Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[UniversalRBLX]

It’s interesting because of the high demand for several headliner ride experiences we see people rope drop Monsters, Mine Cart, Mario Kart, and Hiccups, with all posting 60+ min queues in the first hour. But then most of those lines die down after an hour as everyone got their most anticipated ride done and start to move on to the filler experiences, or lunch (since previews have been starting so late in the day).

Previews have been great, but I'm concerned when capacity is 2-3x the size now. DK averaging an hour wait at the moment with 1/3 of the attendance this park will average.

Monsters, Stardust and even Ministry will have great capacity once they are more efficient.

 

[Evan]

I've been adamant for the past few years now that Epic Universe won't have the best capacity (even though it has a lot of attractions on opening day) in Orlando, and equal to that of Animal Kingdom. Problem is that attractions like Donkey Kong, Werewolf, Racer Rally are low capacity, while the higher capacity attractions like Monsters & Ministry are not reliable enough yet.

With that said, this park has a lot of "filler" experiences like shows, interactive experiences and great dining to reduce the impact of low ride capacity.

This has always been my issue with the lineup. I wish they would have included a few more “lower tech” experiences. Reliable, classic, long form, people eaters. Like a boat ride, Pirates level. Smaller fantasyland style dark rides.

I hope they’ll include some rides like that in the future. These types of rides are so valuable (IMO)

 

[JohnHammondsCane]

Early afternoon seems like the time that wait times have dropped and everything cooled down at EU. Today, not so much. What has everyone's experience been with wait times in the park: true to the posted time, or overinflated?

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Early afternoon seems like the time that wait times have dropped and everything cooled down at EU. Today, not so much. What has everyone's experience been with wait times in the park: true to the posted time, or overinflated?

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Hard to judge wait-times as the teams still figure out downtime.

Today certainly appears like one of the busier days.

70 minutes for Werewolf is not great. For those who have been on it recently, are they still waiting on the train to arrive back to the final brake run before dispatching the next train? It looks like they can dispatch it an extra 10-15 secs earlier once it clears the 2nd launch, but doesn't appear to be doing that.

 

[JohnHammondsCane]

Hard to judge wait-times as the teams still figure out downtime.

Today certainly appears like one of the busier days.

70 minutes for Werewolf is not great. For those who have been on it recently, are they still waiting on the train to arrive back to the final brake run before dispatching the next train? It looks like they can dispatch it an extra 10-15 secs earlier once it clears the 2nd launch, but doesn't appear to be doing that.

My fear is word has got around now that Previews are open for everyone, and these may be the times we see going forward. (or it's just a Friday )

 

[Tereglith]

What has everyone's experience been with wait times in the park: true to the posted time, or overinflated?

On the 27th (so before "general public" access) I found posted wait times to generally be overstated.

• Rope drop Werewolf posted 15, was a walk-on
• Monsters posted 60, was at the lockers in 25
• Carousel posted 20, only waited one cycle (~3 minutes).
• Dragon Racers posted 25, went up to 40 shortly after getting in line, actually waited 20.
• Fyre Drill posted 25, waited about 10
• Stardust posted 20 both times, on in less than 10.
• Yoshi posted 15, on in less than 10
• Wing Gliders posted 45, waited about 35
• Monsters round 2 in the evening posted 25, waited 5

Slowest waits were actually the single rider lines in Nintendo, both took about 30 minutes but of course have no posted time to compare against.

 

[Mad Dog]

On the 27th (so before "general public" access) I found posted wait times to generally be overstated.

• Rope drop Werewolf posted 15, was a walk-on
• Monsters posted 60, was at the lockers in 25
• Carousel posted 20, only waited one cycle (~3 minutes).
• Dragon Racers posted 25, went up to 40 shortly after getting in line, actually waited 20.
• Fyre Drill posted 25, waited about 10
• Stardust posted 20 both times, on in less than 10.
• Yoshi posted 15, on in less than 10
• Wing Gliders posted 45, waited about 35
• Monsters round 2 in the evening posted 25, waited 5

Slowest waits were actually the single rider lines in Nintendo, both took about 30 minutes but of course have no posted time to compare against.

Touring Plans track 'actual' wait times at WDW and USO on a daily basis. The 'actuals' are generally apx. 65 to 70% of the 'posted' wait times. So that's always something to keep in mind. When I tour I plan according to anticipated actual wait times instead of being scared away by the posted waits. Its always worked well for me. Of course, there are sometimes exceptions. But, in the vast majority of cases, posted waits are inflated times, for a number of reasons.

 

[clsteve]

This has always been my issue with the lineup. I wish they would have included a few more “lower tech” experiences. Reliable, classic, long form, people eaters. Like a boat ride, Pirates level. Smaller fantasyland style dark rides.

