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

[DarkMetroid567]

Question for those of you who have visited both EU and Uni Beijing.

Many are saying Monsters at EU ranks as the best dark ride Uni has given us (or any park chain, some are claiming).
Yet since 2021 when Uni Beijing opened, many online are giving the Jurassic World dark ride the exact same praise.

If any of you have ridden both, how to they face-off against one another? Is there a top contender between the two, or are they too different to compare?

I’m very harsh on Jurassic World Adventure so it’s no contest Monsters for me. The animatronics on JWA are very wonderful but the pacing and structure of the ride are aimless, and the latter half of the ride is way too screen reliant.

But I’d still call Spidey my #1 Universal dark ride.

 

[Baloo124]

But I’d still call Spidey my #1 Universal dark ride.

It definitely set the bar up high and still holds strong all these years later. My one and only complaint is it excluding Venom in favor of Scream.
Venom belongs in the lineup of top Spidey villains with Doc Ock, Goblin, etc. That always seemed off leaving poor Eddie Brock out of that great attraction. Imo

 

[BrianLo]

Question for those of you who have visited both EU and Uni Beijing.

Many are saying Monsters at EU ranks as the best dark ride Uni has given us (or any park chain, some are claiming).
Yet since 2021 when Uni Beijing opened, many online are giving the Jurassic World dark ride the exact same praise.

If any of you have ridden both, how to they face-off against one another? Is there a top contender between the two, or are they too different to compare?

I haven't done either (so this comment reads practically useless!); but I'm pretty taken aback by the reaction to USB's Jurassic ride. It seems exclusively based on the one major practical scene (which does look great) rather than the whole.

I also feel like the broader Disney and Universal community have fallen out of touch with dark rides in China. There's been quite a lot of output from the Fantawild brand I'm hoping to try out and report back on. To the point where literally no one seems to have awareness of this brand constantly pumping out large scale dark rides.



Granted it's lower fidelity, but this is also outdoors and not from the two brands of focus.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I haven't done either (so this comment reads practically useless!); but I'm pretty taken aback by the reaction to USB's Jurassic ride. It seems exclusively based on the one major practical scene (which does look great) rather than the whole.

I also feel like the broader Disney and Universal community have fallen out of touch with dark rides in China. There's been quite a lot of output from the Fantawild brand I'm hoping to try out and report back on. To the point where literally no one seems to have awareness of this brand constantly pumping out large scale dark rides.



Granted it's lower fidelity, but this is also outdoors and not from the two brands of focus.

Hey, they built the Bantha ride!!!

 

[JT3000]

I haven't done either (so this comment reads practically useless!); but I'm pretty taken aback by the reaction to USB's Jurassic ride. It seems exclusively based on the one major practical scene (which does look great) rather than the whole.

The chase scene is obviously the highlight of the ride, but there's more to it than that. It gets a bit screen-heavy for my liking towards the middle, but it has a decent amount of practical overall, probably more than Spider-Man. This is just my impression from watching videos. The real question for me is how convincing the integration is in-person.

 

[Baloo124]

The chase scene is obviously the highlight of the ride, but there's more to it than that. It gets a bit screen-heavy for my liking towards the middle, but it has a decent amount of practical overall, probably more than Spider-Man. This is just my impression from watching videos. The real question for me is how convincing the integration is in-person.

That was what got me wondering which tops the other from those who experienced both.
-High online praise for each
-Both use AA's and screens throughout

I've seen videos but they don't paint the whole picture.

 

[BrianLo]

The chase scene is obviously the highlight of the ride, but there's more to it than that. It gets a bit screen-heavy for my liking towards the middle, but it has a decent amount of practical overall, probably more than Spider-Man. This is just my impression from watching videos. The real question for me is how convincing the integration is in-person.

My complaint is also one of ride story pacing. A perennial Universal weakness. Which is probably a bit more personal, but I can already tell that it struggles in this regard.

I already know for me personally it can’t overtake Pan or indirectly Flight of passage. And just to not play favourites, I really dislike Dinosaur.

Let me soak up the majesty of Dino’s for more than 10 seconds.

 

[JT3000]

My complaint is also one of ride story pacing. A perennial Universal weakness. Which is probably a bit more personal, but I can already tell that it struggles in this regard.

I already know for me personally it can’t overtake Pan or indirectly Flight of passage. And just to not play favourites, I really dislike Dinosaur.

Let me soak up the majesty of Dino’s for more than 10 seconds.

The ride's conclusion strikes me as oddly abrupt, but I don't think I can get a proper feel for the rest of the story unless it's translated into English. The language barrier creates too much of a disconnect. It's definitely chaotic, but it should be given the source material.

