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Universal Epic Universe - New Florida Theme Park

Hope you get to ride it chaps. Its my number 1 coaster.

Day time it didnt quite make top spot but still top 5 but the dueling night ride is out of this world (pun intended).

Im sure whatever the issue is, they will have it sorted. Seems like its reopening March 16th so it cant be anything too major.
 
Benjsh said:
Hope you get to ride it chaps. Its my number 1 coaster.

Day time it didnt quite make top spot but still top 5 but the dueling night ride is out of this world (pun intended).

Im sure whatever the issue is, they will have it sorted. Seems like its reopening March 16th so it cant be anything too major.
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If I don’t then there’s the incentive for a return trip

I’m already salty that the Jurassic river ride will be closed when we are there
 
Josh555 said:
I think what you meant to say is so long as it’s open by April when I visit they can tinker all they want. :D
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Closure extended to 6th April now. Hope you’ve started crossing various appendages..

Wonder what’s happened with it to need such a long maintenance window
 
dave___ said:
Closure extended to 6th April now. Hope you’ve started crossing various appendages..

Wonder what’s happened with it to need such a long maintenance window
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Yeah I saw.

To be honest I’m not that worried. It will be annoying but I’m actually more looking forward to the dark rides there than Stardust. I can get my fill of launched coasters on Velocicoaster and the time I’m going is supposed to be reasonably quiet so hopefully it doesn’t damage capacity too much.

I’ve been following the construction of Epic for 6 years now and this is the trip I finally get to go, if one of the rides which wasn’t top my agenda is down then it’s not the end of the world.

Having said that I hope they sort it, you’d think they would do by then as it’s a further 3 weeks after the new reopening date before I leave.
 
With Stardust and Hyperia both suffering from extensive downtime in their opening periods will this have any impact on other parks investing in custom models/new features from
Mack Or is it pretty standard for new coasters?

I don’t remember Mandrill as the first launched boomerang wing coaster from B&M having many issues.
 
Stardust racers is not down due to downtime issues- universal have stated it’s down due to having its annual scheduled maintenance and also having some upgrades to improve its capacity further - it’s the improvements that are taking longer than initially planned. If it was just the annual maintenance it would have reopened as originally scheduled.
 
Maelstrom said:
Stardust racers is not down due to downtime issues- universal have stated it’s down due to having its annual scheduled maintenance and also having some upgrades to improve its capacity further - it’s the improvements that are taking longer than initially planned. If it was just the annual maintenance it would have reopened as originally scheduled.
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So, just to clarify... the ride isn't suffering from unplanned downtime; it's just that the planned downtime is taking an unplanned amount of time because of unforeseen issues?

Glad we cleared that up.
 
Maelstrom said:
Stardust racers is not down due to downtime issues- universal have stated it’s down due to having its annual scheduled maintenance and also having some upgrades to improve its capacity further - it’s the improvements that are taking longer than initially planned. If it was just the annual maintenance it would have reopened as originally scheduled.
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The original "scheduled maintenance" was for 3 days in February, it has since been extended 3 times and will have been closed for 6 weeks if it opens on the latest advertised date. Seems quite an error of planning.
 
Bowser said:
The original "scheduled maintenance" was for 3 days in February, it has since been extended 3 times and will have been closed for 6 weeks if it opens on the latest advertised date. Seems quite an error of planning.
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Yes it does indicate something has gone wrong. My previous post is what Universal have stated in a press update. I assume what ever update they have done is now causing some issues. However the ride from opening has been fairly reliable for such a large scale coaster open every day, with lengthy operating hours and no worse than most major new coasters from other manufacturers.

So I wouldn’t say I can see many issues with others not ordering this type of coaster from Mack. While Intamin have had much worse issues in the past (although they seem much more reliable in recent times) they are still selling very well and did at the peak of their problems- even if a few like cedar fair seem to be avoiding them.
 
Bowser said:
The original "scheduled maintenance" was for 3 days in February, it has since been extended 3 times and will have been closed for 6 weeks if it opens on the latest advertised date. Seems quite an error of planning.
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What I would say is I am sure that whatever is in their statement will be true for the simple reason that I highly doubt that they would say anything untrue given the recent history of the ride. Of course they could be omitting other key facts from it!

If it is reliant on parts or whatever then it may explain it, I remember about 10 years ago oblivion was down for ages due to, I think, a lift hill part being needed.
 
Maelstrom said:
However the ride from opening has been fairly reliable for such a large scale coaster open every day, with lengthy operating hours and no worse than most major new coasters from other manufacturers.

