Eheh, well, maybe nostalia has rose-tinted my memories of Dinosaur, lol.
And I feel bad for calling the cast members “dead-eyed” that was melodramatic. Every cast member that we interacted with on our trip was fantastic. They obviously don’t have the support they need when it comes to the rest rooms, though.
Do you think Disney will pull out of the slump any time soon?
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Thanks for this. I have been following the news on Epic Universe and I’m so excited! They have really stepped things up and the theming of their latest stuff is as good, if not better than Disney.
Right now, it doesn’t have a ton of stuff to interest younger kids, but for our next adults-only trip Universal sounds like the way to go!
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Hope you are having a great time!!! I complain but it’s still magic in so many ways.
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How long do you think before the initial crowds disperse at Epic Universe? I mean, assuming they open in summer of 2025.
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I still LOVE it but I too think it is a little darker than it used to be when it was first running. I also think the animatronics are slower- less functional if that makes since. Unfortunately my back has a hard time on this ride but I will do it again before it closes.
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The ride was modified to make it less intense because people complained that the original version was too bumpy and too scary for young kids. I loved the original version. It is still fun, but not as much as the original. I think the changes were made over 20 years ago.
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To be fair, I was also modified 
Having chronic back issues and a surgery changes a person. So now I just plan recovery into the day. I do find that if I lean forward and hold on to the bar in front of me for support vs resting my back against the rides seat back is a game changer.
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I will say this about crowds: we’ve gone in the second half of January in 2020, 2023, and 2024 and the crowds have been well above what TP predicted on each of those trips. Like, predicted CL 3 turned into actual CL 8-9 days. Then again, other weekends in January are fine. I think that January has just become very unpredictable, and at this point I don’t think Disney can really do better than TP or thrilldata at that so I don’t blame them if they can’t cope as well as they would otherwise.
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I think we do need to vote with our feet, as long as we’re willing to pay the prices, we can’t really blame them for the status quo. I’m getting used the idea of going to other parks while I wait for them to sort things out. I do enjoy Universal, whenever I go to Orlando with teens/adults we do 1 or 2 days there. With the new park opening, it will probably be at least a 3-day visit… still not WDW, where you can spend 6 days and still not finish everything, even not counting your time spend in line. There is so much going on there.
I haven’t been to DL yet, but I know some die-hard Disney fans who rate it highest, of all the parks. It has a lot of Walt history, if you’re into that.
Does it hold as much appeal for young kids, do you think?
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No. I mean, there are things to do for young kids…but does it have the same appeal as Disney? No way.
But I think it doesn’t take long for kids to transition to UOR as they get a little older/braver.
Universal is doing more now for kids than they used to, but it still feels more like an afterthought. Whereas at Disney, almost EVERYTHING is designed with kids in mind (going back to the philosophy that Walt had, where parents and kids could play TOGETHER).
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They know how many LL they have sold, though, and they come with a time window, right?
My understanding of the mechanics is limited, there is a great documentary on the old Fastpass system by Defunctland that explained some of the complexity of predicting wait times, and I’m not a mathematician, but it seems like they are giving out too many LL for the same time period, causing large crowds to enter the LL queues all at once and rapidly driving up the standby wait times. So rapidly that they can’t update the signs fast enough to give people an honest prediction of how long they are committing to the queue.
And this isn’t working in their favour. For example, if I had known the wait time for Peter Pan was going to be 115 minutes, I would have chosen to do something else, reducing the wait time for others and potentially spending more in the shops and at the restaurants to fill my time.
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IMHO - This sums up the current issues at Disney. They’re not motivated to change or improve because the public keeps giving them more money…
I see this often and I disagree. I see so many small kids having a blast in Minionland, WWOHP, Camp Jurassic, Seuss Landing just to name a few obvious places. KidsZone was great and the remodeled DreamWorks Destination will be open before summer. Don’t even get me started on Volcano Bay!!
I truly believe the myth about UOR being an “adults park” is going to get shattered with Epic Universe! Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon and more WWOHP are going to show people you should bring your small kids to UOR!!
I may have to convince people that UOR is family friendly, but DLR definitely is! It was created for small kids & families to enjoy. If I still had small kids & had to choose between WDW & DLR, I would take them to DLR every time!
