Universal's Epic Universe - News and Discussion

[PrincessV]

I talked about the heat in my review earlier, but the tl;dr of it is:

I used a UV umbrella - better than nothing.
Water is plentiful - fountains and bottle refills near almost every restroom.
There is some shade - I saw lots of folks resting on the ground at the back sides of retainer walls, signs, etc.

The issue to me was that lack of shade is only part of the heat issue: the Feels Like on my day went over 100º and the heat was nearly unbearable even in the shade. Truly, the only relief was to go indoors - rides, shops, restaurants, whatever: AC anywhere I could find it.

My best advice? Avoid the worst of the heat - don’t spend all day in the park if you go in the summer months. I don’t plan to do a 10-hour day again in summer; I’ll roll up late afternoon and stay until closing.

 

[AustinTink]

2. The heat. I cannot express adequately how bad the heat is in Epic. And I’m saying that as a heat-acclimated Floridian who chooses to vacation at WDW in summer! The combination of little shade, a ton of pavement, and a design that limits airflow makes much of the park feel like an oven. Fall seems like a better option.

When does the heat really start to ease up? The last time we went in October the heat was still a beast.

Also, why on earth would they build this beautiful new park with little shade and a poor airflow design? Sounds like a big oops to me.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I talked about the heat in my review earlier, but the tl;dr of it is:

I used a UV umbrella - better than nothing.
Water is plentiful - fountains and bottle refills near almost every restroom.
There is some shade - I saw lots of folks resting on the ground at the back sides of retainer walls, signs, etc.

The issue to me was that lack of shade is only part of the heat issue: the Feels Like on my day went over 100º and the heat was nearly unbearable even in the shade. Truly, the only relief was to go indoors - rides, shops, restaurants, whatever: AC anywhere I could find it.

My best advice? Avoid the worst of the heat - don’t spend all day in the park if you go in the summer months. I don’t plan to do a 10-hour day again in summer; I’ll roll up late afternoon and stay until closing.

Ah, that's pretty normal stuff then, there's a reason people recommend you walk through the shops on Main Street for a break in the heat. I find World Showcase to be a place where I'm dodging in every place I can find as the walk around it exposed and while Toy Story is particularly bad at DHS the whole park lacks a good shade thoughtprocess.

I grew up going to a park that was largely made of asphalt which thankfully Disney at least doesn't do. Now every time I smell hot asphalt it reminds me of my local park.

Is there a specific place you can recommend for a break like a place to eat you liked. The vampire steakhouse I was pretty excited for though I heard a vlogger feel it was too dark in there while at the same time admitting everything including the lighting was extremely on point to the theming lol.

 

[PrincessV]

When does the heat really start to ease up? The last time we went in October the heat was still a beast.

Also, why on earth would they build this beautiful new park with little shade and a poor airflow design? Sounds like a big oops to me.

Caveat: I’m a 30+ year Floridian, so my views on what constitutes “too hot” are very skewed lol! I also live on the west coast of FL, which stays hot longer than the Orlando area and never gets relief overnight in the summer months: I go to WDW to get a “break” from the summer heat at home. But generally, mid-late October and Nov. are much better than June through Sept. In recent years, the heat hasn’t really broken until Dec., and we had some record-setting heat in Jan. this year - but it’s still nothing like summer. In the summer months, the heat is just held - by pavement, and buildings, bodies of water, - rain cools things off a bit, but summer nights stay in the 70s (80s where I live), so the ambient heat just builds and lingers until the days get shorter and some cool fronts move in.

I had the same questions walking around Epic. It felt a lot like AK did when it opened: little shade + poor airflow = oven. Especially so in Nintendo and Berk. I think they could easily place large sail-type shade structures in both places without taking away from the theme and I’m surprised that they didn’t.

 

[AustinTink]

Caveat: I’m a 30+ year Floridian, so my views on what constitutes “too hot” are very skewed lol! I also live on the west coast of FL, which stays hot longer than the Orlando area and never gets relief overnight in the summer months: I go to WDW to get a “break” from the summer heat at home. But generally, mid-late October and Nov. are much better than June through Sept. In recent years, the heat hasn’t really broken until Dec., and we had some record-setting heat in Jan. this year - but it’s still nothing like summer. In the summer months, the heat is just held - by pavement, and buildings, bodies of water, - rain cools things off a bit, but summer nights stay in the 70s (80s where I live), so the ambient heat just builds and lingers until the days get shorter and some cool fronts move in.

