Universal Epic Universe — Attraction in Oak Ridge

To begin with, i beg you to NOT listen to the bootlickers that give this excuse of a park more than two stars. Its unbelievable, you could shoot them in a leg and they would thank you. How can someone be that disgustingly blind and submissive is beyond my comprehension.

First of all, i was EXTREMELY excited for this park, my family and i LOVE Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. I bought the tickets as a present for my family, i invited all of them to enjoy it and we all left so disappointed that the best part was actually leaving the premises.

Let's start with the good:

The scenery: The themes are breathtaking, truly, Super Nintendo World, the fountains, Dark Universe, the portals, they are incredible, excellent, i applaud the designers. I also pity them, because seeing all that work go to waste its a shame.

Stardust Racers: The only actual good game of this park, it delivers exactly what you expect and you actually feel thrilled when you ride it

Frankenstein: You can actually see it was made with love. Robots are amazing, the story makes sense and the ride makes you feel something. It's a breath of fresh air to see something of the horror genre being made this way.

Now with the bad stuff:

Main attractions: im talking sbout Mario Kart and Harry Potter. Both of them are AWFULLY designed. Mario Kart is a mess, even when you know what you're doing, you're not enjoying any bit of it, its a machine gun of things being thrown at you and not a single one of them is fun. They promise you some kind of race that never exists, or a competition that isn't even fun (my father just pushed buttons randomly and managed to score 112 coins, and no, he didn't find it fun). The Augumented reality stuff is so badly used that nothing in the game makes sense. Harry Potter is a joke, its not even a game, getting into an elevator that shakes a little while you watch some kind of movie isnt fun, seeing robots for the sake of seeing robots isnt fun, Universal have two EXCELLENT Harry Potter games to use an inspiration and they decided to make a short-movie that you cant even hear well because the audio is awful. Mine-Cart is also terribly designed, it's harsh, you dont feel any thrill riding it and i think it lasts 30 seconds. It also have the WORST robots you're going to see in your life (exactly the opposite as Frankenstein). Also, how can you make a Donky Kong roller coaster with NO MUSIC and almost NO SOUNDS?? What the hell were they thinking? Yoshi's ride FOR CHILDREN is so slow that even children find it boring, just imagine them sweating like crazy because the cart is moving at 0.5 mph below a scorching sun.

The lines and the delays: I think the park is named Epic because of the epic times and delays. I've never seen something so bad. When you get into a game that says "120 minutes", you know what youre going to, you've been warned about the time it will take you to reach the game. But when it says "120 minutes" and you have to add another 120 because of "brief delays", thats when it gets messy. ALL OF THEIR GAMES have constant delays, they dont care if your park experience go to waste, the lines are even MADE for you to believe you are reaching the game but it's a lie (at the middle of the line, a staff member asks you how many your group is, point to one of many pathways for you to go, only to find that EVERYBODY is also going to the same room from other pathways). You will have to wait hours in narrow corridors, in stairs, with cold AC pointing directly at you, its so bad that i cannot even describe it as i should. You feel like they are mocking you, the sight of people sitting down and waiting for games to resume working is something you're going to see over and over again. Also, if it rains, say goodbye to any attraction you wanted to ride, almost all of the park shuts down.

When they were making the park they promised a park FILLED with attractions, way more than any of their other parks. That was another big fat lie.

Avoid this park at all costs, it doesn't even remotely live up to the hype. Or,...

After experiencing Epic twice and going one more time soon let me provide some feedback about Universal Studio Orlando’s new theme park.

When entering Epic universe I was at complete awe in the detail and absolute beauty of this park. The Celestial area of Epic is spectacular and the attention to detail is wonderful. Although capacity is not at the max at the moment, navigating through the park wasn’t overwhelming for the most part. Below I will organize and explain the pros and cons of epic overall.

Pros: Best theming out of all the universal parks, on par with Disney World theming. Two interactive extras (Harry Potter Wands and Nintendo Power Up bands, I prefer power up bands) Not a single ride is a disappointment, they are all absolutely spectacular. Just consider your timing, you may not be a fan of Yoshi’s adventure if you wait something like 60 minutes. The HTTYD show in Isles of Berk is soo good! A few cringy lines that are out of character but overall a must try experience. The theming for some of the ride queues are beautiful, such as Ministry of Magic, Mario Kart, and Monsters Unchained. Customer service has been the best I have ever experienced at a Florida theme park, and I’m a pass holder at Disney World. My first day we got stuck in a ride and had a delay of three and half hours in the line for ministry, then it started to storm for hours. We only got to use our express pass once on a small ride and didn’t get to do much. They were super understanding and helped us solve the issue efficiently. Super Nintendo World is so unique and mind blowing. Aside from the park having a lot, the walkability is pretty good, in a rush you could probably get from Monsters to Harry Potter in 5-10 minutes.

Now for the cons. I believe that Epic universe should not have opened when they did. Even though the park is amazing, they were shown that the park had a lot of issues in the previews phase and since then they are still running into them. It should have been delayed a few months to work out the problems.

