Universal's Epic Universe - News and Discussion

[CAPSLOCK]

Why ride it without other guests? The fun should be in the "battle".

Having ridden without opposing boats, I would not recommend riding without opposing boats.
Does hitting targets normally do something? I rode it barely functional with no water pressure, so none of the targets did anything either (they were nearly impossible to "flip" with wimpy streams). It became "delayed" by the time we disembarked. But it was pretty boring in that state.

 

[Minnie1222]

Are you sure you’re not confusing it with Hiccup’s Wing Gliders?

No! I actually really like Dragon Racers once I learn that it doesn't automatically flip you upside down. I wish the flight time would be a bit longer.

 

[Minnie1222]

Really? The one that lifts up and rotate? It's not bad per se, provided you can hit it with a 5min wait. But there is nothing unique or engaging about it. You go up, you rotate, you go back down.

I like the airborne feeling and the bird eye's view of the park.

 

[Minnie1222]

Does hitting targets normally do something?

Yes, with the right timing, you can trigger them to spray or dump very large buckets of water on the boat behind you.

 

[Fratthouse]

Just wanted to share a little update! I was at Epic all day yesterday and wanted to encourage all of you going in the next few weeks who are feeling discouraged / pessimistic. I’m not going to lie - waits were looong. For everything. Most of the day.

BUT as long as you can be patient, it is possible to do everything in a day - even with weather delays and without express pass!

My day looked like this: I arrived at 9:30 am and stayed through closing (actually got off the last ride at 10:30 pm). I do not normally spend anywhere near that long at a park in a single day, but I took a slow pace, didn’t rush from place to place, took breaks to eat and watch the dragon show, and overall didn’t start feeling tired / grouchy until the very last line of the day.

I did the following:
Hiccup’s Wing Gliders X2
Dragon Racers Rally (with 40 minute weather delays while waiting in line)
Stardust Racers
Harry Potter Battle at the Ministry X2 (both single rider, but also had 45 minute mechanical delay while in line)
Monsters unchained (single rider, although I think regular line was also a walk on)
Curse of the Warewolf (single rider)
Mario Kart
Yoshi’s Adventure
Constellation Carousel
Mine Cart Madness
The Untrainable Dragon (including waiting in line 15 minutes for a cancelled show then circling back for a later one)

I opted not to do the cirque show (preferred to do the Harry Potter ride again) and the Fyre ride (preferred not to get soaked), but could have easily fit these in if I’d wanted. I also took time for taking pictures, ate lunch and multiple snacks, and shopped in various gift shops.

I share all this just to say it is possible to have a great day and see and experience it all even on the rough days. Even if you make mistakes in your touring plan (mine could not have been more inefficient and poorly executed!) Even if you sleep in and miss early morning magic and it storms on and off all day.

Just bring an external charger to extend your phone’s battery life so you can pass the time while in line without worrying about your phone dying before the end of the day

It really is an incredible park and is so worth the experience, even if you have to wait in way longer lines than your used to. I have no regrets about going this week!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Just wanted to share a little update! I was at Epic all day yesterday and wanted to encourage all of you going in the next few weeks who are feeling discouraged / pessimistic. I’m not going to lie - waits were looong. For everything. Most of the day.

BUT as long as you can be patient, it is possible to do everything in a day - even with weather delays and without express pass!

My day looked like this: I arrived at 9:30 am and stayed through closing (actually got off the last ride at 10:30 pm). I do not normally spend anywhere near that long at a park in a single day, but I took a slow pace, didn’t rush from place to place, took breaks to eat and watch the dragon show, and overall didn’t start feeling tired / grouchy until the very last line of the day.

I did the following:
Hiccup’s Wing Gliders X2
Dragon Racers Rally (with 40 minute weather delays while waiting in line)
Stardust Racers
Harry Potter Battle at the Ministry X2 (both single rider, but also had 45 minute mechanical delay while in line)
Monsters unchained (single rider, although I think regular line was also a walk on)
Curse of the Warewolf (single rider)
Mario Kart
Yoshi’s Adventure
Constellation Carousel
Mine Cart Madness
The Untrainable Dragon (including waiting in line 15 minutes for a cancelled show then circling back for a later one)

I opted not to do the cirque show (preferred to do the Harry Potter ride again) and the Fyre ride (preferred not to get soaked), but could have easily fit these in if I’d wanted. I also took time for taking pictures, ate lunch and multiple snacks, and shopped in various gift shops.

