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

[BrianLo]

Dial your attendance expectations back.

They are currently doing 20k gate clicks on their busiest days, that's about the theoretical limit of the park. It's averaging higher teens right now (and is atrociously busy). Rolling back to more of an 10-12k average in July and August is going to be sub 10k (quieter than opening week).

You can do the math from there. 6 million a year is about what this thing will do under optimal conditions.

 

[mellyf]

To top it off, I see a decline of guests For Epic Starting in late August or Early September.

I hope so! Early September is when we're going!

 

[DonniePeverley]

Dial your attendance expectations back.

They are currently doing 20k gate clicks on their busiest days, that's about the theoretical limit of the park. It's averaging higher teens right now (and is atrociously busy). Rolling back to more of an 10-12k average in July and August is going to be sub 10k (quieter than opening week).

You can do the math from there. 6 million a year is about what this thing will do under optimal conditions.

That's deeply sad to hear.

Bizarre investment if those are the figures they're look at. 6 million is terribly low.

 

[marni1971]

Says the guy who went through multiple accounts insisting this park wasn’t being built.

He shoots he scores !!

 

[marni1971]

To top it off, I see a decline of guests For Epic Starting in late August or Early September.

Pretty much like any central Florida park.

 

[earlthesquirrellover23]

That's deeply sad to hear.

Bizarre investment if those are the figures they're look at. 6 million is terribly low.

I think Universal is already extremely happy with their investment Donnie.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

You can do the math from there. 6 million a year is about what this thing will do under optimal conditions.

What do we think the goal is? 5 mill?

 

[BrianLo]

What do we think the goal is? 5 mill?

I mean, probably that optimal 6-6.5 million range. They are withholding attendance with ticketing still, that can be changed if things soften. While August/September will naturally be soft, late Oct/Thanksgiving/Christmas will surely be maxing the park out again.

Though the success is going to be far more derived by resort wide attendance gains, length of stay gains, hotel bookings, pricing etc. Hard for me to parse that out. Some of the metrics might look surprisingly poor until they take off the ticketing chains. The success story isn’t being written at weeks 3-6, more like years 3-6.

I think there’s something to be said that the capacity is a bit of a miss, considering the money spent on the park. I say that not to be inflammatory, if you have to hold back visitation as they are, you underbuilt. But perhaps it’s a fleeting problem, which raises other mild concerns. DAK can seemingly handle significantly more guest load in its current format.

A parade running twice a day and more of a night spectacle would be two ways to better manage crowds, without the lead time of new build attractions.

 

[rd805]

A parade running twice a day and more of a night spectacle would be two ways to better manage crowds, without the lead time of new build attractions.

A covered, family friendly, cheap add-on to Celestial Gardens should be fast-tracked. Something that matches the carousel, almost like the new Marvel Iron-Man test flight ride being built at DCA. Not that they will do this, I don't think they want to immediately put construction back up to a gorgeous "park" like feel; but it would just be so necessary to get something else up and running STAT.

 

[Rich Brownn]

Dial your attendance expectations back.

They are currently doing 20k gate clicks on their busiest days, that's about the theoretical limit of the park. It's averaging higher teens right now (and is atrociously busy). Rolling back to more of an 10-12k average in July and August is going to be sub 10k (quieter than opening week).

You can do the math from there. 6 million a year is about what this thing will do under optimal conditions.

The theoretic limit is twice that

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I think there’s something to be said that the capacity is a bit of a miss, considering the money spent on the park. I say that not to be inflammatory, if you have to hold back visitation as they are, you underbuilt. But perhaps it’s a fleeting problem, which raises other mild concerns. DAK can seemingly handle significantly more guest load in its current format.

Must say that this is what seems so curious about Epic's capacity issues to me.

This is, admittedly, a very superficial-level analysis, but the park seems to have opened with a good raw number of attractions. Definitely heads and shoulders above what DAK opened with, and in some ways more impressive than DAK's attraction line-up almost 30 years later. Somehow, though, it seems to have lower actual capacity than DAK.

There should be some questions being asked at Universal Creative if that's true, because the issue doesn't seem to have been lack of money.

 

[rd805]

Must say that this is what seems so curious about Epic's capacity issues to me.

This is, admittedly, a very superficial-level analysis, but the park seems to have opened with a good raw number of attractions. Definitely heads and shoulders above what DAK opened with, and in some ways more impressive than DAK's attraction line-up almost 30 years later. Somehow, though, it seems to have lower actual capacity than DAK.

There should be some questions being asked at Universal Creative if that's true, because the issue doesn't seem to have been lack of money.