Thanks for answering. I’m hoping for cooler temps in November. I tolerate heat les and less the older I get.

I had the same questions walking around Epic. It felt a lot like AK did when it opened: little shade + poor airflow = oven. Especially so in Nintendo and Berk. I think they could easily place large sail-type shade structures in both places without taking away from the theme and I’m surprised that they didn’t.

Seems like a no-brainer that all new parks should address heat issues, but no one asked me.

 

[fatmanatee]

My understanding was that the expectation is that the greenery will continue growing and provide more shade but in the short term it's going to be a problem. And even with that it's possible they didn't get this right. It's not going to help Nintendo either, what you see is what you get.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Reportedly Universal may be considering testing Virtual Queue for access to lands as well. It makes sense given the egress constraints with the portals and pathways that each individualized land will have capacity constraints. Would only likely go into effect on peak days, but something that the design of the park could necessitate.

https://blogmickey.com/2025/05/univ...-virtual-line-entry-into-epic-universe-lands/

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Reportedly Universal may be considering testing Virtual Queue for access to lands as well. It makes sense given the egress constraints with the portals and pathways that each individualized land will have capacity constraints. Would only likely go into effect on peak days, but something that the design of the park could necessitate.

https://blogmickey.com/2025/05/univ...-virtual-line-entry-into-epic-universe-lands/

I think that was the going idea quite a bit while back before all the hubbub about VQ being used for Ministry. I believe people just speculated that because of the design of the lands with portals that access could be controlled to each land like Nintendo was when it first opened elsewhere. Hopefully if indeed it is used in that way it is like you mentioned high crowd days.

 

[HokieRaven5]

I think that was the going idea quite a bit while back before all the hubbub about VQ being used for Ministry. I believe people just speculated that because of the design of the lands with portals that access could be controlled to each land like Nintendo was when it first opened elsewhere. Hopefully if indeed it is used in that way it is like you mentioned high crowd days.

They have to just from a life safety aspect put capacity constraints on each land.

The other benefit for Universal is individualized lands could be rented by corporations on any given day vs the entire park.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

All but 2 rides and 2 shows close when lightning is in the area.

I think there are four rides which can run in lightning. Mario carts, Frankenstein, ministry, and the carousel.

 

[Jessem1133]

I did wind up calling and getting a refund for my Epic ticket, so thats always an option if anyone else isn't thrilled with how the remainder of the preview is turning out

 

[SkyGuy]

I did wind up calling and getting a refund for my Epic ticket, so thats always an option if anyone else isn't thrilled with how the remainder of the preview is turning out

Thanks!

 

[PrincessV]

I think there are four rides which can run in lightning. Mario carts, Frankenstein, ministry, and the carousel.

I didn’t include Ministry, since it’s not an option without getting into the VQ, but didn’t realize the carousel could operate with lightning in the vicinity.

 

[georgina]

All this heat talk is making me think I will only go Oct-March! First trip is booked for Dec 2025...Hoping they have APs that include Epic by then, who knows?

 

[zavandor]

Reportedly Universal may be considering testing Virtual Queue for access to lands as well. It makes sense given the egress constraints with the portals and pathways that each individualized land will have capacity constraints. Would only likely go into effect on peak days, but something that the design of the park could necessitate.

https://blogmickey.com/2025/05/univ...-virtual-line-entry-into-epic-universe-lands/

I hope to never be in the park is/when this happens. The possible cascading effects on other lands can cause a nightmare.

One thing is having a full park open, with a new land locked down because it's the new shiny things, but closing down 20% of the park can easily cause congestion in other parts, with people not leaving their favorite land for fear of being stuck in Celestial Park.

 

[fatmanatee]

All this heat talk is making me think I will only go Oct-March! First trip is booked for Dec 2025...Hoping they have APs that include Epic by then, who knows?

Really tried to convince myself to do something this summer but I can’t. Possibly late October but there’s also a chance I’m in the area in April (Springtime Surprise hi @PrincessV) so I could move it there too.

 

[Robo56]

I was just at Epic and will address the heat. Yes, it was hot out the couple of days I visited, but as the evening came on the second night it was beautiful and breezy.

The areas as you walk around Celestial Park are spacious and open. The air flow through Celestial is good.

There are some areas to get out of the sun provided.


This is a new resort and park and remember the trees and plants have only been in the ground for a short time. They will grown and provide some shade and block some of the site lines folks have been complaining about. This is going to take time.

