Universal Studios opens Epic Universe but there’s criticism | America | Travel

Almost six years since construction began, Universal Studios’ Epic Universe theme park opened to the public in Orlando, Florida on Thursday (May 22). Sitting beside Universal’s three existing parks – Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay – the new park hosts a huge range of new attractions.

Guests with opening day passes queued in their thousands ready to head to five themed lands including Super Nintendo World, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic and How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk. And as the portal-style doorway opened for the first time, it sparked a frenzy amongst visitors.

TikTok user, Jason Jeter, who was in the thick of the action shared a video of the area, in which he declared: “The moment of the grand opening of Epic Universe. This is historic.”

Screams of excitement quickly ensued as guests sprinted to their desired rides. Heading through the portal himself, Jason continued: “Wow, this is madness. This is so cool. Oh I love it, this is crazy.”

With more hysteria heard in his clip, other TikTok users responded, highlighting one particular criticism of the event, however.

“Grown adults by the way who probably left all their kids at home!” one person slammed. A second noted: “And not a child in sight.”

A third TikTok user added: “The running is so unnecessary. Like the rides are bolted to the floor.” A fourth individual stressed: “I can only imagine the team members’ faces as they heard the screaming and yelling and people running.”

Whilst a fifth hit out: “As a former Disney cast member, stop running! I know we’re all excited but someone is going to get hurt. I’m surprised the Epic team members weren’t telling people to walk.”

Elsewhere, however, others excused the behaviour, including one person who noted: “Everyone is judging for it being mainly adults and the screaming, but good for them. Some us forget to enjoy life and get stuck in the work and home cycle. Good for them for enjoying themselves. We are never promised tomorrow.”

And a second concurred: “A lot of people don’t realize that the adults going to this park were kids when Harry Potter and How to Train Your Dragon was released. Also, playing Mario all your life too is a plus to being an Epic Universe adult visiting the park.”

Later in the day, Jason returned to TikTok to share a series of videos of his day in the park. The theme park fan attended a meet-and-greet with characters from the Super Mario franchise as well as Newt Scamander, the protagonist of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series.

Jason also revealed the opening day wait times of a variety of attractions – most notably 300 minutes for Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, and just five minutes for Constellation Carousel in the Celestial Park land.

As the park opened, Karen Irwin, president and COO of Universal Orlando Resort, said in a statement: “This is an incredibly exciting day as we officially unveil Universal Epic Universe to the world. Epic Universe is the culmination of what we’ve been working on for nearly a decade. Our teams have poured so much passion, vision and dedication into this new park and there is truly nothing like it in our universe.”