Universal's Epic Universe - News and Discussion

[CAPSLOCK]

Have you looked for dirt cheap Stella Nova or Terra Luna December reservations as an alternative? I got Stella Nova for $80 for early Dec a while ago.

 

[fatmanatee]

Not exactly about EU but I *finally* locked in a trip for next April, basically had hotel chosen but held off because I'm neurotic about credit card spending each month and wanted to hold off until my latest statement came in and that turned out to be a big mistake, as prices shot up $60 per night, days before I was planning on pulling the trigger. Learn from me!

 

[georgina]

Have you looked for dirt cheap Stella Nova or Terra Luna December reservations as an alternative? I got Stella Nova for $80 for early Dec a while ago.

Well, yeah, that is what I am reconsidering. Stella is $143 and Terra is $121, not exactly dirt cheap, but less than my $314 Helios room. Is it worth the extra $22/nt for the walking path? I will probably stay in the park all day.

Playing with the dates, for some reason Stella is $188 on Monday Dec 8, which is why the 3 day price average is higher.

Heck, if I'm not staying at Helios, I could just do Dockside for $89. I don't care about room theming, just wanted easy access to Epic.

 

[marmentrout85]

I don’t understand this. It’s a great ride. Every other attraction in the park can be posting 60-180 minute waits, and Monsters will be a posted 15. I know the 48 inch requirement has some impact, but I don’t understand how this ride isn’t more popular.

I know it may not seem very popular due to the low wait times but I saw an article/post last week (from Blog Mickey I believe) that said Monsters: Unchained is the first ride at Epic Universe to reach 1 Million riders.

 

[EACarlson]

I don’t understand this. It’s a great ride. Every other attraction in the park can be posting 60-180 minute waits, and Monsters will be a posted 15. I know the 48 inch requirement has some impact, but I don’t understand how this ride isn’t more popular.

The ride is very popular, it's also incredibly efficient.

 

[AuroraluvsPhillip]

Looking at the YT videos of the Helios park view rooms, they look nice and new, but honestly, the lagoon view rooms at Sapphire look almost as nice for a lot less money. I had planned to do a few nights at Helios while visiting Epic, but instead I booked my old standby HRH since Hagrid's is on Express now. I figure I'll do a combination of bus and rideshare to get back and forth from Epic and reserve an evening at Bar Helios to check out the view.
If the Helios included EP, I'd stay there in a heartbeat. But without that, I don't think it's worth the cost.

 

[djmeredith]

I am disappointed by the reports. I booked 3 night at Helios when they first became available, for December. The current AP rate is double what I have it booked for, but I am definitely reconsidering.

You might want to try it if you got a great rate and it's not a huge amount more than your second choice hotel. I have said I would never do it again, but I should "never say never." If I got a great rate, I might splurge and do it again if I were only going to Epic.

 

[Keladry84]

Well, yeah, that is what I am reconsidering. Stella is $143 and Terra is $121, not exactly dirt cheap, but less than my $314 Helios room. Is it worth the extra $22/nt for the walking path? I will probably stay in the park all day.

Playing with the dates, for some reason Stella is $188 on Monday Dec 8, which is why the 3 day price average is higher.

Heck, if I'm not staying at Helios, I could just do Dockside for $89. I don't care about room theming, just wanted easy access to Epic.

I stayed at surfside during opening week of Epic for an Epic only trip and the busses were easy peasy, managing an afternoon break/return for the evening no problem. The first day the time from leaving the room to arrival at Epic entrance was about 15 minutes (although I did luck onto a bus that had just pulled up at the hotel)

My experience with surfside vs dockside for the og parks at least is dockside is even more bus efficient. Honestly, if you decide to drop Helios, I’d take the lower rate at Dockside and use the savings for food or merch in the park. By the time you’ve walked to the bus stop at Epic, there’s not all that much time difference between the endless summer and Stella/terra.

 

[Orsino]

I'm a trip in January and from what I'm reading it seems that early entry to epic universe is totally unnecessary and useless since they let everyone into the park and non-early entry guests can queue for the big rides that aren't part of early entry. Furthermore, if they do open the non early rides early, they let non hotel guest ride it anyway.

I kind of want to stay at Helios, but that seems like quite a big premium for a benefit that isn't really a benefit. I do like the proximity, but $$. Oh decisions! I'm spoiled by DVC.

Honestly, I'm hoping Universal changes the policy to benefit hotel guests a bit more. No other park does early entry this way does it? I know at Disney they have a separate rope drop for regular hours.