So I wouldn’t say I can see many issues with others not ordering this type of coaster from Mack. While Intamin have had much worse issues in the past (although they seem much more reliable in recent times) they are still selling very well and did at the peak of their problems- even if a few like cedar fair seem to be avoiding them.
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Describing a flagship, brand new attraction which has already suffered a fatal incident, followed by a subsequent period of extended, unexplained downtime, as "reliable" is a bit of a stretch... If this is the benchmark for operational success, I shudder to think what a failure looks like.
Josh555 said:
What I would say is I am sure that whatever is in their statement will be true for the simple reason that I highly doubt that they would say anything untrue given the recent history of the ride.
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Just like it must be true when a restaurant says they're currently closed for an exciting menu reimagining, because I highly doubt they'd lie given they were shut down by Environmental Health last year.

The reality is the exact opposite. Extreme liability breeds extreme self preservation. It's precisely because of that history that their public statements will be meticulously scrubbed by an army of lawyers. They won't outright lie, as that invites further litigation, but they will absolutely deploy weapons grade euphemisms, corporate jargon and strategic omissions to protect the share price. You don't get radical transparency from a corporation engaged in damage control. You do get heavily managed narratives though.
Josh555 said:
If it is reliant on parts or whatever then it may explain it, I remember about 10 years ago oblivion was down for ages due to, I think, a lift hill part being needed.
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Ten years ago was 2016, Oblivion had already been operating for 18 years. It's entirely reasonable for an 18 year old coaster to experience extended downtime while waiting for bespoke, legacy parts to be fabricated or sourced.

Stardust Racers is a brand new, state of the art installation which hasn't even seen its first anniversary. Comparing the supply chain logistics and expected uptime of a ride old enough to legally buy a pint to a coaster that's still practically wrapped in cling film is quite the false equivalence.

If Mack and Universal are waiting "ages" for parts on a brand new ride, it's an engineering and contractual failure, not a routine maintenance quirk... which is what @Bowser was originally suggesting, by comparing Hyperia's track record.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Describing a flagship, brand new attraction which has already suffered a fatal incident, followed by a subsequent period of extended, unexplained downtime, as "reliable" is a bit of a stretch... If this is the benchmark for operational success, I shudder to think what a failure looks like.

Just like it must be true when a restaurant says they're currently closed for an exciting menu reimagining, because I highly doubt they'd lie given they were shut down by Environmental Health last year.

The reality is the exact opposite. Extreme liability breeds extreme self preservation. It's precisely because of that history that their public statements will be meticulously scrubbed by an army of lawyers. They won't outright lie, as that invites further litigation, but they will absolutely deploy weapons grade euphemisms, corporate jargon and strategic omissions to protect the share price. You don't get radical transparency from a corporation engaged in damage control. You do get heavily managed narratives though.

Ten years ago was 2016, Oblivion had already been operating for 18 years. It's entirely reasonable for an 18 year old coaster to experience extended downtime while waiting for bespoke, legacy parts to be fabricated or sourced.

Stardust Racers is a brand new, state of the art installation which hasn't even seen its first anniversary. Comparing the supply chain logistics and expected uptime of a ride old enough to legally buy a pint to a coaster that's still practically wrapped in cling film is quite the false equivalence.

If Mack and Universal are waiting "ages" for parts on a brand new ride, it's an engineering and contractual failure, not a routine maintenance quirk... which is what @Bowser was originally suggesting, by comparing Hyperia's track record.
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My point is that given someone has already died on the ride the park will not be saying something which is untrue publicly. The reason for that, is, as you’ve said, they will have carefully crafted statements written by people ensuring that they do not get sued. It’s not that I ‘highly doubt’ that they would lie on the basis of morality, it’s because the stakes could not be higher for them to ensure that they won’t be getting sued.

As I said myself that does not mean that they are not omitting key things which may also be true. What I would take from the fact that the reopening date continues to be extended on the basis of relatively short time frames is that the park does not envisage a long term delay (ie months) as they are opening themselves up to complaints by falsely setting expectations if they are knowingly setting deadlines which they cannot meet - hence I think it’s probably a parts delay.

I’ve not suggested that there isn’t a fault with the manufacturing, I wouldn’t know enough to comment. I’m just simply making the point that new parts can take time to produce, sometimes longer than initially envisaged.

If your point is that it isn’t normal for a ride of this age to be closed for this length of time, for any reason, then I would agree.
 
pluk said:
It's clearly knackered in a way a new ride should not be knackered.

This and hyperia must be two if the highest profile Mack customer installations of recent times, and they've both been beset with issues. Not a great look for them.
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Indeed

It’s a shame B&Ms quality seems to have dropped away slightly as they remain the consistency kings imo
 
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