Epic Universe expected to have $2 billion economic impact in first year

TheMillenniumRider:

did Epic ever get Express, or did they keep it standby only?

Yep. Every major ride queue has been designed with three lines: Standby, Express, and Single Rider.

Right now during previews, the Harry Potter dark ride is reservation only, and one must use the app to get a spot on the ride. No one knows if this will be the way it is when the park opens, or if it is just because it is previews. The rides queue is not part of the reservation system right now. (As of the last Vlog I saw about the park.) Guests can enter the queue without riding the ride to see how amazing it is, probably only for previews.

The park is going to be swamped the first year it is open. The three new hotels to support it will probably be sold out often.

The new "traffic circle" they built to accommodate traffic to the park is a modern marvel.

Part of the issue for certain of the regional parks is what I would call the upscaling of travel/entertainment. Growing up, people tended to stay closer to home for vacations. Camping was the vacation for a lot of people. Trip to Cedar Point was a big deal. Number of people who vacationed outside the US/Canada was very small. Orlando was in its early stages with much less to offer. Now, more people travel across the country for vacations/weekend trips. Many more people travel to Europe/Asia. Orlando is a huge destination option (that is still growing). Population has generally shifted south and west (compare 1970s electoral college map to one from today). Its not the case that all of this is true for everyone. As we have discussed before at least part of the reduction in the middle class is that people moved up rather than down (particularly looking at two income households which when I was growing up was not the norm). Has an impact on tourist destinations.

I agree on all of those points, though my observation may be tied to my own anecdotes that describe the camping and what not. My family rarely left Ohio, and I'm not sure if that's because we were not particularly wealthy or my parents just didn't want to go anywhere. But as an adult who is not financially hurting, my local options are where everyone else likes to come from away, and that might be why leaving the country is more interesting now.

It seems like a lot of families are also ready to follow the Griswolds on a road trip across the country too, most don’t make it to the Pacific, but the Rockies seem to host most of the Eastern US every summer. I’ve been, and will be again this year, part of that migration.

GoBucks89:

the upscaling of travel/entertainment

Part of that is that flying is much less expensive in constant-dollar terms. When I was in grade/middle school (think: late 70s early 80s) coming back to school from spring break with a tan was a HUGE status symbol.

https://www.theatlantic.com...ed/273506/

These are all great points that help explain why parks are disappearing without additional (regional) competition. The number of alternatives has increased. This is also true of the seasonal labor model, the primary driver of expense at a park.

Shrinking demand and increasing costs are what is changing the landscape of this industry.

Shrinking demand...... Why?

Disney and Uni are doing great, demand is certainly not shrinking for them.

Of course you say, well Disney != Cedar Flags. You would be right, so is demand shrinking, or are the alternatives just more attractive?

So, how to make the regional parks more attractive?

So, no more Tapu Tapu at Volcano Bay. Figured this was Universal and line skipping related, so I’ll just drop it here.

Speaking of decreasing demand and Volcano Bay… They are doing a seasonal closure in addition to ending Tapu Tapu.

Seasonal closure will not occur until fall 2026, taps ends fall 2025. I wonder how the lockers are going to work without tapu, wristbands?

Maybe they'll install the face recognition tech that the lockers at Epic have.

Interesting, I still haven't been there. I'm sure someone could give me comps, but we have the Disney water park upgrade, and it's closer. Still intrigued by that big volcano though!

Seasonal closure makes it sound like it will be a seasonal closure from here on out. But from everything I can find the only stated dates it will be closed is October 2026 to March 2027 for refurb. Maybe someone can point be to a different article but I have yet to see any info stating this will be a yearly occurrence.

A refurb is definitely needed. When we were there on November some of the body slides were downright painful. The Punga Racers in particular was the first time I've been on a water slide just begging for it to end.

