Epic Universe Poll

[Brian Noble]

and an actual beach.

Unsalted and shark-free!

 

[stat]

Unsalted and shark-free!

Agreed, and w.r.t. Florida, gator-free.

 

[Sheila E.]

I thought this might be interesting. Please add any additional insights in the comments to and let us know if your next WDW stay will be a DVC resort , other Disney resort, Off Property (gasp!) or Universal…

 

[Sheila E.]

We haven't been to the parks in over 12 years, we are coming down the beginning of November and will be doing 2 Disney Parks and 3 Universal Parks, we are getting old, 62 ha ha and figure this might be our last big theme park vacation as there are so many other places we want to travel but are huge Star Wars and Harry Potters as well as looking forward to checking out the Dark Universe at Epic.

 

[I Run Long]

I voted Yes. We'll be going down Sept 2026 and staying 4 nights at Universal (really want to check out Dark Universe and we're Harry Potter fans), then we'll be checking into our home resort. Quite looking forward to it!

 

[Nainolaf]

Had our first ever visit yesterday with Express passes (we are staying at Stella Nova for 4 nights).
Lovely park visually but things seem to be on the slide already…large Piranha plant still not operational in Nintendo world but worse still both pre shows at Monsters unleashed were down (and covered up) and 3 major animatronics not working (first Werewolf and 2 x Draculas)..shame as really took away from the ride experience! Statfall racers was down for about 5hrs from lunchtime and then returned sporadically with just 1 car running (TM said 1 car had been an issue all day but not sure why).
Ate lunch at Oak and Star tavern and food was lovely ..the closing lightt show was worth waiting for too, really cinematic music to match the lights, was very good.

 

[houseofduck]

I voted, yes! We just got back from a visit and did one day at Epic. The EP for our day would have been $230+tax/person. I wouldn’t/didn’t pay for EP at Epic. If there is bad weather or technical issues, the EP isn’t going to do much to help. The day we were there, Ministry was down for most of the day. There was a storm in the afternoon. Despite all of these issues, we managed to do everything (all of the rides and two shows) except the carousel. We arrived early and had a plan. Universal did a good job with Epic and we enjoyed most of our day there, but we won’t be back until it is part of an annual pass or multi park ticket.

 

[CarolynFH]

We have a March 2026 Disney reservation and considering going to Universal. I've only been to Universal in California and that was 20 plus years ago. My daughter would like to go to Harry Potter and Epic Universe (she's never been to Universal) and I don't know how to do any of it. Lands, tickets, etc.

DISboards has forums to help! I learned everything I needed from:

https://www.disboards.com/forums/universal-orlando-resort-parks.30/

https://www.disboards.com/forums/universal-orlando-resorts-hotels.75/

 

[minniesfriend]

I voted maybe.

Our adult kids love Universal - right now more than Disney. So the only reason DH and I would go to Universal would be to spend time with them.

We actually had Universal Annual Passes this past year - took advantage of a buy a year, get 3 months free promotion. At the time we purchased these, we thought we'd at least go enough to pay for them. But...nope. We went two days to Universal, and one day to Epic. That's it. These passes expire this month, and we don't care. So I paid for AP's and went 2 days - pretty sure we lost money here. Had to buy separate Epic passes so .....

While my adult kids love Epic, I thought it was OK. It was so, so hot (we went in May) it was miserable (and we live in South Florida). We did the MonstersRide, which was great. Did both rides in How to Train, HP was down all day, I hated Mario bc I can't stand to wear VR headsets, and Donkey Kong broke after waiting an hour. So... Honestly, I just wanted to go back to my room at Copper Creek, get a shower and go get a drink at Geyser Point. I think the heat drove a lot of my feelings.

We're heading back to Wdw in Dec. I know our "kids" will head over to Universal for a day or two. Will we join them? Maybe. Maybe.

 

[TheGambler22]

We leave next week and will visit Epic on (possibly) two occasions. I say this as we cancelled our stay at Sapphire and booked a cash stay at SSR with dining instead. Being DVC, I hate comparing the resorts at US to WDW, because I don't see any comparison. Anyhow, we bought two Epic tickets given the wait times we've seen posted. However, I cannot ride anything and nor can most of my 11 person group. We just wanted to see the queues, explore the new worlds, watch shows, and use our wands, etc. If it rains, we will prob eat the $149 it cost us and skip it altogether and remain at Disney. We will be there in a split stay for over two weeks and I'll take the Food & Wine over Epic in the rain. I'm hopeful we will enjoy it and do plan to watch the nighttime fountain and firework show, but not sure we need two days now.

 

[LavaMama]

I voted yes.

In April we started our WDW trip with 6 nights staying DVC and then added on 2 nights at the end for Helios so we could preview Epic.

Helios is way way overrated. The only things we liked about it is being inside Epic and the amazing park view, especially at night.

We enjoyed Epic so much that we have decided to take a break from WDW parks and let our Disney AP expire on 9/3. We’ll do the occasional party but otherwise it will just be relaxing and enjoying the resorts for at least the next year or two.

