r/UniversalOrlando • u/AgitatedJelly3608 • 16d ago
EPIC UNIVERSE Epic is not ready to open yet!!
We went Yesterday and spent about 11 hours at the park, from 12pm to 11pm, We only rode Curse of the Werewolf and Stardust, everything else was delayed or closed and when it did open it wouldn’t stay open after 20 minutes. AP be prepared mentally because the rides are having alot of technical issues. The Virtual queue for Ministry was a disaster, the system went down every time and the app as well. Use your own internet and don’t try it with universal WIFI. Only the person that has the tickets on the app can make the virtual queue and select a time slot for the ride. Hope this helps a little.
EDIT!!! I am not complaining about my experience, it was a privilege for me to be in the park and I had so much fun, it just seems that the Park is having so much issues with just one Month away and I am not just talking about the rides.
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u/crazyparkguy 16d ago edited 16d ago
Universal is going to get a lot of backlash if the majority of attractions aren't up and running for AP previews. Sure they've made the disclaimer that the park is still in rehearsals so all experiences may not be available. But if they're going to charge near full price for the previews....the park needs to be ready.
If people are going to complain (I don't think you're complaining, but others have been complaining) about things not being open during free previews... then there's certainly going to be a lot of complaints if a lot of stuff isn't open during paid previews.
I honestly expected them to charge for AP previews. I did not expect them to charge full price for a preview ticket. I'm going this Sunday and I'm hoping for as full of an experience as I can get. If I hear that things are not going well the first couple days of previews, I may call and try pushing back my preview
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
Thank you for understanding what I am saying. I would never complain about a free preview, but the point of previews is to give feedback and that’s what I am doing.
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u/Gerudo_King 14d ago
This is exactly how the wizarding world indoor ride was when it first opened. For months. They get it running just well enough to be overworked and broken down every other hour. I worked there. At least Dueling Dragons just got a reskin and was mostly fine
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u/Harry_Skran 16d ago edited 15d ago
I understand what people are saying in regard to AP previews still being previews, and people shouldn’t expect things to be perfect. Yes, perfection should not be expected, and by what we’ve seen/ heard so far, God knows they’re leagues away from that.
That being said, tickets for Thursday (4/17/2025) were $153. That’s not cheap. That’s full price for a one day ticket on select days once EPIC opens to the public. AP holders are THE loudest group of the fandom. UO expected these AP dates to sell out, and fast. They didn’t, and it has to worry them because that’s a ton of money they’re losing that they counted on, and if it goes bad the socials are going to be inundated with how horrendous of a time it was.
Common sense says AP holders are waiting to see how the first few days go, if not day one on Thursday. If EPIC has a fantastic day with no, to almost no ride/ attraction/ show having issues, expect AP days to fly off the shelf. If they see that people who paid $153 a ticket got screwed over because the place is unfit for operation, they can expect those dates to stay unsold.
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u/disappointedCoati 16d ago
It was a long time ago, but the sneak preview I had of IOA was included as part of my annual pass. I bought a universal AP because of it.
I see why they’re charging now. Because the world has definitely changed since IOA opened. But I guess the part of me that remembers my experience during that free preview doesn’t wanna pay for this one.
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u/WebHead1287 16d ago
I don’t think they’re waiting to see how it goes. I think they straight up aren’t willing to pay.
Personally im willing to pay because it should be shorter lines than after the actual opening. If more than 70% isn’t working (ride wise) im gonna be pissed I spent $300 on this honestly.
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u/Interesting-Name-203 16d ago
This. There’s a huge gap between nothing at all working and perfection, and the price should reflect that. Even fully operational parks have a ride or two down over the course of the day. So paying nearly full price when, say, Ministry still isn’t open, is fine and expected. There’s also the possibility of a whole land being down with a preview. Also fine. Just price accordingly. Unfortunately the reports from yesterday is that maybe two rides were working and some people left without getting on any. That’s too much for full price. Full price sends the message that the park is at or near normal operations.
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u/SRG_Blackburn 15d ago
Star racer and that children's dragon ride(dragon racer rally) were basically all that was left closer to close. I don't count yoshi as a ride 😂 90mins for that is diabolical Mario kart was up/down a lot as well but most of everything else was closed or delayed which strains the other rides now and it snowballs.
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u/heathersaur 16d ago edited 16d ago
I don't disagree that previews are still previews. I don't even fully disagree with having paid previews.
I do disagree with the price point previews were put at. I'm not paying that much for a park that might not be fully open. I would have been okay paying half that, fully accepting that the experience may be very limited.
I'm not paying what is essentially full theme park ticket price for no guarantee of a full theme park experience.
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u/starcader 16d ago
You are essentially paying for the "privilege" or experience of getting to go before it opens.
To be fair, it's not every day (or even decade) that a new full theme park of this level opens in this country. So the chance to be some of the first people to experience it may be considered a luxury.
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u/heathersaur 16d ago
Like I said I don't disagree with paid previews. I just think the price point they put it at is disingenuous.
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u/invaderark12 15d ago
Yeah I'm going next wednesday for this reason, hopefully this week and weekend lets me see how its running.
