Celestial Park (Epic Universe)

[jarmor]

Right! With no clubs or restaurants on top of each other to keep the hustle and Bussle going, I just don't see it, personally. I would end up falling asleep on a bench.

 

[Mike S]

Yeah— no one gets into Helios without room keys

What if you just can’t get into the room areas. Isn’t that how the Grand Californian works at Disneyland?

 

[GAcoaster]

I don’t think they want anyone in there who isn’t a guest— that’s what big spenders want. That’s why many wealthy people would never stay somewhere like the Grand Floridian. They let anyone in including the “riff raff” (day guests). People who are willing to pay top dollar at Disney stay at the Four Seasons or the JW Marriott where they keep out the less desirable elements.

 

[Mike S]

I don’t think they want anyone in there who isn’t a guest— that’s what big spenders want. That’s why many wealthy people would never stay somewhere like the Grand Floridian. They let anyone in including the “riff raff” (day guests). People who are willing to pay top dollar at Disney stay at the Four Seasons or the JW Marriott where they keep out the less desirable elements.

Now just insert a caricature of the typical Florida tourist lol

 

[GAcoaster]

I mean if you’ve been in the lobby of Grand Flo and seen the lady who sits there with her teddy bears all day, you know why it can never be the five star hotel they want it to be.

No disrespect to anyone, but your typical park/coaster enthusiasts hanging out in a hotel lobby wearing their Cedar Point t shirts and soaking up ac lounging on the nice furniture is not the vibe they’re going for, but is what happens if you let anyone in.

 

[IzzyB]

I’m actually more convinced it will be open to all after 6. They can still control capacity since everyone still has to go through security. I think those paths are bigger than you think they are— most look similar in size to the ones on CityWalk.

On top of that, the fact they seem to have re-added the two restaurants means they realize they may need that capacity sooner rather than later. I’m predicting Mexitalia food court is open just before Christmas 2025

I don't think it will open day 1 like this with only 2 places to eat. But I can see down the road. They also need to work out security because the HP train still confuses guests. There was a line of us to get in and this lady tried to push past my husband who was behind me and showing his pass because she didn't understand why we were all stopping. The lady clearly did not speak English and it held up the rest of my family from getting thru as the ticket lady had to stop her. We were not even being slow as we have our passes on a lanyard but there was a clear line we got into and just happened to be in the front when this lady comes barreling thru.

If they do Celestial Park after hours, we'll need to keep in mind that they're going for a park/garden and calmer feel rather than a bustling City/entertainment experience we're used to from Disney Springs and Universal CW. I'm sure they'd make bank off the restaurant and merch sales though.

Both Disney and Universal have also realized the huge amount of money that they can get off of selling nighttime / after hours tickets. I wouldn't be surprised if they sell individual land tickets at some point in the future, in addition to the obvious renting out of lands to companies after hours.

I 100% think this park was designed with buyouts in mind. Being able to shut down a single land and not the entire park will allow this park to stay open later. Hopefully Universal works out the communication to guests because that is not one of their strengths.

 

[belloq87]

If the lands are going to also be open at night (which now seems to be the indication), I think having Celestial Park also open to the public is way more of a headache than it's worth.

 

[Mike S]

If the lands are going to also be open at night (which now seems to be the indication), I think having Celestial Park also open to the public is way more of a headache than it's worth.

Maybe have it open to Helios guests to around midnight after the rest of the park is closed?

 

[tommyhawkins]

How much access to the Helios hotel do you think standard front-gate park guests will have? I have to imagine there would be a Yacht Club/Skyliner EPCOT-style entrance outside the hotel on the backside of the park. Having security and gates taking up lobby space inside of your high-class hotel doesn't sound right to me.

No access to Helios at all, the park facing front of Helios is all fountains

Theres a pathway that winds up the hill besides Blue Dragon where Helios guests will enter and leave (double width arch on the photo). Security for them is in the west wing of the hotel, the lobby is in the centre

https://x.com/bioreconstruct/status/1751591871455854820?s=20

 

[Nick]

I don’t think they want anyone in there who isn’t a guest— that’s what big spenders want. That’s why many wealthy people would never stay somewhere like the Grand Floridian. They let anyone in including the “riff raff” (day guests). People who are willing to pay top dollar at Disney stay at the Four Seasons or the JW Marriott where they keep out the less desirable elements.

Anyone can get into Portofino as it currently stands and that hotel certainly isn’t cheap

 

[jarmor]

Wasn't it rumored that the Asian restaurant was going to be accessible both from the park and the hotel?

