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

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

can’t think of a previous restaurant where there was a preshow for a meal.

Space 220

On the flip side with SNW, the DK ride has terrible capacity which won't fit the E ticket caliber people visiting will label it as given its extravagant theming and own area, Yoshi is just a conveyor belt of humans being slowly cooked in the 90+ degree heat in the summer, the inevitable crowds in the small and type footprint will make it an uncomfortable experience, and the general lack of shade doesn't help at all.

 

[Agent H]

Land number 3! Dark universe! Okay so I think this is the land that I have the most mixed opinions on. Positives first. The entrance is amazing and is a perfect example of visual storytelling. You walk in and are immediately greeted with the entrance to the catacombs which end up playing a large part in monsters unchained. It’s also hinted at that something ominous is going on down there. Then you walk past a photo op in a coffin and enter the village of darkmoor. It’s very well themed and absolutely nails the vibe. Something else I want to mention is the characters. They roam the land like the characters in galaxies edge in Hollywood studios. The highlight is Igor. I absolutely love his character and he is a ton of fun. Be sure to ask him what’s in his bag. Moving on to a few negatives it’s the land that feels the smallest. I think the village could be bigger and needs another store. The burning blade tavern is amazing and the effect is better than the dragon in diagon alley. The problem is it’s located so far in the back that I have to imagine when the park opens there will be people who won’t even know it’s there. I think it should have been located on the edge of the village closer to the plot of the werewolf coaster. It would have been more centrally located and would have helped to fill out the village. On the flip side of that it being located far away helped create a really cool story moment that I won’t spoil for anyone. Onto the werewolf coaster itself it’s a very fun ride with a interesting “spin” (see what I did there?) on a ride system we’ve seen before. My only problem is a scene at the end that feels very much like it was bought at spirit Halloween.

 

[WoundedDreamer]

Not to make anyone feel old hahaha, but I’m 24 and this is the first time that I’ve been alive for a major theme park opening in the US, and I’m beyond excited!! Keeping up with the rumors and news has been super fun, and being able to basically watch the thing being built online was so cool. I can’t wait to go and experience it for myself now!!

This is awesome—I’m glad you’ve had this experience! The best part is, for whatever flaws may exist, I think Epic Universe is worthy of considerable excitement. I don’t think you’re going to walk out of the park feeling disappointed, unless you had truly insane expectations.

In a way, even though it’s “just a theme park,” I bet Epic Universe will always have a special place in your heart because of this process. It’s going to be “your theme park,” even though you don’t own it.

Enjoy!

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

Land number 3! Dark universe! Okay so I think this is the land that I have the most mixed opinions on. Positives first. The entrance is amazing and is a perfect example of visual storytelling. You walk in and are immediately greeted with the entrance to the catacombs which end up playing a large part in monsters unchained. It’s also hinted at that something ominous is going on down there. Then you walk past a photo op in a coffin and enter the village of darkmoor. It’s very well themed and absolutely nails the vibe. Something else I want to mention is the characters. They roam the land like the characters in galaxies edge in Hollywood studios. The highlight is Igor. I absolutely love his character and he is a ton of fun. Be sure to ask him what’s in his bag. Moving on to a few negatives it’s the land that feels the smallest. I think the village could be bigger and needs another store. The burning blade tavern is amazing and the effect is better than the dragon in diagon alley. The problem is it’s located so far in the back that I have to imagine when the park opens there will be people who won’t even know it’s there. I think it should have been located on the edge of the village closer to the plot of the werewolf coaster. It would have been more centrally located and would have helped to fill out the village. On the flip side of that it being located far away helped create a really cool story moment that I won’t spoil for anyone. Onto the werewolf coaster itself it’s a very fun ride with a interesting “spin” (see what I did there?) on a ride system we’ve seen before. My only problem is a scene at the end that feels very much like it was bought at spirt Halloween.

The ending to that ride is among one of the worst I think I have ever seen. It literally looks like a cheap carnival ride but not in the way its trying to be, it just looks like one of those prebuilt "haunted houses" in the worst way possible

 

[Agent H]

Warning! Spoilers for monsters unchained! It is recommended by dr. Victoria Frankenstein that any who have not yet participated in her experiments not click this button! Those who do not heed this warning may suffer greatly!