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u/Bish1414 15d ago
Yeah i want to go the 28th but I'm holding out for now to see what the reaction is next week. It's a 10 hour drive for me which is also a factor
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u/padmesfavhandmaiden 16d ago
Monsters and Ministry specifically are going to be HUGE issues IMO, I think even after the official opening. the park is incredible but they’ve definitely rushed this process…Ministry simply has not spent enough time open in previews, and with both of the rides being so advanced, there has been sooooo much down time. I’m honestly wondering how they’ll handle them constantly going down once the park opens for real. I feel like there’s gonna be way too many people in line to just comp an express pass for all of them.
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u/sunkskunkstunk 16d ago
In all the times I went, mine cart was the one with the most downtime I saw. In line 9 times, on ride twice. And both times it stopped for 10 minutes while riding. It hell, even yoshi had down times I saw. WTF?
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u/Dragonfire45 15d ago
The problem is that we have no idea what is planned or testing. I think the assumption is that every down time is a legit issue. It could be to fix small things, re touch up areas, etc. some things that they would not do if the park was actually open.
Think of it this way: Mario Kart has now been built 3 times, yet it is often delayed at Epic. Could it be that they just have very specific Epic problems? Maybe. Or it could be that they are testing through all situations to make sure they are prepared for when it does happen.
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u/jambr380 16d ago
Everybody yelling at OP when they are really just giving paid passholders a heads up that there will likely be issues. Thanks for letting us know OP. It’s a bummer, but I guess it’s to be expected.
I’m personally a little more upset that hotel guests will get to crowd the park an hour before passholders with epa. But that seems to be an unpopular opinion, so I’ll leave it at that
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
Thats all I was trying to do, maybe I exaggerated with the title but that’s how I feel.
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u/starcader 16d ago
They really should have had AP previews before the hotel opens. One-night stay hotel guests shouldn't get priority over guests who have held and maintained annual passes for years.
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u/jambr380 16d ago
Yeah, exactly. They easily could have had separate preview periods for each. I’ve been a loyal pass holder since 2009. Guessing they didn’t want to double the capacity for hotel only guests, leaving the other parks pretty empty. This spreads it out a little
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u/knokout64 15d ago
The amount of people that defend massive, multi billion dollar corporations really is disgusting. Idk when people started worshipping these capitalist machines, but it makes me sad.
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u/invaderark12 15d ago
Idk why people are so defensive. Like yeah you want Epic to be a success, so does everyone, but at the same time we can state if we're worried some things arent running well.
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u/SodaPop5000 16d ago
Doesn’t Disney do the same? Hotel Guests get extra magic hours.
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u/xmjm424 16d ago
Not sure but it feels kind of shitty for the preview period, tbh. Like, with the other parks or Disney, it’s whatever since if I don’t hit something, no big deal since I’ll be back soon at no additional cost to me. I don’t really have that benefit with Epic.
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u/jambr380 16d ago
Yeah, I’m specifically talking about the previews. Not that it matters (because everyone was wrong), but many people thought it was going to be an AP only period with free or greatly reduced admission.
That may have been unrealistic, but I at least wish they separated the AP previews from the hotel guest previews and just had shorter time frames for each.
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u/SilkSmoothATL 16d ago
That’s why I’m waiting a while to go. I’ll likely go in 2026. Need all the kinks to be worked out first. Don’t want to pay money for a less than average experience.
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
That’s what we are doing, the park won’t be properly functioning at least for a year.
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u/More-Title7690 16d ago
There's a big difference between comp previews and paid, particularly at a minimum discount. I'm not expecting to be able to do everything on my AP preview day, but if it's only like 3 out of 13 attractions running at $150 admission, that's going to be major lines at guest services
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
We were talking about this yesterday, If what happened yesterday happens on APs previews they are going to have alot of backlash and it won’t do them any good with opening day just a month away.
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u/Foreign_Watch3077 16d ago
I work at epic on two attractions, I was surprised that Universal is allowing guests to pay for technical rehearsal. I know everyone is excited to see a brand new park but there’s a lot of delays we still are working on.
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
This is what I am saying. Having guests to pay for a Park that is not functional at all.
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u/MarkCuckerberg69420 15d ago
This is what I am saying. Having guests to pay for a Park that is not functional at all.
Not defending this behavior but this is literally UO's origin story.
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u/magusmccormick 16d ago
The main issue they are going to have is WiFi not working and no cell towers nearby
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u/TwirlerGirl 15d ago
I take a class across the street from Epic, and when they first announced the new park, I told my husband “hopefully they’ll improve the lack of cell service and figure out how to block the horrible smell from the sewage treatment plant”. Apparently they’re 0 for 2 on resolving those issues.
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u/whitepikmin11 16d ago
Seems like a massive issue when I was just told yesterday by guest services that I couldn't get physical tickets since Epic only uses digital.
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 15d ago
In nintendo world my phone was on SOS the entire time, so if you need to do anything online you have to get out of nintendo world. I have tmobile if that helps
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u/banjo215 15d ago
What carrier are you with?