I share all this just to say it is possible to have a great day and see and experience it all even on the rough days. Even if you make mistakes in your touring plan (mine could not have been more inefficient and poorly executed!) Even if you sleep in and miss early morning magic and it storms on and off all day.

Just bring an external charger to extend your phone’s battery life so you can pass the time while in line without worrying about your phone dying before the end of the day

It really is an incredible park and is so worth the experience, even if you have to wait in way longer lines than your used to. I have no regrets about going this week!

How did the single rider lines go for you? Did you feel like they did a good job pulling from there?

 

[GhostHost24]

How did the single rider lines go for you? Did you feel like they did a good job pulling from there?

I know you weren't asking me, but In my personal observations they have done a good job. Seems to move faster than other parks.

I saw a comment on reddit someone went into single rider like for battle at ministry (I refuse to call it mom ) and I think standby was 200ish.. And they waited around 55 minutes.

 

[Keladry84]

I like the airborne feeling and the bird eye's view of the park.

Same. This was also high on my list for that reason. The best ride was night, it was so beautiful soaring over the park with all the lights!! That being said, because of the short duration of the ride, it’s only worth it at a short wait time.

 

[Keladry84]

Having ridden without opposing boats, I would not recommend riding without opposing boats.
Does hitting targets normally do something? I rode it barely functional with no water pressure, so none of the targets did anything either (they were nearly impossible to "flip" with wimpy streams). It became "delayed" by the time we disembarked. But it was pretty boring in that state.

I’m the opposite and would prefer the ride sans other boats spraying water on me. I don’t mind getting wet, but I need to see where it is coming from. I kept getting surprise attacked and had a horrible placement for my water gun on the boat combined with a very weak cannon. At no time was I able to reach any of the other boats and was extremely frustrated the whole time.

 

[Fratthouse]

How did the single rider lines go for you? Did you feel like they did a good job pulling from there?

I think the lines were shorter than regular standby.....however, they were still significant waits, and it feels so much longer when you are standing in one place barely moving for long periods of time in very uninspired areas vs slowly but consistently moving through different areas of a themed que. Below are my specific experiences:

BATM: Waited in the single line twice - once was for 2+ hours (but included a 40 minute mechanical delay) once was for 30 minutes. Both times, posted standby wait was 120 minutes. The first time, I think standby actual would have been close to 3 hours with the delay. This single rider line is painful. Most of the time was spent in a single narrow hallway and felt very claustrophobic. Not knowing how much further you have to go was also really unpleasant. I would probably have rather waited for 3 hours in the regular line that consistently moved through an elaborate theme than 2 hours in this line. Additionally, up to a certain point, they only let people through in batches. So you would stand in the same spot for approximately 10 minutes, then move up a little when they would let around 10 people move through at once. It felt very tedious.

For reference: when you get to the steps, it's approx 30 - 35 minutes in single rider; the narrow room hallway before it is probably another 40 minutes (approx 70 total wait), and the green hallway with the cleaning machine is approx another 20 minutes, so looking at 1.5 hours if line starts there (in single rider - all estimates based on my experience). Not sure if that makes sense, but it would have been very helpful for me to know what to expect while in this line!

Monsters Unchained was literally no wait. I walked through right onto the ride. But I think the regular line also had no wait (even though posted wait was 50 minutes)

Curse of the Warewolf was probably the best single rider experience that I had. The line was approx 50 minutes, and I waited 5. Single rider moved very quickly here.

Mario Cart I waited around 35 minutes and this included a 15 minute mechanical delay. Standby was 90. (I think standby actual wait was actually shorter based on comments I heard). This line seemed to move pretty consistently.

Donky Kong - SR moved very slowly here. I waited around 50 minutes - standby wait was around 90. And again, it was just in the same hallway area and slowly inching forward for nearly an hour. I did feel fairly impatient and grouchy while in this line. But the ride was totally worth it, so again, no regrets.

Also, I was at the park by myself, so I wasn't sacrificing anything by going single rider except for seeing some of the elaborate ques. I wouldn't have necessarily gone this route if my whole family had been with me.

