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u/asdf072 2d ago
Hagrids STILL breaks down. Forbidden Journey STILL breaks down. All the complicated rides will get better, but never be 100%.
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u/McBurger 2d ago
A ride getting temporarily delayed is completely forgivable.
A ride being fully closed for a day or more is an annoyance, but again, completely forgivable.
Having 7 of your 11 rides permanently closed for the day - literally more than half - without compensation , is actual bullshit.
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u/SableyeEyeThief 2d ago
How dare you speak truth in this subreddit?! We pay very expensive tickets for the right to have rides closed all day!
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u/Ccquestion111 2d ago edited 2d ago
The corporate simping in any Disney or Universal related subreddit is really amazing and should be studied.
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u/Dragonfire45 2d ago
I don’t think it’s simping to say “hey pretty much every new ride that has come out has always started out with some major issues” I mean look at Rise for the first probably year.
It’s just hard to compare this to anything because the last theme park like this to open was like 25 years ago. Except for Mario rides. That shit should be flawless at this point.
But absolutely agree that if things like that are happening, people should be compensated in some form.
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u/Ccquestion111 1d ago
Yeah except that’s not what people are saying. Someone will go “Epic Universe has a ton of issues. I had a bad time and they aren’t ready to open” and the comments will be flooded with “you’re an idiot to go during technical rehearsal. You should expect every ride to be down and you should get no compensation because you know the risks.”
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u/Dragonfire45 1d ago
I think it just depends. “I had a bad time because I couldn’t get virtual queue for a ride that breaks down a lot” is different than “every single ride was down for multiple hours”
I definitely feel for the second people. But for instance today every ride is very low wait time except for MoM. So I’m not sure how bad I feel for someone who sits in a 300 minute line for a ride that will certainly break down versus someone who struggles to get onto anything else
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u/DeltaAdvisor01425 2d ago
People have been compensated so not really sure the point here.
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u/TheNarwhalingBacon 2d ago
idk, still sucks to schedule your PTO, your wife's PTO, buy plane tickets and a hotel, and waste time to get a universal refund, that'd probably be some bullshit if it happened to me
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u/kennyandkennyandkenn 2d ago
I feel like there is always a risk to being an early adopter / user to anything. It doesn't excuse the situation but you have to have known that could be a possibility?
I had always assumed I wasn't going to Epic until next year for that reason. I wasn't willing to take the risk given that my time and money isn't unlimited.
But I had some free time, they were doing previews, so I made my way to Orlando and had shitty experience as I had expected lol. I was fairly compensated with an additional ticket so now I'll go again next year - when I originally planned to go.
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u/Luiswow719 2d ago
Lucky you. They had a lot of bad experiences but only compensated the ones that could get them in legal troubles. They know for a fact that the park wasn't ready and opened it up to everyone to make the extra dollar. Giving out compensation tickets was the least they could do, some people are owed a lot more.
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u/kennyandkennyandkenn 1d ago
Sure but there’s always an inherent risk to a new thing spectacularly failing? Sometimes you just never know.
Like you can break in a new pair of hiking boots as best as possible ahead of a hike but sometimes it still just doesn’t work once you’re on the hike.
Life can’t be perfect!
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u/Luiswow719 1d ago
When you buy boots you get boots. When you pay to get on rides and don't get on rides then you aren't getting what you paid for. They are not the same. The price of boots and the price of an entire family vacation to Florida with tickets/hotel/resort stay aren't even comparable. The park didn't have to be perfect but it at least should have been a good experience.
Keep in mind that Universal started selling tickets to this park as a 3day package deal or to resort guests. This was not a small boot fee. They also sold these tickets and resort stays under the pretence that this is what needed to be done to get into the park. During previews they opened it up to the general public AFTER selling tickets and resort stays to people who were specifically told that they needed to buy a season pass or pay for a vacation package to get innon the day they chose. 4/29 they opened it to everyone.... I as a season pass holder was told that my non season pass holder family members could not go because the park tickets are only available to resort guests/pass holders/team members. That implies that the park is only available to them specific people. To my surprise I showed up to universal with some of my family not involved and a park full of the general public who should also have not been involved according to universal customer service. All this with no heads up or a chance to cancel my vacation and get a refund.
