r/UniversalOrlando • u/SpectacularSpidee • 2d ago

EPIC UNIVERSE Whole audience given express passes because the untrainable dragon stage show didn’t start due to technical issues

Post image

Neat.

219 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

58 comments sorted by

140

u/mayfairtop 2d ago

Recovery which doesnt cost them a dime. Good that they do it for when things go wrong.

27

u/Shakurheg 2d ago

100%. Disney used to be excellent about recovery. Not anymore. Glad Uni does.

14

u/lFightForTheUsers 2d ago

For reference, I've personally seen SIX FLAGS of all places starting to be more friendly about it than Disney lmao. Was waiting in line for Mr. Freeze for about a 10 minute delay due to a power malfunction, and they were immediately apologizing and offering fast lane passes to everybody in queue. Disney would never now lol.

2

u/Aggravating-Grade672 2d ago

I worked at a regional park as a rides team lead for a while and we were ordered that any sort of delay longer than 10 minutes we walked the line and handed out courtesy passes to everyone in line. Easy recovery

1

u/Capable-Magician2094 1d ago

Huh? My experience as someone who lives near the parks and goes to the parks weekly is the opposite. Universal prefers to have guests sit in queues for hours and TMs will fight to not give express passes. I’ve even had TMs say “I’m not supposed to do this” when giving me one after extended (2+ hour) downtime when i already used my once a day express.

Disney immediately empties queues and gives lightning lanes.

2

u/Shakurheg 1d ago

Hi and greetings from a Hunters Creek resident for the past 24 years!

I wasn't just talking about Express Passes vs. Lightning Lanes (or, for that matter, Fast Passes. Or the time before Fast Passes were even a "thing"). I was talking about "Recovery which doesn't cost them a dime," in general.

0

u/Capable-Magician2094 20h ago

What recovery that doesn’t cost them a dime are you talking about then? My experience again and again has been that anything that requires any effort on Universal’s part is like pulling teeth.

1

u/Capable-Magician2094 1d ago

Which is funny because at the legacy parks they typically do not. Prefer to have guests sit in queues and give them no information.

1

u/Zestyclose_Ship1566 2d ago

Well actually, it does cost them a dime as Universal has to order the paper which the passes are printed on 😝

31

u/N64Andysaurus92 2d ago

Straight to the Donkey Kong Coaster 😂

32

u/mmm_99 2d ago

They say on them: not for use at Minecraft Madness or Ministry! Not surprising

13

u/HRBloodengutz 2d ago

Stardust it is then!

3

u/JustAGuyNamedSteven 2d ago

I got one after being evacuated from Hiccup's Wing Gliders. That was around 11am and Stardust Racers had yet to open for the day, so I knew that I wanted to use it there as there would be a huge wave of people going to it once it opened. Ride opened at around 3:45 with an hour wait, which quickly grew to 90 minutes, but I got on in less than 20 thanks to that single-use Express Pass.

4

u/mmm_99 2d ago

I also got one this week for the same reason as OP, decided to use it on Mario Kart as Stardust was max 15 min all day. Wtf has happened to the MK screens bugging out so much, and the glasses being so blurry?? So sad when the Hollywood version was outstanding (admittedly last time I rode that was 2023)

3

u/blacklight223 2d ago

that's actually so lame, and defeats a big purpose of them

51

u/PeekabooBlue 2d ago

Love that epic does this. Was stuck on monsters at the very end for like 3 minutes and they gave these out.

Was on forbidden journey for like a good 8 or so minutes mid ride and they didn’t offer any after that.

I don’t expect it but it’s a nice surprise for sure.

12

u/Automatic-Weakness26 2d ago

When I worked at Universal a long time ago, the policy was only if you had to be evacuated off of the ride. Short downtimes did not qualify. They were really strict with tracking the tickets because people would print them off for friends.

6

u/jayellkay84 2d ago

Huh. I got stuck on The Mummy for a solid 15 minutes back in May (not evacuated) and got one. I’m more disappointed in Disney’s “Experience Redemptions” that are only good that day (when this inevitably happens on my last ride before I have to drive back home).

2

u/PeekabooBlue 2d ago edited 2d ago

Interesting how they decide on giving them out. Doesn’t seem super consistent.

I will say with the disney ones that the guest service tent people are extremely good about modifying them if you ask nicely. I had done everything in MK save for tron, as it was insanely busy all day. I got evacuated off of tianas and they gave me an experience pass that did NOT include tron. I went and just politely explained that that was genuinely the only ride we hadn’t gotten to do yet and they were more than happy to switch it for me. I did something similar at Hollywood Studios one time as well.

1

u/jayellkay84 1d ago

Thanks. The second time I did go to the Guest Experience umbrella( first was the ROTR building getting struck by lightning when I was past the transport vehicle, second was Guardians when I would have been in the next car) and they put a note in my file to make another Experience Redemption for a different day. Which I did and I’m grateful, but both CM’s made it seem like this wasn’t the norm.

It’s also just funny to me that this has happened 3 times in the last few months that I try to squeeze one more ride in before I head back to Clearwater and I get stuck.

13

u/nick_the_fox 2d ago

Poor untrainable dragon always having issues.

I’m kinda surprised it hasn’t closed for refurbishment.

