Epic Universe is the lowest rated theme park in Orlando

[mergatroid]

Really surprised me to see this but apparently the wait times and breakdowns are really affecting reviews online. Superb looking park but operations would appear to be the problem. Give it a few months and I'm sure it will be doing much better but still surprised to see this as all the vlogs pre-opening to the public were so positive.

This is going off Google reviews and Trip Advisor, not my discovery by the way but on a youtube video which can be found by searching 'Epic Universe is the lowest rated theme park in Orlando' which youtube suggested I watch. The channel is usually very positive and honest about the parks also rather than being a one off video made by somebody with a gripe about the park and shows the evidence online at least.

I'm pretty sure this is just teething problems like many new attractions have including those at Disney? For those local is this the general consensus or is it limited to online reviews?

 

[OrlandoRising]

The channel is usually very positive and honest about the parks also rather than being a one off video made by somebody with a gripe about the park and shows the evidence online at least.

I'm pretty sure this is just teething problems like many new attractions have including those at Disney? For those local is this the general consensus or is it limited to online reviews?

You're talking about a Tom Corless video and he's anything but honest. Positivity shouldn't be seen as an automatic plus necessarily, but Tom knows raging negativity gets more clicks when it comes to YouTube content.

Google and TripAdvisor reviews are really the worst way to judge a theme park. People are far more likely to take the time to write a negative review there than a positive one. And what their negative about matters a lot too. You'll get people rating it 1-star just because a popular ride had a long wait or Express was sold out or they thought that one hot dog was too expensive.

As for whether negative reviews are warranted? That's going to depend a lot on park operations, weather, etc. on any given day. Like any new park, Epic has had days where lots of rides go down or storms close a good chunk of the park AND it was already busy.

 

[JT3000]

This is going off Google reviews and Trip Advisor, not my discovery by the way but on a youtube video which can be found by searching 'Epic Universe is the lowest rated theme park in Orlando' which youtube suggested I watch

Clickbait. These review sites (and the potential act of review bombing) didn't even exist when the previous parks were opened. Epic is opening to a completely different Internet landscape, which will inevitably be reflected in all the early kneejerk reactions.

 

[Gusey]

This is going off Google reviews and Trip Advisor, not my discovery by the way but on a youtube video which can be found by searching 'Epic Universe is the lowest rated theme park in Orlando' which youtube suggested I watch. The channel is usually very positive and honest about the parks also rather than being a one off video made by somebody with a gripe about the park and shows the evidence online at least.

That channel is repeatedly negative about Universal parks, to the point that they had a 2 hour live stream about Epic Universe going to fail after the first portal reveal video was released. I wouldn't take anything they say about the Universal Parks as universal truth

 

[BrianLo]

Volcano Bay did quite poorly on trip advisor. Online reviews disproportionately are the byproduct of parks operations and wait times.

Yea, Epic was not pleasant the last few months. The message is it needs more capacity to handle moderate crowd days.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

That channel is repeatedly negative about Universal parks, to the point that they had a 2 hour live stream about Epic Universe going to fail after the first portal reveal video was released. I wouldn't take anything they say about the Universal Parks as universal truth

There something you didn't mention. Corless was put back on the Disney media list in late 2023 or early 2024, but is not on the Universal media list.

I am mentioning this because remember that channel made an announcement back in January of 2024 that they are back on the Disney media list. The way Corless treated Disney after he got back on the Disney media list was different than it was prior.

 

[mergatroid]

Thanks for the replies. Seeing quite a few vloggs mainly from English people very unhappy with waiting for hours for the Potter attraction and then it going down for long periods and complaints about the coasters going down with the weather making it worse. I suppose if you've only 1 or 2 days there and waste 4 hours on a ride you don't do it's frustrating. In fairness 1 person I saw complained and got a free ticket for another day which seemed a fair trade off. If we come to Orlando next year we're hoping to visit Epic as it looks good and hopefully will be more settled by then.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I think its worth examining both sides of this. On one hand, you have the fact that the park is new, thus, more people are going to bother reviewing it over a well known park that's been around. Then, consider that people are much more likely to write reviews in the first place for negative experiences over positive ones.

But then also consider that some of these negative experiences are Universal's fault - most of the attractions simply are not high enough capacity for a new Orlando major park, and having the majority of the attractions in your park be outdoor in Florida also means guests are going to have a frustrating day basically any time from June through September.

Also, in general, Universal's operations, guest services, and policies are still messy and all over the place, even at the original parks, and this has been amplified at Epic. There's a lot to delve into here that I don't have the energy to type out at the moment, but there's still quite a lot that Disney does toward a positive guest experience that Universal still refuses to adapt. As the number 2 theme park operator in the industry, they should be better at this stuff by now than they are.

There are things that are out of their control, and other things that they should have known to not do going into this as a big company with lots of money that's been doing this for decades.

That said, I have no doubt that the rating will start to rise as operations smooth out, rides become more reliable, and we leave the daily storm season.

 

[Andrew25]

I've been reading through reviews just about everywhere, and the park is major creative success. Very little complaints about the park's experiences.

