Universal Epic Universe (South Expansion Complex) - Opens 2025

[celluloid]

Universal Studios Japan and the WB Studio Potter Studio Tour experience already both exist in the same region. It has already happened. Like many attractions, they find there is more money to be made than there are cannibalization. WB wins money from both. A theme park and a studio tour exhibit are both attractions, but different and can both do well just fine.

The land Universal has for Europe does not have final plans yet, and may include some originality for sure, but yes, it is a safe bet it will include Potter in some form if it comes to fruition in the next eight years.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Universal Studios Japan and the WB Studio Potter Studio Tour experience already both exist in the same region. It has already happened.

This is like saying the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and SeaWorld Orlando are in the same region. Not to mention the significant population differences.

 

[celluloid]

This is like saying the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta and SeaWorld Orlando are in the same region. Not to mention the significant population differences.

Atlanta to Orlando are over 400 miles. Nearly twice the distance from Tokyo to Osaka. With transportation driving nearly seven hours or paying for flight.
In a world where the Shinkansen exists...its even easier in travel and a day trip for many to go to Osaka and back to Tokyo. Bad comparison there for you to make.

Your comparison with aquarium exhibits vs attraction exhibit venues within a theme park are just further examples that prove you wrong.

Sea World and Sea Life Aquarium both co-exist, as does the Clearwater Aquarium less than two hours down the Gulf Coast among other cross over.



There are many examples. With the same company granting licensing it is even easier. WB will not say no to making more money. They were not worried about the Cursed Child coming to play. It just brings more people.


Very different mediums, same fandom.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Atlanta to Orlando are over 400 miles. Nearly twice the distance from Tokyo to Osaka. With transportation driving nearly seven hours or paying for flight.
In a world where the Shinkansen exists...its even easier in travel and a day trip for many to go to Osaka and back to Tokyo. Bad comparison there for you to make.

Your comparison with aquarium exhibits vs attraction exhibit venues within a theme park are just further examples that prove you wrong.

Sea World and Sea Life Aquarium both co-exist, as does the Clearwater Aquarium less than two hours down the Gulf Coast among other cross over.



There are many examples. With the same company granting licensing it is even easier. WB will not say no to making more money. They were not worried about the Cursed Child coming to play. It just brings more people.


Very different mediums, same fandom. Give it a rest dude. You wrong.

I think some people grossly downplay the HP fanbase’s size, loyalty to the IP, and willingness to spend money. At Universal, take any product, slap a Potter logo on it, and people pay 20% more.

People will go to NYC, visit the HP store then the museum exhibit and then see Cursed Child at night. Before the pandemic, they gladly made a weekend of it when Cursed Child was four acts.

How many stores in a typical mall sell at least one HP product? And they aren’t even putting out books or films right now. This thing runs itself.

 

[celluloid]

I think some people grossly downplay the HP fanbase’s size, loyalty to the IP, and willingness to spend money. At Universal, take any product, slap a Potter logo on it, and people pay 20% more.

People will go to NYC, visit the HP store then the museum exhibit and then see Cursed Child at night. Before the pandemic, they gladly made a weekend of it when Cursed Child was four acts.

How many stores in a typical mall sell at least one HP product? And they aren’t even putting out books or films right now. This thing runs itself.

The fact that each Major Universal Orlando park is going to have an entire area, tells us all we need to know that a play, an exhibit and a theme park land could exist just fine at the same time in England where so much of the tourism of the last four and future three generations probably expect to see it.

 

[UNCgolf]

I thought Hogwarts Legacy was a misfire -- it's not bad, it's just... misguided. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are by far the best part of the game, but very little of the story actually takes place there, and most of the students/professors are just set dressing. There are only a handful of characters with any personality.

It was also a wild choice to have a 15 year old killing literally hundreds of goblins and wizards.

It would have been a much better game with a smaller focus on just being a student at Hogwarts, with trips to Hogsmeade and possibly a few excursions elsewhere (like Diagon Alley). Hogwarts Castle is fantastically detailed, full of all the nooks and crannies you'd hope for, and it's barely utilized.

Regardless, it was obviously incredibly successful, even if the game itself doesn't live up to the sales figures IMO.

 

[phillip9698]

I thought Hogwarts Legacy was a misfire -- it's not bad, it's just... misguided. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are by far the best part of the game, but very little of the story actually takes place there, and most of the students/professors are just set dressing. There are only a handful of characters with any personality.

It was also a wild choice to have a 15 year old killing literally hundreds of goblins and wizards.

It would have been a much better game with a smaller focus on just being a student at Hogwarts, with trips to Hogsmeade and possibly a few excursions elsewhere (like Diagon Alley). Hogwarts Castle is fantastically detailed, full of all the nooks and crannies you'd hope for, and it's barely utilized.

Regardless, it was obviously incredibly successful, even if the game itself doesn't live up to the sales figures IMO.

The thing that prevented them from making the student simulator that some fans clamor for is that at the end of the day a video game with that budget needs to be fun and exciting with mass appeal.

