Universal's Epic Universe - News and Discussion

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Velocicoaster used to be routinely 30 or less before they added express.

I wish they would just end EP. It'll never happen because it makes a lot of money. But I think it would make the experience better. Waiting 30 min for a popular ride is fine. Instead, the majority of guests have to wait double that or more so that a few can have a short wait. Yes, I know that's not the world we live in...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I wish they would just end EP. It'll never happen because it makes a lot of money. But I think it would make the experience better. Waiting 30 min for a popular ride is fine. Instead, the majority of guests have to wait double that or more so that a few can have a short wait. Yes, I know that's not the world we live in...

I'm fine with having EP (it goes for any theme or amusement park to have a front of the line pass) but I've always appreciated that Universal didn't do what Disney does with putting EP at the start and I'm hoping they continue with this trend for Epic.

Sure it's about them being able to sell it to the public but there's a balance too with guest satisfaction so I don't really think it's wholly about profits. They have to weigh never having a means for people to get through a line quicker and how that would impact their willingness to even patronize the park. I just think people can't expect the park to be anything other than busy for at least several years.

I also think it depends on when you went over the years. We went in 2011 and Forbidden Journey was still very long it was for sure more than an hour I think it might have been 90+ mins. IDK we got stuck in the greenhouse for quite a while even though we breezed through the queue parts before the greenhouse I remember thinking whew they certainly built the capacity for the line to be long. FJ didn't get EP until summer 2017 (it opened summer 2010).

I also think it depends on your expectations and to me 30 mins is NOTHING in terms of a theme park and certainly when speaking about a very popular ride. Ride times tend to go down the longer an attraction is open. I'm not saying I wouldn't love waiting less time but my expectations are very adjusted for things.

When we last went in 2022 VelociCoaster before EP was added to it

• First day
  • 45 mins (listed as 50mins) at 8:15am
• Second day
  • 7:55am it was posted 15min wait and it was slightly less than that and my husband rode it twice back to back within 20 mins
  • That afternoon about 3pm it was 35min posted wait and he waited 30mins
• Third day
  • 8:45am it was posted 45mins wait and he waited about 40mins.
  • They had single rider open once my husband got off (they did not have single rider the prior two days) and he rode it again immediately with about 5 or so min wait
  • That evening the posted wait time was 60 mins at 9:30pm and he was out in 45mins.

VelociCoaster opened summer 2021

And Hagrid's is definitely a longer wait time which opened summer 2019 even if you remove that the pandemic shortened the time it was opened to the public and with crowds by a bit still.

For Hagrid's in 2022 (again no EP)

• First day
  • Went down in the morning (common)
  • at 9:05am posted 60 mins, waited 40mins
• Third day at 6:50pm posted wait time of 70mins (75 mins posted)

I get your point about how EP affects the wait time, we know that, but if your definition is waiting 30mins for a popular ride is fine (meaning longer than that is where you start to get iffy on it) I'd say you have a low threshold for waiting. To me a brand new OR in demand line anything less than 60mins is actually really good.

 

[leiaorgana]

Just got out tickets for 3rd Nov! Very excited! Not really rollercoaster fans but it’ll be nice to see all of the other stuff there.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Debating buying refundable tickets for our early December trip as well. Then if my solo visit in October is a bust, we can cancel them and only lose a few bucks. I'll wait a few days to see if tickets start selling out or not, as I don't think early December would sell out first.

I'm somewhat hopeful about crowd levels. I know Epic will be popular, but it's really expensive to buy single day tickets. That will somewhat limit attendance since AP holders can't just go every day. A lot of people are cutting back on trips this year after all.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Just got out tickets for 3rd Nov! Very excited! Not really rollercoaster fans but it’ll be nice to see all of the other stuff there.

That's fantastic. You can do a review of Epic Universe for ride cowards/people who are not rollercoaster fans. Something Universal has done incredibly well is that there is a real mix. I'm a ride coward but I've never regretted a trip to Universal and felt like I couldn't do anything because I didn't want to ride rollercoasters or super intense thrill rides. I hope Epic Universe has the same balance as the existing parks.

 

[zavandor]

I plan on buying an AP for the room discount, so I need a one day ticket for EU. Since the AP is not active I cannot buy the add-on. The single day ticket for the day I want to go in September is $152.47 with tax, which is the lowest possible, I think. How much is it the cheapest discounted AP ticket? Maybe I could wait to buy the single day now, September should be very low season and it's possible the AP ticket could still be available when I'm there. And it doesn't seem there is a huge rush, no day is sold out yet in August or September. But is it worth the risk to wait?