 

[GhostHost24]

As they ramp up capacity and rides become more reliable, i'll be interested to see how SR on DK does. That's the type of ride that is normally just terrible for it. But one thing that is helping is last time I was there they would have some seats blocked off in a cart, so really only 3 max was riding

 

[Minnie1222]

Same. This was also high on my list for that reason. The best ride was night, it was so beautiful soaring over the park with all the lights!! That being said, because of the short duration of the ride, it’s only worth it at a short wait time.

I wish Pandora would have a ride like this. Imagine a bunch of Ikrans and one Toruk. The Ikrans on one side and the Toruk acts as the counterweight.

 

[Fratthouse]

As they ramp up capacity and rides become more reliable, i'll be interested to see how SR on DK does. That's the type of ride that is normally just terrible for it. But one thing that is helping is last time I was there they would have some seats blocked off in a cart, so really only 3 max was riding

It will be interesting. But they really were moving through the line pretty quickly last night and the SR line just moved painfully slow because there were so few odd parties. They would also pull from standby as much as possible (if there was a party of 2, they'd pull a party of two from further back in the standby line rather than taking 2 single riders. Same with a party of 1 - they'd seek out a party of 3). I did not notice any seats blocked off creating cars of 3 last night.....

They also had single rider closed for at least part of the day, even when standby was open. And when I got in line, they were actively telling people "Your wait may not be shorter" as they entered the SR que. It seemed like they anticipated SR not moving very quickly on this particular ride, even though theoretically it shouldn't have been any different than Mario Kart and Monsters Unchained (both which call for parties of 4).

 

[greeneyedchick]

We are looking at visiting in early August, and kind of expect this to be our one-and-only trip to Universal (so we want to do what we can). With just 1 day at Epic Universe, I'm wondering how critical you would say each of these is going to be to making the most of our trip:
A) Early entry (i.e. do we need to limit ourselves to Universal hotels)?
B) Express Passes (i.e. is it worth something like $245 each extra for this? We could buy another day's ticket for less, if we had the time...)
C) Is there anything we should just plain skip (we do want to do the Ministry of Magic, though...)

We used to take a mid-afternoon break on Disney trips; that won't be an option here, but we should be OK to go all day as long as we plan ahead.

As an aside, what is up with the park hours getting reduced in the near future?!?!? Cutting 2 hours out of the park day (while I bet crowds stay just as heavy) seems kind of crazy. Or, is Universal one of those places that tends to expand operating hours as we get closer to the dates?

I would stay at one of the Lowe's Deluxe resorts to get the express passes for IoA and USO. I'm not sure how many days you have planned for non-Epic, but I think with express passes, you could do both parks in 1 day or 1.5 days. Then I would spend the saved time getting a second day at Epic. I think 2 at Epic would be better than spending 1 day at Epic with $245 express passes. The reason I say this is because it depends on the rides that are down that day. If the rides are down, it doesn't matter if you have an express pass. Going to Epic for 2 days gives you a higher chance of the rides all running.

 

[Amanda37604]

So my family of 4 did Epic on last week. I’m glad I did it but I wasn’t thrilled with the cost for the experience.

We did early entry (got in at 8am) and were told Berk was open and Dark Universe was open but not Super Nintendo. I am guessing Universal pivoted because Donkey Kong Mine Cart and Yoshi Aventure were both down. They stayed down for the morning. They did come up around noon (? Maybe)

We did Hiccup Wing Gliders (loved it) and Dragon Ralley (good if no wait). The land itself was great.

We then hopped over to Super Mario Land for Mario Kart and waited an hour. Super fun ride. The land is spectacular but also very hot, crowded, noisy and intense and nothing else was open so we ran away. We did not buy the bands to play the mini games.

Then we did Dark Universe. Monsters Unchained was listed as 20 minutes but practically a walk on. Loved the ride. Werewolf was either down or a really long wait so we got lunch at the Blue Dragon at 11:30. It was pricey but fantastic.

We did then did Harry Potter. We did not wait for Ministry of Magic ride but got to walk the line and that was really neat. We did some wand spots. My daughters 1st generation wand worked. Got in line for the Arcanus show but they shut it down so we we went back to Berk for the Untrainable Dragon Show which was so much fun.

