Universal Epic Universe (South Expansion Complex) - Now Open!

[eddie104]

Yoshi will be the biggest beneficiary of expansion. It is clearly designed to be a 15 minute or less wait-time type of experience. Should it have been plussed at creation? Obviously - but it was designed to be a family friendly offering and will serve it's purpose so much better when 2 more attractions are up and running in the park, and crowds can be evened out. If people weren't waiting an hour+, it would be one of those "aw, that was cute" when getting off the ride.

Definitely.

 

[mkt]

Yoshi is not liked at all

My four year old adores it.

And since he's in the park on a paid ticket, he deserves to like one ride in it.

 

[Pizza Moon]

My four year old adores it.

And since he's in the park on a paid ticket, he deserves to like one ride in it.

Toddlers still can’t do it. edit: meant infants/babies

What genius put a 34” height restriction on it?

Some Universal exec that’s a stickler, I’m sure.

You have to rider swap if you have a toddler. There’s tons of families with multiple kids, so the very nature of restricting it for no reason actually turns off its own audience. I have an issue with Universal for this reason in general putting height restrictions unnecessarily, but Yoshi is just flat out a bad ride on top of it.

But I fundamentally disagree with that assessment because A. It should have a walk-on or near walk-on wait (with a matching capacity to demand ratio) like Europa Park’s “kiddie only rides” typically, are and B. Theme parks are generally meant to be enjoyed together as families, and Yoshi absolutely is a ride that’s intended that way. PeopleMover was Walt’s era, a ride that was actually designed to be enjoyed by literally everyone, with good capacity too. Universal tries to reinvent the wheel on a lot of their stuff and they need to just stop.

Yoshi was not going for just “small kiddie ride,” it’s a ride they spent millions on, they just botched it.

It should be decent for everyone, like it’s better than the SeaWorld PeopleMover thing they did and closed, but it’s not much better, it’s truly just poorly made like that, not that bad, but not good.

The sun issues, cheap static props, ride length, slowness, cringiness and pointlessness of the gameplay, ludicrous waits, poor capacity, height restriction for no reason, you can’t tell me this was the best use of the money

A couple simple flat rides would’ve made way more sense if they just refused to do Yoshi ride.

 

[mkt]

Toddlers still can’t do it.

Toddler age range goes from 1-3. That is 12-36 months.

As per the CDC's height charts for toddlers, the average male toddler will be tall enough at 29 months of age, and the average female toddler will be so at 30 months of age.

Still toddlers and tall enough.

And this isn't counting those that are above average.

So I will safely say, backed by facts, that most toddlers will be able to ride it before aging out of being a toddler. Mine rode it during previews without issue and now having aged out of toddlerhood, still rides it.

 

[mattpeto]

It’s odd. Epic (and Universal to date) has left me feeling sort of empty. Some beautiful lands, but capacity issues just kill the vibe. Honestly, I feel like many of the attractions were mostly a letdown to me.

I wouldn’t mind giving Monsters, Ministry and the whole Isle of Berk a 2nd run. (I did like Fyre Drill more than you most because I had a nice battle with someone that we had a nice chuckle afterwards). Nintendo World is cool looking, but the rides really aren’t special. Mario Kart is awful. Yoshi is a kids ride with long waits. Donkey Kong made me smile but it was over so darn quick.

Of course I missed Stardust since it dropped with a one day warning. The one attraction I wanted to do most.

I’m glad I did it solo so I know I don’t feel like going back. I’ll give it another shot eventually, but I still think I’d rather do something like Jollywood Nights with my family of 4 over a day at Epic.

I couldn’t wait to get back to Epcot to finish my night.

 

[Pizza Moon]

Toddler age range goes from 1-3. That is 12-36 months.

As per the CDC's height charts for toddlers, the average male toddler will be tall enough at 29 months of age, and the average female toddler will be so at 30 months of age.

Still toddlers and tall enough.

And this isn't counting those that are above average.

So I will safely say, backed by facts, that most toddlers will be able to ride it before aging out of being a toddler. Mine rode it during previews without issue and now having aged out of toddlerhood, still rides it.

Meant infants/babies, sorry.

If you have a family of 5 with kids ages 2, 4, and 8, you have to have a parent watch one of them for a ride slower than the PeopleMover.

It’s so stupid.

I just wish it was a decent ride, those rides have a place but they need to appeal to more than just small children, unless they’re you know, small scaled and numerous enough so capacity is enough. You have the best ride in Orlando (Monsters) and Yoshi in the same park, so Universal is capable of quality better then Disney if they give it their all, but the elderly or small kids can’t do Monsters.

I think Fyre Drill is the only ride in the park that small kids can actually do, maybe the Carousel? But FD is ironically not a ride that even makes sense for super little kids, kind of like Toy Story Mania! isn’t, but good that they don’t have some needless restriction. I mean, those Yoshi vehicles are tight too, Secret Life of Pets all over again, tho at least that ride is good (tho it’s a D-ticket not an E and no one will convince me otherwise).