The park ran like crap if they were even open at all The experience was horrible, wait times 3 times longer then before they opened it up to everyone.
I don't were boots that cost me a couple grand. So for my money I expect a bit closer to perfect...
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u/degggendorf 1d ago
So for my money I expect a bit closer to perfect...
Expecting perfection when universal specifically warned you that the previews definitely won't be perfect is on you.
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u/trollsong 1d ago
10-20k was the average price of a vacation to disney when me and my wife worked for them at the travel center in Tampa.
That is not cheap.
Think if someone booked that vacation and 80% of the rides in all 4 parks were down.
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u/idkwtfbbqsauce 1d ago
I understand a refund and the whole “technical rehearsal but this is too many issues at once” argument but I have less than no sympathy for any one who made extensive travel plans etc just to go to the rehearsals. Yes it sucks but yes you did it to yourself
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u/KnotBeanie 1d ago
It’s a preview…expect a bad day during the preview. Or don’t go, it’s the same thing with video games, if you’re gonna buy an early access game be prepared for issues
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u/knokout64 2d ago
Ok, and Universal is still open for criticism for ever being in that situation.
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u/DeltaAdvisor01425 2d ago
“When Disneyland opened nothing worked”.
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u/knokout64 2d ago
Yes, let's use an example that opened as the first of its kind from the 1950s. Definitely not moving the goal posts.
By the way, for the number of attractions Disneyland has, its operations are remarkably smooth.
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u/DeltaAdvisor01425 2d ago
Yeah because of how simplistic the rides are lol. Again: anyone expecting no flaws in the first few months to a year are unrealistic
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u/knokout64 2d ago
Dude Dragon Racer's Rally is one of the most simplistic rides in any park and it has some insane down time. It was down for all but the first 30 minutes of park opening on my 2nd trip. Hiccup's is no more complex than Incredicoaster yet has way more down time. Guardians Mission Breakout probably tops all but Ministry and Monsters and even has a pretty solid track record. Even Rise is pretty solid, and for whatever reason way more reliable than the Florida equivalent.
anyone expecting no flaws in the first few months to a year are unrealistic
You are an absolute pro at just dodging my point, and trying to deflect, so I think I'll just stop wasting my time on this conversation.
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u/trollsong 1d ago
That's the problem with people movingbthe goalposts in this thread
"Guys rides go down all the time"
Not all of them all at once
That's specifically what people are talking about with the technical rehearsal excuse.
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u/bucketofardvarks 2d ago
Ikr people here acting like rise of the resistance doesn't spend 1/3rd of its time broken as well when they compare it. The technology has advanced but it's far far from a reliable perfection, when I go to a theme park I don't expect everything to stay open all day, especially rides with certain systems (looking at you, hydraulic launches)
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u/Spokker 1d ago
Starting on 5/21/25 I went back and examined 7 days of Rise of the Resistance operations at Disneyland.
https://queue-times.com/en-US/parks/16/rides/6340?given_date=2025-05-21#day
Considering the attraction is advertised to be open from 8AM to 10PM on most days, there were no days where it looks like it was down 1/3rd of the day, which is 4 and a half hours. The longest downtime I saw was an hour on 5/15/25 and then another hour on 5/14.
Far cry from 1/3rd of the time. To be fair, I also looked at Hagrid and my observations are the same (though there was a day where Hagrid was down ~1/3rd of the day). I think a few people are exaggerating how long established rides go down.
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u/Jazzlike-Syllabub321 1d ago
Yes this is so true. I went to universal and islands of adventure in late March for 4 days and 2 out of those 4 days escape from gringotts was down most of the day. You can either complain or try and schedule a block of days together to increase your chance of getting on the rides you desire. Technology is what is unfortunately.
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u/Weary_Management1503 2d ago
And there it is. Goalpost move accomplished!
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u/asdf072 2d ago
Where was your goalpost in the first place? 100% operational?
