Universal's Epic Universe - News and Discussion

[tony67]

I talked with the other Orlando AP friends we have and they said they didn't need to be there the first day and they are looking for if/when soft openings occur for APs. I was interested to see if they got caught up in the glitches many expressed they had but it looks like they decided to just wait it out a bit.

Makes a lot of sense. If I was local I'd be looking at the soft opening stuff - could be quite a bit in May as they start testing things.

I was tempted to just book a week in early May and hope for the best - worst case I can do US and IOA.
I really don't want to be there for Memorial Day weekend - was hoping for them to open the week before - I'd been assuming the 14th or 15th for a few months now.

(I know a bit repetitive - Ive said much of this before)

 

[Lewisc]

Makes a lot of sense. If I was local I'd be looking at the soft opening stuff - could be quite a bit in May as they start testing things.

I suspect some of the early soft openings may be limited to select attractions or lands.

I hope the official opening date is for the full park.

 

[soniam]

I guess I really lucked out getting tickets, sort of. I went to HHN. Checked every hour starting at midnight until 5am ET and tried to sleep between. Saw in a private FB group that they were in accounts. Got my 2 dates. When it showed up in email, I realized one was wrong, my fault. Tried calling; no one there. Woke back up at 7:30am. Waited an hour and went back to sleep. Later in the afternoon, I was getting ready and called. Got ready, ate a snack, walked to guest services in Citywalk, waited in line. They told me they couldn’t change the dates. Went back to the hotel. As I was leaving to grab water, they answered. Got it changed. On the phone about 2 hours. Luckily I never hung up and didn’t lose the call in the elevator or going through security. We are going 5/29 and 6/1 with a theme park view room at Helios.

 

[wendlle]

I never buy skip the line upgrades, I do like the included EP and usually get those when we do universal - but I won't pay the daily rate for it.
However, If I am able to get a single day ticket for Epic we will try to get the express passes - for 2 adults and 2 kids it will really add up $$ wise, but we are only there for a few days towards the end of May and won't be back for years, so may as well try and splurge - just have to get those 1 day tickets first - which is stressing me out.

They will 100% have Express passes on opening, they've already said they will have them before the park opens on May 22nd.
I wish in a way they didn't and it was back to the "good ol' days" of everyone on a level playing field, but that will never happen.

 

[lisam70]

They will 100% have Express passes on opening, they've already said they will have them before the park opens on May 22nd.

Maybe…Universal is careful with their wording. They will be available for purchase before opening day but they could put restrictions/ limitations the first days or weeks.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

Maybe…Universal is careful with their wording. They will be available for purchase before opening day but they could put restrictions/ limitations the first days or weeks.

I was just about to say that...they have not fully confirmed if they will actually be used on opening day. Actually it just says details will be annouced before opening day...they might not even be on sale before.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

They will 100% have Express passes on opening, they've already said they will have them before the park opens on May 22nd.

Not exactly. The topic of Express Passes addressed by Universal in their official statement was part of additional ticket options and worded as "Additional ticket products for Epic Universe – including single-day tickets for the general public, additional multi-day ticket options, Florida resident tickets, Universal Express passes and more – will be available at a later date before the park opens."

"More details about Universal Epic Universe – including additional ticket products – will be released in the months ahead."

So they've mentioned EP but not advised that EP will be available day 1 for either purchase or some other way at this present moment; you can also make something available for purchase but only applicable for X date or later or only for Y ticket type purchases, etc. We basically still don't have confirmation of how EP will be handled at park opening at this time but should have more information before opening at least according to Universal's official statement.

https://media.universalparksusa.com...pic-universe-officially-opens-on-may-22-2025/

 

[Minnie1222]

Why wouldn't they offer EP or other line skipping products? It would be a dumb financial move if they didn't.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Why wouldn't they offer EP or other line skipping products? It would be a dumb financial move if they didn't.

We know they will have EP, we don't know when and who it will apply to. Very important distinctions when talking about what Universal has officially announced.

 

[Minnie1222]

Unless they are extremely dumb, I can't see why they would forfeit a large chunk of money by not selling line skipping products from the start.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Unless they are extremely dumb, I can't see why they would forfeit a large chunk of money by not selling line skipping products from the start.

