Universal Epic Universe (South Expansion Complex) - Opens May 22 2025

[Tom Morrow]

Universal needed to care about sightlines this time and they still didn’t.

I don’t care that you can see inside the lands from Celestial Park. This was impossible to avoid. However, the entire conceit of the park is that once you’re through the portals, you were supposed to be fully immersed in that land. So it’s a semi issue that you can see the other lands from inside the one you’re in, but it’s a bigger issue that you can see so much backstage and structures that aren’t even in the park from ground level.

The fact that they once again didn’t care is exactly why this park is not “beating Disney at its own game” like so many were hyped up for and hoping for. Not looking forward to all the “Universal always smart and good, Disney always dumb and bad” theme park fans to change the narrative from “this will be the most immersive theme park ever!” To “actually, only Disney Adults care about sightlines.”

All of this criticism aside, it’s still a Very Good Theme Park. But it does not raise the bar for the theme park industry and this is probably the biggest reason why.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Universal needed to care about sightlines this time and they still didn’t.

I don’t care that you can see inside the lands from Celestial Park. This was impossible to avoid. However, the entire conceit of the park is that once you’re through the portals, you were supposed to be fully immersed in that land. So it’s a semi issue that you can see the other lands from inside the one you’re in, but it’s a bigger issue that you can see so much backstage and structures that aren’t even in the park from ground level.

The fact that they once again didn’t care is exactly why this park is not “beating Disney at its own game” like so many were hyped up for and hoping for. Not looking forward to all the “Universal always smart and good, Disney always dumb and bad” theme park fans to change the narrative from “this will be the most immersive theme park ever!” To “actually, only Disney Adults care about sightlines.”

All of this criticism aside, it’s still a Very Good Theme Park. But it does not raise the bar for the theme park industry and this is probably the biggest reason why.

Seems odd they don’t invest a little more time and money into berms and trees, I said the same with Cosmic rewind, huge showbuildings are often necessary but they’ve known for decades how to hide them, or at least partially hide them, they just don’t seem to care.

A 20’ berm with 40’ trees wouldn’t completely eliminate the problem of a 100’ show building but it would sure minimize how much it stands out.

 

[Andrew25]

Seems odd they don’t invest a little more time and money into berms and trees, I said the same with Cosmic rewind, huge showbuildings are often necessary but they’ve known for decades how to hide them, or at least partially hide them, they just don’t seem to care.

A 20’ berm with 40’ trees wouldn’t completely eliminate the problem of a 100’ show building but it would sure minimize how much it stands out.

Yeah, this is my biggest gripe with Dark Universe & HTTYD.

SNW & Potter are well insulated, but the other two lands unfortunately don't have much of a berm.

 

[mkt]

Is it your expectation that these issues will be addressed?

They aren't issues so much as it is them being proactive. Everything there is new, so nothing has really been stress tested yet.

If you've ever watched Kitchen Nightmares, think of it as the first dinner service before the makeover. It's the stress test.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are strategically closing restaurants so as to increase the stress on those that are open in order to stress test them.

 

[Jrb1979]

I think another posters comment hit the nail on the head. They want you to take time in each land and really immerse yourself. I think if you do that, it can be more. But on low crowd days, it borders on half day park territory

I can see that. At least for me if is a low crowd day, you should be able to multiple rides on many things to fill out the day. For us we love low crowd days at parks. Riding the Mummy 11 times over 2 days filled our days.

That is the one I have never understood with many here. It feels like majority ride things once maybe twice and that's it for the day.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Universal is not a company that cares about sight lines. It’s just not in their DNA.

View attachment 848804

View attachment 848805

Universal Studios Theme Parks started in 1963 as the Universal Studios Backlot Tram Tour. Since the very beginning, their philosophy is to show the backside of movie magic.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Universal Studios Theme Parks started in 1963 as the Universal Studios Backlot Tram Tour. Since the very beginning, their philosophy is to show the backside of movie magic.

So the philosophy of Universal theme parks is to reveal the backside of their theming to remain true to the mission of the original Universal Studios theme park?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Seems odd they don’t invest a little more time and money into berms and trees, I said the same with Cosmic rewind, huge showbuildings are often necessary but they’ve known for decades how to hide them, or at least partially hide them, they just don’t seem to care.

A 20’ berm with 40’ trees wouldn’t completely eliminate the problem of a 100’ show building but it would sure minimize how much it stands out.

But now do the math the figure out the width of a 20’ tall berm that can actually accommodate trees of that size. They get big quickly. Even at the Magic Kingdom they opted to bury backstage and built in the middle of nowhere instead of doing a berm around the whole park. That big pile of dirt is also now something you have to get through when you look at expanding. Berms are resource intensive both upfront and in the future. The lands at Epic Universe that are the most successful with sightlines aren’t the most landscapes either. You don’t actually need a berm to do things like not show that an attraction entrance is stuck onto a large box.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Universal Studios Theme Parks started in 1963 as the Universal Studios Backlot Tram Tour. Since the very beginning, their philosophy is to show the backside of movie magic.

Your excuses keep getting more and more lame. Nothing about Islands of Adventure or Epic Universe is about movie making. Even the Universal Studios parks themselves have moved away from that conceit with only token lip service still being present in select attractions.

Oh, and actual, old school movie making as originally highlighted at Universal Studios Hollywood and how Universal Studios Florida was built required good sightlines. Nobody wanted a sci-fi building in the background of their western.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

So the philosophy of Universal theme parks is to reveal the backside of their theming to remain true to the mission of the original Universal Studios theme park?

In short, yes. Universal parks are, and have always been, about camera ready framed "shots". Not so much about 360° immersion.

 

[lazyboy97o]

In short, yes. Universal parks are, and have always been, about camera ready framed "shots". Not so much about 360° immersion.

This is just a straight up lie and you know it. Epic Universe was absolutely supposed to be all about immersion.

 

[Stripes]

They aren't issues so much as it is them being proactive. Everything there is new, so nothing has really been stress tested yet.

If you've ever watched Kitchen Nightmares, think of it as the first dinner service before the makeover. It's the stress test.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are strategically closing restaurants so as to increase the stress on those that are open in order to stress test them.

I don’t understand. With all of the pre-visualization tools that are available and surely being used by Universal Creative, why would hiding building systems and structures be part of stress testing?

Maybe we misunderstood each other, but I’m concerned about a situation like this:

 

[ToTBellHop]

So which rides require lockers?

 

[BringMeTheHoriz]

So which rides require lockers?

Facial recognition lockers at Monsters Unchained, Hiccups Wing Gliders, and Stardust. Only Stardust has metal detectors after the lockers. Dragon Racers has cubbies.

 

[mkt]

I don’t understand. With all of the pre-visualization tools that are available and surely being used by Universal Creative, why would hiding building systems and structures be part of stress testing?

Maybe we misunderstood each other, but I’m concerned about a situation like this:

View attachment 848826

We absolutely misunderstood each other.

 

[JT3000]

For those who've been to the park and think you can see outside of the park too easily, is this something expansion could potentially fix? This could also create issues of its own, as we've seen in IOA, but I don't know whether the sightline issues you're referring to are related to expansion pads that have been left empty or if they're elsewhere.

 

[earlthesquirrellover23]

I don’t understand. With all of the pre-visualization tools that are available and surely being used by Universal Creative, why would hiding building systems and structures be part of stress testing?

Maybe we misunderstood each other, but I’m concerned about a situation like this:

View attachment 848826

FWIW that probably isn't very visible in real life. The POV this screenshot is from uses an extreme low light camera.