Epic Universe is getting horrible reviews

Guests are also complaining about the park's lack of shade and the closing of most attractions when it rains.

My family and I visited in May during the previews. Battle at the Ministry of Magic and Curse of the Werewolf were closed all day so we will have to return someday just for that.

I had a blast despite the closed attractions. I would rate it 8 out of 10.

But, I understand the low reviews from other guests. A friend of mine hated Mario Kart but he waited multuple hours in line and felt it was not worth it. I think if he had done it later in the day with a shorter wait, he wouldnt have had such high expectations for the ride.

News Flash - People complain online....

Parks need time to grow into themselves. Eventually, with additional attractions Comcast's newest park could be one of its best.

Having said that EU has been open almost six months and it is still struggling to deliver an experience worth the price of admission. It's not really substantial competition for Disney.

I think its a combination of poor capacity, un-met expectations, and a little unluck, that altogether creates a bad experience. Many key attractions and lower B to D tier attractions in epic have poor capacity, and some people make the stupid assumption that the longer the line, the better the ride. Another thing is that people have seriously over-inflated expectations for this park. While it is great, what these people are expecting is silly for a new park. on top of that, if you had incredible expectations and still had a great day, you wouldn't write a 5-star review because it was what you expected it to be. And if some unlucky park-goer happens to wait 3 hours in ministry just for it to shut down, expecting so much from it, I would honestly write a 1-star review too. Universal has sorted some of the issues out, but its reputation from the first couple weeks have taken their toll. On the other hand, this is a universal park, and some of these stories are just ridiculous. waiting 4-6 HOURS for ministry, especially when it says 210 minutes, is not only horrible, but likely.

I can't comment from firsthand experience, but I have heard from several of my friends (both Disney/Universal fans and general theme park fans) who did make a trip over the summer. The gist of their impressions was that the headliners at Epic were spectacular, but the park has a weaker lineup of supporting attractions and the overall collection isn't as well rounded as the other two properties. They also generally said that the theming was fantastic in the portals but disappointing for Universal in Celestial Park, and the fact that so many of the smaller activities required an upcharge after an already high gate price was frustrating. Other than Battle at the Ministry, wait times weren't generally worse than elsewhere, but downtimes seemed to be more frequent. Overall, the consensus seemed to be that it was roughly on par with IOA at the time of that park's opening and was absolutely worth checking out, but probably needs a couple expansions before it becomes somewhere worth returning to unless you've got a really strong affinity for the IPs presented at the park.

On today's episode of 'Great Minds Thinking Alike"

AJ: "... the headliners at Epic were spectacular, but the park has a weaker lineup of supporting attractions and the overall collection isn't as well rounded as the other two properties".

Me: Russell has been posting the same opinion for quite some time. I concur with this opinion.

@TH - I would also note that AJ highlights another issue with Epic in the number of upcharges to participate in a number of what UC would consider "supporting attractions". There's little doubt that the headliners are all world class, and some might even say that the number of elite (E/F-ticket) attractions tops what you would find at parks that have been open for decades. Monsters Unchained, Ministry of Magic, and Stardust Racers is one of the best 1-2-3-(4) punches, but there's a steep drop off after that.

I think UC made a huge mistake cloning Super Nintendo World and not coming up with a unique attraction for the Portal. Also, the other issue with the Portal is that the Power Up bands are just not appealing to the types of guests that Epic Universe is drawing. Sure, UO gets plenty of visits from APs and guests visiting year after year, but much of the appeal of the Power Up bands are the competitive aspects of the system, which naturally favors repeat visitor or those who can dedicate large chunks of time to performing activities. For a brand new theme park, most guests are not going to want to spend an hour or more playing Power-Up band games and truly exploring this portal. It doesn't help when 2 of the 3 actual rides in this portal have capacity limitations and are generally not living up to expectations.

The other interesting aspect of Epic that has been a bit surprising is the lack of attention the food has been getting. When the park first opened, all of the influencers and media were detailing all the unique food items scattered around the park. I was truly intrigued by some of the options and the promise of more interesting restaurants opening later in the summer. Universal put quite a bit of marketing into Das Ste4akhaus, but you barely hear a word about the experience here from ANYONE - the same goes for The Atlantis. Perhaps guests aren't able to devote precious park time to eat a sit down meal in a park full of new attractions and experiences, but food has become a massive part of Universal's strategy to elevate the immersiveness of park as a whole, and it seems like those attempts are either not being appreciated or simply yet part of the guest experience because of the newness of the park.