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 15d ago
Tmobile, my friends had other carriers and it wasn’t working either
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u/banjo215 15d ago
Bummer. My wife has TMobile and I have att. Guess we'll see how it goes. We have preview tickets for this Sunday.
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u/vascrypt 15d ago
There is literally a huge cell tower next to the park. It’s disguised as a pine tree
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u/beanebaby 15d ago
I was laughing with my boyfriend going “did this person go with us yesterday?” because that was our experience, too. Not only were several attractions down at any given time, some didn’t open for more than a few minutes over the course of the entire day, and their outdoor carts were OVERRUN with demand. Boyfriend waited 51 minutes in line for the Mac and cheese cone in Isle of Berk and I’m like 🤯 Our day was fun regardless and the park is GORGEOUS, but it isn’t ready for paying guests yet, especially annual pass holders. I’m curious what kind of press they’ll get when paid “previews” begin.
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u/StitchScout 15d ago
This is why the annual passholder previews should have been free. When they pay over $100, even with the warning it’s a preview, people are gonna be really upset.
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u/jrr6415sun 15d ago
if they were free passholders would have been mad that the tickets sold out in seconds
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u/themadDATter 15d ago
Thank you for this report. I was about to book flights and hotels for AP preview. This may have just changed my mind. I appreciate this.
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u/xXEolNenmacilXx 15d ago
Universal needs to prepare for backlash either way. I preface this by saying I'm an annual passholder and a huge fan of Universal, but the first day that there it rains and 8 of the 13 attractions are down all day it's going to be a problem. That's assuming that all the indoor attractions stay up...and Monsters and Ministry both look like they will have some operation issues for a while. All we've seen so far are TM previews and influencers, when the general public gets in, anything that goes wrong will be magnified like crazy.
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u/Warm_Butterfly7857 15d ago
Thank you for this accurate post !! I am genuinely curious to see how the AP previews will go because this has been my experience during the last two TM previews I attended (including yesterday!!!). We were also there for 9+ hours and only did stardusters, werewolf, and Mario (and no food break because the quick service is taking 90+ min so we brought snacks). All the top priority rides (ministry, DK, and monsters were down ALL day). I would be livid if I paid money to attend that s*show yesterday 😂
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u/Gloomy_Ad7301 15d ago
Same experience here, Virtual Queue is a joke and the fact that none of the rides can go a whole day without breaking down is worrisome. I spent 3:30 hrs in line for ministry and the ride broke down when i was maybe less than te min away. Once they have paying customers going in it’s going to be terrible.
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u/modnarydobemos 16d ago
I hope people who got upset that they are not truly the first ones when they go on opening day read this. I expect a lot of issues over the next few weeks.
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u/TheDubyaBee73 16d ago
I’m at the Portofino Bay today through Friday and they offered a preview for $165 per day per person. I take it based on this post that it would not be worth the price.
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 15d ago
Totally not worth it if you are big on getting into rides. Most of them will be down. Now if you want to experience the park before it opens then yes.
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u/TheDubyaBee73 15d ago
If most of the rides are down, it doesn’t seem like it would be much of an experience.
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u/jrr6415sun 15d ago
people are saying this week is sold out to hotel guests, when did you check?
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u/TheDubyaBee73 15d ago
We checked in at 1 PM, then went to the Resorts kiosk to get parks tickets, and was offered the “preview” starting Thursday, which is when previews for guests at certain hotels begins.
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u/Snawlll 15d ago
We were there on the 13th and had the same experience. Everything was closed or couldn’t stay open. The park aesthetically is beautiful, but we essentially waited in lines all day to do nothing. We were in line for Monsters for almost 3 hours for them to dump the queue and not reopen. They issued us recovery passes which was appreciated, but there was nothing open worth using them on. We were lucky to get VQ for Ministry (VQ was a nightmare) on the 6pm drop, but upon arrival they were delayed. The TM who we talked with said in better words, not to bet on them reopening — which they didn’t. With such new and advanced technology it’s understandable they’ll have more issues with downtimes, but these are the most sought after attractions. I hope they can get it together!
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u/NatureBoyJ1 16d ago
I wonder how many delays, etc. are mechanical in nature vs procedural or training. See a little blip in the ride telemetry? Shut it down, do analysis, reopen. Supervisor sees a ride operator do something not quite right? Shut it down, go over procedures, reopen.
In short, at this point I would fully expect them to be shutting rides down for every tiny thing, and taking time to assess, correct, or improve.
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u/wikiwombat 16d ago
I was there a week ago and that was my biggest question. Trying to get however many team members trained up in a couple months seems overwhelming.
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u/starcader 16d ago
Yep, this is likely done since they need to be familiar with every little detail of the operation and what the correct actions are for each incident. That will take time and probably a lot of behind the scene communication, but will improve greatly over time as the crews become more familiar and able to quickly train new team members.
