Universal's Epic Universe - News and Discussion

[Minnie1222]

Who thinks they park is ready for the holidays crowds? I am afraid it could be quite chaos.

No, they won't be ready! We've already taken three trips since May and progress is non-existent. Even with Express, it was normal to wait 45 to 60 minutes. Three months after the preview, we still got escorted out of the same attractions.

We're going back this December. I will report any changes.

 

[HopperFan]

No, they won't be ready! We've already taken three trips since May and progress is non-existent. Even with Express, it was normal to wait 45 to 60 minutes. Three months after the preview, we still got escorted out of the same attractions.

We're going back this December. I will report any changes.

After our trip with "only 12,000" allowed in we decided they have way too much to do to bring value to the ticket ........... and we were going to give them a year before we go back.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Who thinks they park is ready for the holidays crowds? I am afraid it could be quite chaos.

They've been sold out (of single tickets, at least) for quite some time, hopefully they indeed capped it at some reasonable level.

There's no way they could handle adding it to APs yet, I think they'll need to go at least through spring break with multi-day Epic tickets and see how they handle that before APs would be feasible.

 

[Minnie1222]

After our trip with "only 12,000" allowed in we decided they have way too much to do to bring value to the ticket ........... and we were going to give them a year before we go back.

Believe it or not, the best trip we had was during the previews. We didn't get to see the two shows or ride Ministry, but at least the wait times for other rides were tolerable.

 

[PrincessV]

FWIW, Epic’s wait times right now range from 25-90 minutes, excepting BatM. This is totally in line with wait times at both IOA and US now, too. I fully understand not wanting to do long waits: I have a pretty low threshold for wait times, myself. But I check wait times fairly often, and I don’t see anything crazy on a regular basis. Yes to outlier bad days and weather issues, but overall, I don’t see anything at Epic I don’t see elsewhere.

 

[HopperFan]

Believe it or not, the best trip we had was during the previews. We didn't get to see the two shows or ride Ministry, but at least the wait times for other rides were tolerable.

We went in May.
Donkey Kong & Werewolf were closed.
HP Show closed halfway to use queue for Ministry
Went to Dragon Show for Dragon to get stuck in air so show stopped.
Ministry down for hours.
Monster Unchained was absolutely the best ride and we rode more than once.
Disappointed with several of the attractions.
We felt was more miss than hit. Sad because we were so excited for it.
Maybe next year ... but certainly hope they are ready to expand already.

 

[PetePanMan]

We are planning on doing a day (maybe 2) at Epic this December (first Week) but will also be back in late April.

We are conflicted right now as to whether it is better to wait until Spring to hopefully have more things ironed out and running more smoothly. Our concern however is that Spring may actually be even worse for wait times given reports of park to park tickets being available in 2026 (and AP?) and fact that there will be no resolution of key issues plaguing the park (I.e. low capacity rides, rain / weather delays on many rides, and too many people in park for number / type of attractions).

We will likely stay the course on going in December as we got some great rates at Helios Grand way back when reservations first opened (and the cost per night now are just crazy). Biggest concern with this plan is buying date based ticket now and then having bad weather. Any thoughts on risk of waiting to buy tickets until much closer to date (I.e. risk of selling out)?

 

[HopperFan]

We are planning on doing a day (maybe 2) at Epic this December (first Week) but will also be back in late April.

We are conflicted right now as to whether it is better to wait until Spring to hopefully have more things ironed out and running more smoothly. Our concern however is that Spring may actually be even worse for wait times given reports of park to park tickets being available in 2026 (and AP?) and fact that there will be no resolution of key issues plaguing the park (I.e. low capacity rides, rain / weather delays on many rides, and too many people in park for number / type of attractions).

We will likely stay the course on going in December as we got some great rates at Helios Grand way back when reservations first opened (and the cost per night now are just crazy). Biggest concern with this plan is buying date based ticket now and then having bad weather. Any thoughts on risk of waiting to buy tickets until much closer to date (I.e. risk of selling out)?

That is my fear at this point on our plan for waiting a year aka spring 2026. We have a full family trip in April. Disney is only plan at moment but just half the week. We could add UO. As far as Epic I mean some processes and mechanics can be working better by then but nothing new will be built yet ....... but crowds will def be bigger with the more flexible tickets. So will it be even worse. The only plus is we now know we will be skipping plenty of rides and put focus elsewhere.