Spoiler

okay I am now going to review monsters unchained. Starting in the queue it is amazing. Lots of details sets up the story very well. The preshow. Also amazing with the first of multiple very impressive audio-animatronics. Then you go into the catacombs which are very creepy. Side note: what happened to the scare actors that were supposed to be in the queue? I’m not even upset they weren’t there. Truth be told I’m kinda glad because I’m kinda of a wuss when it comes to this sort of thing. I’m just curious. The ride itself is overall amazing. It starts with Dracula escaping containment and freeing all the monsters and his brides from dr. Victoria Frankensteins various traps and other methods of containment. From here it’s kind of a who’s who of famous monsters attacking you. The coolest parts are when the werewolf and Dracula chase you through the ride via a mixture of screens and animatronics. Now the ride does end kinda weirdly. Basically there’s a whole system set up that reflects sunlight from above onto the vampires and the second half of the ride is Victoria the new Frankensteins monster and Igor trying to get the system to work.problem is Dracula is destroyed via screen and I don’t know it feels like that should be a bigger moment and to top it off it doesn’t really fell like the story is over when you get off. All the other monsters are still running around the catacombs and then the last scene is poor Igor getting eaten alive by bats so to summarize it’s a great ride with lots of impressive animatronics but the ending is isn’t very satisfying and again the story doesn’t feel like it’s over.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Intrusion of finished elements from one land into another can be somewhat problematic, but it's an entirely different animal from seeing unfinished or poorly disguised show buildings, backstage traffic pathways and facilities, or nearby industrial infrastructure that is not part of the park. Not sure why that's difficult to understand or why it's seen as "fussy".

Also inexcusable when this was a park built from the ground up where they could essentially put anything anywhere. They chose not to have a berm around Berk, position other buildings so close to each other, build the hotel as tall as they did and believe the backside of other buildings could be hidden with just some trees and not an added layer of character paint.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

Also inexcusable when this was a park built from the ground up where they could essentially put anything anywhere. They chose not to have a berm around Berk, position other buildings so close to each other, build the hotel as tall as they did and believe the backside of other buildings could be hidden with just some trees and not an added layer of character paint.

Lots of excuses from people but really this is what it comes down to. They decided it wasn’t important enough to spend money to actually keep you immersed. Simple as that.

 

[Sorcerer Mickey]

Just got back from a weeklong Disney World trip and I kept thinking about the "lack of shade" criticism. I realized there are huge chunks of all four parks where there is not adequate shade. Main Street USA. Discovery Island. World Showcase. Galaxy's Edge. There is no shade in these areas unless you're indoors.

It almost feels like this is a criticism that just caught fire throughout the inter webs with people parroting it without thinking and realizing that Florida theme parks in general do not have much shade. Or the area is just getting hotter so it's on people's minds more often.

 

[Agent H]

Day 2 at Epic is in the books. We accomplished most of what we set out to do, but missed out on checking whatever the fountain is doing at night... because we got to ride Battle of the Ministry! That was a lot of work. The 11AM drop was really tiny, although I did get to the selection page. Other people around me, didn't even get that far. However, I was successful at the 3PM drop for a return time of 5:15. And the ride went on delay right before then. However, my Dad saw it reopen ~7:30ish and we booked it back over. Got in line, it moved slow and we made it to the Auror's room... and the ride went down. Waited it out and made it on and finally got out of the attraction at 9:07. It's our favorite ride in the park. The other main goals were Starbucks mug, Toothless M&G, eating and exploring, which we did. However, we wanted to get some candy bars in Berk (didn't buy them earlier because we didn't want to melt). They were still letting people into Berk, but I wasn't sure the candy store would still be open, so we just skipped it. That will have to wait until the trip with my DH in late Aug / early Sept.

You didn’t miss much. The fountain “show” isn’t anything worth waiting around for.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

Just got back from a weeklong Disney World trip and I kept thinking about the "lack of shade" criticism. I realized there are huge chunks of all four parks where there is not adequate shade. Main Street USA. Discovery Island. World Showcase. Galaxy's Edge. There is no shade in these areas unless you're indoors.

It almost feels like this is a criticism that just caught fire throughout the inter webs with people parroting it without thinking and realizing that Florida theme parks in general do not have much shade. Or the area is just getting hotter so it's on people's minds more often.

I think sprawl is the implicit factor. Most of those places indeed lack shade (so does something like Hogsmeade!) but none are particularly wide and it can be pretty easy to escape.

 

[Agent H]

Space 220

On the flip side with SNW, the DK ride has terrible capacity which won't fit the E ticket caliber people visiting will label it as given its extravagant theming and own area, Yoshi is just a conveyor belt of humans being slowly cooked in the 90+ degree heat in the summer, the inevitable crowds in the small and type footprint will make it an uncomfortable experience, and the general lack of shade doesn't help at all.

So I didn’t get to actually ride mine cart madness. We waited in line for almost 2 hours. The ride broke down twice and took forever to get back up. The second time after 30 minutes we got up and walked out. While I was waiting I noticed they were only running two mine carts at a time with about 25 seconds between each one which is pitiful capacity no matter how you slice it. As for what I thought of the actual queue it’s way too boring for the wait times this ride has and is going to have once it actually opens. I did like the cranky Kong preshow. universal clearly has ops issues to work out with this park. They couldn’t even keep the carousel up and running.