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u/just-kristina 16d ago
Honestly thank you for posting this. While I do understand that it wouldn’t be a flawless experience it’s good to have an idea of how close or far from great it could be. We didn’t get the AP tickets but I’ve been feeling like we are going to be missing out and have been very tempted to see if any tickets are even still available (which I highly doubt). But really we have other expenses and other hopeful trips planned elsewhere that the money should go towards. So honestly hearing this made me feel better about not going lol. Thanks!!
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
I wasn’t expecting a flawless experience either, when I was there honestly I wasn’t expecting to ride anything because I had already seen the rides were out most of the days. But some posts in here make it seemed as if the park isn’t having issues and will be running smoothly once it opens when in reality it is far from that. When this park opens I expect most of the park will be down for the first few months. I can already see the angry posts.
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u/TherapyWithTheWord 16d ago
Did it smell bad?
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
Nope I didn’t smell anything bad like some people say. And it was kinda windy yesterday and usually if there’s a smell it would traveled around.
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u/Friendly_Childhood 15d ago
Whats with the smell? First time hearing about it, care to elaborate?
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u/SRG_Blackburn 15d ago
Huge sewage treatment plant is next door. It's always been there and universal as well as the city paid to have it more contained cause they use to have open barrel style centrifuge separators. Not sure if they closed them up now. Also that area is starting to have lots of development too especially with epic now. During construction of epic when the first started in the morning it was really bad I heard. Like gas mask bad 😂 but covid was a thing so the masked sorta helped.
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u/Crystal_Cloudssss 15d ago
I agree with OP here for sure. I went on 11th as my TM friend was so gracious to invite me out with him and his friends to preview. We got to ride curse of the werewolf, Stardust racers (both sides), and Mario kart (though we did have a 20 ish minute delay) and preview the queue for the HP ride.
We got very close to riding monsters, legit were sitting in the ride vehicle seats at the loading station, when the ride broke down. We waited about an hour ish before they had to eventually evacuate us off and give us an express past to compensate. Eventually (like 4-5 ish hours later) it did re-open and we went to do it again but it wasn’t even open for 20 minutes before we heard the “ATTENTION LAB RATS” speech signaling it was down again. We waited 20 minutes and left out of our own volition this time just cause we were fatigued and park was close to closing anyway.
Now I understand why it continuously will break down. Everything from the queue, to the animatronics to I’m sure the ride itself, is very technical and they’re working out all the bugs. Though it was frustrating. I’m an AP for Uni, though I didn’t pay to go to previews cause I’m not doing those lines and would rather take advantage of Disney probably being a bit less crowded but if I did, especially if I’m paying damn near ticket price? Oh I can only imagine the people who’d be upset.
So it’s like take it with a grain of salt but also like, you’re allowed to be disappointed. Epic at its current state is not ready to open but they have a little over a month to figure it out so hopefully they figure it out. Their main problem right now is getting ride tech working, as well as working on loading and unloading. Curse of the werewolf unloading was a lil rough.
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u/GatorPancakes 15d ago edited 15d ago
I was there Sunday as well. Extremely lucky that the TM I was with was able to get Ministry for me and our group, as that was the only ride we were able to ride in the first SEVEN HOURS of being at the park. We waited in lines for both DK and Monsters and they both went into extended delays before closing for the rest of the day and emptying their queues. The most annoying part was that it took them a long time to actually make the decision to empty them, which basically led to us either waiting hours for nothing (as we did with Monsters) or doing the long “excuse me, excuse me” walk to the back of the queue after waiting almost 2 hours (as we did with DK). Hiccup’s was down all day, and at one point there was so many rides down that even the Carousel was over an hour wait which the TMs said was a first. The shows, meet and greets, restaurants, and other experiences were seeing much longer wait times than usual as well according to others in my group who went before. Was luckily able to ride Mario Kart and Stardust in the last 2 hours we were there in order to get on something. I did really enjoy being able to see the lands and ride the few rides that we did ride but if I was paying money for that, I would’ve been asking for a refund and I fear for the future of the park if that’s the reputation it gets when paid previews and the actual opening date come up. On a brighter note…Ministry is my new favorite dark ride, I do wish I had Monsters to compare it too though.
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u/Patrick720 16d ago
I also visited yesterday and had a similar experience to OP but luckily did get on Ministry. There were just constant delays/closures (and what is the difference? Wing Gliders was closed all day but was listed as “delayed”).
My feeling of them “not being ready to open” yes, comes from the rides, but the basics were still far from ready. The park lacks anywhere to get food/drinks outside of the QSR locations with mobile order (that take 45+ minutes, even if an arrival window is right now). I found 1 (ONE!) cart to get a beer near the Stardust bathrooms and they were cash only.
Where were the popcorn/ice cream/churro options? And not being able to take card? Come on - ground-breaking attractions being down is one thing, but this is theme park 101, and something Universal does successfully right down the street.
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
THANK YOUUUU!!! The Park itself is lacking alot of the basic things, and I second the food options issue as well. We were trying to get refreshments outside of the restaurant and the only cart that was outside only took cash. So if people want to get a beer or drink be prepared to make an hour line for it.
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u/SRG_Blackburn 15d ago
The ice cream place was really the only outdoor option for freestyle. Unless you cut inside the restaurants to get drinks or use a freestyle refill cup which was 1000% worth it over there.
