In some text on its Virtual Line webpage, Universal Orlando has stated that the deeply unpopular Virtual Line system may be utilized for entry into the worlds, or lands, of Epic Universe. When Universal Epic Universe was first added to the Universal Orlando Resort app, it showed that there were Virtual Lines required to enter each of the four worlds of Epic Universe. That was quickly removed, but perhaps tipped Universal’s hand as to how they will manage heavy demand at the park. Now, it looks like Universal is planning to utilize the Virtual Line system for land entry if necessary. Here’s the latest.
Virtual Line to Enter Epic Universe Lands
Here’s a look at the current wording on the Virtual Line page of the Universal Orlando website. As you can see, the FAQ-style section says that Virtual Line may be used for world entry at Universal Epic Universe.
What Experiences Are Using Virtual Line Now?Virtual Line return times may be used for various experiences, including select attractions and entertainment throughout Universal Orlando Resort as well as world entry at Universal Epic Universe. Be sure to check our App for the most up-to-date details!
Turning to our thoughts for a moment, we think that this is simply a CYA situation. I think (hope) that Universal Orlando Resort never finds itself in a situation where it will need to deploy its severely broken Virtual Line system to manage land entry. Right now, the Virtual Line system is in use for the amazing Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry attraction (our review), and it is an atrocious guest experience. We want to visit one more time before we write about it, but it has been a very bad experience so far – very reminiscent of the earliest attempt that Walt Disney World made with Virtual Queue for Rise of the Resistance.
Anyway, the Virtual Line system is bad, and we hope it can be phased out quickly, for both the Battle at the Ministry attraction, and any thoughts of Universal utilizing it for entry into the immersive worlds of Epic Universe. That said, we would be ok with a gated entry system for the lands under one condition.
Epic Universe was uniquely designed to have portals into each world, or land, at the theme park except one – Celestial Park. I think Universal is still trying to figure out how it’ll use Celestial Park in the short term, but a long-term play could be to open it to the public for free in the evenings, to drive visitation to the park. Where I would be ok with gated entry into the lands is if Universal Orlando rolled out a dynamic, and innovative ticket type that would allow guests to purchase tickets to individual lands in addition to the entire entire theme park.
I think that this idea, which has been floated by theme park fans for a while, would allow for not only a more traditional theme park experience as is the case right now (and will likely be the case for a while), but also a non-traditional experience where Universal adds a few more table-service options to Celestial Park and treats it almost like a boutique CityWalk experience.
While it’s fun to dream about what could be, I think that the operational reality will be that Virtual Line could be used for land/world entry at some point in the first few days of park operations following the May 22nd grand opening later this month. Moving forward, I don’t expect that Universal Orlando will experience a crush of guests at Epic Universe, and the Virtual Line concept for crowd management during normal theme park operations could evolve into something like a land-by-land access system that could create a very unique “theme park” experience in the future.
For our comprehensive review of Universal Epic Universe, check out our article below!
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