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AlpenFury top hat done. Beautiful https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJFSjiNCTnJ/?igsh=dXdhd213NzR5cGhx

Alright here's my attempt at a full trip report from my first visit to Epic Universe. Scroll past to avoid spoilers! Arrived around 10:40 with an 11am official opening, although hotel guests had early entry into Celestial Park and Nintendo World. They were already letting non-hotel guests in at that point and you were able to go pretty much anywhere. No wait at all to get in although we got the usual ambush from the survey takers. The entry plaza has a gorgeous view into the center of the park and back to Helios. The app showed that Stardust Racers would be delayed to start the day so we headed back to Dark Universe to begin the day at Monsters Unchained. They were just opening the line, so we were sent around to the left past Curse of the Werewolf to access the line. While waiting for them to open, 11:00 came and literally everybody was staring at their phones for the same reason. At 11 on the dot, Battle at the Ministry virtual queue went live and 3 separate times I clicked on a time only to get to the next screen and be told that "that time is no longer available" each time. Meanwhile a lot of the people around me were celebrating getting a time, which was a little dejecting. Anyway, we eventually made our way into the queue for Monsters Unchained which is absolutely stunning. Room after room with crazy good theming made the ~45 minute wait go by seemingly in no time. The pre-shows were very good as well although tough to hear because as usual no one shuts up. The ride itself was a bit of a letdown to be honest. I don't think using the Forbidden Journey ride system here was the right play. It serves a purpose on that ride. But here, the point of the ride is to see the incredible animatronics but all the ride vehicles do is point you at them for a second or two before being swiftly pulled away. This would've been much better suited for slow moving vehicles ala Haunted Mansion. The animatronics are indeed amazing, I just wish you were able to see them for a little longer. Between the queue and the animatronics this is absolutely a must-do for anyone visiting but I just wish they went down a different path with the ride system. Grabbed a beer from the Burning Blade tavern and caught a fire show (I think every 15 minutes?) which was neat and I would love to see at night. The tavern was a little empty on the inside, kind of expected more theming in there but I'm sure they will add to it. Also grabbed a Frankenstein pretzel from the stand by Monsters which was pretty good. Curse of the Werewolf was posting a 25 minute wait so I hit that real quick on the way out of the area. This is a very short spinning coaster but also spins a lot more than I expected it to. Fun enough coaster when it has a short line but wouldn't want to wait much longer than I did. On the way back through Celestial Park I intended on heading over to Berk, but noticed Stardust Racers running with riders so I ran over and I'm glad I did. They only opened up the yellow side so this had a 60+ minute wait shortly after I got to it. Luckily I only had to wait 30. Sat in row 8 and simply put this thing is an airtime machine. There is awesome ejector all over the course. I saw a lot of folks reporting that they like it more than Velocicoaster and without the dueling element I can't say I agree, but this thing is definitely a home run. I was a little apprehensive about the seating after finding Copperhead Strike uncomfortable, but the trains on this are very nice and look great. Hopefully next time I can experience some dueling and see this thing at its full potential. Continued over to Berk which is stunning. One of the most colorful and well themed lands I've ever seen. Got into a 45 minute wait for Hiccups Wing Gliders which turned into about 1:15 because it is an Intamin and broke down multiple times. This is a very fun ride with very uncomfortable seats. The back support protrudes into your lower back and the lapbar tightens continuously during the ride and staples the crap out of your legs. It's a terrific family coaster with fun swoopy turns and great scenery but I was also kind of happy when it was over so I could stand up. Don't miss this, but also be forewarned that it's not a comfortable train. When we got off it was just about 3:00 but when 3:00 came and went the Battle of the Ministry times never came up on my phone. My wife tried 45 seconds later and they popped up on her phone but then got the same "this time is no longer available" message. Maybe this system works better on iPhone? Not sure but either way it's super annoying. We ended up walking over to Paris just to check out the area and it was really nice looking, but at the same time it's not the same feeling as walking into Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley and feeling like you just walked into the movies. Went over to the ride to see if I could use the