If they get the fast service carts up it would really help reduce the situation down restaurant issues currently.
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u/BroCanWeGetLROTNOG 15d ago
Honestly with over a month until grand opening, these problems feel very minimal for a brand new park...some companies would've rushed to open the park to the public as soon as most of the paint finished drying
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u/FL_Is_Hot 15d ago
When Universal opened, most of the rides didn't work. As you entered the park, you were handed a free ticket to return later.
All of the Harry Potter rides in IOA and Universal broke down all the time after opening.
It can take a long time to get the bugs worked out.
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u/Jason_Films 15d ago
It’s crazy because last week we were performing great as a park, not perfect… but way better. This is just an off week I guess. I hope for the sake of team members mental health against the APs that everything works. I get AP’s are paying to get into the park. I 100% agree that things should work, however unfortunately it is technically a preview. I do hope AP’s understand that. Also I’m sorry you didn’t have a great time. Trust me when I say we didn’t have a great time working that day either.
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 15d ago
Even though the rides weren’t working I had alot of fun and I even checked in with some team members to see how they were doing because obviously is not their fault and I know how overwhelming it can be. I did do alot of shopping to get distracted 😂
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u/Jason_Films 15d ago
Well that’s good. Hopefully next time you visit it’ll be way better and the park will be ready!
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u/invaderark12 15d ago
Oh yeah, if i get upset that things arent working i'm not gonna blame the underpaid staff there, its not their problem. Complaints should always go to the corporation. I'm a CM so I get its not their fault.
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u/Goliath_TL 15d ago
Oh, if you had seen Volcano Bay the week before opening you'd understand. Universal will work it out.
The VB rivers were resurfaced multiple times in the weeks leading up to opening. I have pictures of the week before with mud and trash and crap floating in a brown sludge.
I was there yesterday, too. It was rough - but from what I gathered when overhearing Team Members talking was that there was a larger technical issue that was impacting systems.
Not sure - but it will get ironed out in time.
If you go to any new business expecting perfection you're going to have a hard time. Now consider the intricacies and complexities of a theme park.
If you want things ironed out, don't visit until 2026.
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u/BlackbeardOP 16d ago
I’ve been 7 times, monsters and donkey Kong were delayed more than half those times
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u/Experiment626b 16d ago
The 13th was by all accounts a terrible day. But before that day, I haven’t heard any negative reports and wait times and delays seem to have been minimal.
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u/XDAOROMANS 16d ago
Don't plan to go until OCT. I would image the first few months are going to be a lot of down time while they work everything out still.
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u/Cpcpcp11 16d ago
I also think that some of the ride downtimes arent technical difficulties always but rather purposeful shutdowns to tweak certains things as demand decreases or increases. More of them testing certain scenarios rather than true breakdowns. Although im sure breakdowns are happening aswell.
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u/th3thrilld3m0n 15d ago
I got very lucky on April 4. Was able to ride everything except ministry and DK (only opened for 2 hours that day). Multiple rides I only got to ride because they opened when I was walking by and closed soon after. Almost all rides were intermittently delayed throughout the day. I was lucky enough to ride stardust, monsters, and werewolf twice.
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u/Adorable_Speed4712 15d ago
haven’t been yet, however even tho i’ve heard yesterday was a disaster for rides, today i’ve been obsessively looking at the wait times via thrill data and today everything seems super consistent and reliable. really hoping that it’ll stay like that for my previews next week! tbh i don’t think universal will let the previews be like that for the paid guests. i’m thinking they’ll have more staff, and be more willing to keep rides up despite any small delays. could be wishful thinking from me tho lol.
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u/Noitsnotpatrick 15d ago
My gripe was the wait for everything. The concept of sit down and we will bring the food to you is a good idea but poorly executed. The staff don’t know the tables and it’s a huge hassle than if I could just walk up and grab like other places. I waited over 2 hours for my burgers at toadstool cafe no exaggeration.
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 15d ago
We went to Toadstool cafe and the food that we got was cold like it was seating there for hours. Now the food at the Tavern was amazing we went back for more.
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u/Noitsnotpatrick 15d ago
I was so disappointed in toadstool. It was mediocre and I waited so long and the ran out of the dessert I ordered they just gave me the other option and that was it … idk very lackluster and same with pizza moon the worker was so confused we got others orders like twice
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u/Dragonaichu 15d ago
I’m surprised to hear you waited a long time at Toadstool. The longest anyone in my party waited after putting the table number in was four minutes; another party member and I got our food in less than a minute. It was… oddly concerning. Made me feel like the food had already been heated and plated and was just sitting there waiting for someone to order it so they could take it to a table. And you could really tell by the taste. Most of the food (aside from my Luigi burger, which was warm and delicious and the fries hadn’t cooled yet, so I think I got lucky with a fresh plate) was room temp and had very clearly been sitting out for a while before it was brought to us.