 

[UNCgolf]

Just got back from a weeklong Disney World trip and I kept thinking about the "lack of shade" criticism. I realized there are huge chunks of all four parks where there is not adequate shade. Main Street USA. Discovery Island. World Showcase. Galaxy's Edge. There is no shade in these areas unless you're indoors.

It almost feels like this is a criticism that just caught fire throughout the inter webs with people parroting it without thinking and realizing that Florida theme parks in general do not have much shade. Or the area is just getting hotter so it's on people's minds more often.

I don't think it's really new -- there were numerous complaints about Toy Story Land lacking any shade at DHS, too.

 

[Tom Morrow]

The actual answer, unfortunately, is that this stuff is typically designed by people who do not live in Florida. They've only just recently started to design employee uniforms that are breathable. All the Epic team member wardrobe is meant to look layered and heavy duty but is actually lightweight and breathable.

 

[JoeCamel]

I don't think it's really new -- there were numerous complaints about Toy Story Land lacking any shade at DHS, too.

Sad part is there used to more shade than there is today

 

[lazyboy97o]

The actual answer, unfortunately, is that this stuff is typically designed by people who do not live in Florida. They've only just recently started to design employee uniforms that are breathable. All the Epic team member wardrobe is meant to look layered and heavy duty but is actually lightweight and breathable.

This is a funny joke but isn’t actually true. Universal Creative is headquartered in Orlando and Epic Universe was designed there. Even Walt Disney Imagineering has been having more and more work for Florida done in Florida.

 

[Agent H]

The only land that stands out to me as lacking in shade is celestial park. The rest of them are all normal in this regard.

 

[celluloid]

It is definitely the sprawl factor and that they went foe botanical garden type paths.

Celestial Park has a lot of food/beverage and store venues that escape the heat. Futureworld and it's walks east and west would be similar in some comparison.

 

[Tom Morrow]

This is a funny joke but isn’t actually true. Universal Creative is headquartered in Orlando and Epic Universe was designed there. Even Walt Disney Imagineering has been having more and more work for Florida done in Florida.

Well thennn, what the heck guys

 

[jrhwdw]

 

[EricsBiscuit]

I had the pleasure of experiencing Epic Universe this past Sunday. It is indeed a triumph.

I want to start by responding to those here who have said “Universal went 90% of the way but didn’t go the last 10%.” Universal did indeed go the last 10%. The level of detail in each land of this park is astounding. Each land is richly adorned with layers of details. Sure, there are some sightline issues but they can be remedied in due course. No park is perfect (not even TDS) as we are imperfect creatures in a fallen world. Given that, this park is amazing and is worth your time and money to visit.

We stayed at Stella Nova and had early admission. Arriving around 9:40 am, we entered Super Nintendo Land around 10:10 am. We immediately went to Donkey Kong and were on it within 45 minutes. For that wait, it is a great ride with a decent queue line. Either knock it out first or do it in the evening as the crowds start to leave. Yoshi’s Adventure was next and it was a short wait. I love this ride. It’s a great C-ticket.

After lunch at the Toad cafe we wandered over to Darkmoor for Monsters Unchained. The mansion looming in the distance acts as a perfect weenie, drawing you into the land. The queue is well done and the pre shows are excellent. The ride itself is fantastic. I will say, it is better the more times you ride it. I rode it twice (second time later in the evening and there was no wait) and noticed many new details the second time around. It is easily a top three attraction in Orlando (including WDW).

Next, we walked past the Helios Grand on a very beautiful pathway to the Harry Potter area. Unfortunately, we did not get a virtual queue for the ride, but we did enjoy the Arcanus show. The restaurants in this land and throughout the park are stunning, attractions in and of themselves. The food is also well done and reasonably priced compared to other special event food.

From there we trekked over to the HTTYD area. This land is my favorite. There is just so much detail. Animated figures everywhere give the land life. While we did not see the show, I heard great things from my parents who saw it on Monday. My wife and I only went Sunday. While some poor sight lines do pop up, they are peripheral issues that do not majorly detract from the overall experience. That’s because the substance of the land itself is so good. The rollercoaster here was very well done and enjoyable. The placement of the lockers for this ride and MU make them very easy to use, unlike at IoA and USF. The standout here is Fyre Drill. This ride is a blast. It’s actually the most fun ride at the park. Avoiding getting soaked and soaking others was so much fun!! Truly enjoyed it.

We had dinner at the Atlantic restaurant. The filet was reasonably priced at $40 with a fried potato thingy. Very good. The theming of the restaurant is superb. There are fish on a track above you which are supposed to move and light up. They were lit up but not moving (yet). The columns, woodwork, glass work, etc make for a very elegant experience with an unparalleled view of the park.

We closed our day by walking on to Mario Kart, which is an excellent ride if you pay attention to the pre show and with our second ride on MU.

Overall, wow! Great experience and well worth the price.