Universal Epic Universe (South Expansion Complex) - Opens May 22 2025

[Stripes]

You didn’t read my post. Canonically floos aren’t a mass transportation system. The masses take them, but not all at once like Cosmic’s pre show. When it comes to WWoHP, explaining that you’re taking a floo with 100 people isn’t what JK is going to sign off on.

I read it and I understood what you’re saying. I’ve read the books 10 times. I understand the limitations of the Floo Network.

What I am saying is that a simple explanation that London and Paris have a special extra large connection would have made the experience better and more powerful for guests. It would not have caused any plot holes and would be a perfectly sensible change to the story given how many wizards and witches travel between London and Paris.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

The Floo thing looks cooler from when you're watching, much like the Platform 9 3/4 effect. But when you're walking through it, yeah, it's kind of lame. There should have been a rotating wall or something.

 

[MisterPenguin]

*Pray tell, how would you do it differently to address the required throughput and canonical requirements I highlighted in my first response to you

1. Don't hype the ride's floo gag as something extraordinary if something extraordinary isn't be done. Like I said, the way the ride does it is perfectly fine. I'm not advocating for it to change or dinging the gag as it is.

2. Or, make something extraordinary happen by not following the books/movie canonically. E.g., neither the books nor the movie have flying furniture for a bunch of muggles to ride in.

 

[Coaster Lover]

But, it's not *amazing* or groundbreaking. I had been thinking: "What could this be? Would they try to put you in a type of box that shakes and rotates but hides the rotation so that you don't know you've turned around (like Rise's transport ship)?"

I feel like the gag, similar to the Platform 9 3/4 gag, is designed 100% to look better to the observer than the person actually doing it. I've seen some videos of the effect from an observer POV and you can't see the turn at the back of the "fireplace" when viewed head on, so as long as the person keeps walking, it is a pretty convincing effect that they disappeared after the "smoke" clears.

To make it feel like you are actually experiencing the effect, it probably would have worked better as an on ride effect (though better than what is on Forbidden Journey), but canonically, you really needed to be able to walk into the Ministry of Magic (through the floo).

For a better on ride option, DarKastle at BGW had effect that probably could have been modified/adopted to work (see starting at 1:42 of the below)

 

[lazyboy97o]

I wish English had a word for something which, in and of itself, in a vacuum, is perfectly fine or even good, BUT... you're disappointed in it because you thought it was going to be great and super-amazing because of the hype bestowed on it by others in advance?

Because, that's my reaction to the floo/flue transportation gag in MinMagic.

People were saying how fantastic it will be and it'll knock your socks off.

Ummm... no. It's a good gag. But it's just a short tunnel with a turn in it. The smoke effect and flash of light makes it look good.

But, it's not *amazing* or groundbreaking. I had been thinking: "What could this be? Would they try to put you in a type of box that shakes and rotates but hides the rotation so that you don't know you've turned around (like Rise's transport ship)?"

No, just a puff of smoke and flash of light and a crooked tunnel. And you walk through it. Which is good. I'm not saying it's not good. It's just not what some hyped it to be. It's a let-down, not because it's bad per se, but because it wasn't what was expected. And so, appreciation and disappointment... there should be a word for that.

The beauty of the English language is that it does offer some such precision, and even different phrases for different contexts.

When discussing Disney, the phrase is “budget cut”.

When discussing Universal, the phrase is “Disney Apologetics”.

 

[UNCgolf]

What's crazy is that Forbidden Journey's movements were toned down from their original profiles.

Monsters is much more "gentle" than FJ and I think most people who can't handle motion simulators should do just fine. For one thing, no motion simulation via screens. Second, FJ whips you from show element to show element. Monsters does not do that.

That sounds like a big improvement then -- definitely looking forward to riding Monsters.

