Universal's Epic Universe - News and Discussion

[disneyseniors]

I'm counting it out for me but I still want to know how others handle it if for no other reason than to use it as a comparison to how other ride's intensity could be

I'd be glad to let you know how I do on it. But we aren't going to Universal until Next May. By then, all the bugs should be worked out of Epic, I hope.

 

[PrincessV]

Does Disney give refunds when power outages occur knocking out large entire chunks of the parks? That's not actually as rare as I would have thought it was though the general public only hears about it when it makes the news the DIS is always on top of it when that happens.

I’ve never been in a park when that’s happened, so IDK about power outages, but WDW does pretty routinely compensate when things are really, really bad due to weather, particularly with special events. I know plenty of of folks got refunds or partial refunds when a couple MNSSHP nights were total washouts. I’ve definitely seen people ask for and receive compensation on regular park days with unusually bad weather. But it’s infrequent, and I’ve never seen it happen due to rides being closed for maintenance. Then again, WDW hasn’t opened an entire new park since 1998, so it’s hard to say what they’d do in similar circumstances!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I’ve never been in a park when that’s happened, so IDK about power outages, but WDW does pretty routinely compensate when things are really, really bad due to weather, particularly with special events. I know plenty of of folks got refunds or partial refunds when a couple MNSSHP nights were total washouts. I’ve definitely seen people ask for and receive compensation on regular park days with unusually bad weather. But it’s infrequent, and I’ve never seen it happen due to rides being closed for maintenance. Then again, WDW hasn’t opened an entire new park since 1998, so it’s hard to say what they’d do in similar circumstances!

Yeah the weather I think is treated differently for hard-tickets events at Disney but not quite an automatic process either.

Your comment prompted me thinking about when Disney has a large amount of attractions down for the day when like a power outage (or eek fires that have happened) and then I was thinking when it's not due to weather and not due to power outages. That's been well-documented on the DIS because people post about it lol. But it's considered part of normal but frustrating and disappointing operations. I don't think people should get into the thought process that Universal will just do refunds if a large number of rides are down even if it's due to ride instability (Disney doesn't) but could see them doing more PR gestures in the very beginning of the park opening. I just hope people don't start being like how it was with FastPass+ and demanding stuff for things, it unfortunately can make people become expectant.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Does Disney give refunds when power outages occur knocking out large entire chunks of the parks?

Bet they do if you have a single day ticket & your park is down for 4hrs...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Bet they do if you have a single day ticket & your park is down for 4hrs...

I think people ask and companies cave a lot so without a doubt someone has gotten compensation. I do think having a 1 day ticket makes other recovery operations hard for Disney but it happens too when you're on the last day of your trip and what they offer ends up not being useful (some LLs when your trip is over doesn't really work for example if the rides go down). They don't go offering refunds as a norm when a bunch of attractions are down regardless of operating hours.

Universal has been limiting people to the 1-day at the park so does that make them feel more inclined to do something bigger? Maybe so TBH. Kinda tied their hands but I can't imagine they thought they would have ride instability like this.

 

[GhostHost24]

Yeah the weather I think is treated differently for hard-tickets events at Disney but not quite an automatic process either.

Your comment prompted me thinking about when Disney has a large amount of attractions down for the day when like a power outage (or eek fires that have happened) and then I was thinking when it's not due to weather and not due to power outages. That's been well-documented on the DIS because people post about it lol. But it's considered part of normal but frustrating and disappointing operations. I don't think people should get into the thought process that Universal will just do refunds if a large number of rides are down even if it's due to ride instability (Disney doesn't) but could see them doing more PR gestures in the very beginning of the park opening. I just hope people don't start being like how it was with FastPass+ and demanding stuff for things, it unfortunately can make people become expectant.

Last year I went to Mickey's Not so Scary where it rained from 5pm all the way to midnight. And hard downpours too, not just light. Pretty much every show and parade was canceled. They did do fireworks, but you actually couldn't see much of it because the smoke from the fireworks was so bad it ended up covering everything up (due to the weather). We called the next day, and at first they tried to give us tickets to a future halloween, but we had no need for that. They eventually caved and gave us a refund (we honestly would have taken tickets to the DHS christmas party, but they wouldn't do that). Def had to fight a little bit more than what seems like UO has done with Epic issues

 

[disney-inspired]

What do you consider the cutoff for grounds to complain?