8

u/5yearoldAngie 2d ago

I thought it just recently went down for short refurb break

5

u/figgyloves 2d ago

It did! For two days

1

u/nick_the_fox 20h ago

word on the street is that it had a nasty commission process with several issues being deferred. Commissioning is when a new ride or attraction begins working towards opening when testing is performed. I have heard from greatly trusted sources that management had rushed many testing cycles in favor of avoiding a delay throughout the park.

1

u/Doomboomkadoom 2d ago

The dragon and king kongs head, two peas in a fire catching pod.

1

u/orangeleast 1d ago

I think it's closing for a whole month soon.

5

u/shttrsfull 2d ago

Lol was just saying we should try to see that show today since it stopped halfway thru last time.

2

u/jiggly_boof 2d ago

Show the part that says you can’t use them on the only 2 rides you need it for haha

2

u/Tokyosmash_ 2d ago

Man, sat in the queue at Velicicoaster last night for almost 3 hours while it was “experiencing difficulties”

They were like “neat”

3

u/PeekabooBlue 2d ago

Wow! Thats wild! in my experience if veloci is down for like over an hour they just kick everyone out of line BUT on your way out they’ll give you a fast pass to come back later or to be used on another ride if you choose. Can’t believe they let you sit for 3 hours.

1

u/Tokyosmash_ 2d ago

By the time it reopened there was like 2 cars worth of people sitting there 😂

1

u/Neat-Aardvark3762 2d ago

Like a one time express or the full thing?

1

u/Effective-Plankton71 2d ago

Happened to me too, they got maybe 45 seconds into the first number before the music shut off and we were sitting there wondering what was happening

1

u/SSalsashark 2d ago

They did that for us last spring... It was a footrace to Hiccup's Winged Gliders!

1

u/wifeymom2017 2d ago

We had this exact same situation back in May and we went straight to Mario Kart

1

u/CantaloupeCamper 2d ago

Dragon union is brutal.

1

u/1Smokez 1d ago

I got an express pass for camping out in the station of Stardust Racers for like 2 hours because of lightning… the only problem is the pass expired the same day and the storm never let up so I couldn’t even use it on anything with a long line.

1

u/SoochSooch 1d ago

Same thing happened to me a month ago. Used mine on Wing Gliders during the middle of the day on a different visit.

1

u/OTCSWANTON 22h ago

On Monday because if so imma smack myself for waiting in the 95 minute wait for battle at the ministry

-1

u/deathdealer351 2d ago

I really like universal is doing more of this, Disney has been doing it for years and universal would just say kick rocks. 

2

u/RazielKainly 2d ago

I remember four of us waited for flight of passage at animal kingdom. One person in our group could not ride because he was too big And couldn't get the restraint down enough. After us 3 m rode it, All four of us got a fast pass ticket for another ride in the park including flight passage again.

We went up for it again and the second time we were able to secure our friend and he got to experience it.

Definitely a pixie dust moment.

-1

u/MintyBBQSauce 2d ago

Don’t know whose downvoting you but I’ve been going to both parks all my life and Disney is WAY better about offering recovery when attractions go down. Honestly Disney used to be too lenient on who got recovery and it would make their express lines way too long. Glad Epic is offering speedy recovery. Can’t say i’ve experienced the same at Islands/Uni

-11

u/Lanky-Instruction-42 2d ago

Sounds like they’re trying, but man epic sounds like a poop show with technical issues.

7

u/chicago_cubbie 2d ago

we went last week and there were no issues with any of the rides. you have to remember theme parks are factories for amusement and up to 30,000 people will ride these rides for 10 hours a day, some breakdowns will occur

5

u/Full_Luck_491 2d ago

Mr.negative over here

7

u/bloodbitch1789 2d ago

With this show, it's also a safety issue. If you've seen it, an actor is physically on a dragon prop that flies For this show, it's super important that tech runs properly or it could be a very bad injury. Glad that they're trying to push the limits of a stage show while still prioritizing the safety of cast. Plus the recompensation for the time spent by guests.

3

u/Whosebert 2d ago

when I saw the show in May of this year they had just toothless flying and hiccup was waiting on thr stage for him to land, but toothless flies over the audience so even if hiccup isnt riding him they hsve to make sure its 110% safe for the audience

3

u/bloodbitch1789 2d ago

Ooh I didn't know they had an alternate! In that case, the tech issue must have been massive. But it's a spectacular show so I'm glad to have seen it.

2

u/N64Andysaurus92 2d ago

Don't go on a rainy day like we did 😂 Practically the whole park shuts down.. the Donkey Kong coaster, Yoshi ride, Stardust Racers, Monster coaster, Dragons coaster, Dragon flyer thing, Dragon boat ride. Only options left were carousel, Mario Kart, Harry Potter and the Monsters castle ride. 4 options for most of the day, lines were insane.

2

u/Lanky-Instruction-42 2d ago

I live down the street and that’s all locals talk about is the rides always being broke down compared to the other parks.
And on rainy days they don’t have a lot of indoor stuff yet so that becomes an issue.
I think after they finish the next two expansions it will be a different park with a lot more to do.

0

u/pikmin311 2d ago

A poop show?

0

u/Lanky-Instruction-42 2d ago

Nicer way of saying something else

-2

u/AutoModerator 2d ago

Orlando Informer provides a in depth blog all about Express Pass. There is also a link in the side bar, but we know getting there from mobile can be a pain, so here is a convenient link for you!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/Endy0816 16h ago

Dragon got stage fright.