Small children love Seven Dearfs Mine Train too, but that’s actually good and has justification for a height restriction!

Epic needs rides like The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean The PeopleMover, Peter Pan’s Flight, etc. and you can tell Yoshi was that effort but they totally botched it.

 

[Pizza Moon]

It’s odd. Epic (and Universal to date) has left me feeling sort of empty. Some beautiful lands, but capacity issues just kill the vibe. Honestly, I feel like many of the attractions were mostly a letdown to me.

I wouldn’t mind giving Monsters, Ministry and the whole Isle of Berk a 2nd run. (I did like Fyre Drill more than you most because I had a nice battle with someone that we had a nice chuckle afterwards). Nintendo World is cool looking, but the rides really aren’t special. Mario Kart is awful. Yoshi is a kids ride with long waits. Donkey Kong made me smile but it was over so darn quick.

Of course I missed Stardust since it dropped with a one day warning. The one attraction I wanted to do most.

I’m glad I did it solo so I know I don’t feel like going back. I’ll give it another shot eventually, but I still think I’d rather do something like Jollywood Nights with my family of 4 over a day at Epic.

I couldn’t wait to get back to Epcot to finish my night.

You left Epic early to go to EPCOT after paying for a 1-day Epic ticket? Or am I missing something?

 

[DCBaker]

Len Testa mentioned on the Disney Dish this week that EPIC was doing extra work on the portals to prepare them for facial recognition tech. The idea being that they might open up celestial park without a ticket.

Here’s a look at one of the portals:

 

[Andrew25]

There will have to be some sort of capacity mitigation as the parking lot is quite small... and there's only two major table service restaurants.

Maybe free for APs/onsite guests and discounted "after xPM" tickets? I just can't imagine what it'll look like if they open it up to the public for free.

 

[mattpeto]

You left Epic early to go to EPCOT after paying for a 1-day Epic ticket? Or am I missing something?

Every attraction had a 100+ minute wait. It wasn’t that fun being there at that point.

 

[Andrew C]

Meant infants/babies, sorry.

If you have a family of 5 with kids ages 2, 4, and 8, you have to have a parent watch one of them for a ride slower than the PeopleMover.

It’s so stupid.

I just wish it was a decent ride, those rides have a place but they need to appeal to more than just small children, unless they’re you know, small scaled and numerous enough so capacity is enough. You have the best ride in Orlando (Monsters) and Yoshi in the same park, so Universal is capable of quality better then Disney if they give it their all, but the elderly or small kids can’t do Monsters.

I think Fyre Drill is the only ride in the park that small kids can actually do, maybe the Carousel? But FD is ironically not a ride that even makes sense for super little kids, kind of like Toy Story Mania! isn’t, but good that they don’t have some needless restriction. I mean, those Yoshi vehicles are tight too, Secret Life of Pets all over again, tho at least that ride is good (tho it’s a D-ticket not an E and no one will convince me otherwise).

Small children love Seven Dearfs Mine Train too, but that’s actually good and has justification for a height restriction!

Epic needs rides like The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean The PeopleMover, Peter Pan’s Flight, etc. and you can tell Yoshi was that effort but they totally botched it.

You know who makes parks that are good for families with little kids? Disney. Quite simply...Universal is not that.

 

[Gringrinngghost]

Len Testa mentioned on the Disney Dish this week that EPIC was doing extra work on the portals to prepare them for facial recognition tech. The idea being that they might open up celestial park without a ticket.

Will also be used when the land needs to go into land control.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Opening up celestial park without a ticket is a great idea.

 

[Purduevian]

Will also be used when the land needs to go into land control.

For private events?

 

[earlthesquirrellover23]

Yoshi is not liked at all

Speak for yourself buddy im a yoshi lover

 

[Andrew C]

Speak for yourself buddy im a yoshi lover

 

[Gringrinngghost]

For private events?

As far as I know yes and for when the land is at max capacity and you get a return time.

 

[mkt]

For private events?

That's one reason, yes.

 

[Pizza Moon]

It’s merch sales and wait times say otherwise.

Wait times: low capacity in a land with two rides that get 180 minute waits. Merch is just the IP, Stitch sells like crazy even without a ride.

Monsters isn’t worse just because it has less waits, and it’s not logical to imply what you are as a metric for “quality or popularity.”

GSTAT scores it isnt good.

Tho to be fair Mario kart doesn’t have high marks either but at least that ride is increíble, just the wrong approach for that IP.

 

[Pizza Moon]

Speak for yourself buddy im a yoshi lover

I love Yoshi as a character.

Just like I love Rosalina and they did her dirty in the new movie.

I’m calling out them anytime they don’t do what they should, fans deserve better.

Thankful we have Dune at least to rejoice over with quality, and Epic Universe is still the best park in Orlando. One bad ride doesn’t ruin your day, you just skip it.

Tho Yoshi will have less waits I imagine as people who want to check absolutely everything out since it’s new become less and less overtime.