The main issue is (ignoring weather/lack of shade) that the park's attractions don't have enough ride capacity throughput. Technical issues will resolve over time, but building a Nintendo-themed coaster with barely 1K riders an hour (at best conditions) is inexcusable.

The park will certainly improve over time, but they really need to add more high-capacity additions sooner than later.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Have Google Reviews been paused? All the most recent ones say "a week ago"

 

[Tom Morrow]

I also want to point out something - on TripAdvisor, Epic is rated an abysmal 2.2 out of 5. And nearly every review from post-official opening ranks the park as 1 or 2 stars. I haven't actually read any reviews for Epic on these sites until now. I was expecting a bunch of frivolous complaints from clueless people but, no, the majority of these on Trip Advisor read as seasoned theme park people making valid complaints, or people that had a genuinely inexcusable experience.

When you read the reviews for the other Orlando parks, which are all above 4.0, most of the bad reviews I can tell the guest just had bad luck that day or was inexperienced and not prepared for the level of crowds they would be dealing with. I know theme park operations well, and I know what is an outlier experience vs. an inexcusable one. Much of what I'm reading in the Epic reviews is inexcusable and not outlier experiences.

So many of these issues - Universal is not new at this. It should not be like this. I am aware that there are plenty of people that had a good or great time at Epic too, but after reading through many reviews I no longer feel that it's just a case of a new park garnering more reviews than normal.

When you read the reviews for the other Orlando parks, which are all above 4.0, most of the bad reviews I can tell the guest just had bad luck that day or was inexperienced and not prepared for the level of crowds they would be dealing with. I know theme park operations well, and I know what is an outlier experience vs. an inexcusable one. Much of what I'm reading in the Epic reviews is inexcusable and not outlier experiences.

One of my biggest takeaways for something they could fix immediately is that it seems like Express pass for the park should be halted until there is more capacity and smoother operations.

 

[dmc493]

Interesting, are there consistent themes in the complaints? Is it ride operations, general interactions with guests, food/bev?

 

[sedati]

This is the week I would have been going to Epic, but word of mouth amongst my traveling companions has it put off at least until next year. (A friend's sister went early on and her take convinced them the park is more ordeal than ideal at this time).

 

[waltography]

This is the week I would have been going to Epic, but word of mouth amongst my traveling companions has it put off at least until next year. (A friend's sister went early on and her take convinced them the park is more ordeal than ideal at this time).

I gambled yesterday by going (though tried to proof it a bit by getting Express Pass) and it was genuinely the perfect day. I was out of BatM by 10:20 (and got to ride it twice since I didn’t use Express for rope drop), rode Monsters Unchained 3 times, did both sides of Stardust Racers in the morning and evening, and hit up all the attractions save for the carousel (looked better at night from afar than actually riding) and Fyre Drill (didn’t want to get wet). Only major hiccups were DK and Curse of the Werewolf experiencing some downtimes, but even then they were relatively short (~20 minutes).

Today I saw BatM was going to close early and DK wouldn’t even open today. Big yikes.

Gorgeous park and I had a blast, but I’ll wait at least a year or so before coming back. They certainly need to work out ops issues.

 

[OrlandoRising]

But then also consider that some of these negative experiences are Universal's fault - most of the attractions simply are not high enough capacity for a new Orlando major park, and having the majority of the attractions in your park be outdoor in Florida also means guests are going to have a frustrating day basically any time from June through September.

Also, in general, Universal's operations, guest services, and policies are still messy and all over the place, even at the original parks, and this has been amplified at Epic. There's a lot to delve into here that I don't have the energy to type out at the moment, but there's still quite a lot that Disney does toward a positive guest experience that Universal still refuses to adapt. As the number 2 theme park operator in the industry, they should be better at this stuff by now than they are.

What is "high enough capacity" in your view?

And can you be specific about the "positive guest experience that Universal still refuses to adapt" part of your argument? That's really vague.

I was expecting a bunch of frivolous complaints from clueless people but, no, the majority of these on Trip Advisor read as seasoned theme park people making valid complaints, or people that had a genuinely inexcusable experience.

I read several myself -- and this is assuming all of the reviews are real, which there's no way of knowing on Tripadvisor -- and most were referencing operational issues, weather delays, and tickets being too expensive. Those are the complaints that every Orlando theme park gets.

When you read the reviews for the other Orlando parks, which are all above 4.0, most of the bad reviews I can tell the guest just had bad luck that day or was inexperienced and not prepared for the level of crowds they would be dealing with. I know theme park operations well, and I know what is an outlier experience vs. an inexcusable one. Much of what I'm reading in the Epic reviews is inexcusable and not outlier experiences.

Overall TripAdvisor ratings are pretty meaningless. Like many posters pointed out and you ignored, people are much more inclined to post a negative review than a positive one. One bad day for park operations could result in dozens of bad reviews.

 

[mergatroid]

Overall TripAdvisor ratings are pretty meaningless. Like many posters pointed out and you ignored, people are much more inclined to post a negative review than a positive one. One bad day for park operations could result in dozens of bad reviews.

That's incorrect, he or she clearly states in one of a low number of replies that very thing. In fairness I think they try to explain their views in an honest fashion whether others agree or disagree with their views.

