Epic Feb 2026 - should we postpone or go for it?

[liamthompson]

A friend and I have an epic trip planned for Feb 2026 and I know it's been struggling to find it's footing (which I understand). I'm wondering if we should postpone, give up, or go for it. We are big harry potter fans and did a visit for the opening of hogsmeade and another one for diagonal alley a few years later so this trip location is a sentimental pick.

If we don't go in Feb, I'll have chances to go in the future but my friend's biological clock is ticking and she wants to wrap up traveling in the next year or two. So if we postpone...what would folks recommend, 2027? I know no one has a crystal ball but I would welcome any thoughts.

To further complicate things, I currently have a trip planned to the legacy parks with my family in November, with the plan that I would activate my annual pass and use it in both Nov and Feb to get the most out of it. Now I'm wondering if I should cancel that trip too (it's a split trip with disney so we would just move to disney earlier) and just hang on to my AP.

 

[tony67]

Well- I'd say you never know what is going to happen so Id say go - especially if you can get two trips out of an AP.

I somewhat regret my trip to Epic during the previews - but things were really messed up then - out of 4 days I had one day that was actually good. I should have waited until my HHN trip, but overall I'm glad a did it.

February is a great time to go if you can check out Mardi Gras - I highly recommend trying to get on a float to throw beads.
APs may be able to add Epic by then - but who knows.

Lastly - make sure you are fully aware of what is going on at Disney with ride closures and such.
There is a lot of construction walls at MK, AK and HS. If you skip Universal you my find yourself not having enough to do at Disney

 

[toesmom]

We were in Disney last week, way too hot. I would say yes go to Epic in February absolutely.

 

[marmentrout85]

A friend and I have an epic trip planned for Feb 2026 and I know it's been struggling to find it's footing (which I understand). I'm wondering if we should postpone, give up, or go for it. We are big harry potter fans and did a visit for the opening of hogsmeade and another one for diagonal alley a few years later so this trip location is a sentimental pick.

If we don't go in Feb, I'll have chances to go in the future but my friend's biological clock is ticking and she wants to wrap up traveling in the next year or two. So if we postpone...what would folks recommend, 2027? I know no one has a crystal ball but I would welcome any thoughts.

To further complicate things, I currently have a trip planned to the legacy parks with my family in November, with the plan that I would activate my annual pass and use it in both Nov and Feb to get the most out of it. Now I'm wondering if I should cancel that trip too (it's a split trip with disney so we would just move to disney earlier) and just hang on to my AP.

I say go for it. The good thing with February is there's less rain than other times of year. I'm not sure I'd exactly say it's struggling to find its footing...we had a great 2 days in a row the last weekend of June. The only thing that really got in our way was the afternoon thunderstorms...but we were already able to knock out a lot of stuff by the afternoon it didn't truly get in the way that much at all. I honestly don't recall any rides being down for technical issues, only for weather. It was a way smoother 2 days than I was anticipating. But just like any park it will have good days and bad days.

 

[liamthompson]

Well- I'd say you never know what is going to happen so Id say go - especially if you can get two trips out of an AP.

Thank you for framing it like this - I think I've been focused on the reports of the crazy waits and ride breakdowns but that doesn't mean it will or won't happen on our trip.

 

[liamthompson]

I say go for it. The good thing with February is there's less rain than other times of year. I'm not sure I'd exactly say it's struggling to find its footing...we had a great 2 days in a row the last weekend of June. The only thing that really got in our way was the afternoon thunderstorms...but we were already able to knock out a lot of stuff by the afternoon it didn't truly get in the way that much at all. I honestly don't recall any rides being down for technical issues, only for weather. It was a way smoother 2 days than I was anticipating. But just like any park it will have good days and bad days.

Thanks for sharing, it is encouraging to hear! Indeed a lot of the negative trip reports I'm reading are complaining about weather related delays.

 

[GhostHost24]

Thanks for sharing, it is encouraging to hear! Indeed a lot of the negative trip reports I'm reading are complaining about weather related delays.

Also remember you're more likely to hear about when things go bad then when they aren't.

Not many go to the web and blast how every worked perfectly. But when things go down you'll Def hear it.

Not to say they aren't struggling at times, but I do think it's not quite as bad as it's being portrayed.

Itll be a few years before the rides are constantly reliable. I mean Hagrids opened in what 2019 ans it still struggles to open with the park

 

[tony67]

I would tend to agree with the PP - we are hearing a lot of negative - but I think there are other factors.

First the weather - that is a big one and not much you can do about that.

The biggest issue IMO is that people can really only go for one day or have to buy a day ticket - this is really frustrating and adds a lot of stress to an Epic day. This will not be an issue with February for multiday tickets.

Its far less stressful when you have a 3 or 5 day ticket and you can hop from Epic to US to IOA and back

The folks that go to Universal every day - are not going to Epic because its not part of an AP- so we are not hearing much about it from them - so the only voices are those that went for one day - and many are unhappy.

I do think Universal is still having issues dealing with more than 10-12k in that park in a day - I've heard 15k is really that max and that is pushing it. So yeah they still have a long way to go.

BY February they will have made it through the Christmas season - which is already sold out on single day tickets for many days - so they should have thing running much better by then.

 

[liamthompson]

The biggest issue IMO is that people can really only go for one day or have to buy a day ticket - this is really frustrating and adds a lot of stress to an Epic day. This will not be an issue with February for multiday tickets.

Its far less stressful when you have a 3 or 5 day ticket and you can hop from Epic to US to IOA and back

Thanks for your thoughts about the reasons behind the negative reports. I did consider a multiday ticket but I'll really only have one whole park day for this trip (fly in Wednesday, epic on Thursday, fly out Friday) but my friend has the option of staying into the weekend so a multiday ticket might be a good choice for her. If epic becomes an option on the annual pass then I would definitely choose to upgrade.

It's silly but I'm worried that epic will be a frustrating disappointment for her for the one day we will spend together - I'm less worried about my experience since I feel I'll have plenty of chances to re-visit in the future. It makes me wonder if we should just choose one of the legacy parks instead (and do the mardi gras float ride like you suggested - this is something I've always thought would be fun but it is a hard no for my spouse. For our last visit, I went to the parade and he sat on a bench somewhere ha) or do something entirely different like go see the harry potter play at the dr. phillips center which will be showing during our travel dates.

But then I think...maybe it doesn't really matter? When I was planning my first disney trip for my family, a wise person on disboards told me that it's a matter of attitude - if we set out to have a good time then we will have a good time...I needed that advice too because our trip was comically unaccomplished!

 

[KatieCharlotte]

I'm going next week, and coincidentally recently overheard a woman talking about taking her teenagers to Epic also in August. She was most concerned with reports of no shade, but she said what I've been thinking -- They're going with the attitude that whatever they can do, they'll do, with no pressure or expectations. I want to see the worlds, ride Monsters, and hopefully ride Mario Kart, probably with a long wait. Anything else is a bonus. But, like her, we'll go back again, which may factor in the decision.