Universal's Epic Universe - News and Discussion

[Minnie1222]

I will also say, while not chaotic in that theres only one place to go...it was chaos in that guests were literally running everywhere and witnessed multiple verbal altercations between guests due to this on the day we did it.

This is what I'm worried about. All the people who queue up early are likely heading to Ministry. Even if we were first in line at the Wizarding portal, we'll probably be outpaced by the runners and the potential pushers.

 

[Philsfan77]

This is what I'm worried about. All the people who queue up early are likely heading to Ministry. Even if we were first in line at the Wizarding portal, we'll probably be outpaced by the runners and the potential pushers.

as far as I know, if they are queuing you up and not opening the land, they walk you in, so it's organized. It's when it opens at 9AM that it's a nightmare and survival of the fittest.

 

[MIChessGuy]

as far as I know, if they are queuing you up and not opening the land, they walk you in, so it's organized. It's when it opens at 9AM that it's a nightmare and survival of the fittest.

So that sounds like Super Nintendo World and possibly Dark Universe are the scenes of chaos for early entry, as they are the only two lands that have early entry. MoM does not open early (officially), meaning that there's an organized walk out there and then you just wait around outside? Is that accurate?

 

[disneylover102]

So if people are queuing up early for BATM, do early entry people have an advantage at lining up over those without early entry? Or is it free game?

 

[Minnie1222]

MarkNC2Disney is going to Epic this Saturday. Let's hope he'll come back to give us an update on Ministry's early entry.

 

[MIChessGuy]

From what I understand (which probably isn't much), there is zero advantage to early entry if the goal is MoM first thing. That land isn't open for early entry. So that means literally anybody with a park ticket can head over there and wait for Battle of the Ministry to begin operations. I hope that either this will change shortly or I'm just not getting how this works, since it makes early entry completely pointless for this particular ride.

 

[tony67]

From what I understand (which probably isn't much), there is zero advantage to early entry if the goal is MoM first thing. That land isn't open for early entry. So that means literally anybody with a park ticket can head over there and wait for Battle of the Ministry to begin operations. I hope that either this will change shortly or I'm just not getting how this works, since it makes early entry completely pointless for this particular ride.

Yeah - that is how I feel about it. Everyone can line up for MM, even folks who dont have EE.

In general I did not find EE as valuable as it is at other parks - it was always better to go back to things in the afternoon.
That was during previews - but not much seems to have changed and I refuse to go back until they add the APs.

 

[Philsfan77]

So that sounds like Super Nintendo World and possibly Dark Universe are the scenes of chaos for early entry, as they are the only two lands that have early entry. MoM does not open early (officially), meaning that there's an organized walk out there and then you just wait around outside? Is that accurate?

Super Nintendo has the most people, but it was organized entering the land. MOM is organized only if it doesn't open at 9AM, because they then hold everyone outside of the portal. If MOM is opening at 9AM though, it becomes a mad dash as soon as they let people in from the front and from helios and is the most chaotic of the portals to enter.

Dark Universe is a breeze, it's not that popular for Early Entry, no chaos to worry about there.

 

[Philsfan77]

So if people are queuing up early for BATM, do early entry people have an advantage at lining up over those without early entry? Or is it free game?

no advantage...it's free game...was the most disappointing part of the trip honestly. I get that it's not "supposed to open up during early entry" but it did both days we were there and does quite often. It is a bit frustrating staying at a Universal hotel and having no advantage going to MOM if it opens early.

 

[MIChessGuy]

I might email some rare pre-trip "feedback" to Universal guest service ... although, I have a pretty good idea where that's going to be filed.

 

[tony67]

I might email some rare pre-trip "feedback" to Universal guest service ... although, I have a pretty good idea where that's going to be filed.

Yeah - it seems like it goes to AI now - so most likely a waste of time

I've dealt with them in the past and it was always very good - but took a long time to get a response.

After my 4 days at the previews I did email them and got a worthless response back within 24 hours - that seemed odd to me.
The way it was written and the lack of actual responses to the issues seemed odd as well.
Ran it through some tools and it was 100% AI.

AI is basically the death of actual customer service IMO - so not just a Universal issue.

 

[glamdring269]

Has anyone found if this is the kind of park you can take a rest break back to the hotel for awhile to recharge? We're staying at Portofino Bay and were thinking we would head over to knock out a couple of lands in the morning and then do the rest in the afternoon/evening. We will have Express Passes at minimum so my guess is we'll be able to get through everything unless something goes down. Current plan would be to line up for the HP ride once we return to the park in the early afternoon and then knock everything out after that.