I hope they’ll include some rides like that in the future. These types of rides are so valuable (IMO)

Spot on. I'm an old enough cuss to have experienced the ticket book era. Parks need "C's" and "D's" for pure guest enjoyment. It's just not the model now. E tickets with higher end food and alcohol as the new capacity fillers bring so much more revenue. Brave new world.

 

[UNIrd]

I saw Donkey Kong get up to 160 minutes today. I don't want to wait 70% of that ever.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Really cool lil coincidence I'm noticing, IoA and Epic are opening with the exact same ride #, even down to the dueling coasters.

Islands of Adventure - May 28th, 1999

1. Hulk
2. Fear Fall
3. Spider-Man
4. Popeye
5. Ripsaw
6. Pteranodon
7. River Adventure
8. Dueling Dragons (fire)
   Dueling Dragons (ice)
9. Caro-Seuss
10. One Fish, Two Fish
11. Cat in the Hat

Epic Universe - May 22nd, 2025

1. Constellation
2. Stardust (yellow)
   Stardust (green)
3. Mario Kart
4. Yoshi
5. Mine Cart
6. Curse
7. Unchained
8. Ministry
9. Racers Rally
10. Wing Gliders
11. Fyre Drill

 

[GAcoaster]

More Epic themed merch showing up in the local Walmart. This is in addition to the Nintendo plush and toys they rolled out a few weeks ago. I wonder how long until the Nintendo and Dragons merch quantity matches the Minions and Potter?

 

[Mad Dog]

Really cool lil coincidence I'm noticing, IoA and Epic are opening with the exact same ride #, even down to the dueling coasters.

Islands of Adventure - May 28th, 1999

1. Hulk
2. Fear Fall
3. Spider-Man
4. Popeye
5. Ripsaw
6. Pteranodon
7. River Adventure
8. Dueling Dragons (fire)
   Dueling Dragons (ice)
9. Caro-Seuss
10. One Fish, Two Fish
11. Cat in the Hat

Epic Universe - May 22nd, 2025

1. Constellation
2. Stardust (yellow)
   Stardust (green)
3. Mario Kart
4. Yoshi
5. Mine Cart
6. Curse
7. Unchained
8. Ministry
9. Racers Rally
10. Wing Gliders
11. Fyre Drill

Interesting coincidence...Looking at the newest Disney and Universal parks, it looks like they generally open with a similar number of new attractions.....which are not a lot....but then add on with expansions over the years. Probably want to limit their risk, and cost, at the beginning in case initial projections aren't met.....plus incentives expansions to revitalize interest in the parks once the initial interest/newness wears off.

 

[JustLikeMe]

Looking at the app, it appears that Hiccups Wing Gliders and Dragon Racer’s Rally are also open for early entry today?

 

[Brian G.]

Interesting coincidence...Looking at the newest Disney and Universal parks, it looks like they generally open with a similar number of new attractions.....which are not a lot....but then add on with expansions over the years. Probably want to limit their risk, and cost, at the beginning in case initial projections aren't met.....plus incentives expansions to revitalize interest in the parks once the initial interest/newness wears off.

Maybe we aren't that crazy after all.

 

[HandsomePete]

Interesting coincidence...Looking at the newest Disney and Universal parks, it looks like they generally open with a similar number of new attractions.....which are not a lot....but then add on with expansions over the years. Probably want to limit their risk, and cost, at the beginning in case initial projections aren't met.....plus incentives expansions to revitalize interest in the parks once the initial interest/newness wears off.

A big issue is that you bump up against resource limits to build something larger, be that human capital (creatives, project managers, construction workers, etc.) or tangible items (cranes, etc.).

 

[Mad Dog]

A big issue is that you bump up against resource limits to build something larger, be that human capital (creatives, project managers, construction workers, etc.) or tangible items (cranes, etc.).

Yes, definitely.....And it seems that for these big new projects/parks, what Epic/Shanghai/Beijing/IOA starts with is kind of the sweet spot......The nice thing about Epic is that there's plenty of room set aside for expansions. It's really not very large at opening, acreage wise. Kind of present IOA size.

 

[Brian G.]

It's all about short-term vs long-term, and a new theme park has to play the long-term game.

 

[Mad Dog]

It's all about short-term vs long-term, and a new theme park has to play the long-term game.

which makes complete business sense......when considering theme parks business side

 

[MLevell]

Although Islands of Adventure did open two new rides within a few weeks of the park's 1st Anniversary which I don't think anyone believes Epic Universe will do.

 

[sparky]

Although Islands of Adventure did open two new rides within a few weeks of the park's 1st Anniversary which I don't think anyone believes Epic Universe will do.

Does pteranodon flyers count since only kids can go with parents? Not open to the general public. On a funny note I just found out the P is silent. I have been pronouncing the P all my life.