Universal Orlando has done a fantastic job of refreshing old restaurants with new concepts and menus – the delicious and fun Minion Cafe comes to mind as does the newly refurbished Circus McGurkus featuring mobile ordering. But every new menu featuring unique ingredients has a frozen burger patty on a lifeless bun or soggy pizza. Universal Orlando still has several restaurants in the parks that need refreshing, and some old favorites that need love.
Captain America in the Fantastic Four restaurant.
The heart of the bad food is Islands of Adventure – Cafe 4 and Captain America Diner (86% approval) in Marvel Super Hero Island, Comic Strip Cafe (65% approval) in Toon Lagoon, and Burger Digs (66% approval). Marvel Super Hero Island has a swath of food concepts to pull from, like international dishes inspired by superheroes or items in the comics or movies, and instead, they stick with the same pizza, salads, and sandwiches. Yawn. Comic Strip Cafe has the dubious distinction of being the lowest-rated restaurant at Universal Orlando with a menu of burgers and Chinese food and does neither of them well.
Universal also must revisit their quick service burger places – Richter’s (67% approval), Burger Digs (66% approval), Mel’s Drive-In (69% approval), and Krusty Burger (71% approval) all rate among the lowest in the parks. Y’all, please re-evaluate your cooking methods, patties, buns, and french fries! For a resort that has figured out many delicious dining options the fact they still can’t solve the problem of a good burger and fries is mystifying.
Paperless park map station.
In early 2024 Universal Orlando removed all park maps from their parks to save green – the environment and money. Now all maps are located in the Universal Orlando app on your smartphone. Look, we support the environment and understand it is much easier to update a digital map, but having a physical map goes beyond just wayfinding. Maps are great for those without smartphones and those with problems operating one, souvenirs for trips, and among the easiest ways Team Members interact with international guests. While we don’t expect rows and rows of park maps to come back to the front of the parks, we would like to see physical park maps return in a limited scope at Guest Relations and other guest service locations.
There is enough pent-up demand to start selling Epic Universe tickets that Disney is preemptively offering free dining with hotel and ticket packages. I know folks waiting to buy admission that includes more days at Epic Universe who are visiting over ten months from now. The people are sold, the ads are running, and it is now time to offer single-day admission to all guests and multiday passes with full access to the Epic Universe. If there was one lesson Universal should have learned from the opening of Islands it is to make things simple to remember and easy to understand – selling tickets now removes those hurdles.
Tikis.
Real ones have heard the rumors of a tiki bar opening outside of the Dark Universe portal in Epic Universe for years now. Rumored to be named CelesTiki, the bar has the opportunity to be among the best in any theme park. This outdoor circular bar would offer bar seating and walk-up service within walking distance of the park’s main show fountain. The former designer of Trader Sam’s now works at Universal Creative, so this project has a high pedigree behind it. So I hope Universal Orlando goes all out and offers custom tiki mugs for purchase at the bar. Imagine mugs offered that are designed to replicate the characters and settings from the worlds of Epic Universe. Who wouldn’t love getting a big tropical drink made with 20 rums in a mug designed like Mt Beanpole or decorated like Stardust Racers?
Fast & Furious – Supercharged
We are now entering the seventh year of operation for Fast & Furious: Supercharged, a ride that according to you, our readers, rate as the worst attraction out of any domestic Disney or Universal park. This ride is so bad that the only age group that rates the ride higher than 3 stars is preschoolers, an age range we assume cannot understand plot or dialogue but enjoy the cars. We don’t know how anyone really enjoys this ride sober, honestly we always pick up a Corona from Chez Alcatraz before riding with a new crew. A full scale ride system replacement would take years, and with USF’s next project locked in, we doubt any such major plans are in the works. Instead I’d propose something a little more popular to replace Supercharged, with the party buses eschewing the SF look for one more inspired by Oz.
Do you have resolutions you wish Universal Orlando would adopt? Leave them in the comments below!
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