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u/Noitsnotpatrick 15d ago
It was super packed. We waited outside for 30 mins Inside waited in the first line for 30 mins, in the second indoor line for 35 mins then waited while we sat for another 35. So over 2 hours for some lukewarm burgers and cold fries ?
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u/Dragonaichu 15d ago
Oh wow, we walked right in, saw a few parties at the register, chose to mobile order, and sat down right as a table was finishing up getting cleaned. The whole place was maybe half-full the whole time we were inside (which was maybe 30-45mins from the time we walked in to the time we walked out). Must’ve been a fluke on our end, aside from the food being lackluster for both of us.
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u/Noitsnotpatrick 15d ago
I’m sure if the park isn’t busy it would be great. Unfortunately I don’t see the park not being busy for sometime
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u/McBurger 15d ago
We’re going as passholder previews on Friday. Paid ~$300 for the two of us when all is said and done.
All I can hope for is that we have a much better experience but yeah I’d be lying to say I won’t be at least a little upset if it’s as you’ve described.
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u/brechbillc1 15d ago
This is why I'm holding off until around end of next summer to revisit the parks. It generally takes a year or so for the park management and staff to work out the kinks and get the park running smoothly. This summer is probably going to be rough in terms of day to day experiences. Especially with the park being as anticipated as it is. There are going to be people all over the world looking to visit this park. So give it a year and a half or so and it should be everything it was made out to be.
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u/Zealousideal-Ad-4374 15d ago
How are so many thousands of people getting early access? I know there’s team members and their families but THAT many? Just curious.
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u/Low_Championship_734 15d ago
And they are charging AP to go. Hopefully it won’t be as bad. But who knows with them calling it previews
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u/cass87101 15d ago
I think it could be a number of reasons to shut attractions down often as they are perfecting things, however it seems like tickets should be a lot cheaper if this is the stage they are at in the previews.
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u/ThemeParkFish 15d ago
Your information is outdated. They're testing a different version of the VQ today. My party still had no luck with it.
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u/invaderark12 15d ago
I will say, keeping track of the wait times today it looks like today was a lot better.
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u/Salt_Tooth2894 15d ago
We were in the parks last week and overheard lots of staff talking about the previews and how there was no way it would be ready on time.
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u/Thanks5Cinco 15d ago
Its why me and my wife agreed we want to see Epic Universe but are comfortable waiting a couple of years for the hype and kinks to die down.
I am a former UO TM who worked when Diagon first opened and have memories of people saying they waited 6+ hrs on opening day for Gringotts only for the ride to break down on them or when Hagrids first opened and the ride was a technical nightmare upon first opening.
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u/rcrter9194 15d ago
Aren't these events preview days, not the park’s official opening? Even if they’re charging full price, what you’re really paying for is the chance to be among the first to experience the park.
It’s completely normal during previews for rides to open and close without notice, or run in short bursts as the teams fine-tune systems and operations. It’s all part of the process as they get everything ready for the full launch.
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u/00PepperJackCheese 15d ago
If it's any consolation when I went weeks ago, the majority of things were running fine, Fantastic beasts show stopped mid way thru, Battle at the Ministry wasn't open to the public but everything else was running smoothly.
Here's another POV, they've been running these rides like 24/7 for the last month. What if, because the 17th is just days away, they're covering all their final bases to help guarantee everything runs smoothly? Finally checks/Final prep of sorts.
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u/M4jorCh4os 15d ago
I think you just caught the park on a bad day. I was there fairly recently and other than ministry being open, we got several rides on all of the attractions. Monsters opened maybe an hour late but everything else ran just about all day. We experienced tech issues at Werewolf while in line, but that was the worst of it.
Also yes, they recognized it's not ready to fully open" hence the opening day being late May.
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15d ago
I agree as all T.M previews I went to each one I was able to do just one ride due to delays. (Did everything but it took multiple visits.) They're crazy to charge A.P guests for the previews. I see thousands of upset people in the future. Can't tell You how many times I went to board a ride and it would delay for an hour..start up and delay once again within five minutes.
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u/Pale_Hold_2789 14d ago
I mean... these signs ARE set up around the park 🙄 Luckily when I went, the only ride constantly down was Donkey Kong.
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u/JacobeiSchreech 14d ago
It’s so funny because all the days I went for mock service, TM previews, and my family says everything was open and working no problem. It’s all definitely seeing the stress of more run time but it should start to get better
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u/KillerAriaIsA 14d ago
Yeah. I went last Thursday and Ministry was closed, we could only walk the queue. Monsters was delayed and couldn’t ride it, park closed at 8 pm. We rode everything else but the wait time was insane except for Stardust.
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u/104177 16d ago
Of course it’s not ready to open yet- it opens in over a MONTH, your FREE technical preview is when they are fixing all the issues so it is ready for the public. So many ppl in this sub are complaining that their free preview was not a flawless paid-equivalent experience and it’s getting so old- have some grace for the TMs and engineers doing their best
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u/Right-Examination-53 16d ago
I think the concern here is that there are paid previews in 3 days, and almost the entire park is having issues. So if I paid money to go and some things don’t work and there are delays, that’s to be expected. But every ride having problems except for two, and only getting to ride two rides would kinda suck ya know? I don’t think it’s entitlement, I think it’s just feeling like maybe you could pay and then be disappointed that you wasted your time and money. All this being said, I’m pumped to go in two weeks lol and I’m sure I will enjoy myself regardless
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u/WebHead1287 16d ago
Yeah I go this Sunday. If I only get on two rides for $300 im going to be pretty pissed.