 

[wendlle]

I plan on buying an AP for the room discount, so I need a one day ticket for EU. Since the AP is not active I cannot buy the add-on. The single day ticket for the day I want to go in September is $152.47 with tax, which is the lowest possible, I think. How much is it the cheapest discounted AP ticket? Maybe I could wait to buy the single day now, September should be very low season and it's possible the AP ticket could still be available when I'm there. And it doesn't seem there is a huge rush, no day is sold out yet in August or September. But is it worth the risk to wait?

I believe it's about a $20 discount.

 

[Minnie1222]

How much is it the cheapest discounted AP ticket?

The AP ticket prices are on posts #1370 and 1372.

 

[ChipTheRescueRanger]

If any one international is struggling on the Uni app/website as only shows June.

Change your devices time zone to US ideally the same City as your VPN

 

[zavandor]

I believe it's about a $20 discount.

Thanks a lot. Then it's certainly not worth the risk.

 

[Kwami]

With EP it'll slow down the lines overall so I think (and hope) that without having EP in the very beginning you're going to see people in lines for the rides they want to ride, it's going to force people to do that which should hopefully ease up things.

I do think people have to be realistic about crowds though. If you thought you were going to be in a low crowded Epic park I would say you'd need to wait more than 5 years for that if not more just based on past ways Harry Potter drew crowds. I always assumed the parks would be insanely busy for at least several years. But it's very much a wait and see, it's possible Universal is much more limiting the number of people than we can feasibly know at this point to help with the idea of too many people but it's also possible they are running right on the edge of it. But my overall point is EP has really nothing to do with "too crowded" or not in the first several years of opening operation.

Agreed. If anything I'm really hoping they don't sell ep for opening weekend. I'll be so happy. It's proven wait times shoot up once express is implemented

Velocicoaster used to be routinely 30 or less before they added express.

Yes, but, and I know this selfish: I don't really care about the average wait time when I have an express pass.

I took a trip to Universal Studios Japan last fall and the parks were absolutely packed, but since I had the (unfortunately quite limited) express pass, I could ride the big rides without waiting and then spend the rest of my time enjoying the rest of the park. The crowd levels don't bother me. Wasting time in line does.

I've been considering a trip to Universal Studios Orlando this fall and the unlimited express pass is one of the reasons that I'd go there instead of going to WDW. The other reason is Epic and especially the Nintendo land because it was so much fun at USJ. But USJ limited the number of people going into that area and it doesn't look like Epic will have any limits. I was hoping that lower overall crowds would help and that forcing everyone to buy packages would result in those lower overall crowds. Now? Probably not so much.

I'm just whining, really. I know.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes, but, and I know this selfish: I don't really care about the average wait time when I have an express pass.

I took a trip to Universal Studios Japan last fall and the parks were absolutely packed, but since I had the (unfortunately quite limited) express pass, I could ride the big rides without waiting and then spend the rest of my time enjoying the rest of the park. The crowd levels don't bother me. Wasting time in line does.

I've been considering a trip to Universal Studios Orlando this fall and the unlimited express pass is one of the reasons that I'd go there instead of going to WDW. The other reason is Epic and especially the Nintendo land because it was so much fun at USJ. But USJ limited the number of people going into that area and it doesn't look like Epic will have any limits. I was hoping that lower overall crowds would help and that forcing everyone to buy packages would result in those lower overall crowds. Now? Probably not so much.

I'm just whining, really. I know.

I agree with you that when you're in the line you don't think so much about the effect and I knew that was the place you were coming from when you made your comment about EP. Part of my viewpoint was about how not every attraction has EP and even if it did IF Universal was going off of past ways of doing it they put it on attractions as time goes on. So the net effect is when EP is added onto an attraction the Standby line gets longer and that can have a ripple effect to attractions not under EP (which to be fair since 2017 has been very limited but pre summer 2017 it was all the Harry Potter attractions).

This is just my own observation, but the people who struggle the most on the Boards with wait times at Universal are ones who come from going to WDW often or solely WDW. Because over at WDW they have for years and year prioritized getting way too many attractions under the get ahead of the line product adding attractions from the moment they open combined with a terrible ratio of that with the standby line. This means people who come from WDW are so used to getting 15-20mins or less with it that the idea of not having that is off-putting. I know people who to Universal multiple times in a year often find they wait a minimal wait too with EP but there is a different set of expectations over at Universal (unless they completely change with Epic which is very possible) and people are at least on the surface more willing to wait for an attraction to get it, Disney on the other hand would have full on riots if their newest attraction didn't have a way to bypass the line even though it's actually not the best for guest experience overall to have one.