I think the rides going down an hour-ish each day, or a random ride just not opening all day, in combination with 1-2 hours of possible weather closings really hurt the park. They can't be without one attraction, and a lot of times you may be dealing with 2-4 on some sort of delay. Once that is worked through, and in combination with a new ride (3 if we are being honest), the park will be very even and easier to navigate time wise.

 

[DonniePeverley]

Must say that this is what seems so curious about Epic's capacity issues to me.

This is, admittedly, a very superficial-level analysis, but the park seems to have opened with a good raw number of attractions. Definitely heads and shoulders above what DAK opened with, and in some ways more impressive than DAK's attraction line-up almost 30 years later. Somehow, though, it seems to have lower actual capacity than DAK.

There should be some questions being asked at Universal Creative if that's true, because the issue doesn't seem to have been lack of money.

Pretty much this.

If you are opening a park with the same volume of attractions as DAK opened up with - then why is your capacity so low, compared to how big the DAK capacity was and is ?

Strange way to go.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

It is kinda funny that the two rides with the highest capacity are also the most likely to scare riders away.

 

[BrianLo]

The theoretic limit is twice that

Sorry, sure, the fire code probably allows twice, much as MK can theoretically allow 100k people inside. But the place fully breaks by then.

The comfort limit has already been reached.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Sorry, sure, the fire code probably allows twice, much as MK can theoretically allow 100k people inside. But the place fully breaks by then.

The comfort limit has already been reached.

The Florida Fire Prevention Code does not even place maximum occupancy limits on outdoor theme parks. Universal is free to pack in as many people they desire, but as their park with the least attraction capacity in Orlando, it would most definitely not be a pleasant experience.

 

[BrianLo]

Must say that this is what seems so curious about Epic's capacity issues to me.

This is, admittedly, a very superficial-level analysis, but the park seems to have opened with a good raw number of attractions. Definitely heads and shoulders above what DAK opened with, and in some ways more impressive than DAK's attraction line-up almost 30 years later. Somehow, though, it seems to have lower actual capacity than DAK.

There should be some questions being asked at Universal Creative if that's true, because the issue doesn't seem to have been lack of money.

Kilimanjaro has just a massive capacity. I think the problem is the accessible headliners have bad ride capacity. Kilimanjaro may be able to handle the full compliment of Super Nintendo World on its own. Everest is another current workhorse as was Dinosaur. As Lazboy just responded.

If I was to point to the largest problem in the parks base design, it was rehashing Super Nintendo World. Don’t get me wrong, I think the land is great. But it was not well designed for this parks needs.

The success story of this park seems to be Monsters. It’s just they didn’t have enough of that and of course that’s on the less accessible end.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Great video of the night show.

 

[rd805]

If I was to point to the largest problem in the parks base design, it was rehashing Super Nintendo World. Don’t get me wrong, I think the land is great. But it was not well designed for this parks needs.

The success story of this park seems to be Monsters. It’s just they didn’t have enough of that and of course that’s on the less accessible end.

Based off of my experience, and based off of wait times - Nintendo seems like a massive hit. The place is buzzing, everyone is buying power up bands - those at $40+ a pop is such a cash boost for Epic right off the bat, not even talking about the very large crowds (and ACTUAL souvenirs that everyone is buying from the land, AND arguably the busiest QSR at the park).

Monsters / Darkmoor is wonderful. It clearly needs another attraction, but also...it is seemingly the LEAST busy part of the park. Monsters Unchained is fantastic, but is walk-on many times of the day. This is both amazing& interesting when you think about...and somewhat (now) worrisome that maybe the park DOESN'T get another add-on ride fast-tracked if it is already as busy as the others. Does this put Luigi's Mansion, or a Zelda extension to SNW ahead of it?

Curious curious curious...

 

[BrianLo]

Based off of my experience, and based off of wait times - Nintendo seems like a massive hit. The place is buzzing, everyone is buying power up bands - those at $40+ a pop is such a cash boost for Epic right off the bat, not even talking about the very large crowds (and ACTUAL souvenirs that everyone is buying from the land, AND arguably the busiest QSR at the park).

Monsters / Darkmoor is wonderful. It clearly needs another attraction, but also...it is seemingly the LEAST busy part of the park. Monsters Unchained is fantastic, but is walk-on many times of the day. This is both amazing& interesting when you think about...and somewhat (now) worrisome that maybe the park DOESN'T get another add-on ride fast-tracked if it is already as busy as the others. Does this put Luigi's Mansion, or a Zelda extension to SNW ahead of it?

Curious curious curious...

That was my point that I think you misunderstood. Nintendo was built way under capacity for its demand. Monsters Unchained has a relatively speaking very large capacity. The three Nintendo attractions are various shades of bad capacity.