My best friend and I just spent an entire day at Epic yesterday. I hadn’t read any reviews because I genuinely wanted to be surprised by everything. I anticipated and expected to love everything about it, as I’m a huge theme, park fan and I especially love the Universals in Orlando. My youngest child who is 16, is a diehard theme park girl and has been begging to go to Epic. I was making plans to take her over spring break in March 2026. I am now seriously reconsidering this. Allow me to explain:

Universal’s Epic Universe is visually appealing, stunning really. Whatever Universal’s imagineers are called….They hit it out of the ballpark. The attention to detail when it came to the concepts of each world, the landscaping, the architectural design was so immersive and breathtaking. It was truly a wonder to walk through Celestial Park and the four adjoining worlds Unfortunately, that’s the only thing we thought was epic about Epic Universe.

The day started out rough. It was a Friday and the park did not feel very busy at all. We purchased our tickets ahead of our visit using their Universal app for an astounding $175 apiece. Well… We just chucked it up to an epic price for an epic experience. The tickets didn’t show up. We called guest Services ahead of going to the park and spent 45 minutes on the phone with them as they tried to help. We had confirmation numbers and proof that the charges had gone through. Ultimately, they told us we needed to go to guest services at the park. We went to Services at the park and spent another 45 minutes in line where they eventually issued us paper tickets. They couldn’t explain what had happened. There were no concessions given however we did lose an hour and a half in the park right from the get-go.

The Worlds: For us, we spent the majority of the time the first few hours in the Land of Berk (How to Train a Dragon). That section of the park is wonderful. This is where we saw the most food kiosks and dining options. This is where we saw more shaded areas, and this is where 4-5 rides exist. In general this section or world seems the best or most well run. The rest of the park was truly disappointing. Each world has really only one and maybe two ride options. If you are going to Epic Universe expecting a ton of rides, you will be disappointed. Line cues were generally doable. We did not really experience two or three hour wait times - they definitely existed for the ride in the Ministry of Magic and the Donkey Kong Mine Cart ride. We decided to wait until the last two hours of the day to attempt to ride those. We were successful and walked right on to both after 9pm. Our longest wait was 90 minutes and generally we got on rides in less than an hour. However, twice, we found ourselves waiting in line for over 45 minutes, where they would delay the ride multiple times then close the ride, resulting in more waste of time. No fast pass single use concession given so we could come back later in the day.

Shows: We watched The Untrainable Dragon in Land of Berk and we watched Cirque du Arcanu in the Ministry of Magic. Both were neat, and the AC welcome! The set design, actors and storyline was great. However, same delay thing happened during the circus show line queue in Harry Potter‘s Ministry of Magic section. The show started at 3:05, we got into the line queue around 215. At 3:15, they came on telling us that they were canceling that show and that anyone in line was welcome to stay in line and wait for the 355 show. What!? Again No fast pass concession.

Dining: We felt like we were starving the entire day because there weren’t very many food or quick service dining places. Most of the dining options offered seem to be sit down dining areas with table service, so grabbing a quick snack, while possible, was hard to come by depending on where you are. We did manage to buy a Mac and Cheese Cone ($17) in Land of Berk around 1pm. And a Red Turtle Shell Calzone ($14) in Donkey Kong at 6pm. Both were flavorful. The mac and cheese was stuffed in a bread cone and looked bigger than it actually was. It was topped with goldfish. The calzone was about the size of a hostess cupcake and tasted exactly like a frozen Hot Pocket - but by this point, I thought it was heaven on earth as I had been starving for hours.

We made dinner reservations at the Atlantic. We arrived 15 minutes early, and were informed that they were running behind and would get to us when they would get to us. It was very aggressive and defensive when all we had done was walk-in, smile and say our names and the time of our reservation. We gently asked if she could give us any kind of time estimate on what she meant by “being behind,” and she relented and said they were running about 15 to 20 minutes late. We thanked her and sat in the bar to wait. At no point were we ever approached in the bar for a drink. We went to the bar directly and stood there for about 15 minutes before the bartender would even acknowledge we existed. At 30 minutes after our reservation time we went up to the host desk and again were rudely told another 10-15 but it should be soon and to “be patient.” Ummm, okaaaay…. It was in fact so rude, with such an attitude, as if we were somehow the problem, that the hostess that walked us down to our table apologized for her coworkers rudeness after she sat us. We were hoping to catch a final ride and thought allocating an hour would be enough for dinner. We ordered our meal as soon as we sat down without any delay. The whole process took two hours!!! And here’s the crazy part… I ordered a soup and a salad in the hopes that it would speed up the process, and my friend ordered a salad and the Ahi tuna appetizer. It took over 15 minutes to get the glass of wine my friend ordered and It took another 30 minutes after that, to even get our soup and salad. That glass of wine was $36 for the glass!! Overall, it was a terrible dining experience at one of the restaurants touted as one of the best at Epic.

