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

[DarkMetroid567]

I don’t think “best park in 25 years” is a particularly bold take. Your competition there is DCA and parks that are the first in their respective market.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I don’t think “best park in 25 years” is a particularly bold take. Your competition there is DCA and parks that are the first in their respective market.

It also includes the previous three world’s most expensive theme parks: Universal Studios Beijing, Shanghai Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySEA.

 

[simon9454]

Yeah, I'm sure everyone's list is a little different, but looking at EPIC, vs DHS, vs AK attraction line up my personal rankings

Attraction Rank	EPIC	DHS	AK
1	BATM	ROTR	FOP
2	Monsters	ToT	Everest
3	Stardust	MMRR	Safari
4	Mario Kart	SDD	Dinosaur
5	Hiccups	RNRC	FotLK
6	Minecart	MFSR	Na'vi
7	Untrainable Dragon	Toy Story Mania	Nemo
8	Circus	Indy	Gorilla falls
9	COTWW	Mermaid	Jungle Trek
10	Yoshi	Frozen	Kali
11	Fyre Drill	BATB	Feathered Friends
12	Dragon Racer's	Villains	Animation class
13	Constellation Carousel	Vacation fun	Affection section
14	Viking Training camp	Walt Disney Presents	Boneyard
15	Astronomica	Launch Bay	Conservation Station

How does the Tower of Terror beat Unchained and Dragon Racers Is better than the Villain? I mean I respect own opinions but I don't get it.

 

[JusticeDisney]

How does the Tower of Terror beats Unchained?

It’s subjective. I prefer TOT as well.

 

[wdwfan4ver]

I’m still surprised that people rank yoshi’s adventure and Mario kart so low. Yoshi’s adventure is a really cute people mover ride and Mario kart is chaotic and fun in the same way runaway railway is. I think it definitely deserves to be considered an e-ticket and will definitely function that way for the general public.

While I didn't go to Epic yet, I understand why Yoshi's Adventure so low.

The problem is people complain about the length of the ride itself based on what I heard. Those opinions though don't affect me wanting to try the ride in the fall.

 

[CoastalElite64]

 

[mkt]

Similar to those characters sprinkled around isle of Burk who again, will basically improv with anyone who talks to them.

Interactions with the monsters are a little less personal but it's pretty obvious that as monsters, they're a bit less approachable in general.

That’s one of the big differences between Disney and Universal.

At Walt Disney World, with a few exceptions, face characters who do meet-and-greets are typically drawn from the general character performer pool. They passed a face character audition, but that’s mostly to confirm they match the physical look of the role. The same performer playing Cinderella on Monday might be suited up as Pluto on Tuesday. They basically get paid the same hospitality industry wages as Pluto or Goofy, with a slight differential for face character that day.

At Universal Orlando, face characters are actors. They audition specifically for those roles, often performing monologues and participating in improv exercises. They’re expected to stay in character and improvise on the spot. They have contracts and earn fairly decent salaries. Many also act in local theater productions, and outside of their non-union work at Universal, some are active members of SAG-AFTRA or AEA.

 

[MrPromey]

That’s one of the big differences between Disney and Universal.

At Walt Disney World, with a few exceptions, face characters who do meet-and-greets are typically drawn from the general character performer pool. They passed a face character audition, but that’s mostly to confirm they match the physical look of the role. The same performer playing Cinderella on Monday might be suited up as Pluto on Tuesday. They basically get paid the same hospitality industry wages as Pluto or Goofy, with a slight differential for face character that day.

At Universal Orlando, face characters are actors. They audition specifically for those roles, often performing monologues and participating in improv exercises. They’re expected to stay in character and improvise on the spot. They have contracts and earn fairly decent salaries. Many also act in local theater productions, and outside of their non-union work at Universal, some are active members of SAG-AFTRA or AEA.

To be fair to Disney face characters where the longer the interaction, the greater the chances of them saying/doing something that would contradict their established character, most of Universal's face walkarounds are not a-lister characters. That's why I liken them to Citizens of Hollywood. They're more like background characters you'd imagine being in their respective things. They can make up their own back-story to stick to and own rather than memorize the one from half a dozen movies.

You'll occasionally run into the exception like a Doc Brown wandering around World Expo at Studios but we came across an older couple in the Potter area of Epic and weren't at first certain they weren't just really elaborately dressed fans. They were looking in the windows, he pulled out a wand to do one of the activations. She was seriously reading something on a wall and then people walked up and asked if they could take pictures and - boom, they were on, starting with wanting to know why these strangers would want that and going into a whole conversation about where everyone was from, how it was uncharacteristically warm that day (since, you know, it's not Florida)... and then doing the picture at the end.

Obviously, if it was a Harry or Hermione or Dumbledore, that wouldn't have worked and there would have been a mob or a handler managing a line and it would have been just a photo op.

