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Universal Epic Universe - New Florida Theme Park

Danny said:
Epic's opening times are being extended to 10pm from 27th onward:

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More time for Celestial Park and Stardust Racers at night? Delicious.
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Looks like the 10pm finishes on August 17th (The Day I fly to Florida ironically)

Still showing as 8pm finish after the above date but hopefully that will be extended closer to the time. Most likely won't go past 9pm though with kids back in school.
 
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I think they have dropped the ball with Epic Universe opening, I really do. :(

I am still excited for my visit next month don't get me wrong but some of those rides above shouldn't be getting 90min to 2 hour waits. Fyre Drill, Yoshi n Curse of the Werewolf wouldn't be worth waiting longer than 20-30 mins for in my opinion from what i have seen about them. Pretty tame rides and largely forgetful.

This park needed to open with at least 2 more major rides and possibly another huge show I think to soak up the queues. There's clearly just not enough capacity right now to handle the demand. The quicker they add phase 2 projects the better really.
 
Benjsh said:
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I think they have dropped the ball with Epic Universe opening, I really do. :(

I am still excited for my visit next month don't get me wrong but some of those rides above shouldn't be getting 90min to 2 hour waits. Fyre Drill, Yoshi n Curse of the Werewolf wouldn't be worth waiting longer than 20-30 mins for in my opinion from what i have seen about them. Pretty tame rides and largely forgetful.

This park needed to open with at least 2 more major rides and possibly another huge show I think to soak up the queues. There's clearly just not enough capacity right now to handle the demand. The quicker they add phase 2 projects the better really.
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I’m planning a Florida visit next August which will have two days at Epic. I’m sorely hoping they manage to sort something by then; these wait times are really something.
 
I was working in Florida recently and deliberately scheduled in found myself with a free day. I had planned to go to Epic but after looking at the queue times in the days before I went to Magic Kingdom instead. No regrets.
 
John said:
I was working in Florida recently and deliberately scheduled in found myself with a free day. I had planned to go to Epic but after looking at the queue times in the days before I went to Magic Kingdom instead. No regrets.
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We are visiting in the first week / second week back of the new school year so hoping the crowds die down a tad. Im sure they will do as well but still expecting long waits for the majority rides. We've got a 2nd day at the end of our holiday to go back and experience what we didn't do first time. Think its definitely going to be needed.
 
My universal part falls into the final week of the current 10pm closes. I move over to Disney on the 15th. I am glad I now have a couple of days with express for my trip in August but as I said before I know that cost wise that’s not a realistic option for many if paying for a whole family, which I am not.

I have read this week mine cart madness has been removed from early entry now as well. Although they do open the rides in dark universe now as well for early entry.
 
Given the Ministry's reliability and extensive queues throughout the day, I'd recommend heading over as soon as the gates open. That way, you'll be off it without eating up too much time once the park officially opens at 10. It worked great for me.
 
Danny said:
Given the Ministry's reliability and extensive queues throughout the day, I'd recommend heading over as soon as the gates open. That way, you'll be off it without eating up too much time once the park officially opens at 10. It worked great for me.
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I won't be spending my entire early access hour waiting for a ride to open that I then might have to wait a further 60-90 mins for when it does actually open at 10am.

Seen it drop to 75-90 mins later on in the evening. Thinking I might take my chances and experience the entire park first. Thankfully I have the luxury of a second day visit to ride it if I don't manager to get on it day one.
 
By all accounts reliability on battle of the ministry has drastically improved since the previews and first few weeks of opening, along side much higher capacity. Often a few hours after opening other rides will have a longer wait such as Mario Kart (normally the longest wait in the park) even the lower capacity rides like Frye Drill can have a longer wait in the afternoon.
 
Seen Fyre Drill get to 90 mins to 2 hrs of late. I know its incredibly hot in Florida but im not waiting longer than 15-20mins for a splash battle. Crazy.
 
Benjsh said:
Looks like the 10pm finishes on August 17th (The Day I fly to Florida ironically)

Still showing as 8pm finish after the above date but hopefully that will be extended closer to the time. Most likely won't go past 9pm though with kids back in school.
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Hours have now been extended from the 18th to 24th August. 18th now 10pm and 19th to 24th now 9pm instead of 8pm.
 
Queue times once again look very doable at the weekend. They werent terrible yesterday on Saturday and are slightly better today.

Would appear human psychology is really playing a part. Most people are going Wednesday n Thursday expecting a quieter day and are mostly getting the exact opposite.
 
I often see people ask on holiday planning site I use what to at the weekend as avoiding visiting the parks. But in the many visits I have had to Orlando I have never avoided the park at the weekend and have never noticed much difference from a week day at Universal and Disney. Seaworld and Busch are busier but they capture a larger % of their guests from locals vs Disney and universal. Water parks in summer can be busier at weekends and Epcot on Friday and Saturday nights but other than that not much noticeable difference. In fact MK was alot busier on the Monday I went last time vs the Saturday.

Sorry off topic but it’s best to actually visit MK on a Halloween party night as although shuts at 6pm the crowds are so much lighter than non party days. What I do is visit on a party day for day time visits to MK and just go one evening on a non party day for fireworks and nighttime visit.
 
Trend definitely seems be continuing. Monday comes around and there is a 37% increase in attendance from the weekend according to thrill data.

Bit annoying really for us as we have a hotel booked Mon - Friday at Dockside in August.
 
Benjsh said:
Queue times once again look very doable at the weekend. They werent terrible yesterday on Saturday and are slightly better today.

Would appear human psychology is really playing a part. Most people are going Wednesday n Thursday expecting a quieter day and are mostly getting the exact opposite.
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Also a lot of people fly in and out at the weekend, or change hotels/resorts. So I think weekends have always been a bit quieter in the Florida theme parks as they are the arrival/departure days.
 
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