I think the Gen 2 HP wands are worth the upcharge and have been proven to be a very lucrative business for Universal, but relying on those to support the new land is very short sighted. The general reviews of BotM are excellent, but the wait times and unpredictability of the attraction's availability leaves guests with little else to do in the land. Yes, the Circus Arcanus show sounds good, but it is as much of a time sink as MoM because of the time needed to wait for the show, pre-show, and actual time for the show. The wand stations and the shopping/dining are the ONLY other things to do in MoM, and I think the general consensus is that guests are not interested in lingering in or exploring this land because there's really nothing much else to do. This land desperately needs a true supporting attraction. The reality is that Isle of Berk is the only truly complete land with 3 good attractions, a world-class show, and enough other activities to maintain guest interest for 2+ hours on a quiet day. The issue is that one of the attractions is a slow-loading flat ride and another is a water ride that won't have year-round popularity.

Others have also noted the issues with Celestial Park, and it does seem like the central land is underwhelming. However, Universal did have plans to really make this land interesting, but much of those plans were reliant on entertainment that has been cut as well as a supporting attraction that is not nearly as cool as it seems (Constellation Carousel). The lack of shade hurts too, but I think those complaints are secondary to the overall lack of energy in the land and lack of consistent theming. Universal created unique characters for this land, but they're never there and with the entertainment cuts, it's just a pretty area with generic mythologic theming (kind of like Lost Continent).

I'd argue that the food for Epic Universe has been a smashing success. Even though Atlantic isn't really a smash hit, it makes sense - it's a huge upcharge and time sink. Das Steakhaus has been suffering from poor reviews because of the infamous black bun burgers, but it's received pretty consistent acclaim for its spooky theming.

Meanwhile, Pizza Moon and the Mac-and-cheese cones are getting a lot of attention and are being billed by many as "must-dos"- on the same level as Butterbeer or Mythos. I think the food has been a hit (besides the aforementioned black bun burgers that allegedly do horrors on the digestive system)

@Russell - Your description of the goal/aspiration for Celestial Park really reminded me of what was hoped for Lost Island in Iowa. Plans to make the theme park interesting using created characters and storylines to cover for a lack of actual rides. Now, EU has some experiences that are 2nd to none and clearly not in the same category as LI, but the use of characters/story to cover for lack of rides is eerily similar.

@VelocicoasterFan - I am a huge Universal fan, and in many ways are equal or better than Disney, BUT... if people are going to a theme park for food, it is (and probably will always be) EPCOT. The thing about Universal's food is that it fits within the storytelling/place setting in the other parks. No one is going to the Park to eat a 3 Broomsticks, but WE go there every time we visit. (It's probably our favorite theme park restaurant.) If people are talking about EU's food, it probably means that they were disappointed by the rest of the park.

I was there a few weeks ago.

The Top 3 attractions are indeed incredible, well I guess Stardust Racers isn’t that special for a brand new roller coaster, but still very good.

The Food does not disappoint. We went to Oak & Star Tavern and Cafe L’air de la Sirene.

The shows are both top notch, even if you don’t totally know what’s going on, probably even better if you do.

The park itself is incredible just to look, both during the day and night.

But yes, it’s hard to argue the Mid Tier attractions are worth the wait times they are currently drawing. I can’t say that from experience, because I decided they weren’t worth it the first time faced with that decision, and did not return to the park for a second day to be highlighted by those experiences. But I’ll never be able to be convinced that a day of doing all the best attractions in the 2 legacy parks (and having dinner at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium) was inferior to getting to ride the Isle of Berk rides, Yoshi’s Adventure and Mine Cart Madness. I’ll also never think I made a mistake by not spending a ton of extra money on Express Passes just to get on those rides.