That was what got me wondering which tops the other from those who experienced both.
-High online praise for each
-Both use AA's and screens throughout

I've seen videos but they don't paint the whole picture.

I think the chase scene and a few other things would be cool to see in-person, but I already wouldn't trade Monsters for JW. Most of it is too similar to various things we've already seen here in Orlando, even if there are incremental improvements in how they're presented, whereas Monsters (which I've been on) feels more like a proper evolutionary step forward with what Universal is capable of in terms of show, even if it has a few nagging imperfections of its own (reliability being chief among them.)

I get the impression that the best thing one could say about JW is "Spider-Man but better," assuming one actually feels that way. Which would be high praise, especially as I was certain until recently that Spider-Man was still my favorite attraction, but Monsters feels unlike anything else I've ridden as an overall experience. I suppose you could theoretically melt it down to, "Forbidden Journey but so much better it's not even funny," but I feel like that would be underselling it.

 

[BrianLo]

The ride's conclusion strikes me as oddly abrupt, but I don't think I can get a proper feel for the rest of the story unless it's translated into English. The language barrier creates too much of a disconnect. It's definitely chaotic, but it should be given the source material.

Just to clarify it’s not the chaos. It’s the inability to soak in the majesty of Jurassic Park/World for more than 5 seconds (about the time of the reveal coming out of the hallway to the lightening strike).

Jurassic Park is a near perfect movie and they seem to have continually struggled at understanding why. Apart from the derivatively structured Jurassic World.

Jurassic Park: The Ride does it all so much better.

Take MMRR, a ride meant to be zany and chaotic. It still takes a beat before devolving, has a really nice serene outro and even takes a hilarious and needed reprieve mid ride. Perfect ride structuring.

 

[JT3000]

Just to clarify it’s not the chaos. It’s the inability to soak in the majesty of Jurassic Park/World for more than 5 seconds (about the time of the reveal coming out of the hallway to the lightening strike).

Jurassic Park is a near perfect movie and they seem to have continually struggled at understanding why. Apart from the derivatively structured Jurassic World.

Jurassic Park: The Ride does it all so much better.

Take MMRR, a ride meant to be zany and chaotic. It still takes a beat before devolving, has a really nice serene outro and even takes a hilarious and needed reprieve mid ride. Perfect ride structuring.

To be fair, it is a Jurassic World ride, so the pacing is in-character, if not optimal. I think the actual Jurassic Park rides are appropriately slow burns, even if I'd prefer to see some more visual points of interests squeezed in along the way if they ever give River Adventure an overhaul.

I'll always prefer Spider-Man over Transformers, and the pacing is one of the big reasons why, but you can't deny how uncompromisingly faithful the latter is to the source material.

 

[lewisc]

The post I was referencing went "poof"

 

[lazyboy97o]

Aren't amphitheater outdoors? Cover the stage so the show can run rain or shine

Covered amphitheaters are a thing.

 

[CoastalElite64]

 

[JT3000]

We have bank analysts making theme park predictions now.

 

[Baloo124]

I have nothing against a Wicked expansion, but my barber assures me it's going to be LOTR.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

I have nothing against a Wicked expansion, but my barber assures me it's going to be LOTR.

My cat says SpongeBob land and it’s not even close

 

[Baloo124]

My cat says SpongeBob land and it’s not even close

I'd trust a cat over other sources.

"Meow" is acronymic for "Making Epic's Other Worlds"

 

[MisterPenguin]

I'd trust a cat over other sources.

"Meow" is acronymic for "Making Epic's Other Worlds"

Wouldn't mind it being a MeowWolf.

But I saw a cloud today that looked like a Minion. So...

 

[Tom Morrow]

No Idea how they do this or how accurate it is... but Thrill data seems to think EPIC is running about 44% capacity today.

https://www.thrill-data.com/epic-universe-capacity/

At 11am that gives us:
180: Mario Kart
165: HPBATB
120: Minekart
85: Toothless
75: Yoshi/Fyre Drill/ CotWW

This is horrendous. This is a major reason why park reviews are plummeting.

"Internet reviews are not real life" = this is true in the sense that people are more likely to post reviews about negative experiences than positive ones.

But also consider that real life average people are not theme park lovers, workers, etc. Epic got glowing reviews during previews because it was so many theme park adjacent people in a park where capacity was being limited.

 

[Stripes]

Tour buses catch fire near Epic Universe

A pair of Universal Studios buses caught fire at a gas station near Epic Universe in Orlando.

www.wfla.com