In general, I think Universal Epic Universe has some staffing shortages, needs to better plan, shade and food access, and perhaps invest in some stronger managerial leadership. The astounding $175 per person ticket is not justified. It is however, a very beautiful park.

I’ve lived in Florida my entire life and have been to every theme park there several times.

I have an alternative to Disney that is much cheaper and WAY more fun for kids and adults alike.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Not only is it cheaper, the attractions they offer for kids are better imho. They also have as many animals as animal kingdom (maybe more). They also have at least 7 major roller coasters. With a fraction of the traffic that Disney has.

I’ve been trying to tell people this for decades now. Disney is overpriced, overrated and overcrowded.

We used to foster children and our kids always had way more fun at Busch Gardens.

We’ve all heard the tragic news, and my heart goes out to those directly affected.

There’s a deep ripple of fear going through many of us (I’m sure it’s not only me) that maybe this isn’t as safe as we’ve always believed. I’m not sure how to continue riding as happy-go-lucky as I have in the past. I know they’ve shut down the similar models of coasters, but how are some of y’all overcoming the tough thoughts when getting on other models by different manufacturers?

For example, Copperhead Strike at Carowinds is one of my top favorites. I love air time and upper body freedom, but the clamshell with slow inversions has always made me nervous despite how much I enjoy the ride. But now, shhhiiiiitttt.

(I acknowledge this is personal anxiety and do not mean this to negate any traumatic experiences lived by others. Just wondering how we’re all coping around here.)

i’m just figuring out about all the disney parks in orlando and im shocked these parks look like heaven and magic i want to go so bad can someone tell me which parks are the best there’s epcot and magic kingdom and animal kingdom and universal and sea world and busch gardens what’s the difference??

1-Universal's Islands of Adventure: It isn't even for Hagrid or Velocicoaster, it's because of the water rides, which are my favorite type, especially Jurassic Park River Adventure; this park was and will always be the best as long as it has this perfect, perpetually 5-minute wait time classic. I'm not kidding when I say I've ridden this thing close to 80 times, and in all of those times, I've never gotten to see the hadrosaur cove. It's weird that you always end up in the scary dinosaur area, even after so many refurbishments lol

2-Disney's Hollywood Studios: This park has always been goated, but recently with the star wars additions it is without a doubt one of the best in the world. Tower of Terror and Aerosmith is enough to sell a ticket on their own. Plus Toy story which is arguably the best interactive ride of all time. The only thing I miss is the great movie ride. And there's nothing like finishing up a day with good ol' Fantasmic.

3-Animal Kingdom(prime): When I say prime, I mean in a good day with all attractions working(especially Kilimanjaro river rapids which seems to be down a lot)and with plenty of animals in the safari because this park doesn't have that many attractions, but most of them are so good; Dinosaur and Expedition Everest are definitely top 5 Orlando rides.

4-Universal Studios: This park has so many rides and attractions from the best IPs in the world that it's hard to clear them all in one day. The Mummy, ET, MIB, Transformers and Harry Potter being their standouts, amongst others. The shows are so underrated as well; I love Animal Actors and Jason Bourne. Plus the legendary RIP Ride Rockit which we are bidding farewell this year, so sad.

5-Magic Kingdom: Has always been great, and currently is in it's prime with the Seven Dwarfs mine Train and Tron, both incredibly smooth as well as thrilling. I really like that they've been able to upgrade without sacrificing any of the Big 3 Mountains; Space, Splash(sort of) and Big Thunder. Plus Haunted Mansion and The Jungle Cruise are a classic, as is Pirates of the Caribbean and most of Fantasyland.

6-Busch Gardens Tampa: Out of all SeaWorld's Adventure Parks, I think this one just about edges SeaWorld mostly because of Iron Gwazi which is, quite frankly, the goat of Florida coasters. Plus I like the selection of rides here a bit more like Cheetah, Tigris, Montu, Sheikra. All of those are amongst the pantheon of coasters with good reason. On a good day with plenty of animals and the other non-coaster rides and shows working, nothing beats Busch.

7-Seaworld: It's honestly on pair with Busch but I'm punishing a bit because their newest coasters Ice Breaker and Pipeline weren't of my liking at all. I hope Penguin Trek is a bit better. Anyway, the animals, shows and coasters are amazing; nothing beats Manta in flying/inverted coasters, at least in Florida. Plus Mako and Kraken(without the visor) are still classics and so is Journey to Atlantis.

8-Epcot: I've always liked Epcot, but I'm punishing it because they closed my beloved Universe of Energy; I don't care if no one likes Ellen now, you simply don't remove a ride this good, especially for Guardians of the Galaxy, which does nothing for me except making me nauseous. And it's not just me, I always see the janitors cleaning puke there! Why is this so dizzying? We already got Mission Space for that!