As far as your comment with limiting a number of people in the land there has been a lot of talk about how the design of the portals would allow Universal to limit who can come in and out of it by means of a virtual queue or not. I'm not sure if you've done Universal before but they limited people when they opened Hogsmeade and when they opened Diagon Alley. They would have a return ticket you'd get if the area was at capacity at that time or you could wait in a queue outside the land if you were wanting/willing to. They also limited how many people could come in and out of the wand shops once you were inside the areas. The point being Universal has done crowd limiting in the past, they can do so in the future and Universal hasn't officially said one way or the other (that I'm aware of) how they would handle each portal.

FWIW I was in Japan in October and went to Tokyo Disney Resort, to understand some of the crowdedness is to understand that the people who most visit these parks do not have an issue with waiting in line they just don't and because of that it does improve your experience when you use their products (for TDR that was 40th anniversary pass that was free and DPA-Disney Premier Access that is paid) as well as if you paid $$$$$$$$$ for their vacation packages that come with DPA passes). It's the opposite in the U.S. in which case people have largely over time been trained to not wait in line, are impatient and thus just naturally expect to get through the lines very quickly. Trust me at TDR when I was in those standby lines eventually I did get frustrated myself but that was after being in line for 60-80+mins with people taking forever because they were snapping a million photos of themselves.

 

[Kwami]

As far as your comment with limiting a number of people in the land there has been a lot of talk about how the design of the portals would allow Universal to limit who can come in and out of it by means of a virtual queue or not. I'm not sure if you've done Universal before but they limited people when they opened Hogsmeade and when they opened Diagon Alley. They would have a return ticket you'd get if the area was at capacity at that time or you could wait in a queue outside the land if you were wanting/willing to. They also limited how many people could come in and out of the wand shops once you were inside the areas. The point being Universal has done crowd limiting in the past, they can do so in the future and Universal hasn't officially said one way or the other (that I'm aware of) how they would handle each portal.

Yeah, but Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley were new additions to existing parks. All of Epic is new, so I'm not sure if queues to get into each land make as much sense. Maybe they'll do that, though, and we'll just be stuck in Celestial Park for most of the day. I guess we'll see how it goes!

FWIW I was in Japan in October and went to Tokyo Disney Resort, to understand some of the crowdedness is to understand that the people who most visit these parks do not have an issue with waiting in line they just don't and because of that it does improve your experience when you use their products (for TDR that was 40th anniversary pass that was free and DPA-Disney Premier Access that is paid) as well as if you paid $$$$$$$$$ for their vacation packages that come with DPA passes). It's the opposite in the U.S. in which case people have largely over time been trained to not wait in line, are impatient and thus just naturally expect to get through the lines very quickly. Trust me at TDR when I was in those standby lines eventually I did get frustrated myself but that was after being in line for 60-80+mins with people taking forever because they were snapping a million photos of themselves.

On the last trip, I finally went for a vacation package and it was very much worth it. The lines at TDR are absolutely crazy these days. On past visits, they weren't nearly as bad. They only had paper fast passes before and those would usually go pretty fast in the morning, so I'd only get one or maybe two, but I was still able to ride everything at least once without wasting most of the day in line. These days? No way!

And yeah, the selfies are out of control. But that's probably a different thread.

 

[Dubb]

CURRENT UK OFFERS:

For 2


For 2026
View attachment 947622

I have been keeping an eye on the 14 day UK passes. I have read in the past the non-UK people have had no problem using them? We come all the way from California, so we always stay for a full two weeks and visit Disney also to make the full days of travel worth it to us. I would love to use these so I can take my time at Epic multiple times during our trip.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yeah, but Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley were new additions to existing parks. All of Epic is new, so I'm not sure if queues to get into each land make as much sense. Maybe they'll do that, though, and we'll just be stuck in Celestial Park for most of the day. I guess we'll see how it goes!

That's what I've been hearing though with Epic (and maybe it's just an as needed thing like they've done with the very few attractions that used a VQ) and I'm not sure it'd be all portals at one point in time as I agree that logistically would make it harder for people to find places to go so hopefully they wouldn't do that. But it has been said that it's a realistic option they could employ and it's worked well with other openings and directly with another land designed the same with the portal. I do share in your concern about how that could all work.

 

[wendlle]

I have been keeping an eye on the 14 day UK passes. I have read in the past the non-UK people have had no problem using them? We come all the way from California, so we always stay for a full two weeks and visit Disney also to make the full days of travel worth it to us. I would love to use these so I can take my time at Epic multiple times during our trip.

I'm from Australia and use the UK tickets each and every trip.
I'm not sure about being from the USA, I think they are for non US postcodes - but no one at Disney or Universal has ever asked me for proof of where I come from.
So if you can buy them I say why not because they are a great deal.