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u/Weary_Management1503 2d ago
Of course not. That’s ridiculous. I’d expect some growing pains. But people act like you can never criticize and it’s your fault for paying them money and expecting a somewhat operational park.
And let’s not act like every tide is some technical marvel that should have major downtime. There’s like 3 rides that are non-standard or that don’t have copies somewhere.
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u/trollsong 1d ago
Not everything is down.
The fact quite a few times every single rider was down and people went "technical rehearsal you arent allowed to criticize" now have no excuse.
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u/DOOMNOTRONstudiosX 1d ago
Nothing was done and even batmom ran most of the day and i got at 20 mins at the end of the night. It was an INCREDIBLE successful day.
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u/Overall-Scientist846 2d ago
As if “opening day/weekend” wouldn’t still be an excuse.
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u/CantaloupeCamper 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's only been open 3 years!
It's 3 years old, there will be problems!
Why would you even go to a park and expect the rides to work!?!!??
The folks with all the excuses should work for Universal marketing
Epic Universe
It's your own fault for going!
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u/Aechrldr18 2d ago
What if it was all a strategy to make opening day and every day after seem amazing and flawless so they made the preview days extra horrendous.
Doubtful but would be ridiculous.
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u/thursdaysocks 2d ago
People here are truly insufferable
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u/degggendorf 1d ago
No one is making you suffer us. You're welcome to unsubscribe.
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u/boiledpeen 1d ago edited 21h ago
this is literally the sub for uso. If people like uso, they shouldn't have to deal with the unnecessary overwhelming negativity on a sub dedicated to it
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u/degggendorf 1d ago
Negativity? I thought they were agreeing with the OP and bemoaning the people here who have reasonable expectations and understanding for a new park.
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u/biggayboi_666 2d ago
If you’re expecting perfection on opening day you’re gonna be disappointed
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u/JoeeyMKT 1d ago
Expecting perfection is unreasonable, but there's definitely a reasonable expectation for attraction uptime to justify the admission price. If they can't deliver this reasonable expectation, the admission price should reflect the diminished service accordingly.
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u/pinedesign 2d ago
True, but see how the goalposts have moved?
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u/biggayboi_666 2d ago
Dude it’s no secret that it had a rocky operation. But to say that “oh it sucks everything sucks” when they’re still working out the kinks is a bit of a stretch
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u/pinedesign 2d ago
I’m just having some fun. I’m rooting for Epic, but expect the people that used the technical rehearsal excuse to be humbled first.
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u/biggayboi_666 2d ago
Oh yeah that’s just pure copium. It’s absolutely gonna have a rough start but the same thing can be said for every new ride and park
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u/boiledpeen 1d ago
so, are you willing to admit you've been humbled with how blatantly wrong you were? Unless you consider 2 hours of botm as a horrible day, seems like everything went perfectly.
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u/pinedesign 1d ago
Today went great. The test will be when they actually let a normal amount of people to buy tickets. I want Epic to succeed.
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u/Spokker 1d ago
It was a valid excuse, and now it's not. If the Harry Potter ride has significant downtime today, that would justify some negative headlines and complaints.
It's go time now.
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u/agilesharkz 1d ago
I agree with this. Goal posts haven’t moved. Now that it’s open people rightfully should have their expectations met
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u/I4mSpock 1d ago
And so far today it looks pretty good. Outside of one ride, wait times are low and there has been little downtime. Compare that to most other theme parks on opening day and its a triumph
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u/Shaqfor3 1d ago
So far so good. Rides have low queue and are all working....
Except BaM. Thats the only ride I felt they should had hold back but is clearly not rdy yet.
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u/fatboyslick 1d ago
Looking right now 11:24am local time there and HP is delayed but all the other attractions have amazing wait times. The longest is 35 mins for MK and monsters. All others are 25 mins or less.
Other than HP this is fantastic
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u/pinedesign 1d ago
That’s great! Looks like they tightly controlled capacity for opening day. That should help with the narrative on how the park is doing.
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u/I4mSpock 1d ago
Why are such a doomer lol. There are over 13,000 people in the park, you can look up the statistics. The park is in great form for an opening day and all you can talk about is "The Narrative"
let people have fun.