I really don’t know. If the park is the success I hope it is it could be years before Epic crowds “level off”. I didn’t go to WWOHP when it first opened, but I do remember it. When Diagon Alley opened it was a year or so before you could get inside without being squished! That was just one Land. This is a whole park with five new lands. (Or should I say “Portals” now??!!?? 
)
Heck, Super Nintendo World at Universal Hollywood is still packed as it celebrates its one year anniversary next week!
I’m choosing Feb. 2026 to go to Epic as I don’t think I’d be able to wait much longer… February should be as slower than the rest of the year for crowds. Plus, it will give the park at least 6 months & multiple holiday peak crowd seasons to “iron out the bugs”…
I’m not gonna lie and say I’m not trying to figure out how to get there sooner!
IMHO - It’s going to be a couple years before you can navigate Epic comfortably…
I loved “Countdown to Extinction”!!!
“Dinosaur” not so much… It’s amazing how a few small changes to lighting and turning off a couple robots can radially alter a ride experience…
Oh yea! We’ve all seen it! You’re talking to the perfect audience to know about that YT! 
In a nutshell, the G+ program is oversold (as it’s almost “required” to purchase these days) and the system can’t handle anything going wrong - like a ride closure / delay without just dumping more “anytime” passes to be used as a quick fix. However, those passes muck up the rest of the queues as now Ops has to “make-up” missed capacity and get people on the rides they’ve paid “extra” to do…
(That’s just one of the issues the system has. It is not it’s only issue)
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I am equally a WDW and DL fan but we live closer to DL now so my kids have done that a smidge more. It is absolutely still magical for the kids. It is just not (IMO) as resorty bubbly a feel (as in being in the bubble) since you see the outside world visually when you’re there and walking back and forth, But IMO it’s much easier with kids because you can walk everywhere so much easier (with help of stroller if needed) without waits and rides on transportation to account for.
With the exception of this week, which has been awful weather down there, the weather is usually more temperate too, which I prefer (not so much rain or heat, usually; also probably a shorter swim season). I haven’t been since 2020 but am going soon so I can report back.
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I was talking to HHN friends this morning. They had this picture of one of the demons in last year’s Exorcist HHN house. I’m gonna spoiler it as it’s scary!! You’ll see what I mean about high quality prodcutions! It’s not just a kid in a mask! I almost pee’d myself the first time one of these popped out at me!
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DH definitely would like this
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I’ll make a HHN33 thread! I don’t want to hijack this post with a bunch of spooky HHN pictures!
Besides, it’s already February! We’re almost a 3 months past due to start talking about HHN33 in the forums!! 
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Honestly there are more rides for young kids in Disneyland proper than WDW.
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Good idea!
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I think a part of that is that, at least for the high-demand attractions, the LL times are mostly distributed very early in the day, well before they know how busy it will get. I really don’t think they adjust the LL numbers down much for low predicted crowds. Like, if the day is a predicted CL 3-4 and they’re staffed for 75% capacity (they can adjust capacity and/or crew at many rides by reducing the number of ride units in operation, or simply slowing down the flow through loading and unloading) then they’d have no reason not to give out the same number of LL times as a 100% capacity day (which is most likely any day CL 6ish or higher), because most of the time on a CL 3-4 day the standby waits are short enough that it’s not going to make anyone wait significantly longer.
When that CL 3-4 day turns out to be a CL 7 or 8, though, the standby lines get to be considerably longer because now the ride isn’t operating at full capacity to start with (and you can’t just bump it up if you don’t have the staffing and even if you do have people, if you’re going to add or remove ride units then you have to take the ride down, and sometimes that can lead to little mechanical hiccups in the process… if you’ve ever noticed rides being down more when it’s slow, that’s one reason) and you’ve got all of those LL times you’ve already given out. Then add in the fact that because all of the lines are longer, many people are less likely to join a standby line if their LL time is coming up, because they’re worried about missing it… that leads to way more people just standing around, ready to flood the line right at the start of the entry window. It gets very hard to accurately time your line when you’ve got that going on.
This is all coming from a former ride op at a different park… they probably have some slightly different things going on, but I suspect a lot of it is similar, based on what I’ve seen.
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