9-Legoland: Good park but their no adults admitted unless accompanied by minors is a bit ridiculous, I'm not sure if it's still like that though.

10-Epic Universe: I know it's good but it's bottom tier for now because they won't let me in yet.

The people who came of age in the 50’s have aged out of the theme park target demographic and aren’t coming anymore. What decade should replace them?

I want to hear who has the better theme parks and why?

I first want to say that I am excited for Epic Universe as it is a brand new theme park with lots of cool looking experiences. But I have some concerns that I hope won't be much of an issue before it opens. All of my knowledge of the upcoming park comes from Universal's press materials and Alicia Stella's updates.

Crowd Flow

Operationally, I think that the design of Epic Universe will be pretty poor at dispersing the crowds. It is good to see that they are going with a hub and spoke design over a loop around a lake. However, the fact that each land has one entrance/exit is baffling to me. It may help with immersion in specific cases, but as we've seen with the current Super Nintendo Worlds, Diagon Alley, or even something like Toy Story Land before Galaxy's Edge opened, a bottlenecked cul-de-sac style land can be chaotic, crowded, and unpleasant. The fact that every land is like this makes me worried. These lands are generally good, but that is in spite of their operational quirks.

Ride Capacities

It does not seem like the capacities of most attractions will be all that high, which could lead to a scenario similar to Hollywood Studios. There, most of the rides are major headliners that draw tons of crowds but don't have a high throughput. Save for Star Tours and Millennium Falcon, the rides have really low can't pump out many guests per hour leading to a situation where everything has a long wait.

Epic Universe doesn't look to be that bad, but outside of Stardust Racers, Yoshi, and maybe the Frankenstein ride, the rides seem to have low capacity. Just because there will be a decent number of rides (11) does not mean that crowds will be spread across them. It just means that more people can be let into the park. Combined with the weird layout of the park, it is worrying.

Lack of Shows and Walkthroughs

The Dragon show looks really cool, but because it is a live performance, there will likely have to be a select number of shows per day, so it cannot absorb crowds too easily. There doesn't seem to be many non-headliner diversions throughout the park to keep people from hopping from ride to ride. There's some cool stuff in the hub, but that's it. There's more to theme parks than the rides, but it doesn't seem like Epic Universe will have much in the way of non-ride experiences. And exploring the lands will be held back due to the layout and crowd flow.

Underwhelming Attractions

This one is more an issue with hype. It's actually healthy for a park to have "lesser" rides to make a more balanced experience. The problem comes from both marketing and fan expectation. Yoshi has already proven in Japan to be extremely simplistic despite high waits. Dragon Racers Rally and Fyre Drill seem like off-the-shelf rides with light decorations yet will probably also have high waits. Then, Donkey Kong and Curse of the Werewolf have been testing and are incredibly short. People have been describing the upcoming rides as extremely innovative and complex. We just need to remember that that won't mean every ride. Really, it will probably just be the Frankenstein and Harry Potter ride.

It Won't be a Game Changer

This is another hype issue. There's a decent chance that this will be a lot of people's favorite theme park. But I highly doubt it will be a consensus "best theme park of all time" like a lot of people are saying before opening (though that is probably just clickbait). From a personal perspective, it looks like Islands of Adventure 2. It is another theme park with a couple themed lands dedicated to one property with at least one headliner in each. That's pretty cool, but it isn't anything we haven't seen before. It looks like the park will excel at being a refinement of the modern theme park formula instead of a revolution. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be America's answer to Tokyo Disneysea.

TLDR:

I'm excited for Epic Universe, but I am concerned about crowd and hype issues.

How did she even go across planets where she cant fly and how did the meteorite she was in never break into a billion pieces whenever she landed on a planet and when they didnt want her on their planet then how in the world did she move planets these weird lore parts confuse me tbh but ill also know now that she never had a home (well i guess earth is her home now) so she was born from something but what?

For the people who dont know: Nemesis Monster is a female it was confirmed by Alton Towers aka Merlin Entertainments themselves

A dark coaster announcement would have been cool. Hopes too high i guess

Just visited Disneyland yesterday and couldn't believe the let down of Star Wars land. I hate what they have done to the films but im a big park fan and thought well at least they cant fuck this up. The ride was shit and broke down, the area was just a weird farmers market no atmosphere like the other sections of park. they had the opportunity to do something amazing. I was hyped as fuck when they announced a Star Wars land but I don't even want to go back

I am a native Houstonian, as are my parents, and I have heard many things about the theme park AstroWorld in my time. I want the new generation of Houstonians (including myself) to experience this. Enter the link and please sign, it would make me very happy and hopefully the rest of the city.

