Universal’s Epic Universe has been officially open to the public for just about a month, with several weeks of previews before then. Over that period, the park has gained rave reviews from many, but some issues have continuously cropped up.
Epic Universe
One of the most consistent problems to plague Epic Universe has been an environment-related Achilles’ Heel that has struck the park — and altered wait times — on an almost daily basis.
Epic Universe’s stacked lineup of 11 attractions features exclusive new E-Tickets, thrilling coasters, and the first Nintendo-based attractions available to East Coast park goers. However, eight of those attractions: Constellation Carousel, Curse of the Werewolf, Dragon Racer’s Rally, Fyre Drill, Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, Mine-Cart Madness, Stardust Racers, and Yoshi’s Adventure are all at least partially outdoors, and vulnerable to weather delays.
Hiccup’s Wing Gliders
While that’s nothing new for Orlando area theme parks — certainly many rides in Universal’s other parks as well as Disney World’s four theme parks are operationally dependent on the weather — the fact that such a high percentage of Epic Universe’s attractions can be shut down by inclement weather looks to be an issue with the park, especially given what Orlando’s summer weather is like.
Since the park’s May 22nd opening, our wait times data indicates that nearly every day of operation has featured at least some weather-related delays on the park’s outdoor attractions. For example, over the first 19 days of June, the park experiences significant weather-related delays on 12 of them.
Stardust Racers
This has, in turn, put an undue amount of stress on the park’s other three attractions, Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experience, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, and Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge during bad weather. That’s especially an issue for the latter two, as both have wait-time issues of their own due to the former’s propensity to break down for long stretches and the latter’s low capacity, slow-loading, and limited capacity ride system.
Battle at the Ministry
Unfortunately, there’s likely little Universal can do about these issues in the short term. These outdoor attractions can’t operate safely in bad weather, and there’s no quick fix around that. However, hopefully, as the company expands in the long term, they’ll add more indoor attractions to balance out the park so that such a large majority of its rides aren’t weather-dependent.
Yoshi
While Epic Universe may be a technological marvel with some very popular rides, some of these attractions are still experiencing weather issues. Stay tuned to DFB for more on Universal’s newest park.
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Epic Universe Is Opening to Rave Reviews; and That Isn’t Entirely Bad News for Disney
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Have not been to Universal new lands yet, don’t know what to expect. I am not hearing a huge upswell of guests raving about what there is. Nothing groundbreaking from what I hear
We just returned from Epic Universe and the trip was very disappointing. Out of the 11 rides, we were only able to get on 3 rides. The rainy weather wreaks havoc on the availability of the rides. Once the rides reopened, there were wait times of over 100 minutes. There is no way that you can see this park in one day. So the only other option, is to purchase another ticket “at full price.” When we inquired, the price was $229.00. I refused to pay for another day. If the park is at full capacity, there is no guarantee that you are going to be able to get on all of the rides. The lack of shade is a big issue. We stayed until closing. I would hope that Universal figures out a way to correct this problem.