Could they have added a bit more story to the Hogwarts areas, yes, but going full student simulator would have led to a sales catastrophe.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I thought Hogwarts Legacy was a misfire -- it's not bad, it's just... misguided. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are by far the best part of the game, but very little of the story actually takes place there, and most of the students/professors are just set dressing. There are only a handful of characters with any personality.

It was also a wild choice to have a 15 year old killing literally hundreds of goblins and wizards.

It would have been a much better game with a smaller focus on just being a student at Hogwarts, with trips to Hogsmeade and possibly a few excursions elsewhere (like Diagon Alley). Hogwarts Castle is fantastically detailed, full of all the nooks and crannies you'd hope for, and it's barely utilized.

Regardless, it was obviously incredibly successful, even if the game itself doesn't live up to the sales figures IMO.

The thing that prevented them from making the student simulator that some fans clamor for is that at the end of the day a video game with that budget needs to be fun and exciting with mass appeal.

Could they have added a bit more story to the Hogwarts areas, yes, but going full student simulator would have led to a sales catastrophe.

It was hard enough for them to get this game working on all of the systems it’s on, but I could see more classes in DLC one day or integrated into the 2nd game. In any event, its sales despite its shortcomings demonstrate how fervent the fanbase is. There is crossover appeal to action RPG gamers but it also brought over many non-gamers who needed the structure the game provides to know what to do. And people still get stuck on puzzles that gamers find easy. The open world game some want would’ve failed with many players.

But, there are ways to increase interactivity, particularly in the postgame which currently feels rather dead.

 

[UNCgolf]

The thing that prevented them from making the student simulator that some fans clamor for is that at the end of the day a video game with that budget needs to be fun and exciting with mass appeal.

Could they have added a bit more story to the Hogwarts areas, yes, but going full student simulator would have led to a sales catastrophe.

I'm not advocating an all out student simulator; just something that wasn't almost completely divorced from being a student. The game never really feels like you're a student at Hogwarts (and certainly doesn't feel like you're a 15 year old). I also disagree about your sales catastrophe -- even though I personally wouldn't want an all-out student sim, I think one that was set in a Hogwarts as detailed as the one in the game would have sold 10+ million to all the HP fans. Probably not as many as this game sold, but still a massive success.

Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are incredible (and are the most iconic part of the setting) in the game, but they're barely used. There's a lot of neat stuff in/around the castle that you'll only see if you go exploring, which is fun, but it really feels like a waste to not make that a major part of the game.

I thought it was just kind of above average as a video game (the open world and combat is pretty repetitive/boring compared to other games), and also just kind of above average as an HP game. It has great moments here and there, but it wasn't one of the better games I played last year, and if you cut out Hogwarts/Hogsmeade it probably would have been one of my least favorite (not that it was bad, just kind of bland outside of the HP trappings). It is beautiful, though.

Huge swathes of the game feel like generic wizard simulator. It needed a better story and many more interesting characters (that you can interact with regularly instead of a few specifically scripted moments) to make the world feel alive.

I assume they'll make a Hogwarts Legacy 2 considering how successful it was, but I think it needs some significant writing and mechanical changes to actually be a great game. I also think they really need to go off forwards or backwards a decade so they can have a clean slate to work with. I struggle to see how they could make a quality sequel using the same character.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I'm not advocating an all out student simulator; just something that wasn't almost completely divorced from being a student. The game never really feels like you're a student at Hogwarts (and certainly doesn't feel like you're a 15 year old). I also disagree about your sales catastrophe -- even though I personally wouldn't want an all-out student sim, I think one that was set in a Hogwarts as detailed as the one in the game would have sold 10+ million to all the HP fans. Probably not as many as this game sold, but still a massive success.

Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are incredible (and are the most iconic part of the setting) in the game, but they're barely used. There's a lot of neat stuff in/around the castle that you'll only see if you go exploring, which is fun, but it really feels like a waste to not make that a major part of the game.

I thought it was just kind of above average as a video game (the open world and combat is pretty repetitive/boring compared to other games), and also just kind of above average as an HP game. It has great moments here and there, but it wasn't one of the better games I played last year, and if you cut out Hogwarts/Hogsmeade it probably would have been one of my least favorite (not that it was bad, just kind of bland outside of the HP trappings). It is beautiful, though.

Huge swathes of the game feel like they could just be generic wizard simulator. It needed a better story and many more interesting characters to make the world feel alive.

I assume they'll make a Hogwarts Legacy 2 considering how successful it was, but I think it needs some significant writing and mechanical changes to actually be a great game. I also think they really need to go off forwards or backwards a decade so they can have a clean slate to work with. I struggle to see how they could make a quality sequel using the same character.

A second game is confirmed. By then, our lead boy/girl will be 16 and murdering Mudbloods between courses at dinner.

 

[UNCgolf]

A second game is confirmed. By then, our lead boy/girl will be 16 and murdering Mudbloods between courses at dinner.

They'll almost have to if the developers want to ramp things up from the first game. The protagonist has already slaughtered their way through like 50% of the wizard population!

 

[BrianLo]

Absolutely some tourists will do 4 WDW days and the new Universal park, or 3 WDW days and 2 Universal days. The question is how many will do 3 Uni days and 1-4 WDW days. I think a lot of theme park fans overestimate that number.

