I have now marinated in my thoughts sufficiently and want to report I’m a reconverted Universal fan again. At least from this team that brought the bulk of early days Epic. I do think it might even be a slightly stronger park than IOA because it is more varied and consistent.
Brief highlights:
-Ministry is amazing. By far my favourite Universal attraction worldwide with a close second running of Monsters Unchained. I long said on paper that my opinion was largely going to be baked into how well the two headliners hit and they both hit for me. Ministry I think is in my top three with Rise and Shanghai Pirates. Its ride system is put to newfound uses and understood the assignment. No attraction is perfect, it likely could have used a better pre-show to onboard non-Potter viewers and readers into why we are getting into elevators. The face projected AAs are very derpy.
-Universal putting water fountains in every queue line and show line. Whoever strategically mandated that deserves credit.
-Paris is practically perfect. We could start throwing around a nascent “Disney Sea” if every other land lived up to that standard.
-I think the portals and the LED screens work really well for their stated purpose. Day and night.
-F&B is very well done, as has been noted. To the point that I’m confused why they even need another, another dining facility? Maybe those on busy days can clarify for me, but dining seems over abundant for the parks capacity? Not that that is bad!
-I think both of the shows are extremely strong for a theme park. Mixed with the unrelated HHN show I saw, Universal can do modern entertainment really well… who knew?!? Have you heard of a park called IOA that has NO entertainment?
-Stardust racers is also a very strong coaster.
-The 6th/7th unspoken star attractions are the interactive experiences between Potter and Nintendo. Nintendo’s bands are the cheaper and better Epic based experience. Though Potter has the benefit of being usable in three parks. I’m down for Nintendo continuing to get the Potter treatment and spreading over three parks. Finally I think Universal will have its one-two-three punch between Potter, Nintendo and Jurassic.
-Shout out to Atlantic dining call. I think that’s my favourite dining location followed by the Parisian street-side potter one. Whatever that is called.
Other notes:
-The park is a lot smaller than I expected. There’s very little depth to it before you hit the hotel.
-I rather like the portal world concept. It’s different. It’s not the worst navigationally (I prefer the park navigation layout to IOA).
-Much criticism of them downgrading the extended queue on Monsters is unwarranted, that was smart cost savings.
-The cancellation of the second potter attraction for now was also a correct choice, that land still feels perfectly functional without it at this time.
-The park needs an all ages no height capacity E ticket dark ride like it is going out of style. A HTTYD boat ride, which unfortunately doesn’t look like it was considered would be the solution. Monsters needs a show. Nintendo needs a “great” attraction.
Misses:
-The portal world concept falls apart for Universal’s own IP. I’m used to newer parks, but they really don’t seem to have sprung for much in the way of tree maturity. Even their planting leaves much to be desired. Is it really so hard and budget breaking to plant a row of trees and bamboo in unfinished land periphery and boundaries?
-For a park as expensive as it was, both Nintendo and Monsters could have considered being partially or fully indoor lands.
-Nintendo is not going to hold up well to Florida weather. It already is not.
-The monsters land is frankly a general missed opportunity. There’s nothing to it, the land immediately truncates and ends in the weenie. The burning tavern and Monsters unchained needed to be swapped. The Wolverine coaster is “ok”, but not worth the entire degradation of the land.
-Mine Cart Madness is the most baffling attraction and like the Wolf attraction I can tell was not really done in the slice of brilliance that the original Epic team operated under. Way too low capacity. Way too sub par. Making scene two of your attraction a full frontal revelation of the ride system is terrible. Seriously, bamboo…
-Mine Cart Madness is jerky clearly on purpose, but it doesn’t make for a very pleasant ride experience.
-Constellation Carousel is lame and not justified by being cool to watch. The system spins around less than 2 full rotations for the entire ride profile. I watched faces while it was operating and everyone looked apathetic and bored.
-The hotel being the weenie of the entire park was a mistake. Perhaps the cardinal mistake. It should have been an entrance hotel and the park and the park abutting into a 6th land portal. Why centre everything around a fireworks launch pad you’ll never use and your premium rooms don’t even face.
