Nowadays, it feels like students can\u2019t afford anything anymore. Due to inflation, many otherwise accessible goods have become simply too expensive, especially for college students, who have comparatively lower incomes than older generations. This gradual increase in prices has even affected theme park tickets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The newest theme park in Florida, Epic Universe, currently costs between $180 and $360 per person, plus tax, and if one wanted to visit Universal\u2019s other parks while in Orlando, that would cost between $270 and $865 per person, plus tax.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For students who are skilled enough to balance their finances enough in 2026, or for those who are able to save up enough money for even just the newest Orlando park, they would want to know if it\u2019s worth the time and investment. Students want an experience full of content to keep them on property for at least a full day. Unfortunately, Epic Universe is objectively dry when it comes to theme park content. Across the whole theme park, there are four themed lands: Dark Universe, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter \u2013 Ministry of Magic, How to Train Your Dragon \u2013 Isle of Berk, and Super Nintendo World, as well as the gateway land, which is Celestial Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is the least amount of themed park lands in a Universal theme park, if you don\u2019t count Volcano Bay. Across all the lands, Epic Universe has a measly 11 attractions, not counting the Viking Training Camp playground for children or the Astronomica splash pad that Universal has listed as a ride on their digital park map. Dark Universe has two rides, Isle of Berk has three rides, Super Nintendo World has three rides and Ministry of Magic has exactly one ride. Peculiarly enough, this isn\u2019t the first time Universal has created lands that contain only one ride.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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As for entertainment, Epic Universe proudly boasts a whopping two shows: The Untrainable Dragon and Le Cirque Arcanus. There is no nighttime show as of now, and all other entertainment takes the form of character meet-and-greets (which Universal oddly lists as entertainment rather than as its own thing, as Disney World does). Dining and shopping options far outweigh the rides and entertainment one would experience with a ticket, meaning more money the average college student would need to spend to fully experience the park. Dining isn\u2019t particularly cheap either\u2026 Toadstool Caf\u00e9, an admittedly adorable Mario-themed dining experience, has most entrees priced between $17 and $25, which can add up quickly if one goes with friends or family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beyond basic content and pricing metrics, the theme park is quite confused about theming. Aside from Nintendo, all the IPs within the park are either outdated or problematic. Even then, Super Nintendo Land is dishonest in terms of presentation, as it only features two and one-fifteenth of Nintendo\u2019s iconic gaming franchises, those being Super Mario (of course), Donkey Kong and mere crumbs of the Pikmin franchise, as tiny Pikmin statues can be found around Super Nintendo Land.<\/p>\n
In short, Epic Universe simply isn\u2019t worth it. <\/p>\n
Even if you were to spare the average Universal fan\u2019s feelings by not comparing Epic Universe to any of the acclaimed Walt Disney World parks, one would find that the previous Universal parks simply have more content and semi-cohesive theming to warrant an experience that is slightly justifiable for theme park tickets. Unless Epic Universe ticket prices are significantly reduced (say, to the price of Animal Kingdom base tickets), students should focus their finances on more important matters, and if spending the upcoming spring break at a theme park\u2026 Disney is always there and isn\u2019t leaving anytime soon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nowadays, it feels like students can\u2019t afford anything anymore. Due to inflation, many otherwise accessible goods have become…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-207695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}