Overall, I have no complaints from my single day spent there. But I can’t say that I’m in a hurry to go back, as we had a unanimous decision amongst our group of 4, to trade in tickets for our 2nd Day at the park for Legacy Park tickets. Some will say it’s a 2 Day Park, but I’d say more accurately it’s a one day park, that requires Universal Express if you want to do everything…

From reviews, it does seem Epic is very doable in one day ... with Express. I'm there next week for 3 days, so for me it'll be single rider lines, checking the app for low wait times and then heading to that ride. I'll try out some food, and watch the shows. But most importantly, it'll be my way of seeing, and then deciding, if I want to drop another $400/500 on adding it to my pass. Whenever we get that option, of course.

Whatever happened to the flying dragon drones?

@Th: I believe those were just being used to spy on Lockheed Martin next door.

"Whatever happened to the flying dragon drones?"

The same thing that happened to the drones for Galaxy's Edge.

@Russell: Which is what, exactly?

TH - Developed, planned, and tested, but never actually used in a significant way in a public display. Disney had planned to have ships (drones) constantly flying overhead throughout the day at Black Spire Outpost, but were only actually used a couple of times for park guests - when RotR officially opened were supposed to be featured during an after hours event, but never appeared. I guess you could say that at least the Galaxy's Edge drones actually made a public appearance for park guests, while the Epic Dragons have never flown over the park with guests inside, but the similarities are definitely there.

@Russell: Okay. I will rephrase and try again. Both Disney and Comcast have demonstrated/tested large drones designed to look like dragons and spaceships. Yet neither company has included these features in their regular park operations. I wonder why.

Because the drones were unconvincing and unreliable. . .?

Actually, the main reason was supposedly because of FAA limitations, which is odd given that Disney has exerted control over the airspace above their parks (have essentially created a "no fly zone" on their property) and Universal has utilized drones (though on a somewhat limited basis) for seasonal WWoHP shows. However, the biggest question is why both companies went so far down this path to where they designed, developed, tested, and deployed these elements and then pulled the plug before getting enough guest feedback or making any modifications. The Universal drones were a bit more complicated since they were observed "breathing fire", but it does seem that their absence might be more due to overall cost cutting on the entertainment side of things, which would also be a more plausible explanation for Disney not using the Galaxy's Edge drones as well (in addition to other rumored elements missing from the land).

Russell: "The Universal drones were a bit more complicated since they were observed "breathing fire"

Me: Circa Disney a dozen years ago.

Give it a full year before you spend thousands of dollars taking your entire family there and try to do everything in one day. Even then, stay at Helios for a couple nights and get Express for at least one day if you have money to burn.

It sounds like Epic Universe is really struggling to balance expectations with capacity and ride quality. It’s interesting that the headline attractions are still getting praise, but the B-tier rides seem to be dragging down the overall experience. Hopefully the park takes this feedback seriously and improves the weaker attractions and line management, otherwise it could hurt its reputation long-term, especially with so many strong competitors in Florida.

It’s wild to see the ratings drop that low this early, but the complaints seem pretty consistent across different review sites. The crowd issue makes sense for a new park, but people usually forgive long lines if the rides deliver. It sounds like the imbalance between the strong headliners and the weaker ones is hurting the overall experience.

The feedback on Mario Kart and Donkey Kong is especially interesting, because those were supposed to be big draws. When guests wait an hour or more for something that feels underwhelming, it sets the tone for the rest of the day. And if most of the mid-level attractions aren’t helping fill the gaps, the pressure on the major rides only gets worse.

The reliability problems are probably the toughest part. Guests can deal with crowds or even mixed ride quality, but if things keep breaking down, it becomes frustrating fast. Maybe some of this will smooth out over the next few months, but right now the reviews don’t paint a great picture.

I’m curious to see if the park makes noticeable changes or if this is just growing pains from a huge launch.

Yeah, I’ve been following the reviews too, and it’s clear Epic Universe is struggling to meet expectations. It sounds like they nailed a few of the headline rides—Monsters, Potter, and Stardust Racers, but the rest are really holding the park back.

The long lines for Mario Kart and Donkey Kong are definitely frustrating for visitors, and when the “B-tier” attractions also underperform, it makes the overall experience feel unbalanced. Unreliable rides just add to the disappointment.

I think the park still has potential, but they’ll need to fix ride reliability and maybe improve some of the weaker attractions if they want to turn those ratings around.