 

[Rich Brownn]

I don't personally get motion sick on FJ, i'm not prone to motion sickness at all. But I do understand why others would. I think a lot of it is because of the simulator elements of FJ, it latches giant omnimax screens onto your vehicles multiple times throughout the ride. These scenes contain a lot of extremely fast moving and jerky motion. But since the vehicles aren't actually able to move enough to produce the same matching forward g-forces, the disparity confuses the brain somewhat because it expects something different than what is being felt. Even milder simulators such as Star Tours or Body Wars could cause motion sickness in some people because of this, and they don't even always get motion sick on rides that ACTUALLY move fairly fast. My mom has problems on simulators more intense than Soarin, but she has always been fine with Big Thunder or 7DMT and such.

For what it's worth, Monsters is very different from FJ in this aspect. I can't speak for the full experience, but the videos i've seen don't have any instances where you sit in front of a screen that flings you at high speeds through environments. The vehicle may have a lot of motion, but it appears to be moving you through more physical static environments like the physical scenes in FJ. Even the environments that are conveyed through projections are still relatively slow moving, and it's characters that are moving around instead.



No. That video admittedly has some oddly captured lighting that throws the figure off. But it's definitely a physical face. The skin reacts realistically to the environment lighting when she moves and turns, different parts taking on a dynamic sheen when light is hitting it directly and also shadowed in areas that are not as well lit. Projection can't do that. She's also lit with a fairly bright spotlight, which would completely wash out a projection and make it barely visible. It also lacks the visible seam around the chin and cheeks that internal projection has.

I could go on, but this clip is a different angle and probably a better representation of the lighting-

It's actually projection mapping on Victoria's face

 

[Disstevefan1]

I wish English had a word for something which, in and of itself, in a vacuum, is perfectly fine or even good, BUT... you're disappointed in it because you thought it was going to be great and super-amazing because of the hype bestowed on it by others in advance?

Disney?

 

[lentesta]

I did an Epic preview a couple of weeks ago. Happy to answer questions now that the media blackout is done.

Things I liked:

• The drive in and out was super easy. Coming from Celebration and the Disney area, I did not have to get on I-4 to get there. (I took 417 to John Young.)
• Theming is very good, even in the restaurants and bathrooms.
• The detail in the Ministry land is another order of magnitude better than anything else we've seen. So's the Ministry queue.
• Monsters and Ministry were not operating. The remaining rides were good to great, except for Werewolf (which isn't special).
• If Monsters and Ministry are as good as the queues, it might be the only park in Orlando with two or (arguably) three super-headliner rides. Imagine DHS if it had three rides like ROTR.
• Celestial Park seems to have plenty of seating and room. They were installing shade when I was there. Hopefully there's lots of that.

Things I didn't like:

• They definitely need more attractions. I'd get started on the 3 expansion pads now.
• Ride capacity is low
• That puts pressure on ride reliability, which is not a great position to be in for a new park.
• Other than that, I was trying to come up with something and the best I could do was "the knife work on the onions in my steak au poivre maybe could've been a little better? Maybe slightly thinner onions here?"

Overall very positive. A lot riding on park ops and engineering.

 

[European1992]

Honestly, this park seems like it is going to be a huge hit. After seeing some videos, photos and comments, I am very excited.

 

[Disstevefan1]

The detail in the Ministry land is another order of magnitude better than anything else we've seen. So's the Ministry queue.

Totally agree! For those who think otherwise are biased against Universal in my opinion.

 

[Baloo124]

Well I came across a "full ride" POV of Stardust racers on YouTube.

I completely missed the red flag that the uploader had "Bruh" in his name, which meant he was going to be obnoxious.
I have never wanted to throw somebody off a roller coaster so badly in my entire life.

Not all of these leaked ride videos are winners.

 

[Tom Morrow]

They weren't supposed to be filming on the rides, so you can assume any leaked video of a ride is uploaded by a... less than stellar individual.

 

[Lil Copter Cap]

A lot riding on park ops and engineering.

Yeaaaah. And six of the nine rides being exposed to the elements also worries me for those rainy summer afternoons.

 

[Stripes]

If the economy goes into a recession, this would be a terrible time to debut the most expensive park ever built.

 

[Andrew25]

If the economy goes into a recession, this would be a terrible time to debut the most expensive park ever built.