I don't mind powering through for an entire day, just trying to figure out what we really need to do to maximize our time/energy.

 

[Jessem1133]

Has anyone found if this is the kind of park you can take a rest break back to the hotel for awhile to recharge? We're staying at Portofino Bay and were thinking we would head over to knock out a couple of lands in the morning and then do the rest in the afternoon/evening. We will have Express Passes at minimum so my guess is we'll be able to get through everything unless something goes down. Current plan would be to line up for the HP ride once we return to the park in the early afternoon and then knock everything out after that.

I don't mind powering through for an entire day, just trying to figure out what we really need to do to maximize our time/energy.

The bus ride was only about 15 minutes or so. We did the same thing during a preview day and didn't have an issue. Had a whole bus back to Royal Pacific all to ourselves around 2.

 

[PrincessV]

Has anyone found if this is the kind of park you can take a rest break back to the hotel for awhile to recharge? We're staying at Portofino Bay and were thinking we would head over to knock out a couple of lands in the morning and then do the rest in the afternoon/evening. We will have Express Passes at minimum so my guess is we'll be able to get through everything unless something goes down. Current plan would be to line up for the HP ride once we return to the park in the early afternoon and then knock everything out after that.

I don't mind powering through for an entire day, just trying to figure out what we really need to do to maximize our time/energy.

I think w ExP that should be fine, but speaking as someone who did not leave the park on either of my 10-11 hours Epic days, you may find there isn’t a need. I found Epic gave me ample opportunities to rest and get away from the action within the park. For context, at WDW I’m ready to get out of any park after a few hours because the combination of too many people, too much noise, too much going on gets to me. I had no such issues at Epic. I did take long - an hour or so - breaks in nearly-empty QS restaurant rooms, where I could eat, cool off, listen to podcasts or read - basically what I would have done if I’d gone back to my hotel, but without the time spent traveling back and forth.

 

[glamdring269]

I think w ExP that should be fine, but speaking as someone who did not leave the park on either of my 10-11 hours Epic days, you may find there isn’t a need. I found Epic gave me ample opportunities to rest and get away from the action within the park. For context, at WDW I’m ready to get out of any park after a few hours because the combination of too many people, too much noise, too much going on gets to me. I had no such issues at Epic. I did take long - an hour or so - breaks in nearly-empty QS restaurant rooms, where I could eat, cool off, listen to podcasts or read - basically what I would have done if I’d gone back to my hotel, but without the time spent traveling back and forth.

Good point. I haven't really researched all of the F&B amenities that deeply but if there is some place like DHS's Baseline Tap at Epic then that would be a pretty good place for us to relax for an hour.

 

[Keladry84]

Has anyone found if this is the kind of park you can take a rest break back to the hotel for awhile to recharge? We're staying at Portofino Bay and were thinking we would head over to knock out a couple of lands in the morning and then do the rest in the afternoon/evening. We will have Express Passes at minimum so my guess is we'll be able to get through everything unless something goes down. Current plan would be to line up for the HP ride once we return to the park in the early afternoon and then knock everything out after that.

I don't mind powering through for an entire day, just trying to figure out what we really need to do to maximize our time/energy.

I took afternoon breaks every afternoon my 3 days at Epic, staying at Surfside, and it worked out really well. The biggest risk/hardest thing to factor in is weather/thunderstorms when you come back, so if you have Express, I'd knock out the outside Express attractions before taking a break just in case they aren't open when you come back so you don't end up losing the opportunity to use it.

 

[djmeredith]

I took afternoon breaks every afternoon my 3 days at Epic, staying at Surfside, and it worked out really well. The biggest risk/hardest thing to factor in is weather/thunderstorms when you come back, so if you have Express, I'd knock out the outside Express attractions before taking a break just in case they aren't open when you come back so you don't end up losing the opportunity to use it.

This! Even if you have EP, prioritize your must dos and knock those out asap. We had EP, only took about a 45 minute break in our Helios room, and still didn't get to do the Carousel, BatTM, Dragon Rally Racers, or Yoshi (we did do a few things a second time at the end of the night because the lines were short). Weather was perfect, but we got stuck in a couple of lines due to rides going down and that cost us valuable time.