Universal Orlando's newest attraction opens next week, and tickets are on sale now.
Universal’s Great Movie Escape will open December 9 on Universal CityWalk. This escape room attraction will feature two movie-themed experiences: Jurassic World Escape and Back to the Future OUTATIME. Tickets will be $49.99 plus tax per person before 6pm and $59.99 after. A private room experience for up to eight participants will be $300 plus tax before 6pm and $360 in the evenings.
Each experience will include eight detailed environments featuring randomized activities that are customizable to accommodate different party sizes. The tasks in each room are designed to adjust based on skill level and complexity, so that "there’s always something to solve," according to Universal.
Here is Universal's description for the Jurassic World Escape room: "Guests are new geneticists at a secret lab on Isla Nublar, where they are undergoing training that includes the completion of various day-to-day tasks that range from feeding ferocious dinosaurs to splicing dinosaur DNA to create new genetic codes…until they learn an apex predator has broken free and now they must work together to avoid becoming its prey."
And for Back to the Future OUTATIME: "Guests are transported to a museum in 1993, where they learn Back to the Future’s antagonist, Biff, is up to his antics and has stolen Doc Brown’s newest time travel device to sabotage the space-time continuum. Guests must work together to uncover Doc Brown’s clues as they travel through time to track down Biff and save the past and future before they run 'outatime.'"
I will be in Orlando next week for the opening of Universal’s Great Movie Escape and will post a review on Theme Park Insider, as well as videos on our social media. Confession time: I've not done an escape room attraction before, so I would love to hear any suggestions or requests from you before I take on what Universal Orlando will have to offer.
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@Postcott -- the official website says plan for 90 minutes so I would assume the actual experience is more towards the hour mark then 30 minutes no? I like that their also including parking with the ticket so more of a chance I'd try it since we don't often stay on site.
Escape Rooms are a lot of fun, but also very expensive, especially given how short the experience is,.
As cool as it looks, one of the last places on Earth I’d have an extra $240 to spend for my family of 4 on a brief nighttime activity, would be Orlando.
are escape rooms still a thing?
To add to my last post, I’d like to say that I was incorrect about the length of the experience. I got that information from sources that didn’t know what they were talking about and I was stupid and didn’t just check the official UO website…my bad. The length is definitely an hour, no more and no less. I cannot say much about the escape room other than two things or else I’ll be hunted down.
I was able to only do one room so I’m basing my thoughts on only half of the experience but from what I’ve heard, my thoughts connect to both rooms. It is an EXPERIENCE. Do not go into it thinking it’s an escape room. You will be severely disappointed. It is very unconventional in its style and layout.
Furthermore, I am both impressed and disappointed with the layout of the rooms. In my previous post I had stated that I was concerned with throughput, and this is where the game excels but also takes away from the experience. It is a very controlled experience and you always win, no matter how much you fail. If you take too much time in a room, you’re ushered into the next room so that the group behind you can enter. I never felt like anything I did had any real effect.
Ultimately, I had a good experience and a fun time at Great Movie Escape. Do I think there’s better escape rooms for a lower cost? Yes but those are escape rooms and this is an escape experience. Highly themed and immersive environments and sets from your favorite blockbusters with their iconic soundtracks playing. It will be immensely popular too. Back to the Future is already sold out for December so make sure to book your spot!
"It is a very controlled experience and you always win, no matter how much you fail."
Then is it really an escape room?
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$50 is already kinda pricey for an escape room, then add in that it's only a 30-minute experience, when most are an hour, and I can already see a potential problem. I understand that there will be heavy demand and that they need to manage efficient throughput, but paying more than the average market price for much less of the average time for the experience doesn't sit well with me. From the images released it looks like it'll be highly themed and immersive but I'm still not sure what the quality of the escape room will be or how challenging it will be.
I'm an avid escape room goer and love a difficult challenge but I assume that the majority of customers won't be. With it being so expensive, the escape rooms may be relatively easy so that most customers hopefully leave feeling satisfied. Additionally, the best escape rooms change up the clues and information given for repeat runs. I really hope Universal implements this element in order to increase re-rideability.
Going to go to TM previews soon so I'm keeping my hopes high but I can't help but feel like it won't be worth the $50 for paying customers b/c of the 30-minute timeframe.
@Robert- Escape rooms typically follow a formula. You find clues/information in the first room so that then you can unlock the next room and so on. All information given is useful when trying to escape and communication with your team is key to success. Even if you think you have a stupid idea to solve something, it may not be stupid and be just what needs to be done to advance to the next room/step.
FWIW- If anyone is looking for a great escape room experience for a lower cost in the Orlando area, check out Dare2Escape. Their rooms are on the more challenging side but they're high quality and all the rooms are part of an overarching story. It's close to Disney too.