Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[Mad Dog]

Does anyone know why there appears to be a change in the EPA policy at Epic Universe? I thought of the entire month of February they were changing the policy to include select attractions from WWOHP, Berk, and SNW?

I saw someone posted on the Epic FB page this morning that the open EP attractions today did not match what was being advertised as open. They were upset and confused. Heck, sounding like this might be more a day to day thing than etched in stone.

 

[Mike S]

Disney invests massive capital every year into not only the maintenance itself but building a bench of qualified technicians who will have had years of training and experience before even being able to work on complex systems and attractions.

I’ll believe this when they fix that dang Yeti

 

[dxwwf3]

I saw someone posted on the Epic FB page this morning that the open EP attractions today did not match what was being advertised as open. They were upset and confused. Heck, sounding like this might be more a day to day thing than etched in stone.

That has to be very frustrating. Especially since I'll be bringing a large school group down and we will be staying offsite and I would like to be able to inform my students of where they should go when we get there. If Ministry isn't part of EPA but opens up at 9am like it has been in the past, that's obviously the best place for off site visitors to go.

 

[Mad Dog]

That has to be very frustrating. Especially since I'll be bringing a large school group down and we will be staying offsite and I would like to be able to inform my students of where they should go when we get there. If Ministry isn't part of EPA but opens up at 9am like it has been in the past, that's obviously the best place for off site visitors to go.

Yes. I should have written it down, but I forget the specifics now. But as I was reading his comment from the morning, the open stuff was completely different than that schedule someone posted here the other day.

 

[Hatetofly]

I’ll believe this when they fix that dang Yeti

Lol right! They do gotta fix Animal Kingdoms capacity issues before they can close Everest for 6 months to fix that damn thing.

 

[Hatetofly]

I saw someone posted on the Epic FB page this morning that the open EP attractions today did not match what was being advertised as open. They were upset and confused. Heck, sounding like this might be more a day to day thing than etched in stone.

Last time I did Early Park Entry for resort guests the listed attractions were Stardust Racers, MarioKart, Donkey Kong, and the carousel. Stardust didn’t open until after 1, Donkey Kong was down the entire day, MarioKart had a 135 min wait and the Carousel was open then went down.

So once the park officially opened for the day Curse of the Werewolf and Hiccups were down and also opened over an hour after regular park opening, Dragon Rally Racers was only operating one side the other was broke, which left Fyre Drill, Monsters, Potter and Yoshi as the only other rides to open at park open with MarioKart. On top of that we were kicked out of the Le Circque show in Potter at the bubble lady scene due to technical difficulties and the Untrainable Dragon has 4 shows cancelled due to technical issues.

We left at about 630? 7pm?? And over the course of the day did Monsters twice, MarioKart, Yoshi and about the first 6 mins of the Potter Show. Pizza Moon was the highlight of the day for my wife.

 

[Mad Dog]

Last time I did Early Park Entry for resort guests the listed attractions were Stardust Racers, MarioKart, Donkey Kong, and the carousel. Stardust didn’t open until after 1, Donkey Kong was down the entire day, MarioKart had a 135 min wait and the Carousel was open then went down.

So once the park officially opened for the day Curse of the Werewolf and Hiccups were down and also opened over an hour after regular park opening, Dragon Rally Racers was only operating one side the other was broke, which left Fyre Drill, Monsters, Potter and Yoshi as the only other rides to open at park open with MarioKart. On top of that we were kicked out of the Le Circque show in Potter at the bubble lady scene due to technical difficulties and the Untrainable Dragon has 4 shows cancelled due to technical issues.

We left at about 630? 7pm?? And over the course of the day did Monsters twice, MarioKart, Yoshi and about the first 6 mins of the Potter Show. Pizza Moon was the highlight of the day for my wife.

Sounds like my second day at Epic. We wandered around the park for 5 hours in the afternoon, trying to find a ride or show that was operating. The app was not always accurate on the breakdowns. Monsters was the only attraction that we could do, and it even broke down for about 15 minutes right after we were seated. At least we got a full ride in once it resumed. Fortunately we were going to stay until the 10:00 closing, and we got a bunch of rides in late with short lines. It was a Sunday. The food places were all backed up in the afternoon since that was all you could do.

I keep using the Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde description of Epic. I think that's accurate. Probably why guests experiences gravitate the spectrum from "We loved the park' to "We'll never come back". Who would have thought 11 months since softs started, that the operations would be this haphazard. Epic does have potential, but it's certainly not there yet. ......I've never seen it mentioned, but is there a specific individual in charge of Epic, like Disney does with their parks? And what's his/her theme park management credentials?

 

[Hatetofly]

Sounds like my second day at Epic. We wandered around the park for 5 hours in the afternoon, trying to find a ride or show that was operating. The app was not always accurate on the breakdowns. Monsters was the only attraction that we could do, and it even broke down for about 15 minutes right after we were seated. At least we got a full ride in once it resumed. Fortunately we were going to stay until the 10:00 closing, and we got a bunch of rides in late with short lines. It was a Sunday. The food places were all backed up in the afternoon since that was all you could do.

I keep using the Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde description of Epic. I think that's accurate. Probably why guests experiences gravitate the spectrum from "We loved the park' to "We'll never come back". Who would have thought 11 months since softs started, that the operations would be this haphazard. Epic does have potential, but it's certainly not there yet. ......I've never seen it mentioned, but is there a specific individual in charge of Epic, like Disney does with their parks? And what's his/her theme park management credentials?

Based on my experiences as well as family’s I wouldn’t trust them managing a Burger King

 

[Mad Dog]

Based on my experiences as well as family’s I wouldn’t trust them managing a Burger King

Vegas betting odds on Epic park executives longevity.... .....My bet: What I said before....Rent, don't buy.

 

[HandsomePete]

This is where Disney is indeed light years ahead of Universal. Universal has certain candidates they look for or want where as Disney is more focused on best candidate possible.

Disney also is much more invested into internal training and growth. Their training programs are world class with numerous companies right here in Orlando ie Universal, Advent Health, even the Orlando Magic all copying Disneys training playbooks.

What your seeing at Epic is what happens when your more focused financially on building new attractions than the resources required to maintain them. Disney invests massive capital every year into not only the maintenance itself but building a bench of qualified technicians who will have had years of training and experience before even being able to work on complex systems and attractions.

Well said.

The main seat that leads global theme park planning at Disney has been occupied by a succession of former industrial engineers for at least 15 years (well until now, which.... yeah lol).

Universal's global theme park planning lives (or lived at one point in time) in Marketing & Sales. The head of that team now had no theme park experience before joining Universal.

I enjoy spending time on the forum here because everyone is super passionate about the parks, but at the end of the day they're just gigantic logistics exercises. As you mentioned, Universal gets a lot right with the product, but it's hard to not think they're really let down by operations. However, that's not the fault of the hourly people taking the brunt of the feedback everyday - it's the fault of the senior managers and executives who are incompetent.

 

[Mad Dog]

Well said.

The main seat that leads global theme park planning at Disney has been occupied by a succession of former industrial engineers for at least 15 years (well until now, which.... yeah lol).

Universal's global theme park planning lives (or lived at one point in time) in Marketing & Sales. The head of that team now had no theme park experience before joining Universal.

I enjoy spending time on the forum here because everyone is super passionate about the parks, but at the end of the day they're just gigantic logistics exercises. As you mentioned, Universal gets a lot right with the product, but it's hard to not think they're really let down by operations. However, that's not the fault of the hourly people taking the brunt of the feedback everyday - it's the fault of the senior managers and executives who are f******g incompetent.

Well said.