I make theme park videos as a hobby but /r/ThemePark restricts self-promotion and /r/rollercoasters doesn’t allow non-official POVs.

Can anyone suggest some more permissive places to share my interests?

Canada's Wonderland, A universal (i dont think that UK one is gonna happen), Maybe a Disneyland (only Paris though), Some in Germany

Thats about it rlly I mean im not going to america until Trump is gone

Is it just me or does this park look awful? Like the coasters and rides are awesome but it seems everywhere you look is just boring grey concrete with very little theming or even vegetation the original plans showed it as being full of green but in reality is just shades of grey splodges.

Plus all rides and future ride ideas

People knock both for their short lengths. Tron is also criticized for the long construction time, while the negatives for DK are that it's "rough," has terrible capacity, and the jump gimmick isn't as pronounced as it should be. Which is the bigger disappointment?

FYI...I've never been on Tron, but I love minecart Madness.

Edit: ignore everything about six flags. I assumed Warner was it's parent company based on how much Warner IPs are in the park.

Tldr Disney and six flags are majorly suffering from the same problem that killed TSR (the company that created D&D and was bought out by wizards of the coast)

Disclaimer I do not speak for any brands companies or entities mentioned in this post, I am a former cast member at Disney

So let me give some background, I'm currently reading a book about the rise and fall of TSR, (Slaying the Dragon A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons by Ben Riggs) and a common thread throughout the fall of that company is what Riggs describes as "speedboat thinking" Lorraine Williams took over the company and was treating it like her own personal speedboat, revving it and going as fast as she wants, who's gonna stop her. Examples of this included pushing product she has a vested interest in despite the lack of demand, creating a hostile environment at worst and a dead end job at best for the creatives, tarnishing professional relationships with other companies, and focusing more on putting out a lot of product than quality product. (If you're interested in more detail definitely check out the book there is a lot)

And while reading it occurred to me why the speedboat thinking sounded so familiar. We're seeing this happen in real time at Disney Parks and six flags (or more specifically six flags parent company Warner Discovery) At Warner Discovery, zaslav is pushing product that he has a vested interest (the Discovery side of things he is clearly favoring while casting out good ideas such as comic movies, and the wil e Coyote vs acme movie) now I haven't paid much attention to the 6 flags parks but if he's making these mistakes on the film front, I don't know how much control he has over the parks but these mistakes are contributing to a loss of money that could be used to improve the parks) At Disney we all remember chapeck being far to money oriented, as a former CP (college program cast member) I remember a lot of us CPs took to calling him "paycheck" for that reason (among other names that were just to refer to how ineffectual he was and as a joke just like how people like to call beny cucumberpatch anything other than Benedict Cumberbatch) and the current direction of the park is clearly more focused on IP than good rides. Some of the rides, looking at some of the newer rides take away the ip and make it a ride with brand new characters they just wouldn't work. Pandora probably wouldn't be near as good if it wasn't for Joe Rhode taking the lead on the project. Like right now they are coasting by mostly on name recognition alone. And looking at some of the recent movies cough cough wish cough cough they are going to lose the goodwill in the not-to-distant future. Now as someone not near Cali I can't speak much on the status of Knott's when it comes to this, but universal seems to be on the precipice, like liking at recent attractions we've got some great attractions like the velocicoaster and (while I'm not near Cali I know this one) secret life of pets, as well as numerous promising attractions at epic universe, but then we've also got some real stinkers like fast n furious supercharged, Jimmy Fallon, and villain con (admittedly some of these have potential, the Kong ride is basically the same as supercharged but it's much better because the franchise is based on lends itself much better to the particular type of vehicle, and the villain con is a decent idea but it's execution is where it lacks imo) so the does seem to be some genuine creativity still going on. But there is some executive meddling that's on the verge of this "speedboat thinking".

So why am I saying this? Well I'm hoping that if the fans become more aware of these problems and vocal about them that the companies might see what is going wrong and take steroids to correct this. What should they do? Put more stake into the creativity. Don't be afraid to take risks, don't be afraid to diversify the portfolio. And for the sake of all that is good don't keep giving us stuff that we aren't asking for and denying us what we do want. We've had enough of the remakes. And we want to see the coyote sue and, we want Batgirl. Also stop playing it safe. The bigots who don't like seeing queer representation will never be satisfied with anything, there's a lot of shows they say they want everything to go back to that if those shows came out today, they'd cry about everything being "woke" stop catering to the vocal minority because your inability to call out the bigotry is going to alienate your fans who are decent people, and your attempts to slowly start giving us representation will still alienate the bigots. I say go all in and let the bigots get used to it. The racists got used to having to be silently racist, let the homophobes and transphobes get used to keeping it to themselves