I think it was clear that Donkey Kong and Mario Cart were sub-par attractions from the get go. Afterall, they're both clones of attractions from other parks that had mediocre review to begin with. However, it seem like a majority of the reviews are negative primarily because of the inconsistent operations of BotM. It would be one thing if the ride just had long lines and low throughput, because savvy guests could get around that by riding at the very beginning or end of the day. However, the fact that you never know when the ride is going to run for more than a hour straight, or doesn't open until the park's been open for 2 hours (or closes early for the day because of technical issues), it really frustrates guests because there's no clear strategy to make sure you get to experience the attraction. It's a bit similar to what happened to RotR in terms of its operational consistency during the first few months, but Disney at least limited the number of people standing in line by using a virtual queue. Guests could grab a spot in RotR's VQ in the morning and then tour the rest of the park until their number came up to ride. However, guests at Epic have to commit to BotM and just stand in the line not know how long it's going to take or if there's going to be random downtime while they're waiting. All that time sunk into waiting in the line could have been spent experiencing the rest of the park, but if you aren't willing to commit to stand in the line for BotM, you feel like you've missed out on the best attraction in the park. Even if you have Universal Express, you can spend an hour or more trying to get on BotM, which definitely impacts guest perception of the attraction and the park as a whole.

I spent my first full day at Epic Universe yesterday, and a few things stood out immediately.

Monsters Unchained is exceptional — easily one of the most impressive attractions Universal has ever built — yet its wait times never climbed above 15 minutes. Meanwhile, Curse of the Werewolf hovered above 70 minutes all day. I’m not sure why Monsters isn’t connecting with the general crowd, but the imbalance was striking.

Super Nintendo World was predictably packed. Families flooded the land, and waits for both Mario Kart and Mine-Cart Madness stayed over an hour for most of the day.

Battle of the Ministry sat in “brief delay” from rope drop until around 8 p.m. When it finally went live, everyone with an Express Pass converged on it at once. That created a massive backup, leaving the standby queue stalled for long stretches. As impressive as the queue theming is, it can’t carry you through two-plus hours of barely moving.

Epic Universe is clearly not a mature park yet — nor did I expect it to be — but there’s still more to do here than there was at the launches of Disney-MGM Studios or Animal Kingdom. You can see where future expansions will go, and the level of detail in each land is remarkable.

That said, I think Universal may be leaning too heavily on lessons from the original Wizarding World and Cars Land. Dining and shopping aren’t attractions, and immersive design can’t fully replace actual ride capacity. When Hogsmeade opened, it had three rides. Here, London and Paris each have only one. Monsters has two and nothing truly family-friendly. Every land has beautiful themed restaurants, but realistically I’m only eating one or two meals in a day. The “mini-park” portal concept is visually stunning, but it also feels creatively restrictive.

I’m heading back with my family this weekend, this time with Express Passes. We’ll see how a second visit changes my impressions.

I'm pretty sure that the wait difference between Monsters Unchained and CotW is just capacity. Monsters unchained is continuously moving, whereas CotW operates within the constraints of your average roller coaster.

I'd argue that CotW is a family coaster - the theme isn't that mature or anything and I haven't been on it to verify but it can't be too intense. But I think the fact that Paris' only attraction has some of the most moving parts of any attraction at all is disappointing.

It is interesting how much wait times, excessive heat, or cost of food and tickets can affect your feelings on a park, or your mood when you end your day. I recently had the opportunity to go to an after hours event at Epic. It was my first time visiting. In just 4 hours I was able to do 9 rides, everything except for the flat ride and the water ride in Berk, plus the Cirque Arcanus show and sample food from multiple restaurants in each portal.

It was the most fun and successful 4 hours I have ever spent at a theme park. It made Epic Universe jump to my favorite theme park in the world. But I realize I got to experience it in the perfect state- free admission, free food, and basically no wait times (15 minutes for Mario Kart was my longest wait). Plus there were no down times, and every ride ran for the entire event.

So if you take out all the things that the Universal Creative team can't control- weather, lines, crowds, costs, etc, and just focus on the product the team created (like I was able to do)- the quality of the attractions, the attention to detail, the overwhelmingly immersive architecture, the delicious and immersive food, the overall storytelling, it is clear Universal knocked it out of the park.