Universal Epic Universe (South Expansion Complex) - Now Open!

[Vegas Disney Fan]

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Please let me know where, in the WDW parks, I can find a view like this. This is really bad. We should not see this in a premium park.

I seriously didn't want to dwell this hard on the park's negative aspects because there's a lot to love. But man... come on.

My immediate reaction seeing this is it reminds me of the view from Test track, a 20 year old ride that still has horrible sight lines.

Doesn’t excuse it but it’s unfortunately not a rare view at any of the worlds most highly themed parks. I think the Galaxys edge views from BTM at DL are still worse though, hills on sticks visible from one of the most highly themed coasters ever made still drives me crazy, had they spent 1% more and extended those hills to the building they’d completely fit in.

 

[celluloid]

My immediate reaction seeing this is it reminds me of the view from Test track, a 20 year old ride that still has horrible sight lines.

On its way to 30 and on its third incarnation with those issues.

I feel old.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

That view of Potter's backside is unfortunate. But don't worry it will be blocked soonish with a great view of the backside of LotR.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I agree, but people love Cosmic Rewind. Your stance was that everything Disney has done lately has been a letdown for all.


Again, a sleek hotel that is owned by Disney vs. an ugly industrial water treatment plant owned by the city. They knew it was there, and they could have taken every possible step to hide it. They didn't.


They're largely fictional toys. What scale? This is the first time I have ever seen this complaint anywhere.



Okay. This screenshot is taken from a video posted today from Coaster Studios on YouTube.

View attachment 853541

Please let me know where, in the WDW parks, I can find a view like this. This is really bad. We should not see this in a premium park.

I seriously didn't want to dwell this hard on the park's negative aspects because there's a lot to love. But man... come on.

EPIC, is so, well, EPIC, that it is important to find and report defects to (try) to level the playing field

 

[BrianLo]

I’ll be pretty surprised if much happens “soon”.

IOA and USO are in my running at least for the worst domestic parks from both operators.

Sure, we’ll get some coasters and a cheap kids park with all the aspirations of DreamWorks land.

This is the peak of their spending package for a good long while in Orlando. Savour it.

 

[Andrew C]

I’ll be pretty surprised if much happens “soon”.

IOA and USO are in my running at least for the worst domestic parks from both operators.

Sure, we’ll get some coasters and a cheap kids park with all the aspirations of DreamWorks land.

This is the peak of their spending package for a good long while in Orlando. Savour it.

"They just gave us the first significant park in Orlando (or maybe even the US) in decades, but I betcha they won't do anything else" is an interesting take...

 

[celluloid]

I’ll be pretty surprised if much happens “soon”.

IOA and USO are in my running at least for the worst domestic parks from both operators.

Sure, we’ll get some coasters and a cheap kids park with all the aspirations of DreamWorks land.

This is the peak of their spending package for a good long while in Orlando. Savour it.

You are crystal ball-ing on a lot of that.

And oh no, we have to savour an entirely new theme park with the company still doing other projects?

Yeah, it is a tough time.

 

[BrianLo]

"They just gave us the first significant park in Orlando (or maybe even the US) in decades, but I betcha they won't do anything else" is an interesting take...

It is? I didn’t think that’s a hot take at all!

There is always a big spending let down after these projects with a lot of job instability. It doesn’t help that there is also big planned spend outside Orlando.

 

[BrianLo]

You are crystal ball-ing on a lot of that.

And oh no, we have to savour an entirely new theme park with the company still doing other projects?

Yeah, it is a tough time.

I really didn’t think this was controversial guys! This is how it always works.

Didn’t we hear a while ago the next real thing is 2030 with Pokemon? Luigi’s Mansion has been quiet.

I’m patient, but 2030 escapes my definition of soon, more medium term.

 

[celluloid]

I really didn’t think this was controversial guys! This is how it always works.

Didn’t we hear a while ago the next real thing is 2030 with Pokemon? Luigi’s Mansion has been quiet.

