times

By all accounts it sounds like i've been extraordinarily lucky, but i can say that about BOTH of my trips and they were two months apart, so it's not like... a fluke that i had a good time almost every day i've been there, y'all. I'm not targeting anyone when they say that things are bad and deserve to be criticized, I'm just coming in to offer my side of the coin and say that your mileage may VERY MUCH vary. I've seen and heard people have AWFUL days at this park, but i'm also coming in to say that i haven't seen almost any side of that. I think it's probably much more likely for someone to have a worse day here due to all of the issues known and mentioned across the internet, but i also think that it's possible for people to be unprepared or overwhelmed or uninformed and have an equally bad time at ANY park in Orlando - so your mileage may ALWAYS vary at the end of the day.

So, here it is:
'Hey, i enjoyed myself a lot at Epic Universe. Don't let this forum nor the reviews you're seeing online be sole source of your expectations and set precedence for your opinion moving forward."

Credit: I am a travel agent and i have been selling Disney & Universal products for 10 years and going to the parks 1-3 times a year since i was a baby, so it's possible i'm just built different and this is all a skill issue for anyone who has had a bad time here ever /s

 

[Mad Dog]

As someone who has had 5 FANTASTIC days at EPIC across two different trips this last year - i just wanted to come in and say that it is still absolutely possible to have GOOD days here.

I can acknowledge that it is having a lot of issues.
I can acknowledge that a lot of people aren't enjoying themselves for a variety of reasons, not a lot of them being their inherent fault.
I can acknowledge that EPIC is FAR from perfect.
That ALL being said, i'm a pretty flexible and easy-going guy when it comes to Disney & Universal trips; I'm always where i need to go early and not just on-time, I'm good at having back-ups to my back-ups, and i'm good at rolling with the changes REO Speedwagon-style.
- I never purchased express
- I was never hit with ride delays at opening
- I was never kicked out of a line for it going down prematurely; Though i was for both shows.
- I was never there on a day where a ride was closed all day or for a majority of any given day
- I was never delayed due to weather
- I was never put on a ride that broke down or had more than half the effects down/not working correctly
- I was hit with the 'closing early' sign at Ministry on ONE of my 5 nights
- I was hit with the 'closing one hour early' sign at park entrance on ONE of my 5 nights due to a buyout
- I haven't been on everything, but i've re-rode everything i cared about multiple times

By all accounts it sounds like i've been extraordinarily lucky, but i can say that about BOTH of my trips and they were two months apart, so it's not like... a fluke that i had a good time almost every day i've been there, y'all. I'm not targeting anyone when they say that things are bad and deserve to be criticized, I'm just coming in to offer my side of the coin and say that your mileage may VERY MUCH vary. I've seen and heard people have AWFUL days at this park, but i'm also coming in to say that i haven't seen almost any side of that. I think it's probably much more likely for someone to have a worse day here due to all of the issues known and mentioned across the internet, but i also think that it's possible for people to be unprepared or overwhelmed or uninformed and have an equally bad time at ANY park in Orlando - so your mileage may ALWAYS vary at the end of the day.

So, here it is:
'Hey, i enjoyed myself a lot at Epic Universe. Don't let this forum nor the reviews you're seeing online be sole source of your expectations and set precedence for your opinion moving forward."

Credit: I am a travel agent and i have been selling Disney & Universal products for 10 years and going to the parks 1-3 times a year since i was a baby, so it's possible i'm just built different and this is all a skill issue for anyone who has had a bad time here ever /s

Yep, you can have a really good day if operations are running smoothly. Lots of very good reviews out there. Unfortunately, lots of really bad reviews too. As I've said often, so much depends on the luck of the draw. If most everything works well, fine. If the breakdowns would have improved better we wouldn't be having this discussion. It's remains a Jekyll Hyde park after 11 months of operation (including softs). I'm just glad they had the self imposed max attendance ceiling. I can't imagine a decent experience if there were 30,000 to 40,000 guests in the park, at this point in time operations wise.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Out of curiosity, what parks have Disney or Universal opened and met / exceeded all expectations? It seems like every park has had pitfalls in one area or more (whether that be lack of rides and/or attendance). Epic seems no different.

I agree with the sentiment that the attendance issues are at least partially self inflicted. They could easily adjust the prices and add seasonal or annual passes to get numbers up.

I'm just happy the quality is high and hoping they fix attendance through adding attractions.

Well, lets look

DAK opened fine but it was (and is) a half day park. Biggest issues were boring attractions like the River Boats.

IOA opened with one of its ride totally not working (Slyvester McQueen) and another having major issues (Spider-man). Even with the addition of Dudley they still had to fast track capacity for the park.

DCA was an unmitigated disaster of an opening with only three attractions worth admission, a historically bad dark ride and stage show, a cheaply decorated pier, and farm equipment they called an attraction. Disney started immediate emergency manuvers to fix the park.

I don't think Epic is any worse off or farther behind than any other park at opening, in fact I'd say they're doing pretty well selling day tickets and getting the attendance they're getting.

 

[RFRees]

Well, lets look

DAK opened fine but it was (and is) a half day park. Biggest issues were boring attractions like the River Boats.

Not disagreeing but just adding to your points..

AK went over budget and ended up having major attractions cut. Had it not been for those cuts, it could have had enough attractions to avoid the criticism of it being a half day park. (Epic did get hit with a least one cut but likely not on the level of AK.)

IOA opened with one of its ride totally not working (Slyvester McQueen) and another having major issues (Spider-man). Even with the addition of Dudley they still had to fast track capacity for the park.

Didn't Universal bungle the marketing campaign resulting in park attendance under performing?

I'm wondering if some of the international parks openings performed any better. I wouldn't look at the openings for Euro Disney (disaster), Disney Studios Park Paris (budget park), Hong Kong Disney (budget park), or Universal Beijing (covid)... But maybe the three parks in Japan, Universal in Singapore, or Disney in Shanghai faired better?

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Not disagreeing but just adding to your points..

AK went over budget and ended up having major attractions cut. Had it not been for those cuts, it could have had enough attractions to avoid the criticism of it being a half day park. (Epic did get hit with a least one cut but likely not on the level of AK.)

I'm specifically talking about meeting expectations that you said in your post since they built what they said they would. But I would agree that yes, lots of cutbacks to fund animal habitats caused issues.

Didn't Universal bungle the marketing campaign resulting in park attendance under performing?

Again, coming back to the "expectations" part of this and just talking about the rides themselves, not the stuff around it.

 

[Brian G.]

Disneyland’s opening day has a day named after it. Different time and they were inventing the playbook… but you get the point.

But yes, every Disney and Universal park has had some sort of blunder/issue at opening. Some more severe than others.

 

[Alicia]

Some more shocking than others

 

[Brian G.]

Some more shocking than others

 

[Hatetofly]

Well, lets look

DAK opened fine but it was (and is) a half day park. Biggest issues were boring attractions like the River Boats.

IOA opened with one of its ride totally not working (Slyvester McQueen) and another having major issues (Spider-man). Even with the addition of Dudley they still had to fast track capacity for the park.

DCA was an unmitigated disaster of an opening with only three attractions worth admission, a historically bad dark ride and stage show, a cheaply decorated pier, and farm equipment they called an attraction. Disney started immediate emergency manuvers to fix the park.

I don't think Epic is any worse off or farther behind than any other park at opening, in fact I'd say they're doing pretty well selling day tickets and getting the attendance they're getting.

Strictly from an operational perspective, do you feel Epic has done better in the first year of service than these parks mentioned? Areas like attraction up time, effects working, hourly through put, and GSATs.