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

[flynnibus]

Nintendo is just being quirky at this point, trying things that will never stick, so they didn't have any options for the sign that were both modern and timeless.

The nes with the 4 way d pad and two buttons is iconic as anything out there. But we can see from the signa they went a big more generic arcade and less nintendo

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

Been hearing from friends that the walk to and from is brutal. Even worse than City Walk.

Ouch. I already wasn't a fan of City Walk and how the location melds with the parks. A little disappointed to know the issue wasn't fixed, especially since this is a hub with branches rather than a wheel and spoke design.

But somewhat expected when I first saw Celestial Park

 

[celluloid]

Okay but business wise it is 100% a huge distinction for how the parks make money operate, and more.

What? Would you elaborate?

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

What? Would you elaborate?

Costs to use the franchises, merch, not complete control over the lands/franchises as we saw from Potter. Now with Universals track record of how they maintain their own properties, it’s for the best. But it does matter from a standpoint that they are in an agreement but do not have complete control over their use of many of these properties. Based on Nintendo being who they are, I would anticipate they have a similar deal

 

[celluloid]

Costs to use the franchises, merch, not complete control over the lands/franchises as we saw from Potter. Now with Universals track record of how they maintain their own properties, it’s for the best. But it does matter from a standpoint that they are in an agreement but do not have complete control over their use of many of these properties. Based on Nintendo being who they are, I would anticipate they have a similar deal

Gotcha. I wanted to be sure. But in good faith one has to admit this is not limited to Universal. Disney has worked with multiple outside sources in the past and Present. Lucas before they owned Lucasfilm for Star Wars, Indy,(much of MGM Studios and Great Movie Ride, CBS, and even now with Lightstorm for Avatar has some holdings and was not a part of Disney first.

It is also not cut and dry even when entirely owned. Marvel has portfolio say and control over much of what happens with Disney's theme parks. Kind of easier but a lot of same issue as studios that have product and experience divisons, and so many do now.

Dreamworks however, which is specifically what I was speaking of, is owned by Universal, so it was an off-moot point.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

sure but that dreamworks catalog is not nearly as extensive to put real pressure just based on what I know about these last 2 gens. There are some major hits but overall Dreamworks is a wildly inconsistent studio (look at the Shrek movies, Puss in Boots, Trolls, and a lot of their other one offs)

I will say, I do think both of these companies realistically shouldn’t have to lean so much on others IP though when they have a treasure trove of underutilized IP at their disposal. It never made sense that Universal is going with 3 Harry Potter lands instead of doing anything else with Jaws, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future.

I somewhat understand why Disney did it back in the day because they definitely had a disadvantage when it came to the teen market. And Universal going for Harry Potter was of course a good idea and turned out to be instrumental in making their real push since that was also a demographic they were light on at the time.
But now I think we are in a good enough place where Universal has plenty of properties that would work well and I’m just disappointed they don’t use them

 

[Giss Neric]

You can see more clearly the seamless transitions between screens and practical sets.

Spoiler: bom pov

 

[celluloid]

I will say, I do think both of these companies realistically shouldn’t have to lean so much on others IP though when they have a treasure trove of underutilized IP at their disposal. It never made sense that Universal is going with 3 Harry Potter lands instead of doing anything else with Jaws, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future.

A few things.
First, while Sony has been a great partner for Uni, Ghostbusters is not Universal owned. Like I said earlier, this goes back to opening day era and current really for all major theme parks.
Universal in the 90s did have various venues including major attractions based on those properties. While they can come back in other forms, and I would love to have some back, they do in fact represent them now in various ways. They are not exactly shunned or forgotten. Last year for example with live entertainment and night time spectacular, even an escape room in resort for BTTF. At a certain point, it is possibly diminishing returns.
That is it for those you mentioned but Uni also the deep cuts while Disney has chased recent only. Since Iger has been in charge you will rarely find anything at WDW referencing their legacy pre Mermaid 1989. Rarely, not absolute.
At Uni. Deep cuts still. i.e.Blues Brothers, Beetlejuice, Horror Make Up's content, American Graffiti, Marylin Manroe's film-based persona, Jay Ward Toons etc...)
Also at special events like HHN or the new Fan Fest nights you are seeing that property.
All of thse properties have live ent and photo ops and references each of the parks.

As far as Potter in three parks...Each has been a hit and the food and beverage alone more than worth the while. The attractions have even at their weakest done well. It nkt mutually exclusive. The success of Potter helped pitch the return of the legacy properties. Maybe more soon we can hope.
You see Potter in three theme parks for the same reason you have Star wars in multiple areas at Disney properties, Frozen and Mermaid represented in multiple parks woth rides and shows telling the same stories and songs as well as Lion King in the 90s in every Disney Theme Park somewhere.

Money and spreading the ways to captilize on it.

 

[rd805]

I have a hard time believing people buying multi day tickets to Universal for Epic Universe and not going to the other parks at all.

There may be some who would do that. The ones who would do that aren't Universal fans but just want to see Epic.

If you have to buy 2 days to get 1 day at Epic, you are most certainly going to at least spend half of your day at one of the Universal experiences....it'd be throwing away money at this point, and nobody is down for that. So I 100000% agree!

 

[rd805]

If folks actually visited Universal Orlando parks and they can be honest with themselves and not let the “it’s not Disney so it’s automatically bad” bias take over, they will see these parks are world class.

From the Harry Potter lands in Universal and IOA connected by the train, which is an attraction in its self; going back to the original ET ride, always a favorite, even back then, they knew how to make a queue; the queue for ET is one of my favorites.

Watching the videos of EPIC, the immersion EVERYWHERE is amazing! Of course there will be folks who will complain about sight lines, GOOD Universal SHOULD be held to the same standard we USED to hold WDW to as Universal Orlando is no longer the little brother to be ignored any more.