I think its worth examining both sides of this. On one hand, you have the fact that the park is new, thus, more people are going to bother reviewing it over a well known park that's been around. Then, consider that people are much more likely to write reviews in the first place for negative experiences over positive ones.

But then also consider that some of these negative experiences are Universal's fault - most of the attractions simply are not high enough capacity for a new Orlando major park, and having the majority of the attractions in your park be outdoor in Florida also means guests are going to have a frustrating day basically any time from June through September.

Also, in general, Universal's operations, guest services, and policies are still messy and all over the place, even at the original parks, and this has been amplified at Epic. There's a lot to delve into here that I don't have the energy to type out at the moment, but there's still quite a lot that Disney does toward a positive guest experience that Universal still refuses to adapt. As the number 2 theme park operator in the industry, they should be better at this stuff by now than they are.

There are things that are out of their control, and other things that they should have known to not do going into this as a big company with lots of money that's been doing this for decades.

That said, I have no doubt that the rating will start to rise as operations smooth out, rides become more reliable, and we leave the daily storm season.

 

[Tom Morrow]

What is "high enough capacity" in your view?

And can you be specific about the "positive guest experience that Universal still refuses to adapt" part of your argument? That's really vague.

The only two rides in Epic Universe with a high enough capacity to handle the type of large crowds a park like a Universal park in Orlando, Florida would get are Monsters Unchained and Stardust Racers. I won't say they underbuilt the park, because 11 rides, two major shows, lots of meet & greets, etc. is respectable for a brand new park and comparable to the last parks in Orlando to open, if not better. But some of the rides have woefully low capacity for a park like this.

Something to remember is that Epic Universe never actually feels crowded. You walk around and it looks like what would be a light day at any other Orlando park. Yet the lines for everything except Monsters Unchained are typically all an hour or more.

So basically it needs a few more people eater attractions like Monsters Unchained, and it should never have built attractions with woefully low capacity like Mine Cart Madness.

As far as the "positive guest experiences" comment - I'll touch on this at a later time.

I read several myself -- and this is assuming all of the reviews are real, which there's no way of knowing on Tripadvisor -- and most were referencing operational issues, weather delays, and tickets being too expensive. Those are the complaints that every Orlando theme park gets.


Overall TripAdvisor ratings are pretty meaningless. Like many posters pointed out and you ignored, people are much more inclined to post a negative review than a positive one. One bad day for park operations could result in dozens of bad reviews.

I was the person that posted that, lol. I read many, many pages of Trip Advisor reviews. Probably about 90% of the reviews from this past summer gave the park 1 or 2 stars. I don't think they are review bombing as almost every one is naming specific instances rather than just vaguely saying things are bad. This many bad reviews, and a 2.2 rating, is not within line of "typical theme park reviews". I do think the park had a very rough summer that not only didn't live up to the glowing reviews from previews and influencers, but probably soured a lot of people on coming back for a while.

The reviews surely will improve as the park smooths out operations more and we move out of the daily storm season. But there are a lot of things Universal should have known better than to let happen going into this as well.

 

[BrianLo]

What is "high enough capacity" in your view?

The park should be able to carry 30k guests without 3 hour lines at most major attractions. It's been surmised that its breaking point was 15k-17.5k before, particularly with MoM not holding its own.

If this years attendance was extrapolated over a full operational year (pretending like it opened in January) the park maybe would have only hosted 6.5 million people. Clearly that's under capacity for Orlando where all the major parks should be able to handle 10 without being an absolute miserable experience. It wrecks their 7 day vacation sales pitch if Epic is gate kept to one day in vacation packages because they cannot offer more.

The only two rides in Epic Universe with a high enough capacity to handle the type of large crowds a park like a Universal park in Orlando, Florida would get are Monsters Unchained and Stardust Racers. I won't say they underbuilt the park, because 11 rides, two major shows, lots of meet & greets, etc. is respectable for a brand new park and comparable to the last parks in Orlando to open, if not better. But some of the rides have woefully low capacity for a park like this.

Ministry I'm surprised to learn can do near 2k. It just operationally has struggled. Mine Kart, Wolverine and Mario are really the laggards.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Mine Kart, Wolverine and Mario are really the laggards.

Also, all 3 rides in Berk. and Yoshi. Again, literally everything other than Monsters, Stardust Racers, and Ministry if it were operating as intended. By comparison, nearly everything in USF and IOA have a high throughput. I don't understand why they opted for so many low capacity rides in Epic.

 

[waltography]

Also, all 3 rides in Berk. and Yoshi. Again, literally everything other than Monsters, Stardust Racers, and Ministry if it were operating as intended. By comparison, nearly everything in USF and IOA have a high throughput. I don't understand why they opted for so many low capacity rides in Epic.

Will also add that for whatever reason, they are slow at dispatch, it's baffling. I can't understand why Space Mountain at Disneyland can dispatch a train of 12 every 30 seconds or Incredicoaster at DCA can dispatch a train of 24 every 36 seconds, but it takes Hiccup's Wing Gliders closer to 1:30 for a train of 20.