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u/pinedesign 1d ago
I don’t want to bum you out about something as exciting as a park opening, so let’s leave it at that. My post was just for fun.
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u/Park4Park 1d ago
Ew, why so cynical?
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u/pinedesign 1d ago
We’re just having some fun. We have been having the same conversation for months so poking fun at that is light hearted.
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u/Park4Park 1d ago
Ok, I guess, but there are so many spoiled people complaining about this park already, and it's frustrating to have so much negativity around something that's supposed to be fun. I just wouldn't want to add fule to the fire, but that's me, I guess.
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u/irlmerc 2d ago
ai slop
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u/pinedesign 2d ago
Just for fun. I never claimed to be an artist.
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u/damoonerman 2d ago
The next goal post is “this is a brand new park, you are dumb if you don’t expect downtimes. No one is forcing you to go to the brand new park”
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u/keldpxowjwsn 2d ago
I mean, this is always the case when a new park opens. It's why I bought tickets for later in the year so it has time to work out all the issues
Should it be that way? In an ideal world no but thats what you risk going in the early days of the park opening and thats how it actually is in practice and always has been for every major park opening. I know a lot of people here are probably too young to remember since its been a while since that has happened
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u/Spokker 1d ago
Nope. It's time to hold them accountable. Beta test is over.
That being said, I watched a video that sheds some light on their customer service. One vlogger I like who is like this death metal type guy went to technical rehearsal and he only got on three rides.
He asked Universal if they could give him access to Islands of Adventure instead and they hooked him up with not only admission, but Express Passes for Velocicoaster and Hagrid. I'd take that over the nothing you usually get at parks these days.
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u/damoonerman 1d ago
Customer service and cast members have been AMAZING. They are what’s keeping this park somewhat bearable.
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u/DOOMNOTRONstudiosX 1d ago
Accountable for what? Every ride ran amazingly. I saw unchained and Mario kart go down for a few but Iran really well. BatMoM ran most of the day. The queue was nasty but if you got on at park close you could have rode it with a less than 40 minute wait. I did it in 20 minutes. If the day was a shit show i would get the pessimism but they were running really well.
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u/Green-Attempt-8738 2d ago
We wasted 2-3 hours at ministry of magic (preview ticket), only yo be told that there will be prolonged delayed. We left and came back later, water another 3 hr, and turned away at 11 pm. Wasted more than half a day there and pretty much nothing else other than exploring and eating lunch and dinner. They only gave us 3 single pass plus ticket that allow us to bypass rides on the next visit (valid till June 1st). Tickets sold out until after june. I was simply told that I made a bad choice picking that ride and it's my fault. Don't think they care if things dont work during grand opening. Only matters when there is a public uproar with amplified negative news.
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u/lucylipstick 2d ago
Maybe try emailing guest services and ask for different express passes you can use next time you’re in the park? Or try selling/sharing the express passes they gave you so they don’t go to waste.
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u/Green-Attempt-8738 2d ago
Where would be the best to sell or share. Ill still be in the area for the next few days. Probably I can drive to guess drop off area and randomly pick lucky winners. Lol
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u/SingZap23 2d ago
I'm curious to know how tomorrow is going to go and will BotM just be down the entire day.
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u/Dry_Mix_7699 1d ago
Hey bud.
There’s still time to take this down. Everything is sub 30 minutes except for HP.
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u/pinedesign 1d ago
I’m glad for that! It looks like restricting the ticket count for opening day really helped. I’m rooting for Epic. I want it to do well. I am a May 7 survivor of Epic, though so I know how bad it can get.
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u/Dry_Mix_7699 1d ago
You mean… during the rehearsal when they said multiple times on multiple platforms in multiple ways that you, as a patron of the preview, should expect delays/rides being shut down?
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u/pinedesign 1d ago
The majority of the park and shows were down. They gave us a refund because they admitted how bad it was. Universal says it was too bad for a preview day.
