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

[Animaniac93-98]

How did Universal not plan for Florida summers with as long as uni has been here…. Even Disney knew they had to do things differently vs Cali way back in 1971 with things like a cover for the Tea Cups and having the entire It’s a Small World boat ride indoors

WDW's Mad Tea Party opened without a roof. It was added a couple years later

The canopy over HM's queue was also added a year after opening, as was HoP's extended covered queue.

 

[Poseidon Quest]

WDW's Mad Tea Party opened without a roof. It was added a couple years later

The canopy over HM's queue was also added a year after opening, as was HoP's extended covered queue.

HoP has an extended queue? Is that where the market is currently?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

HoP has an extended queue? Is that where the market is currently?

Yes. It was built to be the queue when the line used to go out the door (really!)

I think the posts still have the hooks on them where you would link the chains to form the line

Here's what the area looked like before it was built. There was a patch of grass where the Market's seating area is

 

[Poseidon Quest]

Yes. It was built to be the queue when the line used to go out the door (really!)

I think the posts still have the hooks on them where you would link the chains to form the line

Here's what the area looked like before it was built

It never occurred to me that queue space was the intended purpose, but that's interesting to learn.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Anyone consider that indoor attractions are just flat out more expensive than outdoor attractions?

I have no idea how budgets are divided when building a new park... but would you rather have.
A)what we have now
B) No CotWW, Hiccups, or DK, but add in a creature from the black lagoon indoor boat ride?

The two big attractions that were cut made it all the way to permitting. Budgets had long been allocated for them. It’s unusual for something to get that far and still be cut. Broom was also reworked for a good while for Universal Studios Florida before finally dying.

There was also an interim period where Curse of the Werewolf was smaller and the Dark Universe theater was smaller and indoors.

 

[Purduevian]

The two big attractions that were cut made it all the way to permitting. Budgets had long been allocated for them. It’s unusual for something to get that far and still be cut. Broom was also reworked for a good while for Universal Studios Florida before finally dying.

There was also an interim period where Curse of the Werewolf was smaller and the Dark Universe theater was smaller and indoors.

Why did they get cut if not for budget?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

It never occurred to me that queue space was the intended purpose, but that's interesting to learn.

So much of The Magic Kingdom has been the way it is for so long now that the original purpose of buildings and spaces is long forgotten and taken for granted as just being there.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I’m just not sure they wanted the park to be poorly built for Florida summers is a useful line of discussion. It is coming off as an excuse and that’s just going to make people more critical. It’s a flaw and hopefully they correct it.

And frankly it was my chief complaint about IOA back when I was an AP in 2013, during my summer ICP.

I loved IOA, but man that park SUCKED when lightning was in the area, or a storm rolled through. So many times I would get stuck in the Hulk queue just as you were about to board. And this is before adding two very high demand outdoor coasters, which can shut down throughout the summer...

And now you have a new park that loses almost its entire ride roster during a summer storm or lightning event.

It's certainly a bizarre choice.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Why did they get cut if not for budget?

Broom was moved to Universal Studios Florida because they weren’t sure how long the park would be paused. They eventually decided it wasn’t worked as they wanted, and similar experiences opened elsewhere, and resumed the park. This ended up being more of a true cut to costs.

Curse of the Werewolf originally replaced the small outdoor walkthrough space. It was a way to get another ride in relatively cheaply. The show had its own creative issues and when it died the coaster was enlarged. This was less a complete cut because money moved from one concept to another.

 

[TalkToEthan]

It's easy to ask for more indoor attractions, but they can't just build something that's indoors for the sake of it.

Yes, yes Universal could have——-if it chose to do it.

More money of course but each ‘portaled’ land could have been independently domed, EASILY……if Universal prioritized it.

70,000 person indoor stadiums have been around for 6 decades! Of course protection from the elements could have been done if Universal wanted to do it.