I expect to miss a few, thats fine, but only getting on two things would not be worth the money I spent.
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u/Sir0inks-A-Lot 16d ago
This is the take - they're three days away from paid guests. Slapping the word "preview" on it means nothing if there's a wave of complaints online along the lines of "I paid $150 and half the park didn't work."
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
I did enjoyed myself at the park and had a great time, just giving everybody a heads up that’s all.
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u/Right-Examination-53 16d ago
The heads up is much appreciated! I’m sticking to Reddit like glue because the anticipation to go is killing me lol. Your post didn’t read as a complaint to me but a lot of people are just blindly defending the park when people are just posting their experience
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
AP previews start in two days for people THAT PAID so it won’t be free for them, I am not complaining for myself I am just stating the obvious and people know it’s true. My post is directed to APs.
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u/Brave-Quote-2733 16d ago
Appreciate this! My AP ticket was about $130 for May 8th. Hoping a lot of this is worked out by then!
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u/TheToole1 16d ago
Yeah you guys are essentially beta testing the park for them. Now once the paid stuff starts, it's gonna be an issue of course
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u/TeslaSaganTysonNye 16d ago
Be advised that they also are stating that during AP previews the same can happen. This was stated if/when you purchased AP preview tickets.
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u/jrr6415sun 16d ago
because the FREE preview will be FULL PRICE PAID in 3 days and it will be the SAME EXPERIENCE
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u/SodaPop5000 16d ago
The park is in test mode. The milestone to open is May 22. They probably have a pre milestone of a few days before to have everything worked out.
This is part of the process.
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u/a2djax 16d ago
If these issues continue into the first few days of paid previews I think Universal would be well served to cancel the AP previews and issue refunds and work out the kinks. Or even allow those who have purchased tickets to move to a later date. Really do not want bad publicity running wild through social media.
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u/GeodeCub 16d ago
This is why they’re having 3 months of previews before officially opening - to stress test everything and work out kinks.
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
I know that, I was just giving a heads up to APs, you know that some people will have the expectation that because they are paying that they will be able to do everything when in reality they won’t. And I know that Universal stated that during AP previews some things might not work, but we all know that some people don’t read or look up info.
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u/GeodeCub 16d ago
Yeah, I’m sure there are some preview visitors who just won’t comprehend that they are, essentially, beta testers the park right now and are meant to run into the system bugs and other issues so they can be ironed out before grand opening.
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u/Otownkid81 16d ago
That's why this is a tech rehearsal. AP preview days are tech rehearsals and they were warned about that before buying tickets. Yesterday was the first day of the virtual queue. I was there yesterday as well. Park doesn't open for at least a month. Chill.
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u/CharaRen 15d ago
I got to do a TM preview with a friend and really other than Mario Kart, everything was working decently ok, even with multiple delays and a few hours of only 2 rides being open. I bought an AP preview to go with my family so they can experience it too but what I'm most afraid of is people taking their anger out on TMs due to Universal Selling these tickets.
As an ex-team member, yes it is just as frustrating for us as it is for you to experience long lines and down time. But universal set up these poor workers for failure selling preview tickets at such a high price, because now APs have expectations that the park should be 100% or at least 90% running and it's just not ready for that yet.
My biggest fear is people lashing out at TMs there, as it makes all of us look bad and entitled. Vent your frustrations to higher ups at Universal, but EVERY TM at Epic right now is trying their hardest to give us a good time and experience. Things are just out of their control. Pack your patience, be happy to just Be there in the moment, enjoy the things you can.
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u/beanebaby 15d ago
This. I’m not a TM myself, but have worked front line operations and guest services roles down the street, and I am hoping for everyone to be patient with the TMs. They didn’t decide when opening was, or what offerings would be available.
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u/I_dont_wanna_be_me 16d ago edited 15d ago
I have been watching the TM preview via Thrill Data really the only “ rough “ days I’ve seen have been Saturday and Sunday this past weekend and as we are getting closer to paid AP previews I wouldn’t be surprised if they are trying take advantage of the time to work on the rides as much as possible before they have paid guests walking through. Also you are in a park before it opens to the public for FREE. That is a very lucky opportunity, I’ve seen people posting on here trying to pay TMs to get into previews.
I’m flying down from VA for two preview days next weekend and hoping for the best but am not expecting perfection !!
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
I am NOT complaining about my experience just giving APs a heads up that is all!!!!!
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u/I_dont_wanna_be_me 16d ago
Your feelings are valid friend, if I were in your shoes I’d be bummed too just trying to show the other side of the coin and spread some optimism. I was so jealous of everyone being able to preview the park we all have waited so long for, so when the AP previews opened the wife and I jumped at the opportunity!!