Unfortunately it is, but there's nothing they can do about it. I've been saying since October that their ticketing strategy is not only confusing, but strict when it comes to flexibility for guests. It seems like they're sticking to their plan, but it's an awful one IMO.

I did an Epic preview a couple of weeks ago. Happy to answer questions now that the media blackout is done.

Things I liked:

• The drive in and out was super easy. Coming from Celebration and the Disney area, I did not have to get on I-4 to get there. (I took 417 to John Young.)
• Theming is very good, even in the restaurants and bathrooms.
• The detail in the Ministry land is another order of magnitude better than anything else we've seen. So's the Ministry queue.
• Monsters and Ministry were not operating. The remaining rides were good to great, except for Werewolf (which isn't special).
• If Monsters and Ministry are as good as the queues, it might be the only park in Orlando with two or (arguably) three super-headliner rides. Imagine DHS if it had three rides like ROTR.
• Celestial Park seems to have plenty of seating and room. They were installing shade when I was there. Hopefully there's lots of that.

Things I didn't like:

• They definitely need more attractions. I'd get started on the 3 expansion pads now.
• Ride capacity is low
• That puts pressure on ride reliability, which is not a great position to be in for a new park.
• Other than that, I was trying to come up with something and the best I could do was "the knife work on the onions in my steak au poivre maybe could've been a little better? Maybe slightly thinner onions here?"

Overall very positive. A lot riding on park ops and engineering.

I have the same thoughts. I was there this past week and I don't think there's enough shade (they added a lot of umbrellas, but it's very hot, especially in SNW). I know that is a result of construction still occuring, but felt bad for the TMs working the SNW games as they were out in the sun all day.

Regarding capacity, I agree that the park will desperately need it sooner than later. Initial capacity estimates:

• Stardust - 2,400 (at a 60-sec interval, they are aiming for 50-sec intervals)
• Constellation Carousel - 720
• Wing Gliders - 1,440
• Dragon Racer's Rally - 360
• Fyre Drill - 720 (could be lower or higher pending # of boats)
• Viking Training Camp - n/a
• Battle at the Ministry - 1,700
• Curse of the Werewolf - 1,100
• Monsters Unchained - 2,057 (7-sec intervals)
• Yoshi's Adventure - 1,200
• Mario Kart - 1,700
• Donkey Kart: Mine Cart Madness - 1,200

Total Epic Ride Capacity: ~14,600
Current DAK Ride Capacity: ~12,300 (includes ITTAB & Dinosaur, but not Triceratop Spin- with Tropical Americas it'll increase to ~14,400) *Excluding walkthrough exhibits*
IOA Capacity: ~20,400
USF Capacity: ~16,000

This is based off my Wait-Time model I continue to update based on Epic preview information and latest capacity updates.
*Battle at the Ministry will be very difficult to gauge initially

 

[celluloid]

It is wild that the first two weeks are completely sold out. It is such a different time to open a theme park when the last major one was Universal with IOA in 1999, and the internet and common online ticket ordering has changed how expedited that is.

Not to mention Express Pass and Tours sold on top of that.

This is all without any Team Member ID access.

 

[Misted Compass]

It is wild that the first two weeks are completely sold out. It is such a different time to open a theme park when the last major one was Universal with IOA in 1999, and the internet and common online ticket ordering has changed how expedited that is.

Not to mention Express Pass and Tours sold on top of that.

This is all without any Team Member ID access.

If you're talking about single day tickets I don't think they were ever available in May for non-APs.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

It is wild that the first two weeks are completely sold out.

Technically it’s still only opening day that’s sold out — the 3-days still get you into Epic on any subsequent day.

 

[Disstevefan1]

It is wild that the first two weeks are completely sold out. It is such a different time to open a theme park when the last major one was Universal with IOA in 1999, and the internet and common online ticket ordering has changed how expedited that is.

Not to mention Express Pass and Tours sold on top of that.

This is all without any Team Member ID access.

Why are you surprised its sold out?