single rider line and the attendant was like "you need a return time to access this attraction" so why even advertise the single rider line at all? There were numerous people standing around arguing with her so I just walked away and left the area. The roll out of this thing is a disaster. Either do it like Disney where you assign all the slots at once in the morning or just let people wait in line. Stopped in for a brisket sandwich at Oak and Star tavern which was very good. I like the full service seating at this park's restaurants where you just sit where you want and order on the app. Nice not standing in a long line to order. Made our way into Nintendo World next which is absolutely amazing. I've never seen HTTYD so Berk didn't give me that walking into a movie vibe as I didn't know what it is supposed to look like (although I've heard it is similar and that area is absolutely stunning). But this was just a total nostalgia trip into the video games of my youth. Started with Mario Kart which had no line before the preshow, and the queue for this is incredible. Literally felt like walking through the Bowser's Castle track on Mario Kart. After the preshow you need to wait another 20 minutes on like 528 flights of stairs before you finally get down to the station. The ride itself was pretty cool although my neck hurt from the weight of the goggles by the time it was over. I think using a Men in Black type car would've worked better for this but it was a lot of fun overall. Wife didn't want barbeque earlier so we stopped at Toadstool Cafe where she had a Mario Burger and Tiramisu and I had some garlic knots. The burger was good but the bread almost tasted stale. Tiramisu and garlic knots were very good. Made our way to the Yoshi ride which to me was amazing as Yoshi's Island was my favorite game when I was a kid. Heading the music and seeing things from the game was just a huge nostalgia blast. The ride itself is very short but has some good views and it had a short line so overall very enjoyable. It was pushing 6:00 and we had to leave for the airport by 7, so upon arriving in Donkey Kong country I saw Mine Cart Madness was posting a 90 minute line. I lucked out though as they had just reopened the single rider line and I was on in 20 minutes. While I was waiting the 6:00 Potter drop came up and the times finally came up on my phone! But then I clicked a time and it says "looks like you're not in Epic Universe"...WTF?!? This system is atrocious! Anyway...after heading the same 3 lines being spoken over and over about the golden banana, I got on an interesting ride. It has a fun layout and some neat visual tricks, but I can't believe how jerky and tough almost every transition on this ride is. Felt like an arrow mine train which is surprising for a brand new coaster. Overall though DK country is really awesome looking...all of Nintendo World really blew me away. Did a little gift shopping before heading out to the airport. Overall this is a really nice park and it looks amazing. It almost doesn't feel like a Universal park. When you walk into IOA the grand reveal of all the huge rides around the lagoon is one of my favorite things in the world. When you walk into this place it feels like Disney built a park in front of the Bellagio. You can't really see much from the entrance except a little bit of Stardust and the mountain in Berk. I think when they fully open on May 22nd the park is going to feel like it needs more in it. There's 11 total rides in the park, many of them with kind of low capacity, and a couple shows. Doesn't really feel like enough to handle the crowds they're going to get. It will be interesting to see how quick they add to it. I will be back on June 2nd (my birthday) and I will be pretty pissed if I don't get on Battle at the Ministry for a second time in a row. Thankfully I hit everything else I wanted to yesterday so won't have to worry about dealing with crazy lines. I plan on spending more time seeing shows and just enjoying the ambience of the park more. I'm not sure this beats out IOA as their best park until they add to it, but still very worth checking out.

Got an email yesterday, that sort of went like this... Hello. Your season pass will be available for pickup on the first day of Playland! (Sat. May 17th) Kind regards, Mason (They/Them) TICKETLEADER (Hopefully, I will be shown the right ticket booth for pickup, OR pick it up at Customer Services which is right as we enter the park.)

Unfortunately if they do get Gravity Group to add precut the most they seem to install in an off season is ~1500ft. Many parks combine that with additional traditional retracking in order to maximize the short term benefit - even knowing that precut will be installed on most of the rest of the layout in future off seasons. I had illustrated before that a U-shaped hyper should work running along the railroad with a turnaround near the front gate.

I know they're the same company now but it's still jarring to see for the first time. The actual sewn in tag says "Six Flags", too.