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

[Poseidon Quest]

I think the problem is that the majority of guests likely aren't riding these rides more than once or twice on a trip, and then may not be back for years. That's really the audience that matters for ride design; not people who visit regularly.

Not that I think people who only ride once dislike these attractions, though.

Why is it not relevant to people who visit regularly? Repeat people who like Universal and travel from afar still spend quite a lot of money, right? Universal has also fostered a much stronger culture among passholders and locals. I guess Disney perceives them as lower spenders, but myself and others will still spend money frequently in the parks. Universal has done a much better job of making their parks into "third spaces" than Disney has.

 

[Stripes]

I always feel that way about a lot of Universal attractions, but I end up warming up to them over time. Once past that initial overwhelming first handful of ride-throughs, and I begin to process what's occurring among the chaos, I start to look forward to certain lines of dialogue or the punchy sound design. I see why people would be angry waiting for 3+ hours for something like Ministry, but I've come to know the beats of the ride and think that it gets better with repeat ride-throughs.

As a massive Harry Potter fan that has read the entire series 10 times, Ministry doesn’t evoke much emotion for me. 95% of the emotion is in the queue, and the 5% on the ride is the adorable vacuum cleaner. I’ve been on the attraction 3 times, and while I’ve become more comfortable with the attraction, I also found it more irritating. The dialogue is poorly written and feels extremely forced. The sound design is irritating after being blessed with the wonderful film soundtracks in the queue.

Universal has also fostered a much stronger culture among passholders and locals. I guess Disney perceives them as lower spenders, but myself and others will still spend money frequently in the parks. Universal has done a much better job of making their parks into "third spaces" than Disney has.

I mean, UOR is quite a bit closer to the typical Orlando resident than WDW is. In fact, UOR is often located “on the way” to WDW, which probably explains why UOR caters to locals more than WDW. UOR’s location gives them an unbeatable advantage when it comes to attracting locals, which they have reinforced with better passholder perks (although I know a lot of passholders are very upset about the Epic situation). On the other hand, WDW likely sees no point in getting into a perks competition with UOR for locals when they don’t have to and, again, they are further away from most locals. However, in terms of culture, I have to say I see a heck of a lot more cars in Orlando with Florida plates that have WDW stickers/magnets than I do Universal stickers/magnets. In any event, the locals situation is undoubtedly Disney’s territory in LA.

 

[sedati]

I laughed months ago when those green beams in the background were somehow projected to create this massive wall.

And here's the easily expected real-world result. It's nice that they did something, though Universal is lauded for putting up a green wall when Disney would be lambasted for such a thing.

 

[UNCgolf]

Why is it not relevant to people who visit regularly? Repeat people who like Universal and travel from afar still spend quite a lot of money, right? Universal has also fostered a much stronger culture among passholders and locals. I guess Disney perceives them as lower spenders, but myself and others will still spend money frequently in the parks. Universal has done a much better job of making their parks into "third spaces" than Disney has.

This doesn't really make sense as a response to what I said.

Most visitors don't visit regularly or ride something several times in one trip. You suggested that Universal's rides maybe don't work as well as they should the first time you ride it, but get better with repeat rides -- I'm pointing out that's more or less backwards from a design standpoint (not that I'm suggesting they should get worse with repeated rides).

It's good that there's more to see/experience on multiple rides -- that's why rides like Pirates of the Caribbean are all-time classics -- but they shouldn't be underwhelming/hard to understand on a first ride, because that's the main audience.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I laughed months ago when those green beams in the background were somehow projected to create this massive wall.

View attachment 894511

And here's the easily expected real-world result. It's nice that they did something, though Universal is lauded for putting up a green wall when Disney would be lambasted for such a thing.

View attachment 894512

It does seem like it should be a bit taller.

 

[sedati]

Has anyone mentioned this as a possible expansion plot? Not big, but a Swing-ride would be perfect here.

 

[sedati]

It does seem like it should be a bit taller.

I haven't seen any images of this from the park itself. Does it help with sight-lines at all? I'm assuming Berk would benefit, not that a huge artificial green wall screams Norse Island. It's possible the actual intent is to block views of the park from the road and not the other way around.

 

[JoeCamel]

I haven't seen any images of this from the park itself. Does it help with sight-lines at all? I'm assuming Berk would benefit, not that a huge artificial green wall screams Norse Island. It's possible the actual intent is to block views of the park from the road and not the other way around.