I can remember my first visit to Universal Orlando (somewhere between age 10-12?), and was instantly drawn. We had Disney every year preceding that starting from my age 3 and were (and still are) an absolute Disney Family. We were blown away by the favorites - King Kong, Jaws, ET, T2 show. The new characters that we could get pictures with were so fun for our photo albums (Yogi Bear, Frankenstein, Shrek, Beetlejuice, Woody Woodpecker, etc).

They did double down on too many screen based attractions for sometime, but they also INCREASED the # of attractions they were offering. I truly think most negative fans experienced the too many screen attractions & instantaneously were overwhelmed, not knowing some of the history before it. They obviously have work to do with USF, but an upgrade to RRR, F&F, Simpsons would REALLY all be so welcome & inject a ton of life into this park.

 

[rd805]

Do you realize there's much, MUCH more to operations than what time a park closes? Or a rare occurrence of food poisoning? Comparing Universal's "overall operations" to SeaWorld's is completely absurd. One of the worst takes I've ever seen in my 20+ years on this forum. Have you been to SeaWorld lately? It's a train wreck.

Having been to Sea World in 2023 for the first time in probably 10 years, it was 3 hours and done. Horrible ride ops who didn't care to be there, inaccurate wait times, i would say 60% of the rides were down, and less animals than I remember as a youth. I got the ticket for free with my Discovery Cove entry (which was 1000000% worth going to!) but Sea World was such a let down.

 

[Andrew25]

Having been to Sea World in 2023 for the first time in probably 10 years, it was 3 hours and done. Horrible ride ops who didn't care to be there, inaccurate wait times, i would say 60% of the rides were down, and less animals than I remember as a youth. I got the ticket for free with my Discovery Cove entry (which was 1000000% worth going to!) but Sea World was such a let down.

I'll be keeping an eye on SeaWorld this year, I'm interested in seeing how Epic Universe changes the "weight" of Orlando tourism a bit more north to the UOR side.

Their financials are doing fine, but the park experience keeps getting worse.

 

[Jrb1979]

I'll be keeping an eye on SeaWorld this year, I'm interested in seeing how Epic Universe changes the "weight" of Orlando tourism a bit more north to the UOR side.

Their financials are doing fine, but the park experience keeps getting worse.

I'm shocked hearing how bad SeaWorld and Busch Gardens has gotten in terms of ops.

I think it's just a Florida issue. From everything I've heard all their other parks don't have the same issues. Busch Gardens Williamsburg is one the best regional parks and is constantly praised.

 

[celluloid]

I'm shocked hearing how bad SeaWorld and Busch Gardens has gotten in terms of ops.

I think it's just a Florida issue. From everything I've heard all their other parks don't have the same issues. Busch Gardens Williamsburg is one the best regional parks and is constantly praised.

It is not just FL.

BGW is still beautiful in landscape for the most part, but it used to be a lot stronger in theming and quality. Operations along with Food and Beverage there have gotten sloppy too.

Entire chain is just nasty compared to before.

 

[Jrb1979]

It is not just FL.

BGW is still beautiful in landscape for the most part, but it used to be a lot stronger in theming and quality. Operations along with Food and Beverage there have gotten sloppy too.

Entire chain is just nasty compared to before.

IMO it depends on what compare it to. It's still one of the best regional parks. Right up there with Dollywood and Silver Dollar City.

If you're comparing from where the park started out with Disney level theming and food, then yes it's not the same.

 

[celluloid]

IMO it depends on what compare it to. It's still one of the best regional parks. Right up there with Dollywood and Silver Dollar City.

If you're comparing from where the park started out with Disney level theming and food, then yes it's not the same.

For sure. I am comparing them only to themselves, which used to be a lot better.

1990s into 2000s BGT, SWO and BGW were far superior under AB. When BGW premiered Ireland they reached high levels. Amazing long ago to think that they were the first park to install a Star Tours level simulator system only a few year after Star Tours when they developed the very themed Questor at their parks.

Once Blackstone took over things starting changing fast and then it has spiraled a lot since.

 

[OrlandoRising]

Hint hint towards Zelda? (possible but not likely what they meant)

There are other major hints too.

In the Nintendo store just outside of SNW in Epic, there's a Zelda design on the floor, banners for the original NES versions of characters on one side, and you've probably seen the stained glass window of Link that was visible from bioreconstruct photos, but there's also windows showing Zelda and Ganon.

The Legend of Zelda characters are the only ones represented in the shop that aren't already in SNW in some form. And there's not even Zelda merch being sold! It really feels like those plans are already in motion and the shop is prepared for a future Zelda expansion.

 

[lazyboy97o]

There are other major hints too.

In the Nintendo store just outside of SNW in Epic, there's a Zelda design on the floor, banners for the original NES versions of characters on one side, and you've probably seen the stained glass window of Link that was visible from bioreconstruct photos, but there's also windows showing Zelda and Ganon.

The Legend of Zelda characters are the only ones represented in the shop that aren't already in SNW in some form. And there's not even Zelda merch being sold! It really feels like those plans are already in motion and the shop is prepared for a future Zelda expansion.

The shop was designed while The Legend of Zelda was still being considered for Islands of Adventure.

 

[sedati]

You can see more clearly the seamless transitions between screens and practical sets.

Spoiler: bom pov

Your phrasing seems to contradict itself. The mix is very well done, but rather glaring at the end. Also, I feel the concept of the time-room could have been far more creativity utilized.

 

[Gusey]

The shop was designed while The Legend of Zelda was still being considered for Islands of Adventure.

But if Pokemon is the Nintendo property planned for USF, why isn't Pokemon in the Ninentendo store? Is it just not Nintendo enough (I know its only 1/3 owned by Nintendo)