My biggest complaint for Volcano Bay was that the water was absolutely frigid. Everything I heard about the park was that the water is nicely heated, even from repeat visitors at rope drop. Despite it being 80+ degrees that day, we found ourselves shivering more than not. ONE slide was heated, but that was it. I asked a couple life guards if there was a problem and if the water is normally heated, and it was a solid no.

And frankly, the Tapu Tapu system is a bit flawed. Depending where you are in the park, you could be a long way from an "anytime" attraction. In particular, you can only access the wave pool from the front which made it a pretty good hike from most points in the park. Oh, and calling it a "wave" pool is laughable. Express passes were only $50 the day we visited, which was a no brainer given the huge Thanksgiving crowds. And as the day went on, I was so glad I bought them.

VB is beautiful was a lot of great attractions, but falls in the category of I'm glad we went, but I don't have much desire to return.

The best feature about Tapu was not having to run back to the locker when we wanted to eat/drink. That was a huge win.

Never been to Volcano Bay the few times I was there the last few years. Sounds like the virtual queues and wristband just don’t work well for waterparks??

The only ride that’s going to be difficult to transition is the Aqua coaster, every other slide has a giant tower that can hold a massive line, but the Aqua coaster line can maybe hold an hour long line at the most. That ride is the best in the park and almost certainly will have 2+ hour waits regularly. Not sure how they are going to solve for that.

I’ll miss the ability to use tapu, it worked well for me but I was not a normal guest. I most used that park as a recovery morning from HHN, I would go to early entry (which in October was 9:00) and do the aqua coaster 3ish times during EE before it got a wait requiring a tapu reservation, which I would then tap in for at regular opening and then hit the fearless river until my reservation (usually 45 min,) ride the aqua coaster again, then tap in one more time, and hit the lazy river for 90ish min, do the coaster one last time, and then eat lunch and go back to the hotel, shower, change and then hit the theme parks again for HHN. Without tapu it will cut down my laps on that slide, oh well.

Looks like I’m going to suffer through a Sept HHN trip next year, I need those Volcano mornings to survive the week.

Danimales:

some of the body slides were downright painful. The Punga Racers in particular was the first time I've been on a water slide just begging for it to end.

I wonder if this is because those slides were originally supposed to be ridden on top of a cushioned mat? Tolerances between sections may not be as tight as ones on body slides.

Danimales:
water was absolutely frigid

Weird, I haven't been in many years now, but that water was always warm, the only place in the park which had cooler water was the aqua coaster. Everything else was rather toasty.

The_Orient_of_Express:
Sounds like the virtual queues and wristband just don’t work well for waterparks??

I would totally disagree, and while the park was visually stunning, I would cease to return if the virtual lines are no longer a thing. The ability to wait for a ride in a wave pool, eating lunch, in a river, or somewhere else was the best part. Then head up to the ride, wait maybe 10 mins on the tower and then onto the next thing. Waterpark queues are the absolute worst.

Danimales:
The best feature about Tapu was not having to run back to the locker when we wanted to eat/drink.

Additionally, your photos automagically appeared attached to your wristband from the slides, you could take photos at locations in the park by tapping, you could interact with fountains and other items by tapping, and as you mentioned you had to carry nothing with you. The wristband was it, and the system worked quite well, at least on my visits. The only thing the wristband needed was a clock.

I supposed I will file this park under the list of glad I went early before they stripped away parts of the park and features that differentiated them.

I thought I read that Volcano Bay was a seasonal closure but I guess I misread. Sorry about that...

Touchdown:

I most used that park as a recovery morning from HHN

That's a recovery morning?

The aqua coaster has but 20 steps to ride, the rest of the time I’m in a river. Going in the fearless river at opening it’s just me and maybe 50 other people, I can just sit there and float in my life jacket. I usually fall asleep on the lazy river (jump onto the tube on my stomach so the tube itself makes a great pillow.

For the clickbait thread: Man nearly drowns falling asleep in lazy river at Universal

Man nearly dies because he missed his Volcano Bay recovery time from HHN