We often talk about the heat issues in Epic this summer, especially with more outdoor attractions than indoor attractions, and all that hot
concrete in Celestial. Robert Niles has an interesting article about the summer heat problem in the Orlando area theme parks, titled "Is Florida
too hot to visit in the summer". Highlights of the article in which he talks about a short study done by a Ohio meteorologist on the Orlando summer heat....according to the meteorologist study and discussed by Niles, "average (summer) high temperatures have not changed much over the past decades. At most, it's one degree hotter than it was in the past"....."What has changed significantly are dew point levels i.e. humidity"....."The average high heat index has risen substantially"....."This is a design challenge for Disney and Universal. When humidity is creating not just discomfort but actual danger for guests, cheap methods for providing heat relief, such as shade and misters, won't get the job done alone"....."That means putting more attractions in climate controlled environments".
So, according to Niles' thoughts on his Theme Park Insider site, it appears the easy fix of some shade added and misters isn't going to fix the Epic summer heat index problem. They probably need to add more indoor ac attractions and areas to the park. And no sense in building any more outdoor attractions. They already are overweighted with outdoor rides. That Florida heat index rise is a killer.