I’m patient, but 2030 escapes my definition of soon, more medium term.

Because a lot of that was speculation and expansion pad dreams. (and some almost unfairly as the park was not even finished)

What is in fact are things happening though. Including the Texas Park next year(which we don't have to belittle because it is not pretending to be anything other than a quality family regional park) and the other parks have gotten attention. Now we have 2031 as a goal for a new park/resort property in UK. This is not even mentioning the minor projects like the Horror Unleashed project that happened.(this year) Even California is getting new venues besides the coaster including an entirely new event.

I don't think what you said is controversial, It is just obvious that Comcast is not really stagnant in building to where we will be stuck to only savour an entirely new theme park, which is funny in itself as it is more than any other major themed destination is building. They are not careless and they are diversifying.

Saying "Savour" this and saying we will get cheap thrills and coasters from here on out is a crystal-ball take and not likely accurate.

How many years from announcement to finish will Indy at Dino take? And that is a retheme.

Not exactly soon there either.

 

[JT3000]

I’ll be pretty surprised if much happens “soon”.

IOA and USO are in my running at least for the worst domestic parks from both operators.

Sure, we’ll get some coasters and a cheap kids park with all the aspirations of DreamWorks land.

This is the peak of their spending package for a good long while in Orlando. Savour it.

With all due respect, you're crazy. Even many Disney fanatics will admit that IOA is one of Orlando's best parks, even with its warts.

I also don't understand this eagerness to jump to conclusions on future spending, especially when they've literally already told us they're working on future plans for Epic.

 

[BrianLo]

What is in fact are things happening though. Including the Texas Park(which we don't have to belittle because it is not pretending to be anything other than a quality family regional park) and the other parks have gotten attention. Now we have 2031 as a goal for a new park/resort property in UK. This is not even mentioning the minor projects like the Horror Unleashed project that happened.

Yea, hence ‘Orlando’.

I don't think what you said is controversial, It is just obvious that Comcast is not really stagnant

I didn’t say Comcast was, I said Orlando and vis-a-vis domestic investment will be for a while.

Saying "Savour" this and saying we will get cheap thrills and coasters from here on out is a crystal-ball take and not likely accurate.

Happy to be wrong, but we haven’t heard of anything substantial through 2030. We’re going to be in a lull for a little while for Universal Orlando. I’m just looking at the same rumours everyone else is.

 

[celluloid]

With all due respect, you're crazy. Even many Disney fanatics will admit that IOA is one of Orlando's best parks, even with its warts.

I also don't understand this eagerness to jump to conclusions on future spending, especially when they've literally already told us they're working on future plans for Epic.

More than that, they fixed old effects that have had issues.

The storm knocking out the last night time show, had them just invest in a new night time production for studios, and Kong is running outside portion again.

There is little evidence that Uni is not taking their ROI's and investing back in the parks. Comcast has been pretty clear on those goals too.

 

[celluloid]

Yea, hence ‘Orlando’.



I didn’t say Comcast was, I said Orlando and vis-a-vis domestic investment will be for a while.



Happy to be wrong, but we haven’t heard of anything substantial through 2030. We’re going to be in a lull for a little while for Universal Orlando. I’m just looking at the same rumours everyone else is.

Comcast is not going to just shun Orlando as they see more growth potential.
There is also no evidence of that. See my other postings and postings for others.


You don't see much lack of investment going on. Sorry you will have to wait until 2030 (4 and a half years)for the next larger projects that have not even been announced or broken ground yet. But that is not exactly a dormant park situation.

 

[BrianLo]

With all due respect, you're crazy. Even many Disney fanatics will admit that IOA is one of Orlando's best parks, even with its warts.

I value entertainment I think a bit more than how others tend to weight it. I’m not local to any resort. The ride lineup is good.

Food, entertainment and several lands falling into neglect have started to really drag how I think about that park.

I also don't understand this eagerness to jump to conclusions on future spending, especially when they've literally already told us they're working on future plans for Epic.

