Universal's Epic Universe - News and Discussion

[greeneyedchick]

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

I wish Disney would design their new rides this way.

 

[zavandor]

Wait times at Epic are horrendous today. Even Yoshi hardly dips below 55 minutes. Donkey Kong's time was listed as 95 min, yet we waited over 2 hours. Luckily we had EP for other rides.

Ministry has been delayed/shutdown for hours. It is also scheduled to close early.
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Reports like this are keeping my expectations low. I'll be visiting the Friday before Labor day and I'm not sure what to expect. I will not stress out about having to do everything, I'll be back in a couple of years max. It helps that my group is not big on roller coasters, so only a few key attractions remain.
I won't buy Express, I already splurged for the EP for HHN and budget is not unlimited.

 

[Philsfan77]

I wish Disney would design their new rides this way.

Let's not get carried away here...It's about the only ride in that park thus far that is efficient along with Mario Kart (low load capacity, but it rarely breaks down). Tron and Guardians are both efficient from a breakdown standpoint, being able to run in inclement weather also is a bonus. Remy averages 31 minutes of downtime over the last 30 days and overall is an incredibly efficient attraction in terms of capacity it can push out in a day. Runaway Railway can churn through guests as well and is averaging 42 minutes of downtime over the last 30 days. Millennium Falcon is probably the most efficient ride either park has put out in the last 5-6 years in terms of breakdowns plus what it can put through on a given day.

 

[lisam70]

Is the cost for express more day of or day before versus more in advance?
Going next Friday was originally planning to go to Epic just on Saturday and purchase express but now I am debating on also going Friday and not getting express for either day unless we need it last minute. Thoughts ??

 

[Philsfan77]

Is the cost for express more day of or day before versus more in advance?
Going next Friday was originally planning to go to Epic just on Saturday and purchase express but now I am debating on also going Friday and not getting express for either day unless we need it last minute. Thoughts ??

It only goes up. Buy it as soon as possible. It's dynamic pricing and will continue to increase.

 

[lisam70]

Are AP Epic tickets no longer available? The link is still there but after I add tickets to my cart I get message "this item is no longer available"

 

[davper]

Epic Newbie (I guess we all are)
I am going mid October during a weekday. I have unactivated AP and was planning to buy my Epic ticket once I activated.
But now am wondering if I should buy now to ensure I get tickets.
I looked at ticket availability and prices. I could buy a ticket right now for today or tomorrow. So I guess availability won't be an issue in October when everyone is in school.
But why would weekday prices be more expensive in the fall compared to weekend prices in the summer. I would think summer weekend would be peak times? Holidays excepted of course.

 

[PrincessV]

Epic Newbie (I guess we all are)
I am going mid October during a weekday. I have unactivated AP and was planning to buy my Epic ticket once I activated.
But now am wondering if I should buy now to ensure I get tickets.
I looked at ticket availability and prices. I could buy a ticket right now for today or tomorrow. So I guess availability won't be an issue in October when everyone is in school.
But why would weekday prices be more expensive in the fall compared to weekend prices in the summer. I would think summer weekend would be peak times? Holidays excepted of course.

Schools are back in session this week in FL - this is the start of the early fall off-season for FL theme parks. Things pick back up in Oct. due to the arrival of seasonal tourists, snowbirds, school breaks, and cooler weather.

 

[GhostHost24]

Epic Newbie (I guess we all are)
I am going mid October during a weekday. I have unactivated AP and was planning to buy my Epic ticket once I activated.
But now am wondering if I should buy now to ensure I get tickets.
I looked at ticket availability and prices. I could buy a ticket right now for today or tomorrow. So I guess availability won't be an issue in October when everyone is in school.
But why would weekday prices be more expensive in the fall compared to weekend prices in the summer. I would think summer weekend would be peak times? Holidays excepted of course.

October is one of busier seasons at UO with hhn and fall breaks.

I'd argue it's busier than summer

 

[davper]

Schools are back in session this week in FL - this is the start of the early fall off-season for FL theme parks. Things pick back up in Oct. due to the arrival of seasonal tourists, snowbirds, school breaks, and cooler weather.

Thanks for the response. But that just doesn't make sense to me. I am not saying your wrong. I am just not seeing the logic.

Indiana is the only school system that has a break mid October. Louisiana has a long weekend early in October. Who else has a mid-October break?
This may be anecdotal, but I live here in the Northeast and am approaching retirement age. So I know a lot of snowbirds. The earliest they travel down is November and most like to stay here with family through the holidays.

 

[disney-inspired]

Thanks for the response. But that just doesn't make sense to me. I am not saying your wrong. I am just not seeing the logic.

Indiana is the only school system that has a break mid October. Louisiana has a long weekend early in October. Who else has a mid-October break?
This may be anecdotal, but I live here in the Northeast and am approaching retirement age. So I know a lot of snowbirds. The earliest they travel down is November and most like to stay here with family through the holidays.

A quick google search will show you're missing several schools.
Dallas has schools with fall breaks as we all Minnesota, Florida, Kentucky, and Ohio just to name a few.

Also a lot of teacher in-service days tend to happen in October so people go for a long weekend.

 

[PrincessV]

Thanks for the response. But that just doesn't make sense to me. I am not saying your wrong. I am just not seeing the logic.

Indiana is the only school system that has a break mid October. Louisiana has a long weekend early in October. Who else has a mid-October break?
This may be anecdotal, but I live here in the Northeast and am approaching retirement age. So I know a lot of snowbirds. The earliest they travel down is November and most like to stay here with family through the holidays.

I live 100 miles west of Orlando, so I see it in real-time every year: Oct. is the beginning of tourist season. It’s not the peak, but it’s the start of it. Our snowbird population explodes in mid to late Oct. with Canadians and midwesterners, but it’s not that alone. Like I said, it’s the combination of snowbirds, travelers avoiding the worst of summer heat (many of whom pull kids out of school if they don’t have a break), Floridians who also avoid the parks in summer, international tourists, AND the pull of Halloween events like HHN and MNSSHP. Late Aug and Sept have always been the low season, though recent years’ “low” is nothing like the ghost town it once was.

 

[Minnie1222]

Summer is no longer the busiest season at Universal and WDW. Besides Epic Universe, the crowds have been mild at UO and IOA.


We are currently at UO. The crowd is low.

 

[Kwami]

A quick google search will show your missing several schools.
Dallas has schools with fall breaks as we all Minnesota, Florida, Kentucky, and Ohio just to name a few.

Also a lot of teacher in-service days tend to happen in October so people go for a long weekend.

Some colleges have a week off in October, too!

 

[Maleficent85]

Thanks for the response. But that just doesn't make sense to me. I am not saying your wrong. I am just not seeing the logic.

Indiana is the only school system that has a break mid October. Louisiana has a long weekend early in October. Who else has a mid-October break?
This may be anecdotal, but I live here in the Northeast and am approaching retirement age. So I know a lot of snowbirds. The earliest they travel down is November and most like to stay here with family through the holidays.

In Illinois there is a teacher's training on a Friday in October and most of the time it coincides with Tues and Thurs being early dismissal due to parent Teacher conferences. We actually end up pulling our kids out of school and them missing 1-2 days total. The weather is better than in summer and we go to a night of MNSSHP and enjoy Food and Wine at EPCOT. Our kids are still too young for Halloween Horror Nights but when they are we will probably do that as well.

 

[Kestryl]

A lot of schools in east Tennessee are off for a week (or two) in October as well. Kids here are back in school the second week of August.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

But why would weekday prices be more expensive in the fall compared to weekend prices in the summer. I would think summer weekend would be peak times? Holidays excepted of course.

I'm going to side step the school part because TBH it's hard to tell that this state is going to flock to FL this date over that date and whatnot outside of known things like Jersey Week and such.

However, particular to Universal in general Halloween is a big deal there. While Halloween Horror Nights is held at Universal Studios park it draws larger crowds. Pricing-wise I assume Universal assumes people there for HHN might opt to go to Epic at some point in their trip.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Reports like this are keeping my expectations low. I'll be visiting the Friday before Labor day and I'm not sure what to expect. I will not stress out about having to do everything, I'll be back in a couple of years max. It helps that my group is not big on roller coasters, so only a few key attractions remain.
I won't buy Express, I already splurged for the EP for HHN and budget is not unlimited.

No one has any idea how crowd patterns will work out and what to expect for years to come and like in the pandemic this year I think will be a harder one to come back to look at from the fact that the park just opened to world events and upheavals. It's like talking about visitor numbers to WDW which stopped being useful after 2019.

Maybe instead of thinking you'll be pessimistically optimistic about your expectations consider viewing it as a new park that people want to go to, some days are worse than others just like some days are worse weather days than others (either from heat or storms or both).

I'm not sure how helpful it is to talk about one day's wait time (or week's) at the moment. It already got people upset before when it came to comparing preview time vs initial public park opening time. It's like that too when people talk about Disney's wait times too, it'll just be your (general) luck that you'll be watching the times weeks ahead thinking it'll be great for your trip and then when you're there it's like the whole world is there and the wait times reflect. Or conversely somebody kept mentioning how bad the wait times were so you kinda had a cloud over the trip and you get there and it's totally different.

I think it's great you've got down what attractions are the biggies you'll hope to get done and you already know in your mind you'll get back there eventually. I think that mentality would go a long way in the approach

 

[HokieRaven5]

Summer is no longer the busiest season at Universal and WDW. Besides Epic Universe, the crowds have been mild at UO and IOA.

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We are currently at UO. The crowd is low.

This is why they spent so much time before releasing single day tickets to Epic. Insulating the attendance at UO/IOA from drops. Gains at Epic are being offset by drops at the other 2 for now.

Allegedly starting tomorrow Team Members will be able to use their complimentary tickets at Epic.