I've gotten into the habit recently to check the Universal app every now and again to see what rides have the highest wait times. To my surprise, Monsters Unchained usually has a wait below or at 20 minutes when the weather is nice. So why is this the case? For an E-ticket indoor dark ride, I was expecting waits to hit an hour.
Either A) The ride is too intimidating and/or poorly marketed, so riders don't know what to expect and choose not to ride, or
B) The ride really is popular, and it's just so efficient that waits are always kept down.
So could someone who's been clear this up for me? Are waits really that short?
I think its because of the way they are doing tickets, its a high capacity ride in a park that they aren't filling up. The Forbidden Journey ride at IOA has the same ride system and consistently gets hour+ waits even though its 15 years old. If APs were allowed into Epic Universe, and it was included in the standard Universal park ticket package, the lines would be a LOT longer for everything including Monsters.
The rides a real people eater. Monster pun intended
Most of the rides at the park are outdoors. So if the weather is nice, people will try to get on those before thunderstorms roll in and half the park shuts down.
Haven't been, but it basically boils down to four main factors:
1. Throughput. The ride has a realistic capacity of around 2,000 people per hour, which is the second highest at Epic Universe (behind Stardust Racers) and higher than over three-quarters of the attractions on Universal property. The similar Forbidden Journey is typically only a 30-45 minute wait (which is also shorter than IOA's other headliners), further pointing to this ride system moving people better than most.
2. IP selection. The Universal Monsters definitely have a following, but among the average visitor they aren't on the same level as Potter, Nintendo, or Dragons. As such, Dark Universe doesn't get the rush of people the other lands do, and since the area's patrons are spread out throughout the day, it's uncommon for the attraction to be overwhelmed as long as the rest of the park is available.
3. Re-ride factor. This is more subjective and based on external observation, but Monsters Unchained doesn't seem like the type of attraction most guests are going to do more than once. As a longer dark ride with multiple pre-shows, it is a time investment even if the queue is short, and without any interactive elements or variance based on seat or time of day, it's going to provide roughly the same experience on every ride.
4. Demand at other attractions. Several attractions at Epic Universe routinely post wait times of 1-3 hours. With guests tied up in these queues, it reduces the number available to queue for Monsters Unchained. When those attractions go down, people aren't waiting in their queues, hence increasing the number in line for Monsters.
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Capacity and uptime. And yes, the theme intimidates some. But the capacity and uptime really keep the wait times down.