I’ve been watching videos about the progress of Epic Universe construction (like the one below) and it looks amazing! Spectacular! All the superlatives!
And paradoxically, I’m wondering if the rest of Universal Orlando Resort is going to pale in comparison and suffer from association with its newer, slicker sibling. UOR’s rides on average are much older and more simulator-based than the brand new coasters coming to Epic. The themed lands other than HP and Jurassic Park are a little underdeveloped or cheap compared to Mario, How to Train Your Dragon, etc.
Now, this isn’t the worst problem for Universal to have, but there are some risks.
Worst case scenario, people decide to spend their time that they normally would have spent at IoA / USF at Epic instead and just cut out the legacy parks.
More likely scenario is that the center of gravity moves closer to Epic. People spend more time at Epic but still go to the other three parks (including VB). But the problem with this scenario is that most of the hotels, shopping, and entertainment are still a couple miles up the road.
Will the overall increase in visitors / length of stay compensate for the number of people abandoning the older parks for the new? Will the old parks feel sad and relatively empty?
My guess is at least for a while, UOR will go gangbusters with an influx of new visitors. But eventually they’re going to have to inject major capital to overhaul the old parks to keep those crowds coming.
There are already planned refurbs for some areas of the existing parks.
The Lost Continent at IoA is rumoured to become a Zelda themed land and The Simpsons area at USF is apparently ear-marked for Pokémon.
If they plan these two new lands correctly with the cutting edge technology and theming that we’ve come to expect from UOR, then I reckon that will, for the most part, alleviate any crowd disparity between the parks in the long run.
Keeping in mind that you still have several big ticket attractions at each park even before these new plans come to fruition. I can see where you’re coming from, but I don’t think it’ll be a problem.
I think one factor not mentioned is how cost may have an effect on this concern and help to prevent visitors from only going to Epic U.
Early rumors indicate that at least initially you may need to buy tickets to Epic U separately. Even if that doesn’t happen, the price hike of adding Epic U to your 2 or 3 park ticket will be unaffordable for some. (I expect the ability to purchase the current park to park tickets minus Epic U will still exist).
Also, there is a question whether the normal Premier hotel perk if Unlimited Express Pass will exist at the Grand Helios. Either way, EP will most likely be limited to the non-headliner attractions. This will also help with the supply/demand issue. And it’s almost certain that when staying at PBH, HRH, & RPR, you will not have UEP for Epic U.
I think Universal is/will be testing the waters of demand and price point through these initial limitations in part to find that right balance at all of their parks.
And they will definitely be managing the attendance at Epic more than their current parks. Either by date based tickets for everyone, or park reservations for passholders. So I think the possibility is there that they limit the capacity initially as to not overwhelm a brand new park, which will have many kinks to work out.
So, I think the bottom line is, if you now make your Universal vacation length 5-7 days instead of 3-5 days, the more days at Epic you want, the more expensive it will be.
I suspect UOR will be doing interesting things with tickets in order to help this…like, maybe offer something like a 3 day, but only allow one day at Epic, etc.
We already know they don’t plan to allow APs for Epic at first.
But, as already said, UOR is trying to improve things in the existing parks ahead of the opening of Epic, plus I am sure things will follow to start enticing people back to IOA and USF.
Yeah all your responses make sense. It will probably not be a huge issue. But we’ve never seen Disney or Universal launch a new park that was such a stark contrast — leaps and bounds past their existing parks. It is worth discussing!
Like for example, when AK launched, it was awesome of course. But I felt no reason to spend all my time there rather than MK, etc. It had like three rides, basically.
Yep. I agree with you. This is next level stuff. We are planning to hold off until January 2026 to go. I’m beginning to wonder if that’s even long enough for the initial excitement to die down. Maybe. I guess the early foot-on-the-ground reviews will be telling.
I don’t know what I can add that hasn’t already been said. IMHO - Once UOR has had Epic open for a year or so is when you’ll see more impactful changes to USF/IOA.
However, I wouldn’t expect complete overhauls of anything existing. I don’t expect them to remove MIB/Jimmy Fallon/Marvel/Kong/Transformer & etc… They’ll refurb/refresh those for a decade more with a couple demos - F&F / Lost Continent…
So - it’s weird for us. The only IP were really excited about at Epic is the Dragon section. We definitely want to experience that, but it would be nice to have maybe fewer crowds in IOA and US. But if people have to have days at only those parks it could inflate them???
My hope is that EU will draw so many visitors away, that UPR takes notice. Instead of just cutting costs (which will only co tribute to lower guest interests) it motivates them to get their asses in gear and start updating the parks. Especially IOA.
You cant keep relying on Harry Potter to fix your problems. The rest of the park is static. Skull Island was a superficial addition,and unpopular opinion, the ride is on par with Supercharged. The giant Kong head looks cool, but it ultimately contributes nothing. The only thing it has going for it is seeing the exterior lit up at night.
VelociCoaster is great, but with inclusion of Claire, Owen, and his raptors, it clashes with the rest of the land, which is set during the original film. Everything else needs to be updated for Jurassic World, especially the River Adventure. Another unpopular opinion, its a boring ride. The animatronics are old, and it only has a single drop.
Visually, Superhero Island, Cartoon Lagoon, and Seuss Landing are still appealing. But none has seen any meaningful update since the park opened. Each needs a new attraction, and more frequent characters. I’d also like to see Ripsaw Falls shut down for a full year to get a massive overhaul. I had read about how the ride was rushed to open a year ahead of schedule. So an already fun ride never got to realize its full potential thanks to subpar animatronics and the cutting of its most innovative idea: the giant buzzsaw “cutting” the log flume in half right before the biggest drop. If that had been allowed to be completed as envisioned, DDRF would be more revered than Splash Mountain
Today was my first day ever in the Universal reosrt area. We just picked up tickets, go out bearings and spent some time in USF. (Tomorrow we have a hotel stay and EP).
I was actually thinking about this too. I think USF is themed as a studio backlot, so the lines of site and different themeing work. Will be interested to see IOA. But I said to DH, Epic will be seperate lands, with seperate site lines and different feels.