Cons: Not enough bathrooms. Basically each world has at least one bathroom. This may not be an issue with Harry Potter and Isle of Berk that have two but Super Nintendo world only had one and a lot of stairs. Florida tends to have bad weather a lot and the restaurants in Super Nintendo don’t have bathrooms. So if you near DK or upstairs area of Super Nintendo World and you really have to go, or it’s an emergency you have to travel way too far to get there. This comment is one that can’t be changed at the parks. When everything outside is weather delayed for hours. Inside rides are: Monsters Unchained, Mario Kart, Ministry of Magic, and Constellation Carousel. This problem also builds on another issue I’ll mention in a bit. I believe that when they were making epic they should have included one indoor ride per world. It’s understandable that Harry Potter has only one ride, and it’s inside, but Monsters as one, Mario has one, but Berk has zero. Connecting to the fact that the park shouldn’t have opened as early as they did, the rides at epic break down all the time and it takes maintenance a long time to fix it. Ministry on average is broken down for 4 and a half hours a day. So it’s not uncommon to see a majority of rides closed due to weather delays and then a good amount of indoor rides closed for the day or delayed because of them breaking down. I understand that rides like Mine Cart Madness and Ministry are experimental as well as one of a kind rides, but that’s where the testing and working out the issues phase should have been longer. As the crowds get bigger they better be prepared for more of a toll on their rides and experiences. Constellation Carousel wasn’t prioritizing express at all Drainage is bad when it storms. Slippery floor material choices in Nintendo World. Add wait times for character meets on the app. Le Cirque Arcanus reaches audience capacity, which since the park isn’t at 100% capacity this may create problems.

Overall an Epic park and truly...

THE BOOKING EXPERIENCE. The website was crashing presumably due to Epic Universe preorders. So I called them over the phone to book. Let me just say; everyone at Universal is very nice, excessively polite really, but few actually can help you resolve issues.

The vacation package I was sent was not what I ordered. Well actually nothing was sent because the operator misspelled my name so my email was entered incorrectly. Once that was resolved, and actually it never was resolved because even when I booked into the hotel months later my last name was still misspelled.

So I saw where the itinerary I received was not what I told Universal I wanted. I had to call five different times to get any resolution, and ended up paying an additional $400 to get the express passes added, where that’s what I originally asked for. I argued, eventually speaking to a supervisor named Cameron. Universal is really good at being nice and saying they are sorry, without actually helping you. More on this later.

I stayed at Cabana Bay. The shuttle ride is literally 30 minutes to get to Epic. That’s just the time on the bus mind you. Also the buses suck, they have the least amount of seats I’ve ever seen on a bus. So there’s a good chance you’ll be standing on the bus.

Epic Universe is visually spectacular. Everything looks good and the queues for the rides are stunning. Celestial Park is nice looking but barren. There’s really not much here. What stands out is Stardust Racers. This is a top ten coaster in America. The queue, the operations, the ride experience (lots of ejector air time), it is elite.

Nintendo World is visually quite a bit to take in. It’s charming. During the day, this place has about 1% shade. Expect to get a deep tan. Nintendo really struggles because the rides are laughably bad. Really bad. Mario has two “rides” that are really geared for really small kids. They aren’t even worth mentioning. Donkey Kong has Mine Cart Madness. If this thing is actually running then you’ll have at least a 60 minute wait. Which will probably be more like 90+. The ride lasts maybe 1:40. A ride for 5-8 years old maybe.

Nintendo World is really for small kids only, and creepy grown men running around with their $45 Bluetooth wristband collecting virtual coins. The arrested development you will see here, it will disturb you.

Dark Universe is pretty small but I think the intimacy works well. It’s a good looking park and a much needed change of pace with the rest of Epic. Curse of the Werewolf is a fine little spinning coaster. I’m not sure it’s worth the wait time. You’ll ride once and maybe never again. Unless you’re a small kid. Monsters Unchained is pretty great (when it’s working right.) Frankenstein’s Castle is A1 as the queue. I will say, I got stuck on this ride for 15 minutes because it malfunctioned. The staff here really does a good job.

The Dragon land was fine. The rest of dragon land, They have a good launched family coaster here. It’s more something an adult could ride, not strictly for little kids.

Harry Potter looks great. Battle at the Ministry is a fine dark ride. It will never be worth a 180 minute wait though. If you’re a big HP fan, you’ll have more fun at the other parks. Battle is probably the 3rd best Potter attraction behind Hagrid’s and Hippogriff.

We ate at the Toadstool Cafe. It took way too long to get food. Between waiting for a table and then waiting for food, even using the app, it took an hour to get food in front of me. Food was meh.

A lot of the stuff at Epic looks good, but it needs more substance. This is definitely a park for very small kids. Epic is carried by Stardust Racers and Monsters Unchained. Otherwise, Epic Universe is for 5 year olds. Nintendo already is in desperate need of an attraction. I’d say Epic itself is probably 3 stars based solely on the park, but the whole experience with Universal Orlando is a 1 star all day. Paying $3000, there should be no issues, and when there is an issue it should be resolved. Universal loves saying sorry but never does anything to...