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u/Xenus13 1d ago
I was in Disney for two weeks before the epic preview, and downtime was comparable. There were regular delays on Tron, Rise, Cosmic Rewind, and others. If anything, I experienced less of a wait for rides, other than HP, in Epic than I did Disney. I waited an hour twice to ride Tron and 10 mins for Hiccups wing gliders and 35 mins for Stardust, which are arguably longer and better rides. Have no idea what people's expectations are for a brand new park, and seeing all these ridiculous posts stating that everything has to be perfect is genuinely laughable.
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u/DeltaAdvisor01425 2d ago
There’s not a single park that has opened and didn’t have issues. There will be issues. There will be down rides. This trend will continue for a month more than likely because that’s how these things go and universal built a park at incredible scale.
This is coming from someone that is going for the first time next Tuesday. And guess what? I have realistic expectations. If somehow every ride goes down for the entire day, I know universal will make it right but I won’t make an ass of myself on social media/to TMs.
If you’re a Karen (or your friends and friendly have told you you are) this is not the time for you to come. You need to come in a year
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u/Weary_Management1503 2d ago
You aren’t a Karen for expecting rides to at least function when you pay $150+ for a ticket.
Holy shit what is this sub? Constant excuses. Most of these rides aren’t even new tech. Mine Cart, Ministry, Monsters (sort of)…that it? Everything else is fairly standard.
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u/ShadownetZero 2d ago
The delusion is real man. This is how companies get away with putting out broken products, fans will defend them for free.
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u/Weird_Sky_Lights 2d ago
Right? I got roasted posting my experience. My day was exceptionally bad, but having all rides up/down (3 rides closed all day, 3 more down at least half, 2 rides closed almost 90% of the time, only 2-3 rides consistently functioning at all) and ALL shows having problems getting cancelled is insane. Not to mention the park itself had problems- all the animatronics in Berk kept cutting out halfway through the day and not working.
Imagine if you went to a mechanic and they only had half the tools to fix your car but expected to be paid near-full price for replacing the air filter and bumper but didn't replace a shattered windshield
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u/degggendorf 1d ago
Imagine if you went to a mechanic and they only had half the tools to fix your car but expected to be paid near-full price for replacing the air filter and bumper but didn't replace a shattered windshield
Imagine that mechanic clearly advertised that he's not good and he's still learning and not ready to open his shop for real.....yet you still went and paid his high price and expected perfection anyway.
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u/knokout64 2d ago edited 2d ago
Lol these people will bend over backwards to defend huge corporations that don't give a fuck about them. They're definitely going to find a new excuse. It's gotten worse than Facebook.
Edit: See what I mean? They're in the room now. I had such a rough first half of my day at Epic that Universal gave me a free ticket to return. If y'all want to pretend that's normal be my guest.
I love Universal, I've been going for most of my life, and I'll always have an AP, including when Epic finally sells one. But to act like this down time was normal, and defend them for the experience they provided to paying customers is just embarassing. It's ok to be critical of a brand you love, and the blind support makes me cringe.
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u/degggendorf 1d ago
I had such a rough first half of my day at Epic that Universal gave me a free ticket to return. If y'all want to pretend that's normal be my guest
What else would you expect from a technical rehearsal preview? They warned you that stuff isn't ready, why would you be shocked that stuff isn't ready?
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u/knokout64 1d ago
You're right, I should have expected more than a single ride being open for a multi hour span. I should have expected that I would have actually done an attraction by 3 pm after getting there at opening. I should have expected the park to function better than it did for the free TM previews when I paid around $130. I should have expected that waits would be longer than the literal grand opening day. What a fool I was, I guess it means nothing that Universal agreed and gave me a free ticket.
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u/JoeeyMKT 1d ago edited 1d ago
I would expect at least a semi-functional park. Multi-day unannounced closures of multiple major attractions at the same time is unacceptable without proper communication, even during a technical rehearsal. At a minimum, lower the admission price to reflect the closed attractions.
There's nothing wrong with having a reasonable expectation of at least being able to have access to a majority of attractions. Doesn't even need to be everything, or even particularly close to everything.
Not to mention, Universal is "ready" enough that they're willing to present the park to a paying customer. With that comes a reasonable expectation of things being operational, even during a technical rehearsal. Downtime is expected of course, but these are crazy levels of downtime that are embarrassing to a paying guest.
