[Orlando] PREDICTION: when Epic Universe opens ...

[jcruise86]

Predictions about Epic Universe anyone? When exactly do you think it'll open?
I predict that this new park will have wonderful things that will surprise & amaze guests.

If Chapek were running Universal, he'd've made promises about Epic Universe that would not have been kept,
and he would've shared concept art that would ultimately lead to disappointment for guests, as Disney cut budgets.

[Jesser-pie]

Universal said 2025!

[jcruise86]

Universal said 2025!

Yes, the summer of 2025 according to this.

https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/e...l-orlando-news

[Incorrect sentence deleted. Thank you, Spongeocto4, for the correction.]

[Spongeocto4]

Yes, the summer of 2025 according to this.

https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/epic-universe-finally-has-an-opening-date-and-theres-more-good-universal-orlando-news

I wish Disney had paid Universal to build the 2-minute-long Tron clone coaster at WDW. Universal probably would've improved it, opened it over a year sooner, and not charged $20 per person for each fastpass.

I disagree with the last point, as Universal was already charging front-of-the-line passes before Fastpass went commercial.

[Dustysage]

Epic Universe is back in full gear with some of the original budget, which had previously been cut before the pandemic, restored. My big question is when will Disney announce the 5th park they have been kicking around? With Disneyland working on a 3rd park and a desire to keep hotels at both resorts at maximum capacity at all times, it does make sense (even with two half day parks that could really use that money for expansion).

[jcruise86]

I disagree with the last point, as Universal was already charging front-of-the-line passes before Fastpass went commercial.

You're right & I deleted my last point.

[jcruise86]

Epic Universe is back in full gear with some of the original budget, which had previously been cut before the pandemic, restored. My big question is when will Disney announce the 5th park they have been kicking around? With Disneyland working on a 3rd park and a desire to keep hotels at both resorts at maximum capacity at all times, it does make sense (even with two half day parks that could really use that money for expansion).

I like the idea of expanding the "half-day parks," the Studios & AK, while also improving EPCOT and the MK. I actually don't agree with calling the AK "half-day" because I like taking time to watch the many live animals all over the park and watching the excellent live musicians who perform there. At the Animal Kingdom I really feel like I'm in another world.

So instead of a 5th Florida theme park, how about if Disney

1. Adds two new nations (there's room) to World Showcase, (Brazil? Korea? India? I'd say no to Russia at this {Putin} point in history.)

2. Creates an additional Halloween party for grown ups to rival Universal's HHN,

3. Improves their weakest park: the Studios including adding some life to the Star Wars land,

4. Adds the impressive, but foolishly cancelled Main Street Square with the (DCA) Hyperion-like theater for shortened Disney musicals. Seeing a Broadway-scale show, even if it's just 40 or 45 minutes, makes admission to a Disney park seem like a better value.

5. Adds additional monorails or other forms of transportation between parks and resort hotels? At least let Port Orleans guests walk to next-door EPCOT on a safe, well-lit pedestrian path.

Disney World now seems expensive to some of its long-time fans like me considering the cuts that have been made
(RIP: free parking for hotel guests at the hotels, free Magicbands, free airport transportation.)

WDW needs to step up and plus what they already have,
especially before Epic Universe gives them bad press when Universal is favorably contrasted with WDW in and after 2025.

Mabye the original Bob wants to duck out in 2024 and later make another heroic return after the stock plunges again in 2025,
if it does.

The popularity of original parks like the Animal Kingdom and Tokyo Disney Sea suggest that Disney could build more parks as long as they are one-of-a-kind. Disney's new MK castle parks could still be interestingly & magnificently different from the others. But 4 Disney parks in Florida is enough.

I want one-park Disney Resorts in the
NE (mostly indoors, only open 5 days a week in some winter months),
Texas,
London,
and Korea.
And possibly eventually Germany, Brazil, Mexico City, India and maybe in the MW north or west of Chicago.

Each new Disney park could be so original and wonderful that a visit to one would make many want to visit most of the others. An "If You Had Wing"-type ride in Main Street could be an advertisement for the other Disney resorts. Enter on one side of Main Street and exit on the other.

Disneyland did very well as a one-park destination from 1955 till CA Adventure opened well over 40 years later.

--Tom Sinsky, former Jungle Cruise skipper and graduate of the U. of WI Law School and USC's film school.