It was about 2pm. Morning was pretty good. We were sad that Donkey Kong and Stardust racers had been down all morning and had just come back up with long waits but we figured we might have better luck later at night. I had read about other people having luck with that strategy and the waits being shorter at night when the rope droppers left from exhaustion.

This was a mistake. We waited 40 minutes for the bus which was frustrating. Then we came back before 6 thinking we would still have 4 hours in the park. However this is also when the storms showed up and most of the park was down until almost 9pm. In my defense my weather app said there was clear weather ahead. It didn’t show the storms until right before they hit. Though honestly I should have known better. We go to Florida in March, May and September. It rains most afternoon and early evening. I think I misjudged how affected by weather Epic Universe is. With the original 2 parks we just head to USF for the shows and indoor rides. Epic is too far to do that with.

We made the best of it. We did see the Arcanus show because it was back up. My youngest preferred it over the Dragon show. The rest of us preferred the Dragon show. We waited 50 minutes for the carousel which had a posted wait time of 30 minutes. We saw Super Nintendo World at night which was neat and less crowded. We got to do Dark Universe and Monsters Unchained which is fantastic at night but even with the afternoon break we were too tired to stay once Stardust Racers was back up just before 9.

I think I should have stayed and handled the waits until we dropped from exhaustion like the other rope droppers. Trying to get low waits at night was not the best plan because I underestimated how much of Epic shuts down with weather. That being said, I got my list done except Stardust Racers and Donkey Kong. I do wish those had been up and running in the am but they did come up eventually. I am glad we did it and spent the money but I won’t be spending the money again. A little too afraid that the park is too easy to shut down with ride reliability and weather.

 

[Keladry84]

This was a mistake. We waited 40 minutes for the bus which was frustrating. Then we came back before 6 thinking we would still have 4 hours in the park. However this is also when the storms showed up and most of the park was down until almost 9pm. In my defense my weather app said there was clear weather ahead. It didn’t show the storms until right before they hit. Though honestly I should have known better. We go to Florida in March, May and September. It rains most afternoon and early evening. I think I misjudged how affected by weather Epic Universe is. With the original 2 parks we just head to USF for the shows and indoor rides. Epic is too far to do that with.

A similar thing happened to me on Tuesday last week - I took my afternoon break around 2 and stayed in the hotel until 5 as the weather app was showing no rain.....came back, rode mario kart and exited into a raging downpour. I waited it out about 40 minutes before going ahead into the rain as it wasn't letting up. The exit of the park is very poorly designed for rain and I ended up walking through 1-inch water pouring down a slight incline for most of the exit :/

I can't do a full day without a break, so the next 2 days I took a very short conservative break (both days were showing full evenings of rain), and.....it didn't rain either day.

The rain/weather makes it very difficult to properly plan out a day as you never know when/if something will be available later (and the few things that are open in the rain have really long waits). Combine that with the multiple rides having downtime for other reasons often, it makes it frustrating. I luckily had 3 days of tickets so over the 3 days was able to do everything I wanted, but it sounds like you only had the 1 day. I'm sorry that happened, but it does sound like you had an overall good time!

 

[Fratthouse]

I also will say that the bus service to / from Epic was not impressive. I got to the stop at around 8:50 and waited until 9:15 for the bus during what I would assume would be peak morning hours. Meanwhile, three buses for IOA and US came and went while I waited. Also waited 25 minutes at park close and there not everyone fit, so many people in line had to wait another 30 minutes for the bus to come back. Definitely felt like they needed to be running more busses with such a long drive there and back.

 

[DisneyAndUniversalFan]

For those that have gotten to experience Curse of the Werewolf, how intense is it? I love Guardians and can handle that spinning overall, but don’t like Men In Black’s excessive spinning at the end. Is Curse of the Werewolf more intense or less intense than Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind?

 

[Keladry84]

For those that have gotten to experience Curse of the Werewolf, how intense is it? I love Guardians and can handle that spinning overall, but don’t like Men In Black’s excessive spinning at the end. Is Curse of the Werewolf more intense or less intense than Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind?

I found it to be muh less intense, with only minor spin. But how much/when you spin will definitely be dependent on the makeup of riders in the cart.

 

[soniam]

On 3rd day @ Epic. Staying at Helios. They are letting people from Helios line up right by the park entrance between 7-7:30. Letting people into the Ministry queue before 8am. Onto the ride between 8:10-8:50.