Universal's Epic Universe | Orlando USA | Theme Park

[Tonkso]

A permit has been filed for the construction of a building of 150,000 square feet in area at Epic Universe: https://behindthethrills.com/2025/1..._n3AMB3xKvIRH64AmA_aem_I_kRr7DXBGo4XlHtw4nYLg

It is strongly suspected that this is for a major new attraction, with the size of the building being similar to that for Battle at the Ministry, and it also lines up suspiciously well with an empty area behind an unoccupied facade, with what looks like an empty entrance put into it, in the Harry Potter area, so rumours are pointing to it being a second attraction installation in that area.

It is exciting that Epic Universe is seemingly being expanded so soon after its opening, and another Harry Potter ride should be interesting if that rumour is true! I wonder what they could do?

That's the location of the cancelled ride, so the space exists. With the popularity of ministry, it would be a mistake not to leverage that. However, there IS room there to stick another portal and land in, between Wizarding and Stardust.

I loved my two visits to the park (even if the second was during the Stardust shutdown), but it does need more rides, particularly filler. If anything, just to moderate the queues on Ministry* and Minecart.

There's a huge plot between Dark Universe and Nintendo for a whole land, and I believe a smaller one behind Mario Kart, probably better suited to a Nintendo expansion. There's a lot of room for them to play with.

*MInistry's queues are not as bad as they're made out to be, not even close. Minecart's are.

 

[Rob Coasters]

Stardust Racers is closed until at least March 14th. I believe the ride has been closed since the 19th.
An initial reopening of February 28th was planned, but being pushed back by two weeks, not looking good.

Inside Universal (@insideuniversal.net)

Stardust Racers closure has been extended, now closed through March 14, 2026. #UniversalOrlando

bsky.app

 

[Nitefly]

You son of a *****!!! Here for two weeks and spited!

 

[Rob Coasters]

Stardust Racers' closure has been extended to and including April 5th.

 

[Trax]

It's a Mack. How can you have so many troubles operating a Mack coaster? Additionally, we're talking about Universal here, not some small regional park or Merlin, that might save on technical staff.
A friend of mine was there a few weeks ago (before the closure), and it took him 3 visits to get on the ride.

Doesn't help Epics capacity problem either.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

It's a Mack. How can you have so many troubles operating a Mack coaster? Additionally, we're talking about Universal here, not some small regional park or Merlin, that might save on technical staff.
A friend of mine was there a few weeks ago (before the closure), and it took him 3 visits to get on the ride.

Doesn't help Epics capacity problem either.

To be fair, they had enough issues with their own ride around Voltron's opening. Hyperia had issues on opening, Ride to Happiness had issues even Icon had lots of issues in opening year... At this point it's starting to look like the new norm for Mack. That's probably understandable though, as they're really pushing the envelope with their designs and layouts lately... Once they're running, they're bloody good...

 

[Trax]

New rides always have some teething issues, I give you that. I meant major issues, causing the ride to be down for multiple days, not just normal breakdowns. Epic is approaching its first aniversary, and Stardust was closed for how long? Sure, part of it was caused by the accident, which is - from what I know, neither Universal's nor Mack's fault, or related to actual technical problems with the ride.

But lets compare Stardust to Voltron: We have a fairly standard (from a technical perspective) Multi Launch coaster, which's only special gimmick is the duelling effect, coming from it being actually 2 coasters.
Voltron features an effect track, a switch track, a multi-pass launch and 2 unusual shaped launches, combined with a moving station, pushing a train every 38 seconds. There are so many special pieces here, that can each cause a breakdown.
Compared to Voltron, Stardust is a student projeect.

To be clear: I don't want to s**t on Stardust here, I am just looking at the ride from a technical perspective. The layout between special elements doesn't really matter for reliability, as steel usually doesn't cause any issues. The ride itself seems to be excellent, it is just a "simpler" approach compared to Voltron.

Hyperia hat some major mechanical issues with the lift, RTH was down for a while after stalling a train. Can't speak for Icon though.

 

[Hyde]

Man, Zamperla will just not stop with the ride reliability issues!

 

[Nicky Borrill]

New rides always have some teething issues, I give you that. I meant major issues, causing the ride to be down for multiple days, not just normal breakdowns. Epic is approaching its first aniversary, and Stardust was closed for how long? Sure, part of it was caused by the accident, which is - from what I know, neither Universal's nor Mack's fault, or related to actual technical problems with the ride.

