Universal Orlando held its long-awaited grand opening celebration for Epic Universe last week with all the pomp and circumstance befitting Florida’s first brand-new theme park built this century, including appearances by celebrities like Gerard Butler and Danny Elfman, an earthshaking fireworks display, and worldwide media coverage. I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the multiday festivities, and also visited the park multiple times during its soft-opening period, which means I’ve now spent nearly a full week exploring Epic’s offerings.
I still stand by the initial assessment I made following my first media preview back in early April, when I called Epic Universe one of my favorite theme parks anywhere on the planet. During each subsequent visit I’ve discovered new things to rave about, from the interactive characters populating each world to the delicious vegan dining options. But after investing hours examining every inch of its five “worlds” (don’t call them lands!), I must concede that accompanying its many undeniable successes come a handful of epic fails — most of which are fixable, but a few that are fundamental. Now that the blue carpet has been rolled away and regular paying guests are pouring into the park, here’s a brutally honest look at three unfortunate elements that are holding Universal’s new baby back from achieving its full potential.
ACCESSIBILITY
Epic Universe represents a generational leap forward in theme park design if you are able-bodied, but for guests with mobility issues, many parts of the park’s architecture feel like a step backward. Celestial Park’s central hub is fairly open and easy to navigate, but as soon as you enter any of the portals you encounter the bane of Epic Universe: unending staircases.
Super Nintendo World is the most egregious offender — because it was originally designed for Universal Studios Japan’s unique topography and then plopped down here in flat Florida, you have to ascend an escalator and then immediately descend steps just to reach most of the world’s offerings.
But nearly every attraction at Epic Universe forces riders to trudge up and down staircases, even when it makes no sense for the storyline. Worse, most queues are inaccessible to mobility scooters, and the elevators that allow the park to claim ADA compliance seem inadequate for the volume of users.
I desperately want to force the heads of Universal Creative to spend a day at Epic in a wheelchair so they can experience what it’s like. Barring that, I’d like to send them textbooks on “universal design,” which holds that building everything to accommodate everybody isn’t just inclusive; it’s more efficient and cost-effective in the long run.
ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS
Universal made a number of environmentally minded moves when building Epic Universe, including putting solar panels over a portion of the parking lot and installing water-bottle filling stations throughout the park. But the designers don’t seem to have paid any mind to Orlando’s environment, which often includes scorching heat and torrential rains. Instead of integrating large shade structures, expansive awnings, or even entire indoor pavilions into the architecture, Epic Universe features large expanses of open space with virtually nothing to protect guests from the elements, and the park has only three indoor rides that can operate during a storm.
When the lush landscaping around Celestial Park and Dark Universe finishes growing in over the next few years, the tree canopies should make those areas a bit more bearable. But other worlds — especially Super Nintendo — feel like air-fryers already, and it’s only May; I can’t imagine how many heatstroke victims First Aid will be assisting come August.
I wish Universal had emulated the air-conditioned attractions in the United Arab Emirates when conceiving Epic Universe, because the day is rapidly approaching when Orlando’s weather will feel hotter than the Sahara desert, only with way more humidity. Now, the best they can do is buy a whole lot of misting fans and fabric shade-sails to install ASAP, before visitors start dropping like flies.
ATTRACTION CAPACITY
Epic Universe is more than just the sum of its attractions, making it the rare theme park — along with EPCOT and Tokyo DisneySea — where I can go on only a couple of rides and still have a satisfying day. That being said, the average guest judges a park by its attractions, and Epic’s lineup of only 11 rides and two indoor shows is anemic even compared to Animal Kingdom, Disney’s most under-built gate.
Exacerbating the issue is the fact that, while Epic’s top E-Tickets should be people-eaters, with theoretical carrying capacities of about 2,000 guests per hour when working properly, most of the others can only handle half that or less. For example, the innovative track-jumping Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness coaster only dispatches one four-passenger car every 14 seconds, leading to long lines as soon as the park opens. Opening day attendance was capped at approximately 17,000 guests, making wait times manageable everywhere except the temperamental Ministry of Magic ride; but that will change by July when 24,000 guests are allowed inside.
To balance out its offerings, Epic Universe desperately needs more mid-tier, all-ages attractions, such as slow-moving dark rides, non-soaking boat rides and scenic transportation.
Fortunately, Universal left ample expansion space to add major new attractions to Dark Universe, the Wizarding World, and Super Nintendo World — my bet for the site of the first big addition — as well as an entire sixth world for a blockbuster IP like Lord of the Rings. After seeing the global attention Universal has garnered for their new park, I’m guessing that it’s going to grow even more Epic sooner rather than later.
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This article appears in Summer Guide 2025.