Because that would deviate from their history? Point is we just don't know and they haven't confirmed how they will handle it. But this has already been hashed out months back on this thread. We kinda just need to wait for them to release more information rather than conversate on how dumb this or that is.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I hope the official opening date is for the full park.

Me too. I can give slack if it's a restaurant that will open in weeks maybe a month or two after opening, not saying I would be impressed by that but I can give slack. But having areas of the park not available different story and would garner a from me even if I'm not planning on being there right at opening.

When Galaxy's Edge opened at DL with just 1 ride it did alter how wow'd I was with it especially as it felt empty in places. I would imagine an entire theme park with gaps in access would be much worse on that aspect.

 

[New Mouse]

Why wouldn't they offer EP or other line skipping products? It would be a dumb financial move if they didn't.

It would be a dumber financial move if they didn't understand how their park operates on a base level before adding in express.

 

[Minnie1222]

It would be a dumber financial move if they didn't understand how their park operates on a base level before adding in express.

They have another 6 months to gather data. I don't expect an announcement for EP et al. until late April or early May.

 

[Minnie1222]

Because that would deviate from their history? Point is we just don't know and they haven't confirmed how they will handle it. But this has already been hashed out months back on this thread. We kinda just need to wait for them to release more information rather than conversate on how dumb this or that is.

What history? I admit I wasn't there for the openings of Universal and IOA.

 

[greeneyedchick]

What history? I admit I wasn't there for the openings of Universal and IOA.

Whenever Universal opens a new ride like Hagrid's or Velocicoaster, they don't include the new ride in Express Pass. I believe after Velocicoaster was open for a year, they then added it to EP. However, there still is no express pass for Hagrid's which is the most popular ride in the park. I appreciate that Universal does this because it's a long line and adding EP to it would make it even longer for everyone. This is quite the opposite approach that Disney takes where their most popular rides have seperate paid lightening lane passes.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

What history? I admit I wasn't there for the openings of Universal and IOA.

It's not about opening of a new theme park. Universal doesn't add EP onto new attractions. People don't remember how long Forbidden Journey didn't have it but Forbidden Journey officially opened June 2010 and Express Pass was added to it (among the other existing Harry Potter attractions that came after it) randomly in July 2017 so that is 7 years without any other way to experience it but standby. Their history is they typically wait until the wait times are X amount (varies by ride and their own internal goals) at least the way the pattern seems to work out.

I've always phrased my comments with this topic as Universal could do something different with their new park, it can be an opportunity to do it. Regardless you have to treat the topic as different than what Disney does because Universal hasn't behaved the way Disney does.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

However, there still is no express pass for Hagrid's which is the most popular ride in the park.

Yeah even if you take out the several months of the pandemic where the parks were closed Hagrid's opened in June of 2019, it's been 5 1/2 years without EP on that attraction and we're several years out of saying it's merely just pandemic related.

 

[tony67]

I feel this is different since its seems it will be a 100% paid EP and its an entire park.
In those other examples its a new ride in an existing park and Hagrid's is probably the most popular ride in the park.

For Epic I suspect it wont be available day one, but sometime shortly after that.
All just total speculation - but its a money maker for them - and they like money (who doesn't)

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I feel this is different since its seems it will be a 100% paid EP and its an entire park.
In those other examples its a new ride in an existing park and Hagrid's is probably the most popular ride in the park.

For Epic I suspect it wont be available day one, but sometime shortly after that.
All just total speculation - but its a money maker for them - and they like money (who doesn't)

You could have always argued that without having the newest most in demand attractions to EP (especially when the multiple Harry Potter ones were not included until 2017) it lessened the desire to purchase it or pay for a Premier hotel to get it and yet they did not struggle with this (and they had lowered attendance than current days).

In any case the comments here on the thread have never been about not having EP, it's always been about when. Universal confirmed they will have EP but have not stated anything further than that. This topic was revived because a poster stated it 100% at park opening and that Universal stated as such but that was not exactly what Universal has officially released in press statements so here we are again just waiting on more details