We're not talking about one or two rides closed all day or others having a bit of downtime throughout the day. Stuff like opening with 0 rides running for 25min is not "expected" (0 out of 4 early entry rides is pretty terrible). "Nothing's running & no lands open, but you can walk around Celestial Park" isn't "expected." Stuff like literally no coasters available for 4+ hour stretch, and then exceptionally spotty availability for only two coasters. Stuff like having only 4 rides available (if not weather related).

Some issues are expected. But you don't pay full price to go to a Universal park to ride a carousel. Either a majority of stuff should be working, or they need to charge a lot less.

On one hand, if people call it quits early, they "didn't give it a chance." On the other, someone stays most of the day but still is majorly unsuccessful, they "enjoyed the park for the day anyways."

There are 7 major rides. If you spend 12hrs in the park and can only get on 2, is that to be expected?

Personally, I wouldn't pay full price to attend a park that hasn't gotten all the new park bugs worked out, but that's me.
Do I think Universal should have charged full price knowing there could/would be a lot of downtime? No.

I do see that Universal has compensated people when they experienced severe issues like you mentioned above, so at least Universal is being responsive.

 

[GhostHost24]

Right now, I think im leaning toward still going Saturday, but not arriving til like 4 pm

 

[HopperFan]

I feel the same way about that ride. I did a one and done on it too. That kind of jerking around on the Kuka arm wasn't something that I like. I am going to do the Monsters ride even though it has a version of the Kuka arm. At least I will go in knowing about this. I wouldn't want to miss that ride even if it is a little jerky.

I'm counting it out for me but I still want to know how others handle it if for no other reason than to use it as a comparison to how other ride's intensity could be

After a couple tries Forbidden Journey is completely a hard no. I will never get on that ride again. DS#2 will never ride again.

BUT there was no way I wasn't going on Monsters Unchained. This is my genre since a very young kid and I didn't care if I had to go to bed after I was riding it. I did take Bonine with me and took one Friday night and one Saturday morning. Rode it, LOVED it, no issues at all. The screen/sets/animatronics are on a new level and I felt like the movement was greatly improved to avoid the vertigo type issues. We actually rode twice and were going to ride again at closing but wanted to see the windmill fire instead. The land is incredible and am excited to visit it again once parks are open later because darkness will change everything.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

After a couple tries Forbidden Journey is completely a hard no. I will never get on that ride again. DS#2 will never ride again.

BUT there was no way I wasn't going on Monsters Unchained. This is my genre since a very young kid and I didn't care if I had to go to bed after I was riding it. I did take Bonine with me and took one Friday night and one Saturday morning. Rode it, LOVED it, no issues at all. The screen/sets/animatronics are on a new level and I felt like the movement was greatly improved to avoid the vertigo type issues. We actually rode twice and were going to ride again at closing but wanted to see the windmill fire instead. The land is incredible and am excited to visit it again once parks are open later because darkness will change everything.

Thank you for giving your experience it is helpful to know you were able to do it not only once but twice.

 

[HopperFan]

Thank you for giving your experience it is helpful to know you were able to do it not only once but twice.

And on a day that was unbearably hot and nauseating just walking around. It was a perfect day to take me out, but the ride is very doable.

 

[disneyseniors]

After a couple tries Forbidden Journey is completely a hard no. I will never get on that ride again. DS#2 will never ride again.

BUT there was no way I wasn't going on Monsters Unchained. This is my genre since a very young kid and I didn't care if I had to go to bed after I was riding it. I did take Bonine with me and took one Friday night and one Saturday morning. Rode it, LOVED it, no issues at all. The screen/sets/animatronics are on a new level and I felt like the movement was greatly improved to avoid the vertigo type issues. We actually rode twice and were going to ride again at closing but wanted to see the windmill fire instead. The land is incredible and am excited to visit it again once parks are open later because darkness will change everything.

Thank you so much, HopperFan! I won't worry so much about riding it now. There was no way I was going to miss the Monsters Unchained ride, even if I got a little sick. Can't wait to try it

 

[tony67]

I've been to Disney a ridiculous amount of times pre-2010. I am no fan of Disney anymore - I go every few years for 2-3 days on a hopper.

