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

Pizza Moon

Well-Known Member
How to train your dragon is one of the lands that I want to see the most. The other is Monsters land. I am not a fan of Mario at all so I can skip that one easily. We will definitely spend a lot of time at HTTYD. We will also look for all those hidden away restaurants in Dark World. Do you have the names of the ones you liked?
You don’t want to skip anything except Yoshi.

All 5 lands are thoroughly spectacular. Any of them would be in contention for the best in any other Orlando theme park.
 

Pizza Moon

Well-Known Member
a
So I think Das Stakehouse was the one we just walked around and checked out (don't think we ordered anything there), and the Burning Blade is where we got this awesome pretzel thing. That place also had little skits out front if I remember correctly. It's kind of in the back, we actually missed it when we went and just rode the two rides, we found that when we went back and explored the land a bit more later in the day.
I thoroughly enjoyed Goblet Noir in Potter.

So peaceful and great food.
 

TexasErin

Member
I was also truly blown away when we went last May in the preview period. We will be back May 3 and can't wait. I just wish I could afford the express pass, but I really don't want to spend an extra $800+ for my family of four. I have never been so impressed by a theme park before. I'm a lifelong Disney fan and we have now shortened our Disney trips by three days to also go to Universal.
 

Pizza Moon

Well-Known Member
I was also truly blown away when we went last May in the preview period. We will be back May 3 and can't wait. I just wish I could afford the express pass, but I really don't want to spend an extra $800+ for my family of four. I have never been so impressed by a theme park before. I'm a lifelong Disney fan and we have now shortened our Disney trips by three days to also go to Universal.
Maybe I’ll see you there I’m considering going that week!!
 

Pizza Moon

Well-Known Member
I was blown away in June. Went again in January (valley day) and was still very impressed, although sad that I didn't get to ride Stardust because it valleyed. Incredible park. They gave me a free ticket to come back because of the valley and I cannot wait to come back
So lucky if you have the ability to go back. Comped tickets are great!

I honestly think Stardust is so good, anyone that does coasters should absolutely wait for it to re-open.
 

DCBaker

Premium Member
According to an update on the Universal website, it appears the temporary closure for Stardust Racers has been extended to March 14:

View attachment 909249

Update - according to the Universal Orlando app, the temporary closure of Stardust Racers has been extended through April 5:

Stardust-Racers-Refurbishment-April-5.jpg
 

gorillaball

Well-Known Member
Update - according to the Universal Orlando app, the temporary closure of Stardust Racers has been extended through April 5:

View attachment 911517
Oooof. Hope it’s up late April when I will make my maiden voyage.

I wonder if between this and the problems with Ministry (we are almost a year in) if maybe people will stop boasting about Epic’s fast builds. Yeah, probably not.
 

earlthesquirrellover23

Well-Known Member
Oooof. Hope it’s up late April when I will make my maiden voyage.

I wonder if between this and the problems with Ministry (we are almost a year in) if maybe people will stop boasting about Epic’s fast builds. Yeah, probably not.
Build times don't have anything to do with it. Rise took a pretty long time and had major issues upon opening.
 

JT3000

Well-Known Member
Oooof. Hope it’s up late April when I will make my maiden voyage.

I wonder if between this and the problems with Ministry (we are almost a year in) if maybe people will stop boasting about Epic’s fast builds. Yeah, probably not.
I haven't seen anyone boasting of fast builds at Epic, only comparisons to objectively slow builds elsewhere. The park didn't even open on its original timeline due to the pandemic.
 

Poseidon Quest

Well-Known Member
I went to the park yesterday and tried Blue Dragon after hearing that its food was pretty mediocre. To my surprise, I was actually blown away, with the dishes being constructed with high quality ingredients, skilled preparation and a depth of flavor that I did not expect. While the dishes seem simple on the surface, there's a lot of subtle complexity in them that makes this not only a great theme park restaurant, but really one of the better ones you can find around Orlando.

I also like that dishes were designed to be shared by a table of people, so I tried a bit of everything and this is what we ordered:

  1. Snowflake Potstickers: Very good, but not incredible. The crust on the potstickers made it a bit difficult to dip in the soy sauce, but was otherwise only a minor detractor.
  2. Pork Soup Dumplings: A standout dish, fantastic and subtle flavors.
  3. Crispy Fried Snapper: Fish was very fresh and cooked perfectly. The accompanying green papaya salad didn't seem like the right side for the dish, but it was fine.
  4. Crispy Orange Chicken: Actually fantastic when I expected something quite standard. The sauce tastes like actual orange went into it, rather than the sugary, overly artificial taste you'll find at most other restaurants. The perfectly seasoned snow peas were a great compliment to this as well.
  5. Kaffir Lime Rice Pudding: Legitimately one of the tastiest desserts I've ever had with a perfect balance of flavors.
  6. Passion Fruit Mooncake: The filling was exceptional and was the better dessert. The crust was made of oat, which I thought was an odd choice at first, but I realized quickly that it tones down the sweetness of the filling that balanced everything out quite well.
Had some beer and cocktails as well, all of which were solid and were not overly sweet like theme parks like to make them. I went into the restaurant thinking it was a one and done and it immediately became one of my favorite in park restaurants. Whatever gave this restaurant the "mediocre" designation when it first opened has definitely changed.

I would rank it just behind Monsieur Paul and Carthay Circle in terms of quality meals at in-park restaurants.
 

DCBaker

Premium Member
FOX 35 has a new statement from Universal Orlando on the temporary closure of Stardust Racers:

Stardust Racers is undergoing its first annual planned inspection and maintenance process. We are efficiently completing the work all at once and are also making additional capacity and throughput enhancements, which is extending the temporary closure period."

FOX 35 has learned that part of the additional capacity involves the queue.


 

Baloo124

Well-Known Member
FOX 35 has a new statement from Universal Orlando on the temporary closure of Stardust Racers:

Stardust Racers is undergoing its first annual planned inspection and maintenance process. We are efficiently completing the work all at once and are also making additional capacity and throughput enhancements, which is extending the temporary closure period."

FOX 35 has learned that part of the additional capacity involves the queue.


Just as the Spring Break season is knocking on the door. :(
 

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