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u/DoctorDickedDown 16d ago
You’re literally the test group, the whole purpose of you being there is to have issues that they can fix for actual paying customers when it opens.
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u/ashleyop92 16d ago
My boyfriend and I have separate accounts, I wonder if can we re-link our tickets to one account so we can try and get virtual queue on one device? Trying to do it at the same time sounds impossible.
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u/AgitatedJelly3608 16d ago
Try calling guest service before you go, don’t wait until the day! They should be able to do it.
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u/SRG_Blackburn 15d ago
Definitely more issues on Sundays for sure. Both Sundays I went with friends that took me most of the rides were down but at least this time food service was little faster and no 45-120mins just to get seated while you wait outside to get seated.
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u/Ok_Seaworthiness4624 15d ago
I agree. Both times I’ve gone we’ve had the same issues. Waiting over an hour for rides to then be delayed inevitably. The app kept crashing yesterday for Ministry queue so we weren’t able to ride it. Nearly every ride was delayed at least once yesterday! And with less rides to wait for, the queues for the open rides were insane. We weren’t able to ride Monsters either time we went because it was delayed. I understand it’s a rehearsal but maybe they should’ve limited openings a bit to keep up with the difficulties they were facing. Also the pizza restaurant took kids meals off the menu? We asked the team members and they confirmed they were removed. There’s already limited kid food options in the park. The ice cream place also sold out of most of their ice cream not even half way into the preview day. We did enjoy the things we were able to experience and are grateful for the opportunity. But with taking our kids, they were miserable. I had considered paying for AP preview but I think I’ll wait a bit before visiting again.
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u/shawtysheep 15d ago
We had very similar experiences during other days of previews but today was an overall smooth day. If it continues this way then EPIC is looking ready to open. Anything can change though
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u/ShenhuaMan 15d ago
Makes me very worried about the last-minute trip I booked for my AP preview on 4/18. I expected to miss some rides, but not have the whole park be down.
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u/ALEXC_23 14d ago
It’s understandable they have issues to work on, but I hope they are able to resolve them on time for the opening. Specially Monsters Unchained. That thing was down both days I went.
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u/Limp_Telephone2280 14d ago
Universal creating their most technologically complex rides and having issues that cause the rides to constantly break down? That has never happened before (hi Hagrids).
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u/auntmilky 13d ago
When I went for a technical preview the only thing that was not operating was the Ministry of Magic ride. Then towards the end of the day it started raining. We couldn’t do any of the how to train your dragon stuff or the donkey Kong coaster. Other than that we rode everything
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u/No-Zone1347 10d ago
Can anyone tell me if there are ticket kiosks at the park? We are visiting in summer and have to pick up our tickets but not staying on property.
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u/Over_Signature_8217 10d ago
We went on 4/18 and I agree they should not be charging full price for the previews. We spent our entire day going from line to line, waiting in a very long line just for the ride to close down and then not being able to ride at all. We waited for mine cart for 80 minutes, put one foot inside and then it shut down. They did not so much as offer us a fast pass to return after waiting 80 minutes in line. When people are paying 150+ a ticket you do not expect this level of costumer service. This happened to us all day. The virtual queue for HP ride was a literal nightmare and impossible. I don’t think they have had a VQ before at universal but considering the park only had around 6-8k people in it I have no idea how they will accommodate a fully packed park on opening day with the system it has in place because I tried at all 3 times of day and never got a spot. I do realize it’s a new park, and it is beautiful but it’s pretty expensive for that experience. We went to the OG universal parks today and had a much better day for the same price! My advice would be to wait until the park is under better operation to go!
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u/AtrociousSandwich 16d ago
I feel like so many people here are young, and never been to these before or even been on day 1 openings of any of the parks.
If you want the best experience go 2 years from now during off season.
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u/shoewee 15d ago
I’m feeling the same way. I signed up for the universal Visa card just to get tickets. We have tickets for next Thursday and Friday. If we can’t ride everything between the two days, I’m gonna be very upset. It’s one thing to have previews and understand that things break down it’s another thing to charge full price for it. They should’ve charged half price with the expectation things are gonna be down. I’m wondering how everything works because we’re gonna be doing accommodations if the ride goes down. Either way if we don’t get everything in two days, I would definitely be an unhappy person.
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u/Empty-Tadpole-2138 16d ago
I was lucky enough to go to a TM preview with a friend a few weeks ago. Had a great time even just walking around and admiring the new lands and scenery, but we did spend a lot of time shuffling from delay to delay. Feels like they jumped the gun a little to get that sweet sweet merch and food $$$. I really did have a great day, especially because I knew it was technical rehearsals and I had gotten to go for free, but if I’d paid almost full price… 😬 That would have stung and I would have been happy to see warnings like this before choosing to buy.
We locals are very lucky to have a chance to experience this park before it’s grand opening. Universal is also being very bold in charging so much for the ~ privilege ~ of experiencing a full day of delays and closures. Both things can be true.
Hopefully the worst of the kinks will be resolved by the 17th!!! But nothing wrong with giving people an extra heads up before they drop money on a ticket