For our upcoming November trip, we’re staying 6 nights DVC and this time, added 3 nights at Stella Nova to the front of our trip so that we can visit Epic for a few days before heading over to CCV, though my husband has said there’s no reason we couldn’t Uber to the park if we wanted to go back.

 

[Genie+]

We’ve had UO on the back burner for a while. The plan is to do 5 nights as a full and separate trip from WDW. Probably not until 2027/28.

Now the family has mentioned popping into EU for a day during our WDW 2026 spring trip. Maybe

 

[zavandor]

I always think this when I am thinking about the cost of LLMP and LLSP. It could be sooooo much worse. We are not necessarily Universal "people" either, so if we get there and my kids say they didn't love it after spending that chunk of change, it would ruin everyone's day! I really hope one of our Dis counterparts does the Epic thing though and tells us if they think it's worth it without buying EP

I just had an exceptional day at Epic, without EP.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/u...and-discussion.3762781/page-177#post-66341475

I'd say the important thing is to arrive early and stay late. But it's September and a Saturday, the lowest of the lowest, crowd wise.
I think any DVC member who regularly buys LL at Disney, should probably buy an EP or a VIP tour.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

I just had an exceptional day at Epic, without EP.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/u...and-discussion.3762781/page-177#post-66341475

I'd say the important thing is to arrive early and stay late. But it's September and a Saturday, the lowest of the lowest, crowd wise.
I think any DVC member who regularly buys LL at Disney, should probably buy an EP or a VIP tour.

Thank you! Looks like you had a great day. I think you're right though, the key is going in an off time to truly enjoy it vs my school break trips I am stuck with still

 

[mauionabreakaway]

We went to Epic late August (the 22nd I think? whatever day the EP silently expanded to include DK and BatM) and frankly, meh. Half the park closes when Florida weather is, you know, Florida weather, and the other half closes because it's unreliable. It was a terrible day overall, really stressful and just not fun. We ended up not riding anything from 9am early entry to 12:30pm because everything we tried to get on went down for lightning or mechanical issues. Guest Services comped us a bunch of one use express passes, and we got on Mario Kart (which was still an hour wait after using the pass and had a faulty visor for my wife so she couldn't see anything), Battle at the Ministry, the HTTYD coaster with those, and then waited a cumulative 3.5 hours over three attempts to finally ride Stardust Racers right before the park closed. Stardust Racers was excellent and I look forward to riding it again, very very cool, but I will not be going back to Epic for a few years at least. It needs a lot of debugging and more weather-insensitive attractions.

 

[zavandor]

We went to Epic late August (the 22nd I think? whatever day the EP silently expanded to include DK and BatM) and frankly, meh. Half the park closes when Florida weather is, you know, Florida weather, and the other half closes because it's unreliable. It was a terrible day overall, really stressful and just not fun. We ended up not riding anything from 9am early entry to 12:30pm because everything we tried to get on went down for lightning or mechanical issues. Guest Services comped us a bunch of one use express passes, and we got on Mario Kart (which was still an hour wait after using the pass and had a faulty visor for my wife so she couldn't see anything), Battle at the Ministry, the HTTYD coaster with those, and then waited a cumulative 3.5 hours over three attempts to finally ride Stardust Racers right before the park closed. Stardust Racers was excellent and I look forward to riding it again, very very cool, but I will not be going back to Epic for a few years at least. It needs a lot of debugging and more weather-insensitive attractions.

What a nightmare!
I was prepared for the worst, I was ready to just be there and ride just a few things. It is a big planning mistake they have all those outdoor rides. The park is beautiful, but it'll be very unpredictable to visit for years to come, until they expand with more indoor rides.

 

[mauionabreakaway]

What a nightmare!
I was prepared for the worst, I was ready to just be there and ride just a few things. It is a big planning mistake they have all those outdoor rides. The park is beautiful, but it'll be very unpredictable to visit for years to come, until they expand with more indoor rides.

Exactly this, I agree it’s aesthetically stunning.

 

[Nainolaf]

We visited on our first full day on 09/03 and dont think I’d rush back until ride issues have been sorted, we had express passes but didnt really get to ised them fully, Starsust racers was down most of the day and had just 1 track running when it eventually came back up (not weather related, DKMKM was down all morning so when we went back it was about a 50min- 1 hr wait with express according to the TM there so we didn’t bother, our biggest disappointment was the amount of animatronics not working on the Monsters unleashed ride, both pre shows were down plus 3 main animatronics were static. I think we’ll be giving it time before we visit again, its was a beautiful park and the food at Oak and Star was excellent (pizza moon not so much!)

 

[jcolvin5]

Definite YES for us!

We stay at WDW for about 2 weeks each Oct and Feb. Typically spend a day at Universal each of the weeks, which makes an annual pass appropriate. Epic Universe will change that calculus this year. In Oct we plan to spend my wife's birthday at Epic (her choice). EP is a must for our family of 4 with our daughters (10 and 8).

With the birthday, and being our first visit to the new park, I'm hoping it will feel a little less like I've been raked across the coals with the price of park admission and EPs. The second week of our trip, we plan to return to Universal and use the EP to ride Hagrid's for the first time. It's always been too long of a wait time without the EP.

TBD if this becomes the norm.