 

[The Gatekeeper]

Well, yeah, that is what I am reconsidering. Stella is $143 and Terra is $121, not exactly dirt cheap, but less than my $314 Helios room. Is it worth the extra $22/nt for the walking path? I will probably stay in the park all day.

Playing with the dates, for some reason Stella is $188 on Monday Dec 8, which is why the 3 day price average is higher.

Heck, if I'm not staying at Helios, I could just do Dockside for $89. I don't care about room theming, just wanted easy access to Epic.

We really liked the Helios. You're likely to never get a rate close to $314 ever again there. I don't think I could bring myself to hit that cancel button if it were me.

 

[Maleficent85]

We really liked the Helios. You're likely to never get a rate close to $314 ever again there. I don't think I could bring myself to hit that cancel button if it were me.

That what I'm thinking too. We stayed on opening night in a club level theme view room in April since we were already in town over spring break and a how to train your dragon theme view room at the end of May. The rates are so high now in comparison. I would personally stay for the rate you have it for because you will probably never see a price that low again. In May we were able to beat the front gate crowd MoM using the helios entrance. While everyone was filing into the portal we went in through the exit and bypassed about 50 people that would have otherwise been in front of us. After the ride started running I think we only had about a 20 minute wait till it was our turn. I will say that I think they are doing early entry a bit different now.

 

[georgina]

Thanks for all the opinions! I am currently holding 2 reservations; cancelling Helios for the 3 nights will save me $700. That is a lot of savings. I am the type of person who often stays offsite at Disney, but onsite at Universal for the perks. Dockside will still give me EE at Epic. I have 2 days of Epic tickets with 2 days of Epic Express pass, so I suspect I will end up cancelling the Helios stay. I did book a reservation for Bar Helios on my arrival/non-park day.

 

[disney-inspired]

Thanks for all the opinions! I am currently holding 2 reservations; cancelling Helios for the 3 nights will save me $700. That is a lot of savings. I am the type of person who often stays offsite at Disney, but onsite at Universal for the perks. Dockside will still give me EE at Epic. I have 2 days of Epic tickets with 2 days of Epic Express pass, so I suspect I will end up cancelling the Helios stay. I did book a reservation for Bar Helios on my arrival/non-park day.

That is a good compromise! I'm sure Helios is beautiful and it's Universal's first resort connected to a park but not including express for Epic with those prices feels criminal.

 

[Minnie1222]

Just checked into Helios and was told that "everything is opened for early entry, EXCEPT for Wizarding World, Isle of Berk, and Mine Cart". That is too bad because I'm here for Donkey Kong. It's already passed midnight so guess I will be sleeping in tomorrow.

 

[marmentrout85]

Looking ahead to next year, do we think Epic Universe will have an Annual Pass option by then or will passholders still have to buy single-day tickets?

I'm really torn on where to book in May (Stella Nova vs. Sapphire Falls) and having AP access would definitely make me lean toward Stella Nova. If no AP access, we'd then likely just get single-day tickets for only 1 day at Epic and stay at Sapphire Falls as we'd be spending more time at IoA and Studios. Should I just book both and then cancel one when we get closer?

 

[Philsfan77]

Well, yeah, that is what I am reconsidering. Stella is $143 and Terra is $121, not exactly dirt cheap, but less than my $314 Helios room. Is it worth the extra $22/nt for the walking path? I will probably stay in the park all day.

Playing with the dates, for some reason Stella is $188 on Monday Dec 8, which is why the 3 day price average is higher.

Heck, if I'm not staying at Helios, I could just do Dockside for $89. I don't care about room theming, just wanted easy access to Epic.

Helios at $314 is solid. The resort itself is Grand Destino Tower (but not as good in my opinion), with better location/views. I'd pay 314 for Helios and be happy with my decision personally. It's when it gets to $500+ that I would be a hard pass going forward.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Should I just book both and then cancel one when we get closer?

Yes. You just pay the one night's deposit and it's fully refundable until 5-6 days out.

 

[Minnie1222]

Early Entry to Epic was at 9:00 this morning. When I went down for coffee at ~7:30, there were already 50-60 people waiting to use the Helios entrance. Shocking.

 

[marmentrout85]

Early Entry to Epic was at 9:00 this morning. When I went down for coffee at ~7:30, there were already 50-60 people waiting to use the Helios entrance. Shocking.

Very similar when we stayed. We ended up coming downstairs to get in line around 8:40 on one of our mornings, and those who were already waiting at 7:30 maybe were like a 20 second walk ahead of us lol.