 

[freediverdude]

I agree, from the several videos I’ve watched I’m sticking by my original prediction that US and HS will take the biggest hits, AK and EP should be equal or down slightly and IOA and MK should see equal or slightly up demand. (Relatively speaking, hard to know what’s going to happen with tourism as a whole due to world events)

I still think it’s going to change the Orlando vacation plan for a lot of people though, it’s gotten nearly impossible for Disneys fanboys (like me) who formerly did 4–6 days at Disney and zero at Uni to ignore what’s down the street now, our last FL trip was primarily DCL (with 3 days at WDW) but the prior, parks centered, trip we did 4 days at WDW and 2 at Uni, with Epic down the street I can’t envision a scenario where Uni doesn’t continue to get at least 2 days from us while Disney continues to get at least 2 but most likely 3.

Orlando will likely never again be a WDW only trip for us, or most our friends, though, whether it’s Uni, cruising, other parks, or just other FL has really expanded its overall vacation options.

I think that's the big takeaway from this, is that a lot of vacations that were historically only Disney, or took 1 day to visit Universal as an add-on, are now going to be more split between the two destinations.

I don't know how much it will affect Disney's parks, but I think it could affect Disney's hotels more so, as people could find it more convenient to stay at an offsite hotel somewhere in between if they're visiting both.

 

[JusticeDisney]

I think that's the big takeaway from this, is that a lot of vacations that were historically only Disney, or took 1 day to visit Universal as an add-on, are now going to be more split between the two destinations.

I don't know how much it will affect Disney's parks, but I think it could affect Disney's hotels more so, as people could find it more convenient to stay at an offsite hotel somewhere in between if they're visiting both.

My guess is Epic will hurt the 2 other Universal parks just as much as it will hurt any Disney park.

 

[Purduevian]

How does the Tower of Terror beat Unchained and Dragon Racers Is better than the Villain? I mean I respect own opinions but I don't get it.

Like I said, never been to epic yet, but TOT is such a complete experience and includes an actual physical thrill. Maybe once I ride it monsters will be better. Regarding villains, the show just doesn't look great to me. Rally looks fum but short, villains looks like I would actively avoid

 

[JusticeDisney]

How does the Tower of Terror beat Unchained and Dragon Racers Is better than the Villain? I mean I respect own opinions but I don't get it.

You answered your own question. It’s all subjective. Different people like different things for different reasons. I’m sure there are a lot of people who don’t get why you prefer a certain thing over another. It’s really not that complicated.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

That’s one of the big differences between Disney and Universal.

At Walt Disney World, with a few exceptions, face characters who do meet-and-greets are typically drawn from the general character performer pool. They passed a face character audition, but that’s mostly to confirm they match the physical look of the role. The same performer playing Cinderella on Monday might be suited up as Pluto on Tuesday. They basically get paid the same hospitality industry wages as Pluto or Goofy, with a slight differential for face character that day.

At Universal Orlando, face characters are actors. They audition specifically for those roles, often performing monologues and participating in improv exercises. They’re expected to stay in character and improvise on the spot. They have contracts and earn fairly decent salaries. Many also act in local theater productions, and outside of their non-union work at Universal, some are active members of SAG-AFTRA or AEA.

So what I'm understanding is that Disney hires based on looks, height, body type, etc....and Universal hires based on the "content of their character?"

 

[mkt]

So what I'm understanding is that Disney hires based on looks, height, body type, etc....and Universal hires based on the "content of their character?"

 

[flynnibus]

My guess is Epic will hurt the 2 other Universal parks just as much as it will hurt any Disney park.

They aren’t going to shed a tear if gate clicks go down as long as you add more days to your tickets and more hotel bookings.

Getting all the parks to their peek is something that can trail and come later. Multidays, heads on pillows and the daily spend are what they chase.

And why disney doesn’t report on gate clicks per park… but avg spend

 

[JT3000]

Listen, I know ride quality is subjective and all, but can you, like, actually go on the rides before rating or comparing them?

Same goes for people who are comparing Epic Universe to other parks without having been to it yet.

 

[JusticeDisney]

They aren’t going to shed a tear if gate clicks go down as long as you add more days to your tickets and more hotel bookings.

Getting all the parks to their peek is something that can trail and come later. Multidays, heads on pillows and the daily spend are what they chase.

And why disney doesn’t report on gate clicks per park… but avg spend

All true. My point is that some people just assume that more days at Epic means less days at Disney parks, and that’s not necessarily true.

 

[mkt]

Listen, I know ride quality is subjective and all, but can you, like, actually go on the rides before rating or comparing them?

I did

 

[wdwfan4ver]

Not everyone participating in that discussion has. In fact I'm not convinced one of them has even stepped foot on Universal property. Pretty sure they'd start melting or something.

I went to Universal in 2022 and 2023. I will be seeing Epic Universe and the other 2 theme parks at Universal later this year.

You shouldn't be expecting to be at Epic yet because I like to go to Florida in a less busy time of the year. Since 2006, almost every WDW trip I took happened in late August. My 2 Universal trips happened in late August and my last one in 2023 happened in September.

 

[MrPromey]

They aren’t going to shed a tear if gate clicks go down as long as you add more days to your tickets and more hotel bookings.

Getting all the parks to their peek is something that can trail and come later. Multidays, heads on pillows and the daily spend are what they chase.

And why disney doesn’t report on gate clicks per park… but avg spend

This park has way more table-$ervice dining options in-park than the other two and some really big merch opportunities, too.

People were buying in Super Nintendo World like it was black Friday when I was there.