Peak. Peak. Peak. This is the big one for a while. I have the exact same complaint with Disney in places like Tokyo. I don’t like lumpy investment. Never have.

It was strictly a hold your optimism that the next golden age of investment is coming soon. It just happened. It’ll be a while to work it’s way through before the next ramp.

 

[JT3000]

I value entertainment I think a bit more than how others tend to weight it. I’m not local to any resort. The ride lineup is good.

Food, entertainment and several lands falling into neglect have started to really drag how I think about that park.



Peak. Peak. Peak. This is the big one for a while. I have the exact same complaint with Disney in places like Tokyo. I don’t like lumpy investment. Never have.

It was strictly a hold your optimism that the next golden age of investment is coming soon. It just happened. It’ll be a while to work it’s way through before the next ramp.

IOA could use a couple shows, which will hopefully be included in Lost Continent's eventual replacement, but I think the ride lineup is too strong to ignore. I also don't think the park is in any worse condition than usual.

Well of course this was the peak of investment for a long time, it's an entire new park. There's no feasible way to top that other than building a whole 'nother park (which they are actually doing, twice over, just not in Orlando.) That doesn't mean they don't have substantial investments already in the pipeline for the current parks.

 

[celluloid]

I value entertainment I think a bit more than how others tend to weight it. I’m not local to any resort. The ride lineup is good.

Food, entertainment and several lands falling into neglect have started to really drag how I think about that park.

That is ebb and flow in everything. Especially with food and entertainment.

But IOA/Universal Studios and especially now EPIC have far superior Entertainment operations than Disney parks, particularly WDW and specifically Hollywood Studios.(which is almost back to entertainment offering count it had a decade ago since Mermaid and other venues have been shuttered)

So not sure how you can say this is where you weigh your value but feel they are some of the sloppiest in operation. Live Entertainment is one of the places Studios and IOA are simply the best of the major in Orlando.

 

[BrianLo]

Comcast is not going to just shun Orlando as they see more growth potential.
There is also no evidence of that. See my other postings and postings for others.


You don't see much lack of investment going on. Sorry you will have to wait until 2030 (4 and a half years)for the next large projects that have not even been announced or broken ground yet. But that is not exactly a dormant park situation.

I seem to have hit a big nerve. Everyone keeps putting words into my mouth I didn’t say.

IOA could use a couple shows, which will hopefully be included in Lost Continent's eventual replacement, but I think the ride lineup is too strong to ignore. I also don't think the park is in any worse condition than usual.

That’s why I put the personal qualifier on my post. It has the worst entertainment of the whole domestic lot and that matters.

Well of course this was the peak of investment for a long time, it's an entire new park. There's no feasible way to top that other than building a whole 'nother park (which they are actually doing, twice over, just not in Orlando.) That doesn't mean they don't have substantial investments already in the pipeline for the current parks.

And I never said otherwise! I just said it wasn’t going to be soon. We’ve got five years from what Alicia spelled out. I won’t get into the weeds of 4.5, they don’t launch theme park product ever in Q1.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

My guess is US will get a lot of love before Epic or IOA see any major changes, outside of HP we found that park really lacking. I think of all the parks in Florida it’s going to take the biggest hit from Epic, I don’t know how we’d ever justify a full day ticket for US over any of the other WDW/Uni parks, especially since a hopper is required for the HP express. I think we could easily take a couple hours out of our IOA day to knock all of US off our to do list.

 

[JT3000]

I seem to have hit a big nerve. Everyone keeps putting words into my mouth I didn’t say.



That’s why I put the personal qualifier on my post. It has the worst entertainment of the whole domestic lot and that matters.



And I never said otherwise! I just said it wasn’t going to be soon. We’ve got five years from what Alicia spelled out. I won’t get into the weeds of 4.5, they don’t launch theme park product ever in Q1.

They will not wait five years to open another major attraction. I would bet my house on it.

PS: The Simpsons contract ends in only three years.