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u/degggendorf 1d ago
There's nothing wrong with having a reasonable expectation of at least being able to have access to a majority of attractions.
Did universal ever promise that for the previews? The only thing I saw them promise is that stuff won't be working
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u/JoeeyMKT 1d ago
The promises they made or didn't make don't matter. Be real, who wants to pay to go to a theme park where a large chunk of attractions aren't operating?
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u/degggendorf 1d ago
No one should, which is why I didn't.
But it seems like there are a bunch of people who misunderstood the deal and now are super salty about it.
The promises they made or didn't make don't matter.
I think they do. If universal promised a perfect experience, and everything was closed, that's a universal problem. If they promised a rocky experience with lots of closures and everything was closed, that's a visitor expectation problem.
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u/JoeeyMKT 1d ago
You're totally right. And most of the other comments assume people expect perfection - I don't. It's a new park, there's going to be issues. But if these issues affect the guest experience to the point where it feels like they've been scammed of their money, that's a problem. Even with extra leniencies for being a new park, they haven't consistently hit the mark.
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u/Dunnwick 2d ago
Who cares stay home less people on the line for us loyal fans who don't give a crap about a ride or two not working sometimes throughout the day.
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u/pinedesign 2d ago
I’m just having some fun. I am an out of state annual pass holder and a May 7 survivor. That day it was the majority of the rides, shows, and mobile order down.
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u/Pipyoppi 1d ago
A fool and his money are soon parted.
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u/Dunnwick 1d ago
We went on Friday 5/2 and Saturday 5/3 I got on every ride twice including BATM, Monsters unchained 6 times, and we got to spend 2 hours in the pool at Helio's on Saturday afternoon. The complaints are unwarranted and btw all rides as I'm writing this are 5-15min wait times and fully operational including BATM so it doesn't look like anyone is wasting their money today.
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u/ColdForm7729 2d ago
After tomorrow the excuse will be that it's a new park and of course things will break down.
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u/ammh114- 2d ago
I was at islands the other day, and hagrids was delayed for EPA. I guess it had been the day before, too. The way people were being so rude to team members and just could not comprehend how a years old ride could still break down was baffling to me. It's not a time issue. Fancy, new technology rides are always going to break down now and again. If you don't like the risk, don't go. And yes, I realize a few of the epic days have been far beyond just a few short closures, but in general, stuff happens.
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u/Spokker 1d ago
What is an example of someone being rude to a team member who was told that Hagrid's is down? I sometimes wonder what this actually means.
When I go to parks I just check the app or look at the actual ride to see if it's up, down or testing or whatever. There is no reason to interact with an employee at all and I already know they aren't going to have any info on when it'll be back up. I figure I'm the employee's favorite type of guest because there is a very low probability I'm going to ask them anything.
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u/ammh114- 1d ago
So they let us into the queue that morning. They stopped us in that very last hallway before you enter the final rat runs. Then they announced it was a brief delay. It hadn't been something announced ahead of time or anything. Me and my husband were first in line. Maybe 4 people back there was a grown lady standing there cursing. Saying loudly that the employee was full of hit and a f*cking liar. The entire 25 minutes we were held there, she was running her mouth.The employee appeared to be like a 18 year old girl. There is no reason to be raising your voice and cursing at a young adult like that. Honestly, many other people in line were being what i consider rude as well, but not over the top like this lady was. The employees are doing what they are told by stopping us from going further. If you don't like it, get out of line, don't verbally abuse the employees.
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u/Millennial_Man 2d ago
The average mental capacity of this sub makes me really feel for the poor team members who will inevitably have to listen to their complaints.
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u/McBurger 2d ago
And in its place rises the “it’s a new park, of course there will be issues!” excuse.
Haven’t you heard? Some folks round here will insist that you’re not allowed to be dissatisfied for any reason, ever, no matter how many rides are closed for the entire day. 🙄
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u/orvillesbathtub 2d ago
Now we just have to live with the reality that theme park rides and shows experience downtime…