Epic Universe - General Discussion

Still waiting for them to add it to AP's ( what are they waiting for????) or to hit the lottery or to become gainfully employed LOL

APs love to take up space and not spend money. Universal wants money. 😂

I've been three times (2x in Sept 25 and 1x Dec 25) and will be going back in Sept 26. Love the park, easily the best and most consistent food and drink program in an Orlando park, love the rides, and love the vibes. Just wish the Cosmos Fountain would come back up soon, I love chilling with a tiki drink watching the fountains. If someone was going to Orlando for two days and want to know which parks to go to I'd say MK and Epic (of course considering if they can ride all the rides).

But I would spend money , I’d eat drink and shop

Great video!

I have to say I was also there on the first AP Preview Day and I loved it. I stupidly bought the Express Pass that day and it was a waste of money because the park was mostly empty. Even got to ride Battle at the Ministry thanks to my wife who got the Virtual Queue for us and experienced it with the original intended drop (which is much more intense, more like the Rise of the Resistance drop?).

One consideration - all of the talk about the facial recognition being so Universal can increase capacity...

Right now, Epic Universe is rarely sold out. If you look at the availability calendar to buy a 1-day ticket (not the AP ones) every single day is available from now until 12/31/26. It isn't like they are sold out every day.

So if they increased ticket capacity for day guests - I don't think it would do anything.

So whats with the facial recognition for each portal? I don't think it is the "open access" to Celestial Park after 6pm and making it like a CityWalk experience (although it could be).

Universal's photo validation website recently was updated and says: "Effortless Entry to Your Favorite Epic Universe Worlds

There’s nothing like stepping into the worlds of Universal Epic Universe. To keep your passage easy, you can use Photo Validation for Effortless Entry whenever Virtual Line return times are being used."

It sounds more like the facial recognition for the portals could be to help control capacity, meaning they could increase capacity and introduce Virtual Lines for lands like Super Nintendo World which is always crowded.

But why introduce capacity controls if they aren't regularly selling out of tickets? Its to introduce Annual Passes for Epic Universe.

It still may come with the restrictions mentioned in the survey and likely would require park reservations - but some sort of AP is better than not having one.

Grand Helios imho is worthwhile when the price is so low for around $200 for a non-park view (AP rate). The ease of entry into Epic Universe during rope drop is worth it compared to the chaos of getting in during the morning and the pool area is pretty nice. It isn't always that cheap, but I would gladly pay that price compared to Stella Nova.

I have not been yet. I'm an out of state AP holder and I'm coming down in a few weeks in a group of 4 and they will have 3 park hoppers. This means I had to buy a one day ticket. I'm already dreading the day due to everything I've ever read/watched about Epic. I only have one day and if it's a day with lots of ride downtime I'm hosed, while they can go back another day/night and try again.

We always stay at a Premier resort and I'm not used to going to Uni without express. I refuse to buy it for Epic though.

I personally loved the place when we visited in January, but we were there for multiple days and had express pass for most. We stayed at Helios, but got a good price because I booked in March 2025. I totally agree with the crew that if I went there one day in the summer without express pass, I'd feel much differently about it. I even acknowledged that when I was there. We were there a long time and didn't get bored. But we were able to enjoy things at a very relaxed pace, dine at most restaurants, and really just explore. Helios being so close was a game changer for us. The ease of entry (and mid-day hotel retreat ability) can't be beat.

The video mention of Epic shining light on how outdated the legacy parks are made me laugh, because we felt that too. We went to that area one day our of our trip (I expected to go more - we were there a week), and we both agreed "we'll just stay here for the rest of the trip" haha. And I've always liked those parks. But visiting after going to Epic? Yeah, not even close.

As a 10 year DVC member that goes to Disney 3x per year, I was thoroughly impressed with the food, level of immersive theming, music, and just overall technology/logistics. I'm a theme park nerd and couldn't help but notice the little things that scream, "this place opened in 2025." The facial recognition for entry, the mobile order dining system/efficiency, etc.

It's not without it's faults, but overall I think they raised the bar for all theme parks. I'm excited to see how Disney responds!

Well, this was an interesting turn of events for me:) My ever so generous daughter and son in law, bought us all one day tckets for this Sunday. I told her she was nuts , lol. thats at minimum $600 for the 4 of us just to get in. And none of us are ride people:) I am excited because I am a huge Wizarding World Fan, and Universal Monsters Fan, especially Dracula:)

My suspsion is sometime after the one year anniversary they will slowly start allowing current AP passholders, etc etc. I just hope its afforable on top of the two park membership I already have. I usually only goto waterpark twice a year so the waterpack membership isnt worth it to me.

i went this weekend stayed at Heilos, did Epic....no fountain (crying like a baby) I waited a year and for a special occassion! The park was awesome. Got fast passes and rode everything but two rides i thought would make me sick. Anyone get motion sickness on the Werewolf?

I hope you enjoy yourself and have a fun time. My advice is goto HP ministy of magic, Monsters and Mario world first.

