I admittedly go most often in the evenings after most/all atmosphere and entertainment in general is done, and while I'm disappointed these seemingly new (at least all/most were new to me) entertainment additions are being done away with at the moment, I don't think I would have considered any of it permanent. I feel like I've seen the Port of Entry characters a few other times over the years, but seeing them past about 3pm was the real shock to me the few times I did encounter them. I wonder if some of it was them picking up the entertainment staffing in preparation for holiday offerings and having enough to throw at different experiences, and this is partly the natural fall-off after the peak holiday season?
The sudden "sky is falling!" reaction of this being indicative of an impending failure in opening Epic Universe is very laughable to me. Universal has always had interesting if not somewhat eccentric operations tendencies along with a very long memory of past issues that they seem to have a hard time letting go of them and in turn driving current decisions. While it doesn't absolve them of criticism (lord knows I kvetch about parking ops nearly every time I'm there, and events-specific decisions as well), I think there's a bit of over-eagerness to tamp down the excitement and lack of working within the context of the "unique individual" that each resort in Orlando is. But maybe that's just me.
The not opening the back half of Studios immediately in the morning is a whole different thing, and is becoming far too common around the industry if you ask me, so it's not entirely surprising to me either. Very unfortunate, but not surprising.