I have never been in a situation so bad I had to ask for a refund - even the time I got stuck for two hours in the ski lift thing that used to go across MK.
I have been to events there were oversold, I have had times when rides were down for the day, I was at AK pretty early on and don't recall it being as bad as this - maybe it was - but again I don't have a negative memory of it from that time.

If you have not been to Epic on a bad day, and most days have been bad since around the 28th, than its hard to understand just how bad it can be.

I've said it before but I did all the research and I am really shocked at just how bad it was.

I'll also say - yet again - Monsters is running really well and I did not expect that.
I don't think people are giving it enough credit in general.
With a lot of those creatives probably back at HHN now (from what I have heard) after several years at Epic - maybe HHN is going to be greatly improved this year.

At this point it does not matter - park opens in a few days they they have a chance to reset things.
Hopefully it goes a lot better for those that are going.
No doubt a lot of AP Holders/locals have been and wont be back till its fixed.
I had said this yesterday as a theory - but now I am starting to see articles about it - but maybe we will see the AP a lot sooner than we expected - and right now that is the only thing to get me back into Epic any time soon.

Right now, I think im leaning toward still going Saturday, but not arriving til like 4 pm

I think that is a really good idea.
You can also see what its like before you go and skip it and get a credit if everything you want to do is down.
if its going well the park seems to be much more manageable in the afternoons as well.

People get there first thing as they really only have one day and they are stressed to do it all in one day and by late afternoon they are pretty worn out - its a tough park to do - and until you have been there you don't realize how tough..
I've done 8AM to 2 AM at Disney park hopping starting and ending at MK, Universal 8AM to 1AM with HHN, some really long days, and this is just harder.

Oh and that early entry - just is not worth it IMO. Maybe its better at 8AM- but I don't think so. I don't see myself going over to Epic before noon unless its just to have a coffee and enjoy the atmosphere.

 

[hertamaniac]

People get there first thing as they really only have one day and they are stressed to do it all in one day and by late afternoon they are pretty worn out - its a tough park to do - and until you have been there you don't realize how tough..

I second this. It took me 3 days to recover from the walking/steps/sun. Granted I am not in theme park shape, but came away with a better appreciation of folks that are in walking shape.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

For early entry, if you're close enough to the front, you can listen to the hype guy control the lines and he is a hoot!

 

[GhostHost24]

I second this. It took me 3 days to recover from the walking/steps/sun. Granted I am not in theme park shape, but came away with a better appreciation of folks that are in walking shape.

Im a local and on my day it was pretty brutal too. Just not enough places to sit in some shade. I fully get the plants etc. But they have a lot of benches and I'm guessing 25% of them have an umbrella

 

[glamdring269]

Decided to skip epic today and just do early entry hagrids*. We’ll potentially do epic in October.

*of course it was down with no eta. Waited until around 830 or so then bailed.

 

[hertamaniac]

Im a local and on my day it was pretty brutal too. Just not enough places to sit in some shade. I fully get the plants etc. But they have a lot of benches and I'm guessing 25% of them have an umbrella

I'm local too (20 years) and really looked forward to my air conditioning in the car. I went this past Tuesday where the high was "only" about 88 degrees and relatively lower humidity. I feel confident they will add more shade and areas to retreat to going forward.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Decided to skip epic today and just do early entry hagrids*. We’ll potentially do epic in October.

*of course it was down with no eta. Waited until around 830 or so then bailed.

Hagrid's is an attraction that is down more frequently in the morning, been this way since it opened. Best strategy is to explore the rest of Harry Potter areas or do VelociCoaster for early entry.

I also speak from person experience but there's a consensus on this

 

[tony67]

Hagrid's is an attraction that is down more frequently in the morning, been this way since it opened. Best strategy is to explore the rest of Harry Potter areas or do VelociCoaster for early entry.

I also speak from person experience but there's a consensus on this

Very true. They are fixing it - so that is a positive.

I saw a documentary on it and the issue is with getting all the trains on the track in the morning ... they are doing some work so its not going to be an issue in the future. May still be down for other reasons, but as I understand it that is the main issue