Adding some more shaded areas would not hurt. That is why this is a preview. Universals is getting feedback on the park and resort.

Onto the VQ situation. I think having a VQ to the lands would be a terrible idea. It would TOTALLY UNDERMINE THE VERY CONCEPT OF THE PARK. Yes. It would control access to the Portal’s and limit the amount of peopled crushed in those areas, but you cannot have people buying tickets to a theme park and not be able to access all there is to offer.

Perhaps control of the number of tickets sold on any given day will have to be an idea.

I think Universal has worked the numbers of how many people they think the park can accommodate. We will see over the next few months how things work out.

VQ for the Ministry of Magic was terrible and faulty at best. I think that was because the ride was going down a lot. Remember this was a preview and they hopefully will have the bugs worked out on opening day.

I think opening day and the weeks that follow will help them try and get a handle on what the best options will be for handling the crowds.

A good number of the queues are inside and undercover airconditioning.

The long queue for Frankenstein Manor is out doors some then leads to covered area with fans until you reach the indoors. Are you going to be outdoors for a few of the queues yes you are, but most are covered.

So there will be some outside lines until you reach the airconditioned areas.

The busiest lands while I was there were as follows 1 Super Nintendo 2 Isle of Berk (which is the biggest land) 3 Monsters Universe 4 Ministry of Magic

I’am going to have a trip report started in the next couple of days with park and hotel information and photos. I will try and be more concise with the information on the report.

Epic is a beautiful immersive experience. I’am so glad I went during the preview.

 

[PlutoNotPlanet]

I say this as someone who enjoyed the preview VERY much and think Epic is fantastic… I’d wait. Here’s why:

1. I do not think the previews are worth the expense and effort of traveling. I’m local, so my total cost was just the ticket price (I opted to stay the night, but didn’t need to), and I happened to have a day with little to no closures: I’d feel very differently if I’d paid for travel, hotel, and tickets only to have most of the park closed.

2. The heat. I cannot express adequately how bad the heat is in Epic. And I’m saying that as a heat-acclimated Floridian who chooses to vacation at WDW in summer! The combination of little shade, a ton of pavement, and a design that limits airflow makes much of the park feel like an oven. Fall seems like a better option.

2a. Weather. All but 2 rides and 2 shows close when lightning is in the area. May is dicey: it’s not peak summer storm season, but we’ve got some fronts moving through and weather could be an issue… or not. It’s a gamble.

3. I’m actually pretty stunned that ticket prices are as high as they are for what folks are getting this week, and seemingly the next week+. On my day, a slightly discounted price felt appropriate because it truly felt like a fully operational park. I would not be happy to have paid the same for what I’ve been seeing this week.

Although I am not local, I totally agree the first two weeks of preview were amazing! In terms price, I guess people don't have a choice if they really want to do it.
1. Attraction closure would be the most disappointing part if you are really interested in a particular ride. Thunderstorms will definitely make it worse beside technical difficulties during rehearsal.
2. Heat also make 2PM(wanna say noon but park just opened 11AM during preview)-5PM not ideal. Some may overcome it by enthusiasm but a break at a restaurant (or hotel) is definitely recommended.

 

[dez1978]

Purchased two days worth of Epic preview tickets for next week. Like you said, expecting the same experience as the reviews posted two weeks ago. Watching the wait times on the app this week...pretty disappointed with my choice.

Same. I bought tickets the day before it was announced that you didn't have to be onsite anymore. My oldest graduates 8th grade on the 16th and I made a spur of the moment decision to take a trip just the 2 of us. So we'll be there the 17 &18. When I made the decision, there were nothing but glowing reviews, with the exception of MOM. I swear ever since its just been a cluster... If my kid wasn't so excited about it, I'd cancel. I did see that they lowered capacity back down a bit so Idk if that will help. I realize this is a technical rehearsal, but it does not seem that they are ready to open in 2 weeks.

 

[VeronicaZS]

Welp, I feel like I dodged a bullet. I had a whole trip in my cart for May 16-18 but operations have been so horrible for the last few days and it's going to be 95+ degrees next weekend so we will just wait until the Fall.

Our family of 5 would like to stay in an Express Pass hotel Nov 1-4. How can I figure out if it is cost effective for one of us to get an annual pass for the discounts. We would likely want a 1 or 2 day hopper for the old parks and 2 days at Epic. Is there a way to see the passholder rates for hotels before you are a passholder?