Thats awesome! Don't forget you bring your wand :)

I don't generally get motion sickness, had no issues with Curse of the Werewolf but I've heard it can really depend on how much it spins, since it is not a controlled "spin" like on Cosmic Rewind, it is freely spinning and just reacts to the motion of the rollercoaster and different people's weight can vary how much it spins.

Would original wands from probably about 10 years ago still work?

Assuming the battery is still good in it, the wand will work in Epic.

There are newer "v2.0" style wands that are more interactive (they give feedback when a spell is cast correctly and they link to your phone for quests). But the old wands will still work to cast spells.

If you bring your interactive wand and find that the battery is dead or the wand no longer works, you can bring it to any wand shop and have it "repaired". Generally Universal will replace it with a new wand and if your particular wand is no longer made they will allow you to choose from a limited set of wands as a replacement.

Thanks! Ive got two:) Sirius’s and Tonk’s

My favorite characters

So , we absolutely loved Epic! we were there open to close , and I havent done that at any park in decades! I really wish they'd add Epic to APs:( I want to go back again ASAP LOL. but proably wont unless someone else pays for it:)

I've read that Sunday is a great day for Epic? How were the crowds? I'm going on the 16th.

The Lounges, bars , shops and restaurants all seemed empty! 2 out of the 3 rides were down in Super Mario so we rode Yoshi's ,lol. it was a 5 min wait, but was 25 min wait when got off of it. My son in law rode Monsters Unchained twice once it was 15 min wait and the 2nd time it was just before park close, it was walk on. When we looked at Ministry of Magic it was only 80 min which is good b/c its usually a multi hour wait. Hope its good for you on the 16th!

Encouraging!! We're staying at Portofino so will have early entry, I'm hoping we can get most things done since I can't go back but the others have a hoppers and can.

fun fact: v 1.0 wands have no batteries in them.

Oh nice, I didn't know that - I assumed it had a battery in it. I've heard after awhile they can die, but maybe its just from kids breaking them lol.

I can confirm from two separate trips that Sundays are indeed the best days of the week to visit. I was just there on May 2 and it was great!. This should say it all right here: Ministry had a 30 minute standby wait as of 6:30PM, 50 minute an hour before that, and that was with Minecart closed all day.

Usually kids breaking them.

They actually work using an IR reflective tip! All the power is in the show scene.

The new wands ARE battery powered through because they use additional radios and such.

Premier Beauty Shows appears to be the first to test Epic Universe's Open Hub concept - https://www.instagram.com/p/DYK5hC-CR3g/?img_index=1

They posted to their instagram:

Enjoy an evening of complimentary admission* to the Celestial Park area of Universal Epic Universe, where you’ll have access to a variety of dining, shopping, and live entertainment.

Complimentary self-parking available after 5 pm.

Just present your Premiere Orlando Conference Badge/ID at the park entrance. Dining reservations for parties larger than six can be booked via [email protected].

*Restrictions apply.

Will be interesting to see just how crowded Celestial Park is as a result of this conference.

I'm back from my trip and Sunday the 16th was my Epic day. We got done what we wanted to but that probably wouldn't have happened without Early Park Admission (stayed at Portofino).

We got Ministry, Hiccups Wing Gliders, Dragon Racers Rally, Monsters Unchained and Curse of the Werewolf done before 11:30am. The only wait was Werewolf.

Exited the park around 12:30 and returned at 6:15pm (it was brutally hot. We had uv umbrellas but still). Did Stardust, ate dinner in Berk then off to Super Marioworld. Those waits were still high but we were there to look not ride . Very busy and chaotic with the music/noise. Back to Darkmoor! Monsters Unchained again, capped the night with Stardust Racers.

So, a fun day! I only had the one day and I planned the hell out of this in advance and luckily it all worked out well. My son had a hopper and went back to Epic another night as well as he fell in love with Monsters Unchained. I wish we had time for the shows and if it was cooler we could have spent the day without leaving but that was not happening.

Ministry and the Mario wait times never went down at night like all the blogs said (Yoshi did though) so I'm glad we didn't care about Mario and did Ministry first.

Just reading they are revoking express pass for Hagrid's 😡. You know they're gonna sell single passes anyway.

I cant ride it anyway due to motion sickness and vertigo, so I cant give an opinion but I've seen very mixed opinions on that, some people are mad because they feel if they have expensive APs and expensive express passes they should be able to ride Hagrid's. I've also seen people happy because they said the waits were actually longer for this attraction since adding it to Express.

I think people are just wishcasting that the queue is going to be better. They will start selling single ride express and it will be the same except Uni gets more money.

I always stay at a premier hotel and the 3 times I've used express on Hagrids the line was never shorter than 40-45 mins.

Do you think they will eventually fully go to a single-pass system?

I think they're modeling themselves on Disney's system. They've been doing some single passes lately. I don't think I'd pay for Hagrid's personally but I'm sure a lot would.

No. Express Now piggybacks off the Express system at each ride, they're turning it off for Hagrid totally.

Plus Express Now was designed as an Express capacity filler, not a standalone product like Lighting Lane.

Universal confirmed the worst secret in the industry: Epic is getting a fireworks show.