But lets compare Stardust to Voltron: We have a fairly standard (from a technical perspective) Multi Launch coaster, which's only special gimmick is the duelling effect, coming from it being actually 2 coasters.
Voltron features an effect track, a switch track, a multi-pass launch and 2 unusual shaped launches, combined with a moving station, pushing a train every 38 seconds. There are so many special pieces here, that can each cause a breakdown.
Compared to Voltron, Stardust is a student projeect.

To be clear: I don't want to s**t on Stardust here, I am just looking at the ride from a technical perspective. The layout between special elements doesn't really matter for reliability, as steel usually doesn't cause any issues. The ride itself seems to be excellent, it is just a "simpler" approach compared to Voltron.

Hyperia hat some major mechanical issues with the lift, RTH was down for a while after stalling a train. Can't speak for Icon though.

RTH also had issues operating generally, I spent quite a lot of days on park in opening year and it would often open very late, or go down lots. It wasn't just the stall. I 'heard' that Plopsa had spec'd it to operate during colder periods, for their winter openings, but it struggled, and so would often open late even when temps were above the stated minimum, so they had to raise the minimum operating temperature. Was the stall linked to temperatures too, I can't remember?

Voltron's biggest issues had nothing to do with the complexity of the ride. The roughness was bad enough on it's own, but it was also stalling in places which didn't have a relaunch, including the day before opening day.

Icon had issues in the rain, sensor issues iirc. Meant that in opening year, a visit was a gamble as to whether you'd get on it or not. To be honest, Icons issues weren't that bad, I probably wouldn't have noticed except my mate, who was a massive Helix fan at the time, wanted to try the 'UK Helix' and was continually spited until around September... Just hilariously bad luck... I got on it loads of times in that period.

Anyway... R.e Stardust, the park have said the following...

"Stardust Racers is undergoing its first annual planned inspection and maintenance process. We are efficiently completing the work all at once and are also making additional capacity and throughput enhancements, which is extending the temporary closure period."

Stardust Racers: Why is it closed, and when will it reopen?

One of the "must ride" roller coasters at Universal's Epic Universe theme park has been closed for three weeks – and it looks like the ride is going to be down for a few more weeks.

www.fox35orlando.com

So it's just annual maintenance, that they've extended to make improvements. If that's true, it makes sense, and we'll soon know if it was true, as we'll see what 'improvements' have been made to capacity, if any.

 

[Trax]

Voltron's biggest issues had nothing to do with the complexity of the ride. The roughness was bad enough on it's own, but it was also stalling in places which didn't have a relaunch, including the day before opening day.

Those weren't the main issues, though, although it can happen. I think at this point, Voltron hasn't valleyed more often then Zadra, which is generally regarded as a high speed ride. Voltron does have its fair share of issues, but a lot of them just come from the sheer complexity of the ride. I remember that the switch track had a tendency to park the trains just a bit too late, causing the ride to shut down to just name one issue.

Regarding RTH, all I know is that those kicker wheels were added for a reason, maybe to improve the reliability in cold weather.
---BTT---

Still sad to see a planned maintenance to be extended multiple times. It's hard for me to judge how complex the upgrades are going to be, but the additional closure seems a bit excessive to me - but I am no ride mechanic. But if those changes are helping them to improve reliability long term, it is a valid descision.

Glad my Florida trip isn't scheduled until September, so I don't need to be worried just yet.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Those weren't the main issues, though, although it can happen. I think at this point, Voltron hasn't valleyed more often then Zadra, which is generally regarded as a high speed ride. Voltron does have its fair share of issues, but a lot of them just come from the sheer complexity of the ride. I remember that the switch track had a tendency to park the trains just a bit too late, causing the ride to shut down to just name one issue.

Regarding RTH, all I know is that those kicker wheels were added for a reason, maybe to improve the reliability in cold weather.
---BTT---

Still sad to see a planned maintenance to be extended multiple times. It's hard for me to judge how complex the upgrades are going to be, but the additional closure seems a bit excessive to me - but I am no ride mechanic. But if those changes are helping them to improve reliability long term, it is a valid descision.

Glad my Florida trip isn't scheduled until September, so I don't need to be worried just yet.

I don't know what the more technical issues were that went on for a little longer with Voltron, I just know that it was rough on opening and valleyed multiple times in the weeks before and after opening. They're the issues that affected me and most guests there opening weekend.

Hopefully it all works out as a positive in the end and the ride is super reliable and efficient for your visit in September.

 

[Rob Coasters]

Stardust Racers has soft-opened two weeks ahead of its scheduled re-opening of April 6th.
People are being allowed into the queue and on the app it is marked with a 35 minute queue.

The issue was - I believe - faulty track connectors. Across the entire course of its downtime, workers were spotted inspecting the entire track of both sides, specifically the connections between pieces.

Let's hope this is the last of its downtime.