They needed someplace to put the electric wires for the security system, you don't just hang 50,000 volts on any old structure.
Every gate click counts

 

[BrianLo]

It's possible the actual intent is to block views of the park from the road and not the other way around.

It appears that way, it’s for the buses rather than for the park.

 

[LSLS]

So, we went for the first time this past week. Overall, pretty good experience. I'd say I was by far we were most impressed with How to Train Your Dragon land. I honestly have not seen the movies, so low expectations may be part of it, but it felt great. The area had nice flow, and most importantly, there was a TON to do. 3 rides, a show (which was outstanding), and a playground on top of meet and greets. Close second for us was Dark Universe. It really had a cool theme and vibe, and Monsters Unchained was every bit as impressive as people made it out to be.

Downsides, Super Nintendo is just not well done for us. My teenager thought the theming was if a Nintendo threw up all the games in it's memory. Not nearly enough space to walk, and it didn't feel cohesive. DK ride was fun, but I get the complaints about Mario Kart. I can say most of us left that ride frustrated that we couldn't get things to work like we wanted. Yoshi ride feels like it needs to be a bit longer with no lap bars (just put in doors like people mover). That said, we all enjoyed Toadstool Cafe (albeit found it a bit creepy seeing all the items with mushrooms), and the Donkey Kong area does have really cool theming (especially at night). But we left that with a feeling of what could have been.

The Harry Potter land we all agreed was our least favorite. Things were tight, and there just wasn't a ton to do. The show never opened when we were there, so legit there was just a single ride which everyone agree was good, but not nearly worth the 2 hour wait.

Overall, we had a good time, and it is very beautiful, but it does feel like 3 of the 4 portal areas need at least 2-3 or more things to make them full. I would go back if we are back at Universal, but no way I would buy a single ticket for it.

 

[DCBaker]

 

[Gusey]

Confirmation that Epic's first big expansion will be at the Wizarding World

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Confirmation that Epic's first big expansion will be at the Wizarding World

What was the original second ride at WWohp that was cancelled?

 

[lazyboy97o]

What was the original second ride at WWohp that was cancelled?

Interactive virtual reality broom ride where you’d chase Grindelwald through Paris.

 

[CoastalElite64]

Universal wants DC in the parks.

Warner Bros. Explores Licensing DC Rides to Universal Parks

Batman could be getting a new assignment with rollercoaster fans.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[Andrew C]

Confirmation that Epic's first big expansion will be at the Wizarding World

We should take a ride into Newt’s suitcase.

 

[Poseidon Quest]

Universal wants DC in the parks.

Warner Bros. Explores Licensing DC Rides to Universal Parks

Batman could be getting a new assignment with rollercoaster fans.

www.bloomberg.com

How does Universal benefit from this situation? They currently keep Disney from utilizing Marvel, are making tons of money from the merch, have two, immensely popular rides that are staples of Islands and the DC brand is definitely the weaker of the two.

I won't believe it until I see it because I just don't see this as anything but a loss for Universal.

 

[Andrew C]

How does Universal benefit from this situation? They currently keep Disney from utilizing Marvel, are making tons of money from the merch, have two, immensely popular rides that are staples of Islands and the DC brand is definitely the weaker of the two.

I won't believe it until I see it because I just don't see this as anything but a loss for Universal.

Don’t necessarily disagree. I guess they figure super hero island can’t be frozen forever?

 

[Stripes]

How does Universal benefit from this situation? They currently keep Disney from utilizing Marvel, are making tons of money from the merch, have two, immensely popular rides that are staples of Islands and the DC brand is definitely the weaker of the two.

I won't believe it until I see it because I just don't see this as anything but a loss for Universal.

There’s an assumption here that they would replace MSHI. Why the assumption?

In any event: "The talks are at an early stage and don’t yet involve contractual negotiations, the people said."

Hardly a done deal. This article also gives the Mouse a heads up. I could actually see Disney swooping in to grab the DC rights and offering Universal a trade.

We all know David Zaslav loves a bidding war…

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

How does Universal benefit from this situation? They currently keep Disney from utilizing Marvel, are making tons of money from the merch, have two, immensely popular rides that are staples of Islands and the DC brand is definitely the weaker of the two.

I won't believe it until I see it because I just don't see this as anything but a loss for Universal.

Although it might just be a tagline for a catchy headline, I presume there's a pretty big difference between just the IP rights for Batman and a full scale DC right acquisition. Batman has consistently proven its staying power and if they decided to play around with just the Gotham City characters for IoA or elsewhere it definitely won't be a loss for Universal.