Universal's Epic Universe - News and Discussion

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I’m late to this conversation but we live close and have season passes. I’ve only ridden time traveler once and I was extremely underwhelmed. It was very slow and kind of boring. I was expecting something like guardians so maybe my expectations were too high. I’m would think you could handle it.

I kinda have to giggle at that because my husband loved Guardians...well the second time he got to ride it when it actually functioned fully (the first time it malfunctioned halfway through) but in no way could he compare Time Traveler to Guardians. Time Traveler does go upside down with multiple inversions; in that way it is more intense than Curse of the Werewolf that does not do any inversions.

When I compared Time Traveler to Curse of the Werewolf it was the ride vehicles being very similar with the ride vehicles rotating. Indeed the same manufacturer Mack Rides built both. But Time Traveler is considered a traditional high thrill roller coaster one that you'll find in majority of theme and amusement parks out there not really relying on anything but the track and overall theme of the ride to provide the thrill, Guardians decidedly not that, truly without the rotating vehicle and the screens it would be space mountain in terms of thrill and track. The darkness adding thrills to it. Test Track goes faster than Guardians but I don't think we would ever compare those two.

But any attraction can underwhelm anyone; we both though Rise was not at all in a million years worth any sort of hype nor wait time it got, a decent attraction but never one to pay for it nor wait long for it but it's generally considered one of the most in demand attractions so clearly people do enjoy it. Although the point can be made that when you find out B mode is activated a lot it might take away some of that shine (sorta like how you'll have a screen for Navi it just doesn't happen nearly as much as Rise).

 

[marmentrout85]

Been watching wait times and it sure seems like the weekend is a better time to go which is counterintuitive. I'm thinking with the very limited single day sales the 'walkup, local' crowd is pretty much the same every day of the week. For those that have the 3-5 day packages they are likely staying longer and weekends are more likely their travel day. They may also be thinking week days are better for the Epic day because historically walk up crowds are bigger on weekends (but again, maybe not true in this case because it is capped pretty low). Anways, we are there for 7 nights. Arriving on Saturday. Had planned to do Epic on Tuesday but I think we are going to change to Sunday.

It really has been an interesting trend for sure. I guess it makes sense in regard to the weekends. I'd have to assume that many locals who are passholders would primarily make actual use of their AP at the other 2 parks on the weekends instead of constantly dropping extra cash on Epic tickets.

And you nailed it with the weekend being travel days for out-of-towners; I'd have to imagine they wouldn't likely get an Epic ticket for a partial park day. Plus, weekends are usually priced a bit higher than during the week. I'm starting to feel a lot better about having Friday and Saturday be our Epic days when we visit in a few weeks

 

[glocon]

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.

What time was early entry that day?

Going in August and trying to make a plan.
No hours posted for August yet.

 

[mamapenguin]

EE is 9am tomorrow 6/11. I’m trying to figure out when to catch the bus from Cabana Bay.

 

[Pepper’s Ghost]

EE is 9am tomorrow 6/11. I’m trying to figure out when to catch the bus from Cabana Bay.

EE was 9am today. We stayed at Surfside and our bus arrived at 6:45. We were at the front of the line for rope drop and were able to walk straight onto Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry.

 

[MIChessGuy]

Wow, I bet the average park-goer would never guess that early for the first bus. I've been going to Orlando for decades and my guess would have been closer to 7:30am.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

During previews, the first bus was about 85-90min before EE.
135min before EE is a huge difference.

 

[Philsfan77]

EE was 9am today. We stayed at Surfside and our bus arrived at 6:45. We were at the front of the line for rope drop and were able to walk straight onto Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry.

Thats wild...maybe the bus drivers still think EE is 8AM haha

 

[emmabelle]

hmmmm, next month we're staying at Sapphire for 3 nights after our Disney Magic cruise. I figured it would be way too crowded to do Epic on a Sat or Sun but maybe I should keep an eye on the wait times. We have done two AP preview days but didn't get to do Ministry either time because it was down.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Looking at the Thrill Data page of Epic tickets sold each day, Mondays appear to be the busiest pretty much every week - you can literally guess the Monday in any given stretch by the higher ticket sales.

So glad I picked a Monday in Dec...

 

[musika]

Looking at the Thrill Data page of Epic tickets sold each day, Mondays appear to be the busiest pretty much every week - you can literally guess the Monday in any given stretch by the higher ticket sales.

So glad I picked a Monday in Dec...

This wouldn't have been my expectation at all - just out of curiosity, what's the slowest day?

 

[MIChessGuy]

Darn, I had my eye set on a Monday in August, looks like I should give that some more thought.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

This wouldn't have been my expectation at all - just out of curiosity, what's the slowest day?

Fri & Sat are slowest a lot of weeks.
Keep in mind this is only single day ticket sales, there's no way to figure out which day people will choose Epic for multi-day tickets.
https://www.thrill-data.com/epic-universe-capacity

 

[keishashadow]

FWIW and as a reference point, TP had opening day and day 2 at crowd levels of 7. They have today as an 8.

They were unexpectedly, decidedly off (under) for our 3 days @ WDW end of May

That's why I have issues over at DHS because they don't have something else really outside of Indiana Jones that can absorb people so then you're left with high waits for the attractions left.

Did the park on 5/28

Little Mermaid & Villians just open a day. Afternoon on, it was took at least one show to cycle thru standby line to see them both. Villians seemed more popular. Until the demand settles down, they will be people eaters

I think this is still the rumor. Luigi's Mansion and Black Lagoon in that expansion spot, Zelda at LC, Pokemon replacing Simpsons.

From your lips!

They need to limit Toadstool Cafe for diners only

Or assign tables after ordering food

Forbidden Journey was still a no go for me, largely due to my shoulders being broad as well (former football/rugby player). I will. be at epic in a few weeks and can give you my feelings on it (going June 18-21st).

Same for many amply endowed women

Just bring an external charger to extend your phone’s battery life

Did u notice fuel rod exchange machines in Epic?