The skill of thrill: Behind the scenes at Epic Universe with Tyler DiFranco

It only took one ride on the Millenium Force at Cedar Point in 2011 to hook Tyler DiFranco. He has been a lover of thrill rides and amusement park adventures ever since.

Cedar Point. Kings Island. Knotts Berry Farm. Carowinds. Universal Orlando Resort. He can’t get enough.

“I’m hardcore. I've got to get on as many rides I can while I’m at a theme park, so I’m nonstop speed walking,” DiFranco said. “Two years ago, when I went to Universal Orlando with my family for my birthday, I spent 12 hours at the park and walked 30,000 steps or 15.3 miles.”

Now, 14 years after his first roller coaster ride, the rising fourth-year operations management student turned his passion into a job. He is a park operations and logistics administration intern at Universal Epic Universe in Florida.

“Epic Universe, which opened in May, is technically the first major theme park to open in the United States since 2001,” said DiFranco. “I hadn’t seen a major new theme park open in my lifetime, so being there for the opening was really cool. It was a place I dreamed of going to since they announced it in 2019 and now I’ve actually worked there. It has been a very surreal experience.”

That experience included observing a variety of staff and working on specific projects for the park.

“For the first two to three weeks of my internship, I shadowed almost every possible position that oversees the park attractions – team members, supervisors and team captains,” DiFranco said. “The supervisors helped anyone that needed anything and took care of guest situations that needed a response. I went with them and watched how they managed the situation.”

He noted different operating procedures for the various attractions like motion simulators Monsters Unchained and Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry.

“Monsters Unchained has a continuous loading and unloading platform that never stops moving so they're operating on one big turntable that runs nonstop all day,” he said. “At the Battle at the Ministry, they have a dual load and unload station. It was fascinating to watch the mechanics of that and the way the team members got guests on and off safely in a limited time.”

When not helping with attractions, he got hands-on experience with several other park departments including wardrobe, park services, admissions, security, parking and guest services.

“In wardrobe, I learned the inventory management and costume tracking systems software they use to assign costumes to specific team members,” he said. “It’s an amazing system as there’s a small number of people who take care of thousands of costumes, including laundering them, for all of Epic Universe.”

With park services, he followed the front-of-house team as they sanitized everything park guests see and touch and the back-of-house team responsible for cleaning staff office spaces. The Park Services Department cleans everything including trash cans and bathrooms to maintain an overall spotless appearance.

“I thought there'd be a lot of downtime in park services, but they are constantly on the go,” DiFranco said. “I never truly appreciated what those team members do; they quite literally deal with some of the most unpleasant things. But they are some of the most humble people in the world and talking with them and hearing their experiences was eye-opening.”

During his internship’s second half, DiFranco worked on projects to improve guest and team member experiences. While shadowing the supervisors, he researched ways to make operational improvements in order to keep patrons and employees comfortable.

“One of my big things with theme parks is wait times and how to get the maximum throughputs we can at rides and attractions,” he said. “Crowd control is something I've always been really interested in.”

While stationed at the Hiccup’s Wing Gliders roller coaster, he noticed that wait times were lessened for patrons when all trains were running at once. Increasing staff efficiency and decreasing wait times always resulted in a better experience for park guests, he said.

“It really was a team effort,” DiFranco said. “At Universal, the culture's very important; everyone really has your back. It showed how Universal is as a company, how they take care of their employees. I saw this in team members’ attitudes and how much fun they were having. If you don't have happy team members, you won't have a happy guest experience.”

DiFranco said two things surprised him about Universal Orlando Resorts: their sustainability efforts and impact on the community.

“There’s huge efforts at these parks to make a greener impact,” he said. “They go to great lengths and invest money to recycle and compact cardboard and aluminum. There are designated pads and plants to crush cans, balers everywhere and they even use a lot of electric utility vehicles to have a lighter impact on our environment.”

In the Orlando community, Universal donated land for building affordable housing, partnered with Give Kids the World Village and Make-A-Wish Foundation and offered college tuition and financial support for adoption to full-time employees.

“At Universal, I really got to see how an entire theme park operates by experiencing every single department and its impact on the guests. It was really rewarding because it gave me an appreciation for how everything comes together.”

Understanding the behind-the-scenes action only further enhanced his passion for theme parks and his desire to make this industry his career.

“What I love about theme parks is the people ─ the guests and the team members,” DiFranco said. “Theme parks provide an escape from reality. They let guests feel a pure sense of joy. That sense of joy gives me the energy to keep on working hard to keep those moments happening for generations to come.”