Universal's Epic Universe - News and Discussion

[djmeredith]

I made a last minute decision to go to Epic yesterday (Sunday) and will share my experience since it addresses some recent questions here. Decided on Saturday evening to go Sunday, but 1 day tix were sold out. I had read here and other places that the hotel vacation planning desks may have tix for guests even when they are sold out. So I decided to roll the dice and booked a room at Helios for the convenience of the location.

We arrived at Helios around 7:15 am. The vacation planning desk did have tix, so we were able to purchase those and splurged for Express Passes since we only had 1 day. My back up plan was to buy 2 days tix that included Epic, which were still available. Our room wasn't ready, so we grabbed a quick breakfast at the Starbucks and lined up for park entry. There were already about 4-5 groups ahead of us at 7:30 for a 9:00 early entry. At 8:00, they start sending people through security and outside to wait. There is a staff member at the end of the walkway to hold guests until the park opens. He let us know that there was a chance they would let us in at 8:45 as they had been doing so recently. It was a very sunny wait! (The worker even had an umbrella.) They did let us in at 8:45.

We met a couple in line who had been to the park a few times already. We asked them what they recommend as a starting plan. They recommended going to SNW because they said we would most likely be able to "unofficially" line up for MM. They did warn us that MM often experienced delayed opening. We decided to follow their advice. We were literally at the very front of the Helios crowd when they let us into the park, but the front gate crowd had beat the Helios crowd to SNW. It appeared that a lot of them had beat us, but it turned out that wasn't the case. I'd estimate we were one of the first 150 people into the portal. Since it appeared we were towards the front of the crowd, we decided to go to Mario Kart before heading to MM (since it wouldn't open until 10:00). That paid off. We didn't use our EP since we knew we were towards the front of the crowd. It was a very short wait and our strategy paid off. We got off and went straight to MM. At the entrance to DKL, the worker was announcing that MM would not open until 10:00 and they were not allowing anyone to line up. However, there was literally already a line formed at the entrance to the ride. We were about 50 people back. Right before 10:00, they came down the line and said it was experiencing a delayed start, they couldn't predict how long it would be and we would not be compensated if we decided to wait and it took a long time.They then let the line in. They delay was approximately 20 minutes, so it was worth the gamble.

It was a good start to the day, but that luck definitely did not last. We ended up wasting almost an hour at Fyre Drill because the boats malfunctioned. Definitely should have bailed that line! Even with EPs were not able to do Yoshi, Dragon Racers Rally, carousel or MoM. However, we were able to do Mario, MU, Werewolf, and Hiccup's Wing Gliders twice each.

I will also caution you to not leave MoM to the end of the night. I had read that advice, which was based on it going down frequently. However, it had not gone down all day, so we decided to roll the dice. Everything was great. I even asked the worker at the entrance of MoM what was the latest we could join the line. He emphatically stated we had until 1 minute before 10:00 to join the line. No mention that the line could be shut down early, which is exactly what happened. At approximately 8:45, they shut the line down for the night and it said "At Capacity." Needless to say, I was not happy. I highly recommend jumping in the line for Mom any time it is 60 mins or less.

Sorry for the long post, but hope it helps someone. Feel free to ask anything.

 

[MIChessGuy]

This sounded odd to me, but supposedly anyone can queue up for BatM whether or not they are eligible for early entry. That of course makes early entry pointless for this particular attraction. Maybe there is something I'm not getting about the beginning of day procedures for Epic here.

 

[tony67]

This sounded odd to me, but supposedly anyone can queue up for BatM whether or not they are eligible for early entry. That of course makes early entry pointless for this particular attraction. Maybe there is something I'm not getting about the beginning of day procedures for Epic here.

Yeah its pretty weird to me as well - I know they let everyone into Celestial park in the AM - so you don't need EE to get into the park - just into the open portals. So EE for Dark Universe and Nintendo most days and everyone who is not EE is held back.

The HP area is not open and there is usually an unofficial line for Ministry and that is anyone who wants to wait in the line.
I thought I had posted it earlier - but I've been told afternoon is your best bet.

I went 4 days during previews and in general I felt EE was a total waste of my time - Everyone who has EE goes to SNW and its pretty packed. In general the lines for most rides were much better in the afternoon and at night.

Part of the problem is that people have one day at Epic so they get there for EE and try to stay all day.
Its a tough park and it wears you out - so I am sure a lot of folks are worn out be 5 or 6 and leave.

Once its part of a AP I'd be much more likely to go to IOA or US in the morning and then head over to Epic.

 

[zavandor]

My plan is to install an app that alerts of incominh rain in the area and if I get an alert (likely, as it'll be in September) immediatelyn o go to Ministry. Otherwise, get in line around 8pm

 

[MinnesotaDisneyFan]

My plan is to install an app that alerts of incominh rain in the area and if I get an alert (likely, as it'll be in September) immediatelyn o go to Ministry. Otherwise, get in line around 8pm

I’m not sure how common this is but sometimes it seems they close lines prior to park close. When I was at Epic, the line for Ministry closed prior to park close and said it was “at capacity.” Granted this was partly because it had been broken the entire day and had only reopened in the early evening. When it finally reopened it never got below a 240 min wait so closing the line before park close was probably to prevent having to operate 4+ hours after park close. The 240 min wait was not inflated as I did wait and was in line before it was closed and waited almost 4 hours.

 

[MIChessGuy]

Looks like a "heads they win, tails I lose" scenario. I can wait until the evening, but the ride could reach capacity at some random time and/or be out of service. Or I could join the mob at so-called "early entry" except everyone can get in line for BatM so why bother.

I'm starting to think that I will just look up what seems to be working for people at early entry closer to my trip dates, and then go to BatM after EE and just suck it up. I guess I can stare at my phone for 170 minutes just like everyone else.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

They'll do that for Hagrids sometimes too.

I suspect the queue has to be more than XXXmin actual wait past closing. They also have several rides that need to be clear of people by midnight because they're in a residential area, not sure if that's also true at Epic and/or if MoM would be among them?