I agree and I think people also aren’t weighing the costs here. Three day tickets at Uni are also about to swell. Maybe one can entirely cut out WDW, but the logical move is still to get an extended ticket for WDW and a single day for Epic. Secondarily, a two day for Epic and IOA/USF, where in practicality USF is being squeezed out for the most part.

There isn’t a lot of financial motivation to pick up a three day ticket at that stage. A 3 day Uni + 4 day WDW stay is extremely costly for families. A 2 day Uni, 5 day WDW is a better deal (with overall longer park hours and more evening entertainment). Until USF can start pulling its weight, I don’t think the seismic ‘cutting out WDW’ shift is going to occur day one like everyone thinks it will.

 

[lewisc]

I agree and I think people also aren’t weighing the costs here. Three day tickets at Uni are also about to swell. Maybe one can entirely cut out WDW, but the logical move is still to get an extended ticket for WDW and a single day for Epic. Secondarily, a two day for Epic and IOA/USF, where in practicality USF is being squeezed out for the most part.

Don't you think pricing will be front loaded?
A one day Epic ticket, assuming it's offered, will be $$$$. Posters claim no Express Passes will be available. We might see some lines. (Can't figure out how to add GIF) Might Universal start with a 2 day EPIC pass? A, by theme park standards, modest upcharge to add 2 or 3 days legacy parks. Pay for 2 get 5?

 

[BrianLo]

Don't you think pricing will be front loaded?
A one day Epic ticket, assuming it's offered, will be $$$$. Posters claim no Express Passes will be available. We might see some lines. (Can't figure out how to add GIF) Might Universal start with a 2 day EPIC pass? A, by theme park standards, modest upcharge to add 2 or 3 days legacy parks. Pay for 2 get 5?

I thought parks ticket pricing was front loaded to the number of days and parks.

Minor savings at WDW to scale from 1-3 and slightly more at 4, additional days come cheaply thereafter. Very similar prices for 1 v 2 day tickets at Universal currently, additional days come cheaply thereafter, particularly for the four day ticket offer. I assume they convert more to a 5 day offer post-Epic.

I think the calculus is going to be interesting none the less. You no longer hit the ‘tipping point’ by trying to cram in both resorts in a week.

 

[Andrew25]

Universal might pull a stupid and require only 1-day "Epic Exclusive" tickets (no multi-day ticket or park-to-park passes). I get the need to limit attendance to prevent operations from being flooded on opening... but look at what all the ticket modifications caused at Disneyland during SWGE's opening.

Not to mention that Universal will now have a solid reason to convince guests they need nearly a week dedicated at their resort instead of hopping over to WDW.

USF will debut a new parade and nighttime spectacular soon, so while USF won't have any new substantial additions to the park, it'll help spread guests between all 3 parks.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Universal might pull a stupid and require only 1-day "Epic Exclusive" tickets (no multi-day ticket or park-to-park passes).

I would guess that they'd have a 3-day ticket that includes one day at EU and a hopper for the other two for two days.

Double it for that "full week at Universal"... 2 days at EU with 4 hopping days at the other two. (Or, 3 days at EU with 3 days hopping the other two.)

Throw in the water park.

 

[Andrew25]

I would guess that they'd have a 3-day ticket that includes one day at EU and a hopper for the other two for two days.

Double it for that "full week at Universal"... 2 days at EU with 4 hopping days at the other two. (Or, 3 days at EU with 3 days hopping the other two.)

Throw in the water park.

That would be the smart choice. I just find the idea of not packaging tickets absurd when you are working on becoming a full-week destination. People who previously have never given Universal a chance on their own will start planning trips, and if they see it is more expensive than WDW they'll just do Epic alone and spend the rest of their trip at WDW.

VB is popular as is, no need for them to package it. It's insane how much that park has taken from WDW's water park attendance.

 

[jannerUK]

As a UK resident we currently have as the big seller "Three Park Tickets for 14 days" lumbered in with Disney it's about £912.

I wonder how that will change when EU starts opening up. Upgrade to a Four Park Ticket? Wonder how much the add on will go up by realistically.

 

[BrianLo]

As a UK resident we currently have as the big seller "Three Park Tickets for 14 days" lumbered in with Disney it's about £912.

I wonder how that will change when EU starts opening up. Upgrade to a Four Park Ticket? Wonder how much the add on will go up by realistically.

They are currently selling people a 14 day Universal ticket?

A week seems borderline egregious to me in the current state. Maybe this is Volcano Bays attendance problem, you basically need to treat it like an extension of your resorts pool complex.

 

[JoeCamel]

They are currently selling people a 14 day Universal ticket?

A week seems borderline egregious to me in the current state. Maybe this is Volcano Bays attendance problem, you basically need to treat it like an extension of your resorts pool complex.

Its more like a 14 day Orlando ticket for three parks plus other experiences I think it's this onehttps://www.travelrepublic.co.uk/attractions/orlando/theme-park-combos/disney-14-day-and-universal-3-park