Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[OhHaiInternet95]

Yes, I've been saying that for a while also. While Comcast says that spending per guest at Epic has increased and there's been an increase in vacation days, that was all expected. What definitely was not expected was this self imposed shortfall of attendance. There is no way that total expected attendance, total projected revenue, total projected Epic hotel occupancy are being met, regardless of any corporate speak we hear from the quarterly reports. Heck Terra quite often is only at 20 to 30% occupancy on non holiday weekdays.

And even with the 25,000 daily ceiling, they often struggle to get the high teens in the park, probably due to the restrictive and confusing ticket policy and having to block Epic from any AP plan.

This is clearly a bit of a mess, worse than any projection, and I'm guessing someone will have to answer for it unless it gets turned around before summer/fall. I've been following Comcast, business wise, since the early 90's. It's not in their corporate DNA to accept shortcoming results for very long.

JMO but theme parks in general should never assume they will Potter 1.0 crowd levels and be happy if they do.

 

[Mad Dog]

JMO but theme parks in general should never assume they will Potter 1.0 crowd levels and be happy if they do.

Yeah, Potter 1.0 was a one time happening, but Potter reincarnations still have legs.....I think Epic would have had fairly large crowds during this first year if they had a normal ticket selling policy. But they didn't. It was a confusing, very restrictive policy based on selling hotel packages. But, bottom line, it didn't really matter since, with the massive operational & break down issues, they couldn't have accommodated large crowds anyway. They actually ended up needing that self imposed maximum attendance ceiling.

 

[Hatetofly]

Yeah, Potter 1.0 was a one time happening, but Potter reincarnations still have legs.....I think Epic would have had fairly large crowds during this first year if they had a normal ticket selling policy. But they didn't. It was a confusing, very restrictive policy based on selling hotel packages. But, bottom line, it didn't really matter since, with the massive operational & break downs, they couldn't have accommodated large crowds anyway. They actually ended up needing that self imposed maximum attendance ceiling.

You would think that Universal would have learned from the disaster that was Universal Studios ESCAPE lol

 

[LPCaptainDeath]

As someone who has had 5 FANTASTIC days at EPIC across two different trips this last year - i just wanted to come in and say that it is still absolutely possible to have GOOD days here.

I can acknowledge that it is having a lot of issues.
I can acknowledge that a lot of people aren't enjoying themselves for a variety of reasons, not a lot of them being their inherent fault.
I can acknowledge that EPIC is FAR from perfect.
That ALL being said, i'm a pretty flexible and easy-going guy when it comes to Disney & Universal trips; I'm always where i need to go early and not just on-time, I'm good at having back-ups to my back-ups, and i'm good at rolling with the changes REO Speedwagon-style.
- I never purchased express
- I was never hit with ride delays at opening
- I was never kicked out of a line for it going down prematurely; Though i was for both shows.
- I was never there on a day where a ride was closed all day or for a majority of any given day
- I was never delayed due to weather
- I was never put on a ride that broke down or had more than half the effects down/not working correctly
- I was hit with the 'closing early' sign at Ministry on ONE of my 5 nights
- I was hit with the 'closing one hour early' sign at park entrance on ONE of my 5 nights due to a buyout
- I haven't been on everything, but i've re-rode everything i cared about multiple times

By all accounts it sounds like i've been extraordinarily lucky, but i can say that about BOTH of my trips and they were two months apart, so it's not like... a fluke that i had a good time almost every day i've been there, y'all. I'm not targeting anyone when they say that things are bad and deserve to be criticized, I'm just coming in to offer my side of the coin and say that your mileage may VERY MUCH vary. I've seen and heard people have AWFUL days at this park, but i'm also coming in to say that i haven't seen almost any side of that. I think it's probably much more likely for someone to have a worse day here due to all of the issues known and mentioned across the internet, but i also think that it's possible for people to be unprepared or overwhelmed or uninformed and have an equally bad time at ANY park in Orlando - so your mileage may ALWAYS vary at the end of the day.

So, here it is:
'Hey, i enjoyed myself a lot at Epic Universe. Don't let this forum nor the reviews you're seeing online be sole source of your expectations and set precedence for your opinion moving forward."

Credit: I am a travel agent and i have been selling Disney & Universal products for 10 years and going to the parks 1-3 times a year since i was a baby, so it's possible i'm just built different and this is all a skill issue for anyone who has had a bad time here ever /s

 

[Mad Dog]

As someone who has had 5 FANTASTIC days at EPIC across two different trips this last year - i just wanted to come in and say that it is still absolutely possible to have GOOD days here.

I can acknowledge that it is having a lot of issues.
I can acknowledge that a lot of people aren't enjoying themselves for a variety of reasons, not a lot of them being their inherent fault.
I can acknowledge that EPIC is FAR from perfect.
That ALL being said, i'm a pretty flexible and easy-going guy when it comes to Disney & Universal trips; I'm always where i need to go early and not just on-time, I'm good at having back-ups to my back-ups, and i'm good at rolling with the changes REO Speedwagon-style.
- I never purchased express
- I was never hit with ride delays at opening
- I was never kicked out of a line for it going down prematurely; Though i was for both shows.
- I was never there on a day where a ride was closed all day or for a majority of any given day
- I was never delayed due to weather
- I was never put on a ride that broke down or had more than half the effects down/not working correctly
- I was hit with the 'closing early' sign at Ministry on ONE of my 5 nights
- I was hit with the 'closing one hour early' sign at park entrance on ONE of my 5 nights due to a buyout
- I haven't been on everything, but i've re-rode everything i cared about multiple times

By all accounts it sounds like i've been extraordinarily lucky, but i can say that about BOTH of my trips and they were two months apart, so it's not like... a fluke that i had a good time almost every day i've been there, y'all. I'm not targeting anyone when they say that things are bad and deserve to be criticized, I'm just coming in to offer my side of the coin and say that your mileage may VERY MUCH vary. I've seen and heard people have AWFUL days at this park, but i'm also coming in to say that i haven't seen almost any side of that. I think it's probably much more likely for someone to have a worse day here due to all of the issues known and mentioned across the internet, but i also think that it's possible for people to be unprepared or overwhelmed or uninformed and have an equally bad time at ANY park in Orlando - so your mileage may ALWAYS vary at the end of the day.

So, here it is:
'Hey, i enjoyed myself a lot at Epic Universe. Don't let this forum nor the reviews you're seeing online be sole source of your expectations and set precedence for your opinion moving forward."

Credit: I am a travel agent and i have been selling Disney & Universal products for 10 years and going to the parks 1-3 times a year since i was a baby, so it's possible i'm just built different and this is all a skill issue for anyone who has had a bad time here ever /s

Yep, you can have a really good day if operations are running smoothly. Lots of very good reviews out there. Unfortunately, lots of really bad reviews too. As I've said often, so much depends on the luck of the draw. If most everything works well, fine. If the breakdowns would have improved better we wouldn't be having this discussion. It's remains a Jekyll Hyde park after 11 months of operation (including softs). I'm just glad they had the self imposed max attendance ceiling. I can't imagine a decent experience if there were 30,000 to 40,000 guests in the park, at this point in time operations wise.