 

[DCLMP]

I agree with you that when you're in the line you don't think so much about the effect and I knew that was the place you were coming from when you made your comment about EP. Part of my viewpoint was about how not every attraction has EP and even if it did IF Universal was going off of past ways of doing it they put it on attractions as time goes on. So the net effect is when EP is added onto an attraction the Standby line gets longer and that can have a ripple effect to attractions not under EP (which to be fair since 2017 has been very limited but pre summer 2017 it was all the Harry Potter attractions).

This is just my own observation, but the people who struggle the most on the Boards with wait times at Universal are ones who come from going to WDW often or solely WDW. Because over at WDW they have for years and year prioritized getting way too many attractions under the get ahead of the line product adding attractions from the moment they open combined with a terrible ratio of that with the standby line. This means people who come from WDW are so used to getting 15-20mins or less with it that the idea of not having that is off-putting. I know people who to Universal multiple times in a year often find they wait a minimal wait too with EP but there is a different set of expectations over at Universal (unless they completely change with Epic which is very possible) and people are at least on the surface more willing to wait for an attraction to get it, Disney on the other hand would have full on riots if their newest attraction didn't have a way to bypass the line even though it's actually not the best for guest experience overall to have one.

As far as your comment with limiting a number of people in the land there has been a lot of talk about how the design of the portals would allow Universal to limit who can come in and out of it by means of a virtual queue or not. I'm not sure if you've done Universal before but they limited people when they opened Hogsmeade and when they opened Diagon Alley. They would have a return ticket you'd get if the area was at capacity at that time or you could wait in a queue outside the land if you were wanting/willing to. They also limited how many people could come in and out of the wand shops once you were inside the areas. The point being Universal has done crowd limiting in the past, they can do so in the future and Universal hasn't officially said one way or the other (that I'm aware of) how they would handle each portal.

FWIW I was in Japan in October and went to Tokyo Disney Resort, to understand some of the crowdedness is to understand that the people who most visit these parks do not have an issue with waiting in line they just don't and because of that it does improve your experience when you use their products (for TDR that was 40th anniversary pass that was free and DPA-Disney Premier Access that is paid) as well as if you paid $$$$$$$$$ for their vacation packages that come with DPA passes). It's the opposite in the U.S. in which case people have largely over time been trained to not wait in line, are impatient and thus just naturally expect to get through the lines very quickly. Trust me at TDR when I was in those standby lines eventually I did get frustrated myself but that was after being in line for 60-80+mins with people taking forever because they were snapping a million photos of themselves.

We did the expensive package in Japan with unlimited express passes. The lines were all 2+ hours. I'm glad I got to experience it Disney Sea is unique. I want to go back to Japan again, but I have no desire to do TDR again. That was a one and done thing for us. You are right the Japanese have no issue standing in line all day eating popcorn. It's just not for me.

 

[Keladry84]

We did the expensive package in Japan with unlimited express passes. The lines were all 2+ hours. I'm glad I got to experience it Disney Sea is unique. I want to go back to Japan again, but I have no desire to do TDR again. That was a one and done thing for us. You are right the Japanese have no issue standing in line all day eating popcorn. It's just not for me.

Out of curiosity - when the standby was 2+ hours and you were using express, how long on average were the waits in the express lines for those rides??

 

[DCLMP]

Out of curiosity - when the standby was 2+ hours and you were using express, how long on average were the waits in the express lines for those rides??

5-10 minutes at most. It was worth booking the package for something we were only doing once. We went in February stayed at Toy Story hotel. It was 2100 for two people 2 nights and two days. Two days was plenty we rode every ride. We were in the parks from about 9-5. Not many people there had express passes, but it was offseason if there is such a thing in Japan. It wasn't outrageous in price, but when your going to Japan for two weeks 2100 for two days of that trip seemed like a lot.

 

[Keladry84]

5-10 minutes at most. It was worth booking the package for something we were only doing once. We went in February stayed at Toy Story hotel. It was 2100 for two people 2 nights and two days. Two days was plenty we rode every ride. We were in the parks from about 9-5. Not many people there had express passes, but it was offseason if there is such a thing in Japan. It wasn't outrageous in price, but when your going to Japan for two weeks 2100 for two days of that trip seemed like a lot.

I'm currently planning a trip in summer, and splurged for the 1 night, 2 day with unlimited premier pass, also Toy Story hotel. The 5-10 min you're quoting definitely makes me think it's a good decision, but like you I'm struggling with the high cost over 2 days of a 3 week trip - in my case it's looking around $950 for the 1n2days for 1 person. But if that's what helps me get to experience what I want in the short time I have, it's worth it.

2 hour lines sound horrendous and would be completely impossible for me. Also, Splash is absolute top on my list - I never got to ride the original in the US as my first Disney park ever was Disneyland in summer 2023...exactly 3 weeks after they closed it for good :/ So getting the premier package guarantees I'll be able to ride it as long as it is open on my one day in that park!!! (crossing fingers).