 

[glamdring269]

Just wanted to leave a quick wrap up of our Epic day as I know some had asked how our plan worked out. Here goes.

Got on the bus from Portofino Bay to Epic just before 8. Wanted to be there earlyish for early entry but didn’t care quite as much since we did have Express Pass. The times listed next to rides reflect when we got off the ride.

- Mine cart 9:06 - used EP
- Bowser 9:31 - used EP
- Stardust 9:58 - saved EP for later
- Ministry - not open
- Werewolf 10:18 - saved EP for later (ended up not even using)
- Monsters 10:41 - used EP
- Ministry still down…
- Decided to do 11:35 Potter show now hoping Ministry would be up when we got out… magic does happen!
- Ministry 12:41
- Lunch
- Wing gliders 1:42

Back to hotel to recharge and dinner. Plan to head back to park, do some ride clean up and hopefully some repeats, and also just walk around to check everything out at night.

We got back to the park around 6:40 and booked it to Berk.

- Untrainable dragon show 7:00
- Dragon Racer’s Rally 7:50
- Stardust round 2 - ride went down for awhile when we were almost on. Decided to bail because we had already ridden but hoped to try again later so we could ride the other side.
- Monsters 8:51 - already used EP
- Yoshi 9:09 - used EP
- Bowser 9:32 - already used EP
- Stardust 9:58 - used EP

I’ve got some thoughts about the park itself but super tired and will share those tomorrow. Put simply for now, this park was amazing (today) but that theming… wow.

 

[disneyseniors]

Just wanted to leave a quick wrap up of our Epic day as I know some had asked how our plan worked out. Here goes.

Got on the bus from Portofino Bay to Epic just before 8. Wanted to be there earlyish for early entry but didn’t care quite as much since we did have Express Pass. The times listed next to rides reflect when we got off the ride.

- Mine cart 9:06 - used EP
- Bowser 9:31 - used EP
- Stardust 9:58 - saved EP for later
- Ministry - not open
- Werewolf 10:18 - saved EP for later (ended up not even using)
- Monsters 10:41 - used EP
- Ministry still down…
- Decided to do 11:35 Potter show now hoping Ministry would be up when we got out… magic does happen!
- Ministry 12:41
- Lunch
- Wing gliders 1:42

Back to hotel to recharge and dinner. Plan to head back to park, do some ride clean up and hopefully some repeats, and also just walk around to check everything out at night.

We got back to the park around 6:40 and booked it to Berk.

- Untrainable dragon show 7:00
- Dragon Racer’s Rally 7:50
- Stardust round 2 - ride went down for awhile when we were almost on. Decided to bail because we had already ridden but hoped to try again later so we could ride the other side.
- Monsters 8:51 - already used EP
- Yoshi 9:09 - used EP
- Bowser 9:32 - already used EP
- Stardust 9:58 - used EP

I’ve got some thoughts about the park itself but super tired and will share those tomorrow. Put simply for now, this park was amazing (today) but that theming… wow.

Wonderful report! It sounds like you packed a lot into your day! We will be going next May and can't wait. It sounds fantastic and thanks for the update

 

[akadada]

sorry - dumb question probably that I asked before but now not sure if I understood it correctly. We have a December trip and have one day included in our package. Are we supposed to book our Epic day well in advance? I see comments here that certain days are sold out due to park limitations? and if we're supposed to book it, where? we have a Costco package


EDIT: nevermind, I think I figured it out. Since we have a package that includes the day we don't have to pick our day, but we should arrive very early to get in. But if you buy an extra day and/or out of your package ticket for Epic you have to pick your day in advance.

 

[keishashadow]

I was told absolutely not and that an exception should not have been made for me the first time.

in my mind, that would trigger a visit to one of the GS kiosks

And… Harry Potter has still yet to open.

june & july visits opening delayed until 11am ish

know the HP fans are loyal however, it surprised me how so many EE people get online 1st thing instead of knocking out another area before main crowd admitted

 

[Rory607]

We are planning on doing a day (maybe 2) at Epic this December (first Week) but will also be back in late April.