 

[tommyhawkins]

Wasn't it rumored that the Asian restaurant was going to be accessible both from the park and the hotel?

Was assumed not rumoured, but the hotel has restaurants which is another reason why they don't necessarily hold the park open just for a couple thousand guests, when they can get on a bus every ten mins to city walk

 

[Wesker69]

Blue Dragon is part of the park itself, so technically, from a certain point of view... it is accessible from the hotel.

But I wouldn't expect it to have an actual "hotel entrance".

 

[GAcoaster]

Anyone can get into Portofino as it currently stands and that hotel certainly isn’t cheap

They can, and do, but when hotels are directly attached to the park or very easily accessible there's a BIG difference. Most people visiting Universal have little to no idea that the hotels are connected, and you don't see a lot of looky-loos wandering around (and I say this as someone who IS one of those people!). I think about at Disney how many people just hop on the Monorail and hotel hop in the middle of the day because they're hot and tired and the lobbies and public areas turn into flop houses of sweaty people. If the hotel is directly attached it just makes it even more attractive for people to camp out-- especially passholders and off duty team members.

 

[Mad Dog]

They can, and do, but when hotels are directly attached to the park or very easily accessible there's a BIG difference. Most people visiting Universal have little to no idea that the hotels are connected, and you don't see a lot of looky-loos wandering around (and I say this as someone who IS one of those people!). I think about at Disney how many people just hop on the Monorail and hotel hop in the middle of the day because they're hot and tired and the lobbies and public areas turn into flop houses of sweaty people. If the hotel is directly attached it just makes it even more attractive for people to camp out-- especially passholders and off duty team members.

For sure. I have over 100 nights at Portofino over the years and there were rarely people there that didn't stay at the hotel. Every now and then a few that came over for the balcony Italian singers, but generally they were older people. And the pools almost always had tight security and checked to see if you were staying at a resort hotel on property. I think the distance away from everything also kept most everyone away that weren't booked at Portofino.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

They can, and do, but when hotels are directly attached to the park or very easily accessible there's a BIG difference. Most people visiting Universal have little to no idea that the hotels are connected, and you don't see a lot of looky-loos wandering around (and I say this as someone who IS one of those people!). I think about at Disney how many people just hop on the Monorail and hotel hop in the middle of the day because they're hot and tired and the lobbies and public areas turn into flop houses of sweaty people. If the hotel is directly attached it just makes it even more attractive for people to camp out-- especially passholders and off duty team members.

It’s not really that different from hotels opening up their onsite hotels to tourists, though, which is common. I’ve even seen it at the Four Seasons where visitors come in from cruise ships just to do the lobby bar for a couple of hours. If there’s revenue to be made in the onsite bars and restaurants, Universal will make it and that probably means opening up the gates to non-guests.

 

[Rhian]

Now just insert a caricature of the typical Florida tourist lol

There will be a wall of these posters in Helios and your face appears here after being scanned at the park entrance.

I 100% think this park was designed with buyouts in mind. Being able to shut down a single land and not the entire park will allow this park to stay open later. Hopefully Universal works out the communication to guests because that is not one of their strengths.

Sticking to a daily close time of 9PM would do wonders in giving decent time to enjoy the lands at night; let the buyouts start after that, keeping CP open until 12am like CityWalk. Guests hopping between CW and CP until midnight sounds like a good idea too! They may not need to build CW2 after all since the current one is a short ride away.

IoA closes at 7pm today and sunset was just after 6 which is not a lot of time. EU definitely feels set up for daytime and nighttime enjoyment and I really hope guests don't get pushed out too early out of the lands.

If there’s revenue to be made in the onsite bars and restaurants, Universal will make it and that probably means opening up the gates to non-guests.

I don't think they'd turn you away if you entered from the non-park entrance to get to the restaurant or to explore the lobby. I assume you're allowed to go but they'll make you walk for it as a means to cut down on unnecessary foot traffic. As busy as the park could be at times you don't want the lobby flooded easily with a bunch of non-staying guests for safety and logistical issues.

 

[graspthesun]

I'm sure there will be a system in place for non-guests to enter the hotel. As @OrlandoGuy mentioned, they want that F&B spend.

 

[GAcoaster]

Bio updates incoming:

 

[GAcoaster]

The cascading waterfalls at the Helios end are shaping up:





Looks like plumbing is being added to the big fountain:



I imagine we'll see a lot more tree planting happening in the next few weeks: