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

[lazyboy97o]

I don’t understand how this happens so quickly in a climate that doesn’t have a freeze/thaw cycle. They got ripped off by a subcontractor who cut corners or something? It doesn’t really make sense.

All concrete cracks as a natural results of the curing process that causes expansion. The key is controlling where it cracks.

Wouldn’t that have immediately torn up the pavement though? It looked great during previews when I was there in April.

Not necessarily. Concrete sets and can be used for certain purposes before it fully cures.

there's definitely got to be a little more oversight to these issues. I wonder if its a mix of these companies rushing each other to get stuff done, budget not being there, or if they are sharing contractors maybe the contractors have stopped caring because they already have the next 10 jobs lined up at the competition so just get this done and you can move onto the next???

A big standard contrustion contract includes a minimum one year warranty. There is no rushing off to just go do other jobs. Universal and Disney have even more demanding contracts. Nobody is going to be allowed to just walk away from these results. Given the extent of issues it is also plausible that an improper formulation was specified, and it’s therefore a design issue.

 

[Tom Morrow]

To be honest though, and I know this is very OCD to notice, but Universal has never seemed to care much about what the walkways in their parks look like. USF and IOA have cracked walkways literally all over and they rarely refurbish faded and grungy looking pathways. Disney will replace an entire square of a walkway to fix a crack. Universal just hastily patches the crack or ignores it. I know some people will say the ground doesn't matter, but if you think about it, it is filling about 1/3rd of your vision most of the time.

There's also little things Disney does like using warm toned, saturated walkway colors that look good in overcast weather.

Anyways, thankfully at Epic, this only seems to be affecting Celestial Park. Still not a good look though.

 

[Disstevefan1]

there's definitely got to be a little more oversight to these issues. I wonder if its a mix of these companies rushing each other to get stuff done, budget not being there, or if they are sharing contractors maybe the contractors have stopped caring because they already have the next 10 jobs lined up at the competition so just get this done and you can move onto the next???

Whatever it is, this should not be the trend. Epcot's center isn't horrible to me (I know other opinions vary) but the inground lighting disaster is particularly shocking to me because they've had the inground lighting thing before and its held up for YEARS longer than this.

Like a previous commenter said, many other parts of WDW AND Universal still are holding up GREAT after years of use but these two spots are quickly deteriorating. I'm hoping that BOTH companies are giving these contractors a stern talking to about happened as well as updating oversight to actually make sure this is actually getting done right.

Agreed. There are also posts here someplace showing cracks in the facade over EPCOT's new connections, creations. Not good.

 

[JoeCamel]

All concrete cracks as a natural results of the curing process that causes expansion. The key is controlling where it cracks.


Not necessarily. Concrete sets and can be used for certain purposes before it fully cures.


A big standard contrustion contract includes a minimum one year warranty. There is no rushing off to just go do other jobs. Universal and Disney have even more demanding contracts. Nobody is going to be allowed to just walk away from these results. Given the extent of issues it is also plausible that an improper formulation was specified, and it’s therefore a design issue.

Florida imports much of it's cement and aggregate so I wonder if the quality of the mix has declined over the years. I see shell used as aggregate and shell is getting depleted so they use smaller pieces. I don't know if south american cement is as solid as the American midwest can produce.
In any case the concrete used here is not what was needed for this job. Someone is doing a bunch of fixing and the park is going to be dealing with it for years

 

[Stripes]

To be honest though, and I know this is very OCD to notice, but Universal has never seemed to care much about what the walkways in their parks look like. USF and IOA have cracked walkways literally all over and they rarely refurbish faded and grungy looking pathways. Disney will replace an entire square of a walkway to fix a crack. Universal just hastily patches the crack or ignores it. I know some people will say the ground doesn't matter, but if you think about it, it is filling about 1/3rd of your vision most of the time.

There's also little things Disney does like using warm toned, saturated walkway colors that look good in overcast weather.

Anyways, thankfully at Epic, this only seems to be affecting Celestial Park. Still not a good look though.

Although I didn’t notice any cracking, the painted walkways in SNW already look a bit grungy and faded as well. I understand why they took that approach but it was a mistake, in my opinion. You notice it immediately and it makes the land feel dirty.

 

[BrianLo]

Super Nintendo world is the one I actually worry about long term holding up. Kind of wish it had a canopy and was fully indoors.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Although I didn’t notice any cracking, the painted walkways in SNW already look a bit grungy and faded as well. I understand why they took that approach but it was a mistake, in my opinion. You notice it immediately and it makes the land feel dirty.

Yeah. Seuss Landing always has the same issue. It looks good if its freshly painted but gets grungy looking so quickly.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

Yeah. Seuss Landing always has the same issue. It looks good if its freshly painted but gets grungy looking so quickly.

Ideally things like this should be considered and these parts should be built to take a pretty consistent pressure washing

 

[mkt]

wonder if its a mix of these companies rushing each other to get stuff done, budget not being there, or if they are sharing contractors

Yes… ish.

They had deadlines to hit - once the park’s opening date was announced, there was no moving it.

And remember, a theme park takes years to design and plan before the first drop of concrete is poured. When those budgets were approved, no one could’ve predicted COVID-era inflation or the supply chain mess that followed. The money was there… until it wasn’t.

 

[mkt]

Ideally things like this should be considered and these parts should be built to take a pretty consistent pressure washing

They're pressure washed daily.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Ideally things like this should be considered and these parts should be built to take a pretty consistent pressure washing

Pressure washing isn’t a singular thing. Something can be safe to pressure wash and also be destroyed by pressure washing. There are different pressures, patterns, detergents, etc. But being more resilient to pressure washing wouldn’t address the issue of UV exposure which is a much bigger cause of color fading.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Yes… ish.

They had deadlines to hit - once the park’s opening date was announced, there was no moving it.

And remember, a theme park takes years to design and plan before the first drop of concrete is poured. When those budgets were approved, no one could’ve predicted COVID-era inflation or the supply chain mess that followed. The money was there… until it wasn’t.

As much as concrete is an art, there’s still a lot known about how certain mixes perform, how weather influences outcomes and the times involved.

 

[mkt]

As much as concrete is an art, there’s still a lot known about how certain mixes perform, how weather influences outcomes and the times involved.

That completely ignores the second part of my reply.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That completely ignores the second part of my reply.

I didn’t. To the extent that these poor results are due to cost and availability issues that means it is rooted in a change in mix specifications, and the outcome of different mixes is known.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

They're pressure washed daily.

Then they also need consistent repainting

 

[mkt]

Then they also need consistent repainting

They are.

 

[AidenRodriguez731]

They are.

Well if it’s looking grungy and multiple people agree, something should be changed or done about it

 

[mkt]

Well if it’s looking grungy and multiple people agree, something should be changed or done about it

Who says something isn't being done?