We are conflicted right now as to whether it is better to wait until Spring to hopefully have more things ironed out and running more smoothly. Our concern however is that Spring may actually be even worse for wait times given reports of park to park tickets being available in 2026 (and AP?) and fact that there will be no resolution of key issues plaguing the park (I.e. low capacity rides, rain / weather delays on many rides, and too many people in park for number / type of attractions).

We will likely stay the course on going in December as we got some great rates at Helios Grand way back when reservations first opened (and the cost per night now are just crazy). Biggest concern with this plan is buying date based ticket now and then having bad weather. Any thoughts on risk of waiting to buy tickets until much closer to date (I.e. risk of selling out)?

I would still go in December as that week will probably have low crowds. I’m sure spring will be crazy with spring breakers and maybe park to park tickets.

 

[glamdring269]

It's been a week since we visited Epic Universe and I wanted to share some thoughts. Wish I had done it several days ago while it was still fresh but you know how it goes when leaving vacation and getting back into regular life.

- Let me just get this part out of the way: Epic is absolutely epic. It is the best park I have ever visited from a theming perspective. They really knocked this aspect out of the park.

- The logistics of this park are also amazing. The hub spoke approach makes getting from one section to another so simple.

- Back to theming, every area is great in its own way but I really loved everything about the Nintendo section and Dark Universe the most. They are totally different but one of the things I really liked was how they have such a different vibe if visiting in the morning vs. at night. If anyone tells you that the difference is no big deal please go find out for yourself!

- Favorite rides: Monsters Unchained, Stardust Racers, Bowser's Challenge (tbh I do think this one could be a lot better but I still like it)

- Least favorite: Ministry, Werewolf -- Ministry was a huge let down to me. I'd put it 3rd on the list of HP rides with Hagrid's and Gringott's being preferred imo. Can't quite put my finger on why but we didn't care that much for the Curse of the Werewolf ride. Even had our EP left at the end of the night and opted not to use it.

I don't think we will be back to WDW anytime soon due to cost being absolutely insane but will absolutely be coming back to Universal as soon as we can.

Side note/mini rant that did not really impact our trip and not directly related to Epic:

Will Universal ever modernize their ticketing situation? We arrived on Thursday and after the initial ticketing scan were able to do everything via cameras from that point forward. On Friday we walked up to the Epic ticketing section and were able to walk right in without showing a ticket. On Saturday we tried to enter IoA assuming the same thing, the ticket guy asked for our tickets and we were confused, he said "well that just doesn't work as fast so i like to ask for tickets" or something like that. Obviously didn't have our ticket handy so ended up costing more time... let's have some consistency here. Also having people at the front of the express line manually checking tickets then having cameras set up later is inefficient as well.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Also having people at the front of the express line manually checking tickets then having cameras set up later is inefficient as well.

I know MIB ride would have the scanning machine at the entrance for EP then as you got further did a facial recognition (this was back in 2022 that we had this when they were not using facial recognition for park entry).

To be fair I always would have my ticket ready to go (or in the case of EP the key card for our hotel stay which for Epic is obviously not that), it's not a Universal-specific issue IMO. Like when we were over at Disneyland they use photos to match up with your ticket so first time you enter you need to have your photo taken when you scan your ticket...except sometimes the photo in subsequent visits wouldn't pull up correctly, the tablet would die or freeze, etc. Over at WDW the fingerprint scan with either your magic band or your park ticket has always been wonky and inconsistent.

But I do agree it can be frustrating if it's a case of TM that gives you directions different from what you've done before speaking towards your IOA entry situation. In all likelihood that TM has just had enough situations where it was faster to just scan tickets and prefers to bypass it most of the time the photo component.

Off topic but still on topic a recent rental car reservation we had my husband had the QR code in the Avis app all pulled up and ready and had already scanned in the reader just as you pull up to exit from the airport parking garage and right as he did that the attendant had come out and rather abruptly asked for my husband's DL and was about to scan the barcode on the car but then my husband mentioned he had already scanned the QR code and the attendant had gotten huffy and was like "well that usually is slower" presumably while people wait for the app to pull up the QR code, connectivity issues, etc which to be fair we have experienced that before. In any case as the gate was opening since it read the QR code already the attendant said under his breath "always people in a rush"...it was a strange encounter but that attendant has